My First Pico - 10 Minutes Old

[Samoyed]

Ok, i've been reading up a little and I've learned alot.

 

So here we go.

1) I removed the UG filter completely. It now looks to have about an inch layer of live sand.

 

2) I flipped the rock around, now it touching nothing.

 

3) The powerhead is running, and I ordered the Powerclear 20.

Timeline

 

Day1 - Added LS, LR, Water and Power head. They all came from the same tank, even the water.

 

Day10 - Check water, Assuming the Tank is cycled and nitrates, nitrites, ammonium, ph, salinity and specific gravity are all within spec, On day 11...

 

Day11 - 30% Water Change, Check Water Again, if its still all good, on day 12...

 

Day12 - Add clean-up crew: 2 Tiny Blue Leg Hermits, a Turbo Snail, and maybe another kind of snail.

 

Day 20 - Start adding my first Corals, probably some zoas, shrooms, etc.

 

Day 30 - Add a Shrimp and a neon blue goby.

What does everyone think, i need more advice... judge my setup, whats the best stuff to put in the filter?

 

neon blue goby is a good choice!

[Ryan_H]

i have that same tank keeper! personally I love it, though so far I have struggled to get good growth out of my corals. I have a 10W 50/50 in the hood, but for some reason its not giving me the output i need. Pets unlimited, have you done anything else to your hood so that light can penetrate better??? I will admit though, i love this tank....... perfect for my little mantis's mansion. Keep us updated with pictures! Dont forget water changes!!!! oh, and invest in at least a basic test kit....... its worth it when you dont know whats going wrong with your tank but you know somethings not right.

 

tanner g.

 

i dose my tank with 0.4 mL each of seachem reef complete and reef calcium, and 0.1 mL each of seachem reef iodide, kent zooplex and kent phytoplex twice a week. i also use nutriseawater and do weekly 25% water changes. i have a candy cane frag that started as 2 polyps, and now has three (soon to be four). my gsp is spreading across the top rock, my green line mushrooms have split, and my zoos are slowly but surely spreading ( like 10-15 new polyps total from 4 different frags in about 2 months). what really helped my coral growth was using purigen and seagel in my filter to remove all organics, nitrites and nitrates, and phosphates. my water is perfect, and my temp ranges from 73-75 degrees, and i feed my goby and peppermint shrimp tetra marine flakes every other day (which my mushrooms and zoos also enjoy). my lighting seems more than ample, but i had to play with the bulb until both the actinic and 10000k sides were facing the water.

[The Keeper]

Here are some updated pics.

 

I installed the 10w 50/50 coralife bulb, but I think the atinic side is not on. I ordered another one.

 

I also added the AquaClear20 powerfilter. This tank has tons of water movement with both the filter and powerhead on.

 

I found a little coral in the sand that died and fell off a rock. But I can't remove it easily. How will it effect my water conditions if it just dies and decomposes in there? The tank is still cycling, its only 15 days old.

 

 

 

[Ryan_H]

the actinic's probably on, the lighting looks to be the right color. i would take out the powerhead and put the aquaclear on low to medium flow.

[NanoGal13]

the actinic's probably on, the lighting looks to be the right color. i would take out the powerhead and put the aquaclear on low to medium flow.

same here, take powerhead out, just takes up neccisary(sp) room. my suggestion, 4 snails, and a hermit or 2, no shrimp, and a neon goby, or a redhead, my LFS just got some in, only 3/4" - 1" so CUTE! but yeah, looking good.

[andre]

It looks nicer with that new bulb. The powerhead takes up to much room and I don't think you need it. I would take it out and adjust the filter intake speed like mentioned above.

[The Keeper]

Cool, thanks for the replies. I will remove the powerhead as soon as the tank finishes cycling. My Nitrates are at 25ppm. I think it's time for my first water change. I'll be doing that tommorrow as well as removing the powerhead. After that I'll give it a few weeks before I add the first members of my cleaning crew...

 

The ac200 came with carbon and sponge. I removed the carbon and replaced it with a purigen bag.

