TaterTot24 Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 <~~~ My Office Inspiration Tank and Attempt to Get Back into Saltwater Aquariums ~~~> FTS: 02/25/15 - Missing Firefish FTS: 02/20/15 - Finally rid of the algae FTS: 04/09/14 - Added some Zoa and Palyps FTS: 03/27/14 - Moved some stuff around FTS: 02/20/14 - Added some Euphyllia Coral FTS: 01/07/14 - Just Installed Nanobox Light Current Status: Just finished an almost 6 month battle with Hair Algae (hence no recent pics). Tank: Pico Aquariums PicO III (18"Lx18"Wx16"H ~20 gallons) Light: NanoBox DuoBox (Gloss & Flat Black) Light Mount: Lowes EMT 1/2" Conduit & Misc. Parts Stand: Oceanic BioCube 29 Stand & Mr.Aqua 18" Foam Mat Dead Rock: CeramEco VidaRock Branch & Bonsai Substrate: CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand Skimmer: Tunze Comline Doc 9004 Reactor: Two Little Fishies PhosBan Reactor 150 (GFO & Carbon mixed) Power Head: EcoTech Marine Vortech MP10 & Pico Aquariums MP10 Shallow Shield ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 Auto Top Off Salt: Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Filtration: Filter Floss / Seachem Purigen / Boyd Chemi-Pure Elite Heater: Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 100W Heater Controller: Neptune Systems Apex Lite Controller Magnet Cleaner: Mag-Float Medium Cleaner (too big) & 2 Little Fishies Nano Mag Test Kits: Red Sea Marine Care & Reef Foundation Test Kit RO/DI: Spectra Pure Refurbished 90-GPD RO/DI System & Auto Shut Off Fishless Cycle: Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria & Ace Hardware Ammonia -------------------------------------------------------------- Log: 10/08/13 - Ordered Tank 11/15/13 - Ordered Light 11/20/13 - Received Tank 11/25/13 - Arranged Dry Rock & Began Equipment Setup 11/27/13 - Began Leak Testing Tank & Added Substrate 12/03/13 - Added Dr. Tim's & Ammonia - Cycle Started 12/10/13 - Ammonia is in between 1.2 & 2 ppm 12/12/13 - Ammonia is in between .2 & .4 ppm & Nitrites are 1 ppm 12/16/13 - Ammonia & Nitrites are both 0 ppm. Added more Ammonia 12/18/13 - Ammonia is in between 0 & .2 ppm & Nitrites are .8 ppm 12/20/13 - Ammonia & Nitrites are both 0 ppm. Added more Ammonia. 12/23/13 - Ammonia & Nitrites are both 0 ppm. Added more Ammonia. 12/24/13 - Ammonia is in between 1.8 & Nitrites are .8 ppm 12/26/13 - Ammonia & Nitrites are both ALMOST 0 ppm. Added more Ammonia. 01/01/14 - Ammonia & Nitrites are both 0 ppm. Added more Ammonia. 01/02/14 - Received NanoBox Duo Light. 01/07/14 - Installed NanoBox Light. Ammonia & Nitrites are both 0 ppm. Added more Ammonia. 01/09/14 - Ammonia & Nitrites are both 0 ppm. 01/10/14 - Nitrates are close to 50 ppm. Did a 4 gallon water change (20%). 01/13/14 - Nitrates are close to 20 ppm. Did a 4 gallon water change (20%). 01/15/14 - Added Purigen & ChemiPure to the media rack. 01/16/14 - Added Hi Fin Goby and Randalls Pistol Shrimp from Memfish. 01/22/14 - Added 3 Zoanthids frags from Saltcritters. 01/29/14 - One Zoanthid died and had to be removed from the tank. 01/29/14 - Added a Tail Spot Blenny & Skunk Cleaner Shrimp from Memfish. 01/31/14 - Added 2 Acans, a Duncan, and a Ricordea Florida from Saltcritters. 02/04/14 - Added the CUC (Dwarf Ceriths, Nassarius Vibex, Florida Cerith, & Nerite Snails) from ReefCleaners. 02/12/14 - Skunk Cleaner Shrimp died and was removed from the tank. 02/06/14 - Added an Orange Ocellaris and a Black & White Ocellaris Clownfish from Memfish. 02/18/14 - Added Hammer, Torch, and Frogspawn coral (Euphyllia) from a local reefer. 02/26/14 - Added Angle Eyes Chalice, Toxic Pools Favia, Christmas War Coral, and 3 Rainbow Ricordera Florida from PEA. 03/22/14 - Changed Purigen & ChemiPure in the media rack. 04/01/14 - Added Kryptonite Candy Cane & Brick Red Montipora from a local reefer. 04/09/14 - Added some more Zoa's and 2 more Acans from Saltcritters. 04/11/14 - Added a Zoa Pack from Coral Gardens Aquaculture. 04/18/14 - Added a TLF Phosban 150 reactor with GFO to try and help with phosphates. 04/22/14 - Added 3 different Montipora and a Birdsnest from a local reefer. 04/26/14 - Added another Birdsnest from a local reefer. 06/16/14 - Added 2 Hammers and a Acro from AquaSD. 07/28/14 - Started adding 1 tbsp per gallon of Kalkwasser to ATO. 08/05/14 - Added 2 peppermint shrimp from Memfish. 09/17/14 - 3 of my Acans and my Favia are all dead. I think it was the peppermint shrimp. 10/15/14 - Found one of the Peppermint shrimp dead today. 01/25/15 - Started running Carbon & GFO in the reactor. 01/31/15 - Ordered new CUC from ReefCleaners (Dwarf Cowrie, Trochus Snails, Nassarius Vibex, Emerald Crab, Florida Cerith, & Assorted Hermits) 02/2/15 - Found my Peppermint Shrimp dead today (probably from eating some of the CUC). 02/10/15 - ALL of my algae is GONE!!! Thanks to the CUC 02/12/15 - My Black&White Clownfish jumped out of the tank and died. 02/20/15 - Added a Purple Firefish from Memfish. 03/10/15 - Added Red Prism Acan, Blue Haze Chalice, Blueberry Jam Mille, Sweet Pinky Stylo, Aussie Red Shortcake, & Aussie Gold Torch from AquaSD. 03/12/15 - Apparently the Torch was DOA. 03/13/15 - Firefish has been missing for 2 weeks. Link to comment
TheKleinReef Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 well. this is awesome already can't wait to see this develop! Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Where do you work where they let you have an aquarium? Link to comment
