ninjafish Posted July 15, 2005 Author Share Posted July 15, 2005 Originally posted by mikej Is it just me or are most of the images in this thread broken? You know, I just noticed this too. I will take some more photos next week and post them. I have been taking some holliday time lately and haven't been around the board much. There was a stretch when I was camping and only visited the tank twice in two weeks . Obviously, I do not condone this kind of neglect but the tank did awesome! As soon as I got back to work, I cleaned the diatom algae off of the glass and the tank looked just as good as it did when I left. Salinity and nitrate levels hadn't changed either! I belive that between the pods in the tank and the spawning stomatella snails, there was a constant supply of live food for the coral and sexy shrimp. This 2gal pico really is more stable than my 90gal reef was . - Chad Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 23, 2005 Author Share Posted July 23, 2005 Photo Update: What do you think? - Chad Link to comment
minimalist Posted July 23, 2005 Share Posted July 23, 2005 What do ya feed the sexy shrimp? Link to comment
phergus_25 Posted July 23, 2005 Share Posted July 23, 2005 wow i really like the orange shroom. havent ever seen one like that. Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 23, 2005 Author Share Posted July 23, 2005 Originally posted by minimalist What do ya feed the sexy shrimp? I feed the tank with "reef chilli" and occasionally frozen "mega marine angel" mix. I think that they are able to scavenge a lot of their food off of the rocks; however, I also drop in three or four pellets of tetra marine once in a while. When one of the sexy shrimp finds one, the others fight over it like its a fumbled football. Funny little buggers . - Chad Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 23, 2005 Author Share Posted July 23, 2005 Originally posted by phergus_25 wow i really like the orange shroom. havent ever seen one like that. Hey thanks! I haven't really seen one like it either. It doesn't really close up the way a mushroom usually does, but just shrinks in diameter. When the light comes on in the morning it expands to its regular size again. It is really a nice focal point in the tank. Cheers, - Chad Link to comment
phergus_25 Posted July 23, 2005 Share Posted July 23, 2005 yea i like it, I wish my rechodas, spelled taht wronge, shrooms looed like that, your tank is amazing by the way. Another thing is, how do you use your auto top off? I mean I dont see a pipe to put the water in Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 23, 2005 Author Share Posted July 23, 2005 Thanks Greg, but I've checked out the pictures of your tank and you aren't going to get much sympathy from me for not having nice stuff , kudos. The topoff, like all of the equipment, is completely out of sight. The reason that I researched a laboratory/industrial dosing pump is that I thought it would be able to pump directly into a pressurized system - like a cannister filter. The pump that I got will actually inject into systems with up to 100psi, way more than I would ever need to worry about. Because of this benefit, I have tied the topoff hose directly into the intake hose running from the tank to the cannister filter via a tee fitting under the desk. You can see the fitting in the video in my signature. The pump draws ro/di water out of the bucket it sits on, and injects a tiny amount into my intake line - once every three minutes. The pump is dosing 24/7 and literally replaces water at the same rate it evaporates. In the morning the water level in the main tank is a little bit higher (because evaporation doesn't occur as fast at night when the light is off), and at the end of the day the water level is a little bit lower (because it evaporated at a slightly faster rate thanks to the halide). The daily fluctuation is only about 2/16th of an inch and it has run for three weeks before I had to make a manual adjustment to the water level (ei, add or remove water because changes in the weather and humidity levels have also affected the evap rate). Three weeks also happens to be the amount of time that I could go before having to refill the topoff bucket with water. And I didn't just design the system to save me from daily topoffs (the tank is at my office not my home), I belive that it completely eliminates (or darn close) salinity fluctuations and is therefore more gentle on the livestock. Add to this the chaeto fuge that is lit 24/7 and I firmly believe that this pico tank is a more stable environment than my 90gal reef was! I hope that makes sense, sorry for the long response. - Chad Link to comment
phergus_25 Posted July 23, 2005 Share Posted July 23, 2005 ok yea I got it so with the T and the pressure the pressur is matched till the pump turns on to force water in. I get it. And thanks the tank is really coming along, gatta fix a prob with not havn enough flow, but yea I am real excited about my tank. But yea your tank is deff the cleanest tank Iv ever seen I envy you on that O one Q I have tho, with your canister filter return shooting from the bottom did you have to dial it down so t dosent shoot water out of the tank? Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 23, 2005 Author Share Posted July 23, 2005 Greg, The return flow does cause the surface of the water to boil directly above the bulkhead but I think it would be able to handle a lot more flow before I'd need to worry about it shooting out of the tank. The current has to travel upwards through 8 inches of water and that really breaks up the jet. When the current hits the surface it then sweeps down on all four sides of the tank. Due to the rockwork and square corners of the tank, the result is a surprisingly good random turbulance. Again, just another nice surprise that it worked out. - Chad Link to comment
