1.77 gal pico log

[afromage5000]

Here are a few pics of my preparations for this small crab and shrimp tank I am building. This is my first salt tank so bring on the comment!

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium003.jpg
My sandbed almost ready for water!!

is it deep enough? (about 2 1/2 inches)

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium002.jpg
My 2-3 lbs live rock curing in a bucket. I have scrubbed and done a 100% water change afterwards twice this week

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium001.jpg
My 10 watt PC 50/50 fixture

Would this be enough for a couple corals if i ever get there?

Bring on the suggestions!![

[TonyGee29]

thats plenty deep enough for it

what filtration do you have in it?

[afromage5000]

for filter i just have the live rock you see above and a power head from one of those "zen" fountains you see at sharper image and stuff. I emptied a 1 gallon bucket in about minute so i think it has enough flow. i have a tiny bubble colomn filter that i could run carbon in if necesary.

[theop]

That looks like a cool idea for a tank. I would imagine you could keep some zoas, polyps, and shrooms in there with no problems. Be careful with anything that is known to put chemicals in the water (e.g. lobophyton aka devil's hand leather) or has sweeper tentacles (many LPS).

My main concern is that this is your first tank. The smaller the tank, the more difficult (because you don't have alot of room for error). While just having inverts will simplify things greatly, you still need to be extra-diligent with water parameters: temp stablility, pH, alk, salinity, and nitrates. However, it would be easy enough to just do a 50% water change every week, which should reduce what you need to worry about to temp stablility and salinity changes (from evaporation).

That seems like an awful lot of sand. Unless you are trying to crease a DSB (in which case it doesn't look deep enough), I'd put about 1" of sand as a substrate.

Are you planning on heating the tank?

Remember that you will need to feed your shrimp/crabs.

[afromage5000]

yeah it does seem a little risky as a first tank but im taking it slow and keeping it as simple as possible. I plan on weekly water changes at the least and daily top off as necesary. I wasnt planning on heating because when i had this tank set up fw it stayed around 74 but i have seen a micro heater if i need it. I was planning on doing a DSB is that necesary? What are some good crab foods?

[theop]

I have never kept a DSB, so I am not the person to ask. I usually read that you need really really fine sand and that you need at least 4" of unstirred substrate. The purpose of a DSB is denitrification, which you should be able to accomplish easily with your live rock, especially since you won't have any fish.

Crabs will eat the same things as shrimp: anything (any flake or frozen food).

[afromage5000]

Update

The live rock has cured for a week and i moved it into the tank. I added 2 more lbs of sand to create a better DSB but lost some when i rinsed it. Im not sure if i like the sand, it took a whole 24 hrs for the water to clear and it is coating everything including the acrylic but i wont change it just yet. I broke one of the LR peices so now i have 3 chunks to work with. What do you think? Gotta get a cocktail shrimp to help the cycle but there is still a little die-off still which will get those bacteria going soon.

Pics
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium026.jpg
front

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium028.jpg
from the top

that sand is on everything! I wish crushed coral came in less than 10 lb bags.

[ShY]

Are you using RO water if not you may run into some algea problems. This is a big mistake that i made on my first tank just trying to save you a headache later on. Looks great so far. Goodluck in this wonderfull hobby.

[afromage5000]

i am NOt using RO water GASP!!! I made this choice because I tried to work out an easy, affordable way to get it and in my opinion there isnt one. I may switch later but for now I'll take my chances. And when I switch you all can say "I told you so!"" haha!

[ShY]

You are right there really isn't an "affordable way" to get it. The BEST way is to just bite the bullet and spend $150 to have purified water from an RO system. You could buy it from a LFS if they use it or a local supermarket but i wouldn't trust that water.

[afromage5000]

Still thinking about ti but its tap for now. Im done with this SAND! I went to gently brush off the rock and it clouded the whole tank again. I gotta fix this now before its too late but its going to involve mixing and wasting a bunch of saltwater and by the time im done my rock wont have anything left ALIVE! :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: Well, live and learn i guess. Ill have to get the 10lbs of crushed coral and just save the extra for my next tank!

[Jordan55]

You are always going to have a sand storm when adding new sand to a tank. It just depends on well you rinse it. I have rinsed sand for 15+ minutes before and still have had a dust cloud. I must say, you have A LOT of sand in that little tank.

You could try shutting off the pump to the tank as long as you don't have anything living in there. Let it settle for about a day.

