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tibbsy07 5.5 pico reef


tibbsy07

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Please see http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/336210-tibbsys-55-time-to-put-the-pico-to-rest/?p=4832837 for the current tank and direction. Everything prior to post 1278 is now old and in the process of tear down.
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Current FTS: 7/11/14
20140907_092452.jpg

 



Welcome! This is my 5.5g pico smile.png I had previously bought a 20L to set up, but some things happened and it didn't work out. This has been going since October 2013, but I basically only had rock and sand and salt water. I let it cycle for a while, got my light in January 2014. Picked up my first coral at the end of January 2014. The tank is still young, and is adjusting to a bioload, so it has a bit of a case of the uglies.


Hardware
Deep Blue 5.5g
Aquaclear 70
InTank AC70 mediabasket with removable shelf (currently using carbon)
25W Cobalt Heater
Thermometer

Lighting
Coral Compulsion 14W 18k (90 degree lenses)

Biological Filtration
2 lbs base rock LFS
1.5 lbs live rock LFS
~2 lbs sand (just enough for the bottom of the tank to be covered, ~1/2" thick)

Livestock
Corals:
Ricordea florida
Orange Yuma
Zoas
Blue sympodium
GSP
Xenia
Kenya tree
Hammer

Fish:
Yellow Clown Goby RIP
:ninja:

Other Inverts:
Emerald crab - Baron "Barry" von Algenfesser 2.0 (RIP Barry 1.0)
Large margarita snail - Merle RIP
small margarita snail RIP
3 small ceriths
Brittle star x 2(hitchhiker)
Asterina star (hitchhiker)
Peanut worm (hitchhiker)
Various feather dusters
Amphipods galore
Pineapple sponge (hitchhiker)

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I love the looks of those Deep Blues. Nice that it has the black silicone too!!! :)

 

You are going to love this pico. I actually think they are more fun than large tanks.

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I love the looks of those Deep Blues. Nice that it has the black silicone too!!! :)

 

You are going to love this pico. I actually think they are more fun than large tanks.

Thanks! I love it so far. It's been a lot of fun to set up. I am having fun with the eggcrate media basket, but damn, superglue can be a huge P.I.A.

 

I'm a little concerned about the water - it hasn't cleared yet (~5 hours) and the top of it seems bubbly/scummy. I'm hesitant to turn on the AC70 because I'm not sure if that will make it worse.

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Thanks! I love it so far. It's been a lot of fun to set up. I am having fun with the eggcrate media basket, but damn, superglue can be a huge P.I.A.

 

I'm a little concerned about the water - it hasn't cleared yet (~5 hours) and the top of it seems bubbly/scummy. I'm hesitant to turn on the AC70 because I'm not sure if that will make it worse.

If you have any of that filter floss that looks like pillow stuffing to put in the AC filter, it will clear it up fast. Otherwise, I bet by tomorrow it will be almost clear. You'll have a fine sand powder on the glass you'll need to wipe off, which will cloud the tank a little bit again. :lol:

 

It will just take a day or two.

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llama roadkill
I had previously bought a 20L to set up, but some things happened and it didn't work out. Today I went to the LFS and picked up a Deep Blue 5.5 gallon, sand, and all the stuff I needed to start up a small pico-nano. I'm not really sure of the categorization for this.

 

The sand is still settling and then I plan on rearranging the rock scape a bit more. I didn't love their rock choices, but I wanted to get my cycle started. My rock arrangement is ok so far, but I plan on doing some more work on it.

 

20131110_175708.jpg

 

Here are my plans:

 

Hardware

Aquaclear 70 (Thanks Veng!) - I am currently making a media basket out of egg crate

Koralia 240 (unsure of this - AC70 has tons of flow right now; also, thanks to Veng, again)

25W Cobalt Heater

Thermometer

 

Lighting

To start: Coral Compulsion 24W 14k Full Spec dimmable

Goal: NanoBox Tide w/ controller

 

Biological Filtration

2 lbs base rock LFS

1.5 lbs live rock LFS

~2 lbs sand (just enough for the bottom of the tank to be covered, ~1/2" thick)

Macro in the display eventually

 

Livestock (in planning)

Corals:

Ricordea

Zoas

Palys

Mushrooms

GSP

Xenia

Frogspawn

 

Fish:

I'm thinking a small clown or a goby.