phergus_25 Posted July 23, 2005 Share Posted July 23, 2005 Yea with there being water all around the rock I think it allows for great flow. Hope to get some better flow behind my rocks. Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 23, 2005 Author Share Posted July 23, 2005 Your right, the pinnacle-style rock formation sure helps prevent dead spots. My last two tanks had wall-style aquascaping and that was a bit of a challenge. You might try hiding a powerhead (or two pointed at each other) behind your rocks. - Chad Link to comment
phergus_25 Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 yea my plans are to have one larger one in the front right corner and then a small one on the back wall to the left pointing behind the rock. O I'm gonna have a bunch of new pics on tuesday so keep an eye out for those Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 I just saw your video. very nice. I was wondering, what program did u use for the video editing. very nice transitioning between motion and stills. and your pico is amazing. haven't seen such high caliber work like yours around here much. -Tigah Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 26, 2005 Author Share Posted July 26, 2005 I'm glad you liked it! I use a program called Studio 8 by Pinnacle (I think Studio 9 or 10 is out now). I have been using their programs for the last few years and am extremely impressed with them. The price is affordable and you are able to do a ton of different things. Best of all the program is very intuitive and simple to use. Originally posted by Tigahboy and your pico is amazing. haven't seen such high caliber work like yours around here much. -Tigah Wow, that is an incredible compliment - especially coming from you. I have always been impressed with your setups - loved your nanocube. I only wish I could find livestock like that up here. Thanks bro. - Chad Link to comment
pinion3d Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Hey Fish... That's a nice, clean looking setup you came up with! Is there any reason that you chose that canister filter? Would any of the other canisters work pretty much the same? Thanks! Link to comment
ninjafish Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 Thanks! I have always been impressed with Eheims but the real reason that I used it is because it happened to be sitting around in my pile of fish-stuff. Any cannister filter would work! Right now I am off to try and track down a replacement bulb for my submersible lights. Once of them burnt out a while ago but the chaeto just keeps on growing... - Chad Link to comment
ninjafish Posted August 13, 2005 Author Share Posted August 13, 2005 Hi everyone, I have cleared the livestock out of the tank and added a mantis shrimp and some snails and hermits for it to eat. I think that this tank will be a great way to showcase this animal. And here's Google: He is still a little shy so I will work on getting a better picture later. What do you think? - Chad Link to comment
mushroom head Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Very nice! Google is a great name! Link to comment
ninjafish Posted August 14, 2005 Author Share Posted August 14, 2005 Thanks I was planning something a little tougher like "Gunner" or "Ike", but everytime I look at this guy, that's what pops into my head. Cheers, - Chad Link to comment
Clarkie Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 man...1st nice tank,,,,,2nd.. I might have missed it, but how do you keep the water level up...and right at the top. Ive been thinking it over , and I dont get it. Link to comment
ninjafish Posted August 18, 2005 Author Share Posted August 18, 2005 Clarkie, I just figure out how much water I lose to evaporation in a day and then set my dosing pump to add that amount. After that I just pour water up to the level I want it and it doesn't change after that. Hope this makes sense. - Chad Link to comment
ninjafish Posted August 18, 2005 Author Share Posted August 18, 2005 Here are some more photos of the new owner of the cube: I would not want to be this snail: The darn guy tried to swim down the return bulkhead to my filter . He must have fought against that 100+ gph for 10 minutes before he finally got pushed out (need to cover that with something!): What do you think of Google/Ike? (still deciding on a name) - Chad Link to comment
robmacy Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 i think a mantis tank is a great idea! i'd go with Ike! Link to comment
mushroom head Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 I would say Google but Ike is a great name to! So really its all up to you. Link to comment
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