It will take a few days for it settle completely. Also, if you are running a hang on the back filter, you can run some carbon and sponges to help collect the sand that is floating in the water.

Also, inverts are very fragile creatures. Crabs and shrimp being one of them, you may want to get some RO water. Wit hthe tap water, you are getting a lo of metals and unwanted nutrients. In such a small tank, it is possible to kill off everything.

Just go to your local grocery store and see if they have a unit. With a 2 gallon tank, you could pick up like 3 gallons. That should last you on top off and a water change for atleast week.

[afromage5000]

Ive decided to go get some crushed coral and im looking into the availabitity of RO water at my grocery store. I trashed the sand, a dsb is probably not necesary in this tank and may have not even worked given the small space.

[afromage5000]

So here it is with the new crushed coral. I've heard that this could cause Ph swings but this didnt seem right since it is well buffered. Is this true? I got low nitrate and nitrite readings which may indicate that there isnt enough ammonia present to start teh cycle but we'll see what i get tommorow.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium029.jpg

[oddiseus]

I have used crushed coral with no detectable pH shifts, so you should be ok. Let me tell you from experience that I went from RO to tap during a move and destroyed a 3 yr old tank. It was a sad thing and now I will never run SW without an RO or RO/DI unit. You can get a good one from Marine Depot and it is definitely worth the money, and the wait if thats the case. I suppose you could go with distilled water until you can afford an RO unit, but I wouldn't skip out on it, especially on such a small tank. Good Luck.
-Odd

[theop]

While RO/DI is certainly the best, I can understand that it is going to be hard to swallow that ~$200 it costs to get a good unit when you are dealing with such a small tank.

You may want to consider this Tap Water Purifier (http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441782204) which is a DI / carbon unit. Unless your water is super-hard, it should last you ~60 gallons and the replacement cartridges are less than $20. I had one of these from my FW days and added it to a bare bones RO unit to make a cheap RO/DI unit.

[fishbabies]

Hello afromage5000.

I have two 1.75 gallon tanks. My sandbeds are 1"-1.5" with a nassarius snail. that works for me. I would get a filter with carbon just in case any foreign substance from your hands or from whatever gets in such a small tank. This one is only $6 and has flow control. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9821&N=2004+22769

here's a small heater that looks sleek and is about the size of a Sharpie Pen. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13966&N=2004+113767

you may want to upgrade the lighting as 10w 50/50 is kinda low. 10w 10,000k is higher if you want to avoid any DIY. i use this light, 18w 50/50 and you might be able to take it apart and fit it into your hood. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11382&N=2004+113345

i find pico tanks easy cuz you can do major algea cleaning with a toothbrush....and water changes amount to about 1/4 gallon. you should get forceps to work on a tank this size as you hands can displace a lot of water when you reach into the tank. you do want to use RO or distilled water as algea problems from tap can overwhelmsmall tanks in a single day as opposed to weeks for a larger tank. It takes me about a month to go thru 1 gallon of Distilled water per tank.

I have been able to keep mushrooms, zoos, candycane, pipe organ, brain, sun, ricordia, and xenia corals successfully in my small tanks, but i do have slightly more lighting. with just shrimps and crabs your water perameters should be good....pay close attention to the health of snails ... if they perish they can easily pollute the tank....nassarius snails are hardy and will consume anything the moment it dies.

[Pico Keeper]

My first SW tank was a 1.6g hex as well.

My experience: stick with the 10w 50/50 unless you can find something absolutely better, the 18w doesn't fit the good. Use an ACmini powerfilter, I used it to hide my 25w mini heater, my carbon and purigen, some minor modification is required to the top tank trim. This tank was actually more stable than my 5.5 gallon pico. I never had any probs maintaining salinity or temperature. Here is a pic of mine and a pic showing how the acmini fits. You have to notch the trim and use the canopy backwards to make it fit.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/maxboost01/DSC00628.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/maxboost01/IMG_0027.jpg

[dime079]

nice tank pico, makes those zoos look bigger than normal :) how much was your start up on that tank? thinking about a 'nightstand' nano for the bedroom.

[afromage5000]

wow, its cool to see a successful tank that is literally identicle to mine. i have a little internal wisper filter that i might use. I got some good nitrite readings today so the cycle has begun it seems. temp seems to be staying ok. What about a britta pitcher would that be clean enough for water changes etc?

[afromage5000]

oh and thnx for the equipment links!!