 

Inverts:

CUC from Reefcleaners

 

omgomgomg

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If you have any of that filter floss that looks like pillow stuffing to put in the AC filter, it will clear it up fast. Otherwise, I bet by tomorrow it will be almost clear. You'll have a fine sand powder on the glass you'll need to wipe off, which will cloud the tank a little bit again. :lol:

 

It will just take a day or two.

I did get a bunch of filter floss... I'll just go ahead and use some.

 

 

Edit: Water is clearing - but I'm afraid the AC70 is too much. I have it on lower flow, but it's still blasting all the sand from the bottom in the front of the tank. I was going to put a koralia 240 in there, too, but I'm not sure it'll be good. I've got to find a way to get the sand to stay put!

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Sooooooo eggcrate media basket - will get the job done, but damn it's ugly! I'll have pictures later. Good thing I don't need it yet - it's going to take a few runs to make it nice.

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I did get a bunch of filter floss... I'll just go ahead and use some.

 

 

Edit: Water is clearing - but I'm afraid the AC70 is too much. I have it on lower flow, but it's still blasting all the sand from the bottom in the front of the tank. I was going to put a koralia 240 in there, too, but I'm not sure it'll be good. I've got to find a way to get the sand to stay put!

 

Buy an ac20 or 30 impeller. Works great to slow the flow down

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Put some of the rock where the filter flow hits the sand. Also, with time the tank will develop bio slime which will hold the sand together. But you still need to buffer against the flow of the filter in a small tank like this.

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Buy an ac20 or 30 impeller. Works great to slow the flow down

I thought about that. We'll see.

 

What kind of sand do you have? If it's fine sand, you'll more than likely never get it to settle.

I got CaribSea Ocean Alive (?). It's pretty fine. I'm not worried about a little sand dancing around the bottom, but the AC70 just blows all of it away so it's bare bottom.

 

Put some of the rock where the filter flow hits the sand. Also, with time the tank will develop bio slime which will hold the sand together. But you still need to buffer against the flow of the filter in a small tank like this.

I've moved one of my small pieces of LR down to see if that helps. It really only does it when I turn the AC70 off and then back on. I've got time to figure it out, so I'm not terribly worried. There's just not a TON of space, so I'm trying to be careful of where I put the rock.

I also don't have enough water, I've realized. I'm a good 1/2 gallon short, I think. I'll grab some water today and mix up some salt and get it all squared away.

 

Here is a cleared up shot:

20131111_072546.jpg

You can see where the sand is getting blasted away. I still have about half of the 5lb bag of sand, I can always add more.

 

I finished up my eggcrate media basket last night, but ended up deciding not to use it. I made a small error and it's too small. The first one was too big (I didn't realize how much room is lost at the bottom of the AC70 versus the top). It's based on StevieT's inTank basket. Eventually I'd love to have one of those, but for now, this is it. I'll be re-making it this afternoon after work to fit a bit better.

20131110_231300.jpg

 

 

Final question for now - how do I keep the sand powder stuff that was in the water and is now in my filter floss from running back INTO the tank when I remove the filter floss? Can it be done or is that why we always put more fresh filter floss back in?

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I don't mind the color, it just looks kind of ghetto. I'm tweaking it now.

 

 

I was thinking of not getting a fish and instead getting a nudi of some kind. Could I do that in this tank or no?

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Final question for now - how do I keep the sand powder stuff that was in the water and is now in my filter floss from running back INTO the tank when I remove the filter floss? Can it be done or is that why we always put more fresh filter floss back in?

Can you just remove the HOB filter totally to a sink, dump used floss into sink, rinse out the filter, and put in new floss????

 

Looks nice and clear now. I love the 2 island scape. :)

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jedimasterben

Nudibranchs all have very specialized diets, most of which we don't know about. The ones we do know only eat aiptasia, or sponges, or particular zoanthids, etc.

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Can you just remove the HOB filter totally to a sink, dump used floss into sink, rinse out the filter, and put in new floss????

