T-Town: JBJ 3g Picotope

[toddseimer]

Well it's been a couple of years since I've had a tank and of course I'm getting the itch again. My first tank (about 7 years ago) was a 30g setup with a 10g sump. I can't seem to dig out any old pics but it was lps and sps under an hqi with a few fish. Bought the setup from a friend who taught me everything I know about reef keeping. Enjoyed it but it wasn't the best build, had overflows at times. Moved from Daytona Beach, FL to Columbus, OH and didn't want to bring the setup. Years later I bought a 12g aquapod, made a few mods and loved it. Here are some pics.

Had baby #2 and didn't have the time to care for it anymore so sold it.

 

Well here I am starting a new build and going even smaller. The wife but me on a budget so I'm tring to keep my initial costs under $100. Here's what I've ordered so far.

 

3g JBJ Picotope from Drs.F&S $39

50w heater from Drs F&S $10

AC70 (wasn't planning on buying this now but couldn't beat the price) $8 buy.com

 

Next step: find local LR, sand and pick up a CUC. Thinking of going the Nutri Seawater route and just heating it up when I need to do a water change.

 

Coral:

zoas

shrooms

xenia or gsp (if lighting permits) or frogspawn if lighting permits)

ricordia

 

inverts:

sexy shrimp (only ever had peppermint and cleaners)

featherduster(s)

 

fish:

no idea yet and this will be the absolute last thing I add

maybe clownfish or firefish or jawfish?

 

plan on turning the ac70 into a cheato fuge with light in a month or two

 

would love any advice

 

[Lalani]

 

Welcome back!

Nice start, it looks good, but on the fish.. I wouldn't put anything bigger than a small goby in a 3gal. Take a look at this guide:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/74703-lgreens-ultimate-guide-to-nano-fish/

[gena]

Yay, another picotope! Looking forward to following along.

[toddseimer]

Well last week the pico came and I was able to pick up some rock and sand from a local reefer. My initial reaction to the picotope setup was Wow! All this for 50 bucks! Granted there are always more things needed to start reef keeping but the lamp seems great for the price, the glass aquarium is beautiful and the hob filter, well that's the weak link imo. It's noisy, slow and too small to fit much in. So I ordered an ac70 for 1.99$, that's right $1.99. Until it arrived and it was just a foam filter and the seller tried to say the listing was incorrect. Good news is that Rakuten.com and Google Trusted Stores made things right and reimbursed me the remainder to buy the ac70 on rakuten for just 1.99. Alright so back to the tank. I got a bunch of lr, sand and enough water to start the cycle for $25. The rock is beautiful, full of sponges, coraline and even had a cabbage coral on it.

Haven't scaped it yet, he gave me probably 10lbs of rock, which actually all fit in the tank and then I took out about 4lbs and we'll see if I can make whats in there work with a scape in the next week or so.

[toddseimer]

Tried to attach images earlier but didn't have the right url so here they are.

So of course I'm only in the cycle stage and I was hoping to reduce it and things were going great until yesterday. So after about 5 days I took my water in to my LFS and had them test my parameters. Everything looked great but my nitrates were just above 0 so still cycling but a very mild die off it seemed. My salinity was super low though 1.016. I used the water that they local reefer I bought the rock from gave me in the bucket. So I added some salt directly to the HOB and checked. I added 1/4 cup and it didn't bring it up much but I also added more RO water to bring my water level off. Well, of course in the morning after the salt had completely dissolved it was all the way up to 1.030! So I took water out and added RO and it was back to 1.023. The cabbage coral isn't looking hot and a few tiny star fish are dead. Not a huge deal since I'm cycling anyways and didn't expect anything to really survive but still a stupid mistake. I knew I was playing with fire but went for the short-cut. Lesson learned.

I know I'm a ways off from adding livestock but what are everyones thoughts on a pair of perculas? I know 10g is recommended but plenty of people on here a clown in the 3g's so my question is will 2 be way to cramped, I'm not worried about the bio load that much.

[Chadf]

T-town as in Toledo?

[toddseimer]

sorry, not as in Toledo, I'm in Columbus. So finally got things a little more ready. Got in my ac70, modified it and got it up and running. One little hiccup though, cut the wrong side of the intake tube, doh! Works for now without a lid but ordered a new one. Another hiccup is that my salinity has been bonkers. Went to the LFS to have them test my water and everything was peachy, except my salinity was low. I added salt directly to the tank and next thing I knew it was up to abut 1.030! Diluted things the next day when i caught it and got it back around 1.025. A week of evaporation put it back up around 1.028! Gonna have to keep on that a little more. But now my salinity is where it needs to be and I arranged my scape so that I'm happy with it. I think I might have killed off my cabbage coral (oh well) and some small stars in the tank. Thought it was going to be a quick cycle but think I'm gonna be another 2 weeks or so with this incident.

[toddseimer]

Just curious if the stock light is enough for a torch coral and gsp?

[starrlamia]

looks great! jealous that you found the AC70 for so cheap!