[fishbabies]

u r welcome! if an RO kit is out or your price range (like me), I would go with distilled from a good company....Sparkletts as opposed to 99c store. I have had inconsistent experiences with RO machines outside supermarkets (like Glacier) and cheap distilled...apparently there is more than one type of distilled water. Algea is going to be your worst enemy and your nutrient levels are going to be a little higher (even without fish) since your water volume vs live rock/sand inhabitants that create that biological equilibrium will more often be in flux. This creates the perfect environment for algea. A Brita won't remove the phosphates and silicates from which algea feed. With a pico, since hands are so big compared to the water volume, and because the rock is often so close to the glass, it is more difficult to keep the glass clean if an algea break out starts (acrylic is even more difficult)...my magnet scrapers can't fit in most of my tank since the rock is about 1/2 inches from the glass in places. Preventing bad algea from the start with home RO or "trusted" distilled will really help

[Pico Keeper]

Just use Distilled water from the store.

You gotta remember this is a 1.6 gallon tank. Top-off is barely anything. Even filling it the first time is nothing. This hex cost me about 45 bux to get running.

Light Bulb - $12.50
AC20 Filter - $15.00
Rock - $10.00
Sand - $5.00
Finnex 25w Heater - $15.00
Coralife Thermometer - $10
Total - Just under $70

The rock I bought at the LFS had a ricordea, and red shroom on it. I bought the kenya for $5 added the cleaner shrimp $12, and the clean-up crew the LFS wouldnt charge me cus they were too lazy to get up and use the register.

That's it.

Buy a nimble nano to clean the acrylic. That crushed coral sucks for substrate, use some argonite. I used cured rock and sand and never had a cycle. Algae also never appeared, and i mean never. No algae at all in this tank. I believe this is due to using distilled water which is even cleaner then RODI water.




With just shrooms and zoos and the like in the tank, there is barely any maintenace. Water change is only a cup..haha. And besides that I barely ever touched the thing.

[Pico Keeper]

Also DSB's dont work in tiny tanks, so I would go with about an inch of argonite. With more than an inch of Crushed coral your just asking for problems in the future.

SSB of fiji argo is cheap, natural looking, and safe.

[afromage5000]

AAAhhh if i change now that will be the third substrate in a week haha!! We'll see. Redid the rock to have a better cave and hide the power head and filter a little bit. Thats the smallest wisper on the market. I've heard that regular filters are nitrate factories in saltwater; would frequent media changes remedy this? Heres the pics.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium031.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium032.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium033.jpg

[afromage5000]

late night veiwing revealed a pod racing around the big rock on the right and something that looks like a polyp (i wish it were but i doubt it) waving on the back of the same rock. Ill try to get pics so you veterans can ID them for me.

[afromage5000]

got home from a weekend in Michigan to find warm tanks but i have fans going to cool them slowly and everyone looks ok. Lesson learned. My pico seems to have cycled, showing low nitrate and no nitrite but i will give it another few days to be sure. I'll update with pics when i finally get some living things! Oh and grewat news! One of my good freinds is starting a large tank in FL where he goes to school and he has a brother in law in the hobby who is helping him out. He is going to send me some small frags when im ready for them!

[philagothos]

Just a thought, but Cleveland has a good club, why not just ask someone in the club for some RO/DI water? A gallon or two would easily last you a month, and you would know that you were using good clean water.

[Pico Keeper]

or spend 0.99 for distilled water. You guys are talking about how to top off a 1.6 gallon tank... HAHA who cares, go to the store and get a gallon of distilled it will cost you $12 a year to fill it.

As for the power filter being a nitrate factory. That's totally untrue. Besides the fact that you probably shouldn't even use any media in a tank so small. I filled it with some floss just to mechanically remove particulates from the water. And occasionally used some carbon.

[philagothos]

I wonder how pure distilled water really is? I know that RODI water will leach things out of plastic containers over a period of time, I wonder of this it true of distilled water. Perhaps it is typically fresh enough that it is still totally pure when you buy it, I just don't know. Maybe I'll spend an extra $0.99 and get a jug tonight and check the TDS on it. I know that RODI water that tests at 0 when it's made can get up in the teens over a period of a month.

[Pico Keeper]

I've tested both distilled water from my RODI at home, and the distilled I use where ive been staying for the past year. Both have always been 0 TDS.