 

Looks nice and clear now. I love the 2 island scape. :)

Thanks! And thanks for the idea on the floss. I'll probably try that out.

 

I've added a bit more sand so it's murky again. I figured out the flow issue - I didn't actually have the AC70 down to reduce the flow. I only had it about halfway down, so it was still cranking out water. I've reduced the flow which will allow me to put the koralia 240 in, though I may not even need it. I'm considering moving the AC70 to the right as much as I can to have the flow on the right and then put the koralia to the left? I'm not sure if this will be good or bad.

 

Nudibranchs all have very specialized diets, most of which we don't know about. The ones we do know only eat aiptasia, or sponges, or particular zoanthids, etc.

Yeah, I was just reading about that. Lame. I guess fish are ok ;)

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I don't think I'll even need a powerhead...I have one of the little koralias just in case. Your tank is little larger so you may get away with using one. Those AC filters can really crank out the flow though so you too may not need one.

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I don't think I'll even need a powerhead...I have one of the little koralias just in case. Your tank is little larger so you may get away with using one. Those AC filters can really crank out the flow though so you too may not need one.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I may drop the ac70 flow down and use a koralia so I have great flow without going crazy on the sand.

 

Thoughts on crabs? I like pompoms and emerald, but my hermits from reefcleaners destroyed stuff...

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Pompoms are great! They don't get into any trouble whatsoever. I like emeralds too. Stay away from red mithrax...I've had two and both picked at coral. If you order mithrax crabs, be sure to specify that you want green (emeralds) and no red.

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Pompoms are great! They don't get into any trouble whatsoever. I like emeralds too. Stay away from red mithrax...I've had two and both picked at coral. If you order mithrax crabs, be sure to specify that you want green (emeralds) and no red.

What do you know about porcelains? I'll probably only get one crab, and I'd prefer it to be easy-care, lol.

 

I think I'm going to go with a yellow clown goby and maybe another fish if I can swing it.

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What do you know about porcelains? I'll probably only get one crab, and I'd prefer it to be easy-care, lol.

 

I think I'm going to go with a yellow clown goby and maybe another fish if I can swing it.

I've only had the Caribbean porcelain. Great crab as well. And very entertaining, more so than a pompom. That'd be a good one if you are only planning on one. Although the emerald would work for you, eating nuisance algae. Maybe get one porcelain and one emerald.

 

I was considering a yellow clown goby too. :)

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jedimasterben

Thoughts on crabs? I like pompoms and emerald, but my hermits from reefcleaners destroyed stuff...

This is why I have a fairly strict 'no crabs in the display' rule. I have one hermit crab - the Leviathan, aka an 'electric blue' hermit. He's massive, he carries around a Mexican turbo snail shell like it's nothing. He is only in there because I like big things (and I cannot lie lol), and first sign of trouble, he's easy to grab and smash with a hammer, or to feed to a mantis.

 

 

I think I have a dead Aquaclear pump with a good impeller, I think it was an AC20, if you want it. I'll look for it and let you know. If I don't let you know in the next couple of days, remind me, my memory is absolutely horrific lol

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This is why I have a fairly strict 'no crabs in the display' rule. I have one hermit crab - the Leviathan, aka an 'electric blue' hermit. He's massive, he carries around a Mexican turbo snail shell like it's nothing. He is only in there because I like big things (and I cannot lie lol), and first sign of trouble, he's easy to grab and smash with a hammer, or to feed to a mantis.

 

 

I think I have a dead Aquaclear pump with a good impeller, I think it was an AC20, if you want it. I'll look for it and let you know. If I don't let you know in the next couple of days, remind me, my memory is absolutely horrific lol

Hahaha, thanks. I may use it. So far so good with the massively reduced flow. I've left it today with low flow and I am going to see how the sand ends up over the day and the next few days.

 

 

I'm designing a stand for this tank. Anyone have any ideas on free software to use for 3-D stuff? I know nanotopia uses some cool stuff for her designs, but I think it cost her some $$$$.

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  • Christopher Marks changed the title to tibbsy07 5.5 pico reef

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