My first attempt at a pico

[DSEKULA]

This is really cool. Well done! You have some skills there. I diy, but not like that! Mine looks more Frankensteinish when I am done.
Cannot wait to see it grow out and your mom's too.

Thank you for the kind words! What really takes work from Frankensteinish to almost professional looking in my experience is the time and tools. Sometimes we rush to diy things in a pinch so it's understandable it looks soso but if you can build something functional usually it just takes a little extra time to make it look nice and having the correct tools and work space really helps . I'm not that good In my own opinion, but over the years those are the things that I feel really make my creations a bit nicer than the average diy.

 

[PTXReef]

My sexy shrimp (ordered throu lfs) came in, usually orders with them take months but these only took a few weeks. Decided to set up instead of trying to keep them all in a breeder box etc. So.... Finally here is the stocked tank, have more shrooms coming still but otherwise this will be it.

Loving this little set up! Very nice!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I'm a sucker for these little reefs! Awesome job!

 

[DSEKULA]

@Reefermama your getting called out ×D now!! Guess who!!?

 

[Reefermama]

@Reefermama your getting called out ×D now!! Guess who!!?

You looking for me??? TJDSEKULA

 

[adromero]

Loving this little set up! Very nice!

I hope you enjoy the sexy shrimp. I’ve been keeping them in tanks for ten years. I bet they will really sow it n that Pico.

 

[DSEKULA]

Pico maintenance day updates.
Tank is doing well, changed some water filled the ato and added a few zoa from my main tank today. The rock is getting that nice matured brown look and I think I saw a purple dot or two (maybe I'm just hoping lol). The two nems seem to be doing well. The pink one is bleachy I know but when the person removed it from the lfs the foot was damaged, didn't notice untill I got home. It was melting (looked like a secondary bacteria issue) so it went through daily antibiotic treatments for two weeks. Once it was showing signs of attaching instead of floating around in between treatment I gave it a week of r&r and it was moved to the pico to settle so this is auctually much better. Overall the tank seems to be doing well I have a bunch of stock just waiting in my sump and can't wait to add

 

[DSEKULA]

Exciting news today!!
We decided it was time to take the plunge, rock and coral are in transit to mum's tank..
@Reefermama can't wait to see what you can do.

 

[samnaz]

This is sooo cool!

 

[Reefermama]

Exciting news today!!
We decided it was time to take the plunge, rock and coral are in transit to mum's tank..
@Reefermama can't wait to see what you can do.

 

[Reefermama]

So far so good, TJDSEKULA!!

 

[DSEKULA]

So far so good, TJDSEKULA!!

Awesome!! Everything is looking a bit stressed but it did get shipped clear across the states. Looks good all things considered

 

[DSEKULA]

Some pico updates,
Ive been slowly but surely moving in the maximini carpets. With the size of the tank i feel like if one of these went down hill and i didnt catch it fast even at the small size it may nuke the tank. So to be cautious each one has come in and been held in my sump for observation. Once its nice and sticky, fluffy, and coloring up it gets transfered. This means that for some individuals im waiting 2-3 weeks before adding if they shipped poor. Not all of them pictured are 100% settled yet but all seem healthy. The yellow/orange looking one was just added about yesterday for example. They seem to gravitate two hundred and below par levels and like the area where water is pulled into the center "filter". I added them all over the rock and you can see how they clustered. Side note if anyone didnt catch it b4, the filter is 100% air driven there is no pump for them to be sucked into.
Basically the center of the rock is hollow, all the way on the bottom theres a bio ball for anarobic cultures, slightly above that air is pumped in and the heater and sponge is smushed in on top of the air stone. The constant air flow pulls water and detritus in through holes in the bottom of the center column and disperses through the top holes. If i need to i can also toss a small bag of media in the middle as well. To really make this method work for a reef where this pump is used for air, filtration, and flow, the air pump is one that is recommended by the manufacturer for a 100gal tank used on a 2gal

 

[DSEKULA]

Hi everyone,
Its been a while since i updated. The pico has been chugging along. I added some more mushrooms and zoas and another head of hammer today. Two of my maxmini nems decided that they prefer to plant on the side of the tank so i only see the underside (of course lol). Everything is doing decent, the pocilipora is still pretty brown but seems to be encrusting a bit and everything else is really doing well.. here are some pics, its just after lights on and with some new transplants so theres alot just opening up but you can tell everything is growing and generally looking happy.
Thanks for looking

 

[JumboShrimp]

Looking better than ever. Have you ever had a Cyanobacteria outbreak? I bet that would be fairly devastating?!

 

[PokeFish]

Looking nice! Following along.

 

[ApoIsland]

Any update on this cool little tank?

 

[DSEKULA]

So just figured I'd do up a tank update.. it's been so long. I had some personal non reef issues where I had to get my knee reconstructed after a car accident. While I was on the mend I took some time to make some changes to the pico. I had previously slimmed down the rock structure and swapped the container to glass. I found the thin acrylic to be getting a bit brittle. When planning to go in for surgery i took the entire rock structure and placed it in my frag tank hooked to my large tank so i wouldn't need to stress about weekly wc on the second floor while being unavle to walk. The pico is back together now for about 5 Mos and still getting back to its glory. When I reassembled it I did take the opertunity to add an inkbird to control the heater.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Glad to see the tank is still doing well!!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Glad you are on the mend and the tank is going well.