DAS212 Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 Have you added water yet?!? Lets see some pics!! Link to comment
DaveFason Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 Should have a teaser this week and shipping mid next week! Great start and the rock work is killer. -Dave Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 That rock Scape is gonna be INSANE!! Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 3, 2013 Author Share Posted December 3, 2013 Where do you work where they let you have an aquarium? I work at a family owned business, where I am a manager. It has its pros and cons (trust me)... Thanks for everyone's compliments! There is water in the tank, but I did not get to start the cycle today like I wanted .... Came back to the office today with paper work completely covering my desk (from the holiday) and was out of the office half the day doing other work related stuff... I am still trying to figure out some equipment placement. I had my heater in chamber #3 with the return pump, but it did not seem like it was properly heating the tank. The water in chamber 3 was 10-15 degrees different than the rest of the tank. So I guess it needs to go somewhere else. I also tried to put my 9004 skimmer in chamber 1, but apparently it needs to turn sideways to fit (putting the unsightly magnets on the left side of the tank) and effectively making the rest of chamber 1 useless. Now I just need to figure out where to put this stupid heater... I really did not want to fully submerege it because I was kind of using it as a tank thermometer as well... Where are you putting your heater, ATO, skimmer, etc ?? I tried to take a picture of the tank today, but I was shifting some sand around for a somewhat even coverage and made the tank cloudy again, so it will have to wait till tomorrow.... Link to comment
Kellie in CA Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 I was planning on putting the heater in chamber 1, but I'm not planning on running a skimmer (at least initially). My ATO will go in chamber 3. I think the PicO website gives a guideline of what should go in what chamber (in the written product descriptions), but unfortunately the site is down right now. Link to comment
skyscraper2290 Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Looking good! Your initial post is so organized, making me think I have to go and edit mine haha. Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 I just added the Dr. Tim's and the Ammonia (up to 4 ppm) today. There was no ammonia present before, so I guess today is the first day of the cycle. Here is a crappy FTS <-- Notice I added the sand AFTER I already had the rock in place so it covered up some of the rock detail at the bottom. Do you think I should pull the rock up over the sand?? Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 since u have the height, u should pull the rocks up to fill up more of the vertical space of the tank Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 since u have the height, u should pull the rocks up to fill up more of the vertical space of the tank Is there any danger to the yasha goby or pistol shrimp with the rocks being on top of the sand? I would hate for a rock to shift/move and crush someone... Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 5, 2013 Author Share Posted December 5, 2013 Well I decided to pull my rock up on top of the sand. It looks much better IMO... I did the math yesterday and figured that I needed to dose about 3ml of Ammonia (10% strength) to get my tank up to 4ppm... What I did not realize is that my Red Sea Test kit only goes up to 2ppm. Now I am scared that I have the ammonia too high because the test result is almost a solid blue... I don't want to kill the Dr. Tim's bacteria, so do you guys think I should do a water change or just leave it? Link to comment
DAS212 Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 More pics!! Lol love this setup Link to comment
1.0reef Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Well I decided to pull my rock up on top of the sand. It looks much better IMO... I did the math yesterday and figured that I needed to dose about 3ml of Ammonia (10% strength) to get my tank up to 4ppm... What I did not realize is that my Red Sea Test kit only goes up to 2ppm. Now I am scared that I have the ammonia too high because the test result is almost a solid blue... I don't want to kill the Dr. Tim's bacteria, so do you guys think I should do a water change or just leave it? If the pistol burrows under the rock it may come crashing down.... Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 If the pistol burrows under the rock it may come crashing down.... I think I have it adjusted where no matter where it burrows, nothing can come crashing down.... I kind of did a half-buried thing on certain areas... Anyway, I just added another FTS -- but it is with my crappy cell phone (I actually have a DSLR, but I keep forgetting to bring it to the office). I am still very concerned about the ammonia being off the chart and it does not appeared to come down any in the past 4 days. My RedSea test kit says to wait 15 minutes before reading the ammonia results, but the longer I wait the darker the results are. At 15 minutes exactly, I would guess it is around 4 ppm but at 20 minutes it is a solid blue color.... Sorry to sound like a noob, but am I to understand that the results are only valid at exactly the 15 minute mark? Also, at what point do I just assume I have killed all the Dr.Tim's bacteria and start all over again? Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 My RedSea test kit says to wait 15 minutes before reading the ammonia results, but the longer I wait the darker the results are. At 15 minutes exactly, I would guess it is around 4 ppm but at 20 minutes it is a solid blue color.... Sorry to sound like a noob, but am I to understand that the results are only valid at exactly the 15 minute mark? I guess I am just going to assume that the ammonia test results are only valid at exactly the 15 minute remark... If I make that assumption, then today my ammonia is somewhere between 1.2 & 2 ppm. So hopefully that means I do have some nitrifying bacteria still alive in there after all... I just posted a side view of my tank in the 1st post -- anyone have any opinions on my MP10 placement? In a side note, I am really amazed how much water my ATO uses per day. I am glad I decided to go with a container that can hold about 6 gallons... Link to comment
skyscraper2290 Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I guess I am just going to assume that the ammonia test results are only valid at exactly the 15 minute remark... If I make that assumption, then today my ammonia is somewhere between 1.2 & 2 ppm. So hopefully that means I do have some nitrifying bacteria still alive in there after all... I just posted a side view of my tank in the 1st post -- anyone have any opinions on my MP10 placement? In a side note, I am really amazed how much water my ATO uses per day. I am glad I decided to go with a container that can hold about 6 gallons... I am going by that assumption as well and set up a timer for it as well. Do you not have a lid on your tank? I have the glass lid and on mine and haven't even bothered setting up my ATO yet because just topping off manually has been so easy so to this point. Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 I am going by that assumption as well and set up a timer for it as well. Do you not have a lid on your tank? I have the glass lid and on mine and haven't even bothered setting up my ATO yet because just topping off manually has been so easy so to this point. No lid, just the "LifeNet"... I am not exactly sure yet how much water it has used, it was just more than I thought it would be.... This Saturday will be a week since I have had my ATO hooked up and I will try to calculate how much water was used during that time. I have a question for you (and other PicO owners) -- At what level are you keeping water in your 3rd chamber? I know it is suppose to be "below" the edge of the baffle of the 2 chamber, but how far below?? Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 is your lifenet flush against the top of the tank? Mine is not flush and it drives me crazy...i stopped using it. Link to comment
gqlmao Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Great aquascape! I That would be perfect for SPS. Link to comment
Passaggper Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 No lid, just the "LifeNet"... I am not exactly sure yet how much water it has used, it was just more than I thought it would be.... This Saturday will be a week since I have had my ATO hooked up and I will try to calculate how much water was used during that time. I have a question for you (and other PicO owners) -- At what level are you keeping water in your 3rd chamber? I know it is suppose to be "below" the edge of the baffle of the 2 chamber, but how far below?? I don't think it matters all that much as long as the pump is covered. Link to comment
skyscraper2290 Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I have a question for you (and other PicO owners) -- At what level are you keeping water in your 3rd chamber? I know it is suppose to be "below" the edge of the baffle of the 2 chamber, but how far below?? I keep it right below those small holes on the refugium basket. Link to comment
TaterTot24 Posted December 12, 2013 Author Share Posted December 12, 2013 is your lifenet flush against the top of the tank? Mine is not flush and it drives me crazy...i stopped using it. Mine seems to be a little bowed on both ends, but also the screen is not lined up 100% correctly, so there is 1 place that droops a little. I may be able to fix it if the screen was cut correctly (you can see it in the back center, but for now it is towards the back of the tank anyway). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just to keep this thread interesting, here is a pic of my latest ammonia test... Looks like my ammonia is down to about 0.3 ppm! At the beginning of this week I turned my heater up to 82 (from 79ish) and I really think that has helped to make the bacteria grow/expand (at least that is what I am telling myself) Also just did a quick Nitrite test and it was about 1 ppm, so looks like I still have a little while to wait to build up the "Nitrobacter" bacteria... Link to comment
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