 

What do I do about the tiny little dead coral? Will it adversely effect my water quality. If I go and buy a long handle hemostat I can probably get it out. Is it necessary? Thanks guys. By the way, its a single tiny zoa that died. Its sitting in the sand now. I'm not 100% sure its dead, but it most likely is. It doesn't open at all.

[Ryan_H]

just leave it. if anything, it will help your cycle. it may, however, not be dead, and you get a free zoo that will hopefully multiply. it wont hurt the tank. i had a nickel sized mushroom that i was attaching to a rock slip out from under the rubber band and get stuck behind my rockwork (1 of 3 i was attaching to the rock and it was damaged, so i didn't bother going after it). it had no effect on my water chemistry whatsoever.

 

oh yeah, and don't do a water change until ammonia and nitrites are 0.

[The Keeper]

UPDATE: 2/01/06 -

 

Ok, the powerhead has been removed, the tank looks much better now without it. The rock is changing colors, I think its brown algae forming. I haven't done my research yet on the different types of algae yet, so im not sure what it is, but it makes the rock look nice..

 

I did my first water change yesterday. My nitrites where at zero, so I did a 30% water change. I also tossed the test strips and got my first real test kit. I let the new water settle overnight and in the morning I tested the water. With some scary results.

 

Ammonium - 0ppm

pH - 8.0

Nitrite - 0ppm

Nitrate - 80ppm!!!!!

 

This sucks, the test strips told me 25ppm of nitrates, so I figured after the water change they would be nice and low, but on the contrary they are very high at 80ppm. I redid the test with the strips to see how inaccurate they are compared to the real tester, and it have me 30ppm, so changing the water actually increased the nitrates. Hopefully the water from the LFS wasn't tainted.

 

I guess I'll do another water change the day after tommorrow. Maybe a 40% change from another store. And retest next week. Once everything is perfect, im going to wait a week before adding 2 snails and a shrimp..one added every 3 days.

 

Other water conditions:

 

Water Salinity - 1.022 (according to cheap floaty type hydrometer)

Water Temp - 72F (according to same cheap floaty type hyd/them)

Total Hardness - 450ppm (according to cheap test strips)

Total Alkalinity - 300ppm (cheap strips again)

 

The water temp dropped alot when I removed the powerhead, so im going to have to buy a tiny heater to increase the temperature. Hopefully I can find one that can fit in the HOB filter so it doesn't have to go into the tank.

 

I'm going to try and make a tiny 3 gallon fuge/sump using the powerhead soon. But I want something tiny and fool proof. I'll probably be using the powerhead as a return pump, but im not sure what to do about getting the water out of the tank and to the sump. A siphon or weir box seems like too much trouble for a 1.5 gallon, but hopefully ill figure it out, im also going to modify the HOB filter pickup with a surface skimmer mod, by adding a thicker peace of pipe around the current tube.

 

I also removed the plexiglass on the top, and it seems the tank is more lit up now. The plexi was blocking a good amount of light, which i found suprising.

 

 

 

I also just removed the sponge that came with the filter, and just left the purigen pak in there. Perhaps that could have been the source of the nitrates. Hopefully in a few water changes everything will zero out.

[mickey85]

After the cycle, I would reccomend using at least filter floss or foam in your filter to get rid of particulates. I also use charcoal, simply because, as a college student, I do not have the time that I wish I had to devote to my tanks. hence, the chemical filtration. Just makes it easier on everybody.

[The Keeper]

After the cycle, I would reccomend using at least filter floss or foam in your filter to get rid of particulates. I also use charcoal, simply because, as a college student, I do not have the time that I wish I had to devote to my tanks. hence, the chemical filtration. Just makes it easier on everybody.

 

Wouldn't the purigen take care of what the sponge would do? It's in a bag that im sure would catch most particulates. Plus the purigen polishes the water as good if not better then charcoal.

[The Keeper]

Can anyone reccommend me a tiny heater that will keep my tank at a steady temp? I would prefer if it fit in my filter box, but if i have to put it in the tank, i will.

[The Keeper]

how big is the filter box? the smallest adjustable heaters i have found are made by finnex...25 watt runs under 5 inches.

 

It's a Hagen Aqua Clear 20. The filter box length is exactly 5", im going to order that finnex heater for it.

