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Countdown to PicO II


dhartmann

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Time to start my own thread...I've learned a ton reading through the forums and am looking forward to sharing my experience with all of you, and taking advantage of your experience and knowledge.

 

Here we go...

 

Placed an order with Chris on March 31 for a PicO II, all starphire tank and top, AI Nano LED with controller, MP-10, pico led fuge light, jäger 50 watt heater, d-d seawater refractometer, Hanna phosphate test, salifert calcium and mag, sea chem for the basics.

 

Bought one nano sized bonsai vida rock and plan to fill in with cured live rock from LFS. Agag alive sand for the bottom. Planning on running phosguard and purigen for chemical filtration and chaeto (sp?) in the 2nd chamber fuge.

 

I'd like to focus mainly on LPS, polys, zoas...maybe an sps or two down the road. One or two fish and an all snail cuc.

 

Stand is up and ready lol...good beer holder for now! Hoping to pick the tank up in a week. Will keep you posted and would welcome any comments regarding my set up plans!

 

Dph

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Jesus those are expensive! I like the idea but for that price I can buy a bunch of dry rock and just chisel it until I get good enough lol. How much did you get your piece for?

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Just got the news...tank is in the final stages of production...picking it up on Saturday...road trip to Peoria !!

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Just got the news...tank is in the final stages of production...picking it up on Saturday...road trip to Peoria !!

Thats cool that you don't have to worry about shipping it, wonder if he will let you see the picO laboratory???

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Sick, say 'hello' to Chris from us - we know hes busy slaving away making tanks.

I ended up buying a VidaRock centerpiece from aqua-tecture and a VidaRock fragrack from the LFS. Keep us updated on the leak test, scape, etc

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Will do...I'm picking it up at the glass shop he works at. I'll take a lot of pix as I get it set up!

 

Sick, say 'hello' to Chris from us - we know hes busy slaving away making tanks. I ended up buying a VidaRock centerpiece from aqua-tecture and a VidaRock fragrack from the LFS. Keep us updated on the leak test, scape, etc
What centerpiece did you go with?
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Update Time...after a 12 hour day of driving to Peoria and back I HAVE MY PicO II !!! Met Chris and he is a super nice guy...told him I've been following my Nano Reef Pico buddy tank threads and he tries to make a point of sitting down and reading all the threads each week.

 

On to the tank...

 

Did a leak test = passed

Mixed saltwater with RODI = passed

Added 8 lbs live rock and my 2.5 lb vida rock piece

Added 10 lbs substrate

Hooked and turned everything on = passed!!!

PS...aqua scape is not even close to being finished...just wanted to get the rocks wet.

 

Let the cycle begin!

 

Here are a few pix, thanks for following along !

 

Update Time...after a 12 hour day of driving to Peoria and back I HAVE MY PicO II !!! Met Chris and he is a super nice guy...told him I've been following my Nano Reef Pico buddy tank threads and he tries to make a point of sitting down and reading all the threads each week.

 

On to the tank...

 

Did a leak test = passed

Mixed saltwater with RODI = passed

Added 8 lbs live rock and my 2.5 lb vida rock piece

Added 10 lbs substrate

Hooked and turned everything on = passed!!!

PS...aqua scape is not even close to being finished...just wanted to get the rocks wet.

 

Let the cycle begin!

 

Here are a few pix, thanks for following along ! Sorry...pix are sideways, too tired to fix tonight lol

post-22976-0-64622400-1366600006_thumb.jpg

post-22976-0-94568000-1366600025_thumb.jpg

post-22976-0-51257300-1366600048_thumb.jpg

post-22976-0-26035900-1366600073_thumb.jpg

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Your back chamber compartment looks different than mine.

Looks like he removed the media basket and the tray that adjusts the water level.

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What centerpiece did you go with?

 

I went with this larger and taller piece that I thought had a lot of interesting shapes:

 

7RCGRps.jpg

 

Side Picture One ; Side Picture Two

 

Here it is in the tank (soon to be retired for a custom PicO); It *should* fit in the custom tank, too:

 

KCKKuIT.jpg

 

 

 

Your VidaRock looks great in the cube! Any more aquascaping done with the liverock? Picture with cleared up water for us?

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Just changed replaced my crushed coral substrate with arag alive special reef sand so I pretty much hit the reset button. I'm hoping it will help get the cycle started (added some fish food today to kick start it). The tank is crystal clear and looks great. I'll post an updated photo tomorrow.

 

Thanks for following!

 

Btw...the LFS tried to sell me a blue damsel today to cycle. Told me I could bring it back when I was done. Couldn't do that to a fish!!! I'm taking this nice and slow and doing it the natural way.

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dhartmann

Just noticed my first sign of diatoms and a minor bit of green algae...I guess I'm cycled? Never saw any measurable ammonia, nitrites or nitrates over the past two weeks. Tested phosphates today with my Hanna checker and measured .07 ppm. I think I'll do a water change and run some phosban to get it down to zero.

 

Time for cuc?

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Yup - I would go ahead and toss in a grazer (and a meat eater if you plan on target feeding) along with your first coral frag!

 

If you're not sure, you can test the biological filter in your tank by introducing ammonia (either pure or in the form of an organic to breakdown: fishfood, dead shrimp, etc) and testing until it's turned to nitrates.

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