[philagothos]

The RO unit at my local grocery store usually tests around 4. I'm calling that close enough until I can get my RODI plumbed. I just moved and now it will have to be setup very differently. I think my DI resin might need changed though, because it typically tested around 3 before I moved. For now I use $0.33/gallon RO water with a TDS of 4, no problems yet. Though I must admit, I'm curious what those 4 little particles are that are running around my tank.

I guess the moral of the story is: anything is better than tap water.

[philagothos]

Hmm... grocery store RO is up to 6 on the TDS meter. I forgot to get the distilled water so I could test it. Still a lot better than the 160 coming out of the tap.

It does point out something important about using grocery store RO; make sure you test the TDS before using. They are not concerned about it being perfectly pure and it will vary, depending on how long it's been since they changed their RO membranes. I'm topping off about a gallon a day, so my weekly savings is a whopping $4.66. I'm also adding 4-6 ppm of unknown stuff with each gallon. It might be worth the peace of mind to just use distilled, especially for such a small tank.

[theop]

4-6 ppm for a RO-only unit isn't bad. Membranes usually have about a 95-99% rejection rate depending on how good it is. From 160 to 6 is 96% rejection. It's the DI that you need to get the TDS down to zero.

Distilled should read 0 TDS. I don't know about the leeching from the bottle, but I'd imagine it wouldn't affect the TDS.

[Pico Keeper]

I wasn't talking about a filter at a store. I'm talking about bottled distilled water. You pay .99 for a brand name, or .79 for store brand (cvs, publix, walgreens, w/e)... i've never tested any solids in either.

Distilled is not the same as RO/DI.

[philagothos]

Distilled is not the same as RO/DI as far as the process goes, but ideally both result in the same pure dihydrogen oxide.

I know from experience that pure water will pull stuff effecting the TDS from most plastic storage containers, it's just a matter of time. Food grade plastics take longer and thus are the recommended water storage tanks. My guess is that a bottle of distilled that has sat on the shelves for a year would have a measurable amount of TDS, but I don't know what the leaching rate is of food grade plastics.

Maybe someone with too much time on their hands can buy twelve bottles of distilled water and open one each month to measure the TDS and chart the leaching rate. I don't have that kind of time, nor the desire.

Anyhow, for the purpose of this thread, one gallon jugs of distilled water would likely be the best solution.

[Pico Keeper]

Hmm, I may be able to help test that. I know that at my parents house there is distilled water in the garage that was saved there since last hurricane season. So its about a year old this month. Let me see if I can swing by there with the TDS meter and see if I can pick up and dissolved solids in the water. I didnt know plastic could leech like that.

[afromage5000]

I think i am going to go with grocery store RO water. It looks like i may be getting some free frags so i decided i t was necesary. I beleive the cycle is over with low nitrate and 9 nitrite when i tested. I got a digital thermometer and it has hovered at 75 thanks to teh new fan i put in to cool the light. I run the fan from a 9volt battery or a 4.5 volt power source. The fan has l.e.d lights in it so as long as the overnight temp isnt to low i'll use them as moonlights. Here are the pics.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium034.jpg
i cut away a cm off the back of the lid to accomedate cords and tubing using a heated butterknife.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium035.jpg
the new fan with vent carved with butterknife

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium036.jpg
new digital temp

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium037.jpg
fan from the inside

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium040.jpg
the fan l.e.d as moonlight

PLanning a water change tomorrow with RO, and im getting a first inhabitant, probably a snail and a hermit

[philagothos]

If you have any nitrite your cycle is not complete. That's not a guarantee that anything put in there will die, but you will be taking a chance. Your nitrites will go to 0 when the cycle is totally complete. Other than that everything looks good.

[afromage5000]

ok well i am continuing to test every day and will stock slowly. Clean up crew coming soon!

[Pico Keeper]

After your nitrites are zero and you only have nitrate you shouldn't really start stocking. I would wait til after the first water change and then run the tank at full temp and photoperiod until you see a diatom/algae bloom. At that point I would add the clean-up crew to clean up the algae. Added a clean-up to a tank that has not even begun to grow algae might kill the CC.

That fan is cool, dual purpose! just make sure its not too bright when you get corals cus sometimes they dont close up at night with a bright moonlight in a small tank.