[The Keeper]

Thanks for the info John, I've been reading alot about heaters and it seems that the most reputable brands are:

 

Ebo-Jager

Via-Aqua Ti

Hagen

Stealth Heaters

 

But I can't find any complaints on Finnex, so it sounds good, especially since it's the only one that fits and you haven't had any problems with it. Again Thanks for the advice.

[The Keeper]

I don't know what's up, but I just checked the water again, and the Nitrates dropped by 75ppm!!!!

 

I don't know how, but somehow in 2 days w/o any additional water changes, the nitrates dropped from 80ppm to 5ppm. The tank is now ready for livestock. I guess it must have been the little sponge that came with the filter that made the nitrates go so high, but I thought removing it would kill the source, but not what's already in the tank.

 

On sunday I will add my first snail. Prob a narsicssus (sp?) I'll probably wait a few more weeks before I throw a scarlet reef hermit crab in there.

 

EDIT: The test kit was giving the bad reading, that's why the nitrates where so high, and when tested with the new kit they were so much lower. The stupid strips still read 50 ppm of nitrates, when the fastest kit says 0...

[The Keeper]

Day 24

 

Well after almost a month of cycling. This tank was ready for a cleaning crew. I did one more water change, and then added my first two astrae snails. 2 days later I added a blue legged hermit, and a electric blue hermit.

 

A few more weeks like this and ill start trying to get a few zoanthids/shrooms/softies, etc in there. Before then, im probably going to try to make a 10 gallon sump/fuge, to keep water parameters easier to maintain.

[The Keeper]

Day 32 - Tradgedy Strikes

 

Wow, I dont know if this tank is going to survive after todays extremely rough day. First off, the tank was doing well, crystal clear water, no algae, perfect water parameters.... OR so I thought. Since I had no nitrites, nitrates, ammonium, 8.0 ph, and 1.022-1.024 SG. I figured the tank was ready for some Zoanthids, so I went to my LFS to get a gallon of water for my tank and the corals.

 

So my cleaning crew had been acting kinda weird lately, first trying to escape from the tank, later they were acting lethargic. I thought it was perhaps the lack of algae, and they were just hungry.

 

At the LFS I bought an IO Hydrometer, since I had been using a cheapy floaty style hydrometer. So I decide to test my water. 1.039 SG!!! !I almost had a stroke!! I threw in the stupid floaty hydrometer 1.024!!! What a huge piece of ######!!! I was so mad I actually broke it in my hand and cut myself.

 

So I have a bag of coral on my bed, and a gallon of water. I decide I need to fix this problem immediately. No RO/DI water closeby so I haul ass to the grocery store and buy some distilled water. I get the SG to 1.024. And then go ahead and do the water change. I acclimated the zoos, and then placed them where I wanted them.

 

I realize something is terribly terribly wrong, 3 of my snails are upside down, my hermits are hiding in the rocks and not moving.. im freaking out because I dont know what's going on. So I test the water, everything is within spec, I check the SG 1.008!!!! WTF!!!!!

 

Then it hits me like a ton of bricks. The LFS didn't give me a gallon of NSW, the gave me a gallon of RO/DI. What a disaster. I ran to a friends house, borrowed 2 gallons of SW, and did a 125% emergency water change. I had to pour the water in quickly, so temp went all over prob from 80 to 70 back to 80...I checked the SG now it's at 1.026. A little high, but slightly better. The tank was in almost 50% freshwater for approximately 15 minutes.

 

 

Deathtoll:

- 3 Narcissss Snails

- 2 Turbo Snails

- 1 Blue Leg Hermit

 

Survivors:

- 1 Blue Leg Hermit

- 1 Marshall Island Banded Hermit

 

I don't know if the corals will survive, they were all closed up all day, at night right before the lights turned off, they opened up a little bit. But I still dont know if they are going to make it. There is also an empty hermit crab shell, in the tank, cant find the crab.

 

I'll update tommorrow, to see if anything survived. I think my heater just took a crap as well its 4 days old.. this is ridiculous.. im totally disheartened by this whole thing :(:(

[The Keeper]

Lessons learned so far:

 

1) Cheap floaty hydrometers dont work for shiet..

2) Test strips dont work for shiet..

3) Test the water your LFS gives you..

[jmarches]

Sorry to hear the bad news.

 

If your corals are opening up a little its a good sign. It seems zoos and shrooms can take a beating. for example they can be transported without water for more than 15 mins and survive. Also consider this...many corals live near the surface and may be exposed during low tides. In regions with heavy rains like hawaii the corals would get rained on...

 

Hopefully everything will be okay.

 

Also, always check the water you get from the LFS. In my experience, no matter what they tell you their water specs are, they turn out different. You need to make sure your replacing your water with similar water specs (temp, SG, alk, ph).

[andre]

IME the Coralife Deep Six Hydrometer never fails me. A refracto is always a good investment though. good luck

[The Keeper]

I guess you guys where right, the zoos opened up this morning as soon as the lights turned on. I'm pretty happy about that. Let's see if my Marshal Island Banded Hermit comes out of his hole alive. I think he's dead though.

[Ryan_H]

I guess you guys where right, the zoos opened up this morning as soon as the lights turned on. I'm pretty happy about that. Let's see if my Marshal Island Banded Hermit comes out of his hole alive. I think he's dead though.

 

yeah, my corals don't usually open up until hours later or the next morning either, and my water is perfect. i think it has to do with the lighting downgrade from the lfs's halides to my mini-compact, lol.

[The Keeper]

Update: 02/22/06

34 days old.

 

The tank is doing great. Even after the whole fresh water incident, nothing really bad happened. I did the emergency water change, and the snails died, but all the hermits lived, and so did my few little zoos. The water is still crystal clear, and corraline is beginning to grow on the back glass. I was told by the lfs that this is a good sign that the water parameters are good.

 

With proper scheduled maintenance, I've been able to keep the Sg within .001 (it goes from 1.023 when I top-off, and 1.024 right before I do. The Finnex 25w nano heater keeps the temp b/w 78.7 and 79.9 That kinda bothers me, but I have no clue how to make it more precise.

 

I'm doing 15% water changes once a week, and I removed the Purigen Bag from the tank as I thought it was unnecessary.

 

I was suprised to see my first hitchhikers. I little anenome that looks like aiptisia, but without the extended tentacles, looks like a clear zoanthid. I also saw a pod flying around the tank one day as well as a tiny 1/4" crab thats hiding in a hole in the live rock.

[The Keeper]

Update: Tank is now almost 50 days old.

 

Everything is doing awesome, I was kind of intimidated doing a 1.6G since everyone said they are more difficult than larger tanks. But so far my biggest problem besides the earlier fresh water incident has been my hermit crabs knocking over the corals I place on my rocks.

 

So I've added:

 

Kenya Tree Coral

Pulsing Xenia

Green/Red Zoos

Ric. FL

Bulls eye Red Mushroom

 

They are all doing great, and I've managed to figure out a maintenance schedule that lets me keep my Sg at 1.024 almost 99% of the time. I developed a tiny ATO that works GREAT! I also turned the ac20 into a semi fuge, I put back the purigen, but also put some cheato with a 5w submersible light, some live sand, and a little tiny peice of live rock.

 

Water paramaters have been rock solid:

 

PH: 8.1

Temp: 79-80

Sg: 1.024

Nitrates: Undetectable

Nitrites: Undetectable

Ammonium: Undetectable

 

I haven't tested for phosphates, alkalinity, or calcium, but I will be doing this soon.

Also I have not fed anything yet. The corals are doing fine without food, just regular 20% weekly water changes, which are ridiculously easy, because its just a big cup of water out, and a big one back in.

 

 

I will post pics tonight of my Corals, and tank.

[The Keeper]

Here are the pics, don't pay attention to the container taped to the tank, it's just holding my psychotic electric banded hermit that keeps knocking over every coral i put in the tank before it can attach to a rock.

 

Sorry about the ######ty pictures. ######ty camera.

 

DIY Skimmer mod. Used a listerine container (The small one) and glued it to the pick up on the AC20 HOB Filter. Works like a charm and the level where the water hits the overflow it a good indicator of when I need to top off..

 

 

Front View

 

 

FTS