[afromage5000]

testing showed zero nitrate yesterday so i went ahead and got a small hermit and a turbo snail. There is plenty of stuff on the rock for them to snack on and a thin film of algae is forming on the glass so i think they will be happy. I of course did a hefty water change and checked specific gravity before adding them. With the fan running 24hrs the day temp hovers within half a degree of 79 and at night hovers near 77. I floated the bag for about 45 minutes and then added a teaspoon of my water every 5 minutes for an hour. They seem to be doing great. Here they are!

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium042.jpg
the turbo snail

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/Aquarium045.jpg
the hermit, only about 3/4 in long

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/aquarium018.jpg
full tank

[Steven0000]

looks good

[fishes2889]

Looks very good. But why is your water level so low?

[amazonlover]

hey pico keeper would you recomend a poweer head for a 1.6 hex bacause im looking at this thread for info on mine which im setting up within this week i already have the side filter which is good all the is, is the other stuff and the tank but ur ot useing a power head... would you say its not needed??

[fishes2889]

wouldnt the filter be enough. Its only about a gallon and a half.

[afromage5000]

there is a little fill line on one side of the hex so i just keep it there. That way i can easily see when i need to top off and if i need to fill my hydrometer or put my hands in it wont overflow. Oh yeah, and my filter needs that level to operate properly.

[afromage5000]

hey amazon,

heres a link for a nice pico pump.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4601&N=2004+113040

the small model can get down to 32gph which would be perfect for a tank like mine or picokeeper's. Cheap too.

[afromage5000]

heres another one
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=14665&N=2004+113040

[Pico Keeper]

No powerhead. Definately not necessary. I used an Aqua Clean Mini and it worked wonderful.

At full power it's 100gph/1.6gallons = 62.5 turnover.
With the filter on low (where I kept it) its 33gph/1.6gallons = 20x turnover which is perfect for soft corals.

Powerheads (even the smallest ones) stick out like a sore thumb in that tiny tank, i tried it for a while.

[afromage5000]

yeah mine is pretty strong. probably near 60 gph at the high setting. Is that too strong for zoos?

[Pico Keeper]

It could work. But it does kill space. The little powerhead squirting 60gph really moves around the water in that tiny tank, but 60gph thru a powerfilter its not as intense. Zoos can deal with almost anything you throw at them..

That's why is use the ac20 instead of the ph, plus it holds a little more water and i can add macro, rubble, media, and hide a thermometer probe and heater.

[afromage5000]

those are serious benefits, can u post a link to that product?

[afromage5000]

found an old HOB wisper which could work on this tank with some adjustments so im debating whether to make the switch. My ph is a little low, around 7.9. My buffering capacity seems to drop when my tank gets any higher than 79.5 degrees. What is the best additive to fix this, or do i need to change something in my setup?

[Pico Keeper]

Here's one for only 12 bucks. The only mods to fit it will be making 2 small notches on the top trim, besides that it fits perfectly.


http://www.aquariumguys.com/aquaclear4.html

Here's a pic I took the day I finally got rid of the ph, and started using the pf..

[brandon429]

Hi there. I wanted to chime in on this thread-the start of this pico looks great and I wanted to call a few rounds that I know will help you keep it long term in terms of waste handling stability.

Anything that has surface area that is not cleaned regularly and flushed of debris and detritus will be a nitrate factory upon further breakdown of said material, this is a firm rule because the waste accumulations aren't completely broken down even though most think they are. If they were, you wouldn't see visible material and it wouldn't have colors in it (this is a very general assessment of protein basis, but accurate for the topic of aquarium waste). This includes power filters, live rock, and especially especially the substrate of the system. The wastes associated with aquarium fauna tend to be brown/green/black, and they are definately aggregates of incompletely digested proteins to a decent extent-even when substrate microfauna processes some of this waste, their respective wastes have small bits of protein!! The point of this extraction is keep it out of the system, ammonia is again liberated as bacteria work on reduced waste particles, and the oxidation of this ammonia again lends nitrate to the system as breakdown continues (nitrate factory). Less impactful in a nano-large system, but very impactful in the pico reef. I've logged thousands of hours keeping and building pico reefs, many of the pics are on here, and I can't tell you how rare it is to keep a gallon or sub-gallon system running for one year or more. That should be your goal unless you plan on transferring animals to a larger and more stable system. Almost any pico reef that has basic temp and salinity control will run for 1-3 months, but the reason they crash after that is 99% narrowed down to two factors that aren't as impactful in larger setups-dosing habits and waste control habits.

Water changes aren't sufficient alone in the pico reef. Water flushes are required for long term use, no other way around it if you are packing rock and coral in your tank. Again, water changes that don't disturb detritus stores are the commonality, and so is limited lifespan. The correct way to handle pico reef maintenance is to change water often, flush at least once a month or more if needed. Major tenet: You know you aren't flushing enough if you can dump clean water in your pico and it stirs up a brown cloud. In your case, you aren't using fine sand so anything that gets stirred up will be made of proteins and will certainly generate NO3 if left in there for a week or so.

Flushing:
Pick up your pico, set it in the kitchen sink, pour five gallons of clean SW in it and let it all overflow into your sink. This will carry out the brown stuff :) ps, I have the unregistered patent on this pico technique and it works wonders but you must do it often.

Simply stated, large system dilute these stored wastes better than picos, and detritus aggregation will crash your tank within 8 months unless you plan around it. Such measures aren't needed if you stock it and feed it certain ways, but for the way most people use a pico reef this, and the dosing (keep it consistent and simple) approach are the keys to long life. By that, I mean a quality and not algae-laden/verge-of-crashing life. :)

You don't need to add anything to this pico until it's packed with coral and animals, then at that point waste acids (as it ages) will attack your pH moreso than in a large nano, so you better be dosing alk control. And, to keep that balanced with Ca++, you need to be dosing calcium. THe only way to do this in relative balance, without hardcore testing in the pico reef, is to add a small amount of one of the two part dosers at least 3x per week, once again relative to your stony coral loads and waste handling habits. People who don't dose a pico reef, and keep it alive for more than a year, are doing so many water changes they are both replenishing the elements and handling the waste removal secondarily. If you want more moderate water changes, you gotta dose.

Last but not least, I love your system's beginnings and your retrofits, but if you want a much simpler approach remove that CC sandbed, it's the largest detritus trap you can have for that size tank. If you must keep it, clean your system regularly (as it ages) by taking all your rocks out, and the CC, and rinsing them clean in SW until it does not cloud anymore.

I wouldn't trust me for a darn thing in this life other than to tell you what your pico reef will look like in a year :) addressing these concerns now will ensure you the best chance for sure.

B

[brandon429]

I was re-reading my post earlier and the system won't let me edit a portion of it...when I said add one part of a two part system, I meant to use the two part system at least 3x per week. Use very little to start out, test as you go, and increase slightly as the system ages and becomes more dense with life. As is, the statement looks like I'm saying to use just one part of the dosers, but they must be added in equal amounts.

[afromage5000]

thnx for the input, i've been wondering about dosing, that is something i know very little about. Can you name any brands that carry a 2 part system? I have had doubts about the cc bed from the start so we'll see about that. I have heard of ppl using a turkey baster to blast stuff off rock etc. so i may get one.

[Pico Keeper]

Brandon definately knows his stuff about the pico's. But I have to disagree with the whole flushing thing. If you have a really short sand bed, ditritus will never have a choice to build up.


The ssb in the pico constantly moves around, and doesn't let anything accumulate. In a pico, there isn't much waste to accumulate anyway since there is almost no bioload. 1 snail, 1 hermit, and a shrimp and corals doesn't produce much.. Even in a tiny 1.6 gallon tank.

I baste my 1.6 so that all the detritus gets off the rocks and into the water column, and then I crank the powerfilter to max (100gph), and I throw a poly filter pad in the place where my rock and cheato goes. Remove it right after. Tank is spotless.

I have to agree with brandon on removing the crushed coral, that's the worst thing you can do. Tons of nooks and crannies to fill with waste that you cant get to.


As for dosing? I wouldn't dare dose anything in this little tank. It's a waste of money to be testing alk/calc/phosphates/iodine etc on a religious basis. But then again, alot of pico owners have a larger tank to do water changes from that they know are perfect. If your keeping hardy shrooms, gsp, zoos, etc.. You dont need to dose anything. No need for extra calcium or anything, at most top-off with kalkwasser. I did that for a while when the corralline started really sucking all the calcium out of the water cus it was growing so fast.

[afromage5000]

ok, some viable options here. Thanks for the input. Ill continue reading and proceed with caution from here.

[afromage5000]

are these feather dusters, can anyone tell me a little about them? Their diet, behavior etc?

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/aquarium023.jpg
this one just showed up on the rock on the right of my tank

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g172/afromage5000/aquarium022.jpg
ive seen this one off and on for a while on the left rock

[afromage5000]

sorry for the grainy shots