PicO 15 revamp! Going BB

[Ross]

After having my PicO aquariums 15in cube set up for about 3 years, things were getting boring. I will document my 'revamp' of my tank from being mostly a mixed reef to a BB SPS/Clam nano as I go.


Here is how the tank has looked for the past couple years.





I ended up losing literally every single zooanthid polyp (along with all motivation) to asterina stars.


Recently I upgraded from a generation 1 maxspect to an AI Sol super blue. I searched and searched for a hanging kit for one unit, and finally found one online. Got it hung and looking clean. I slowly ramped up my intensity, and I am running 55/55/55 now for about 6 hours a day.





Fairly recent tank shot.





Got some new clams to get me motivated.






I had it on a crappy particle board stand made for an oceanic AIO tank so I built a custom stand and upgraded to a vortech MP10.

 

[Ross]

I wasn't happy with my aquascape, so I ordered about 30 lbs of rock from Reef Rocks, and really spent some time building a custom aquascape.





I spent time with a dremel carving out holes for frag plus. As my tank is now, I really don't have any more room for new frags and this new rock will help a ton.


I didn't want to just throw all new rock in the tank at once and have a mini cycle, so I have been cycling the rock in a cooler for the past 3 weeks. I added several smaller pieces of live rock from my sump area, and I have been adding sand to the cooler as I siphon it out of my tank.





In 3 weeks (1 water change per week), i have siphoned out probably 60% of the sand. I got a cutting board from Walmart to go as the bottom.





Got it cut to size and smoothed out the edges.





I hope to get the rest of the sand out in the next few water changes. After I get back from going out of town in a few weeks I will swap out all my rock for the new rock.

 

[Ross]

I also just got a Tunze Nano Skimmer 9002, but the stock collection cup won't fit. I ordered a Stevie T collection cup today that should fit perfectly

 

[Ross]

Just an old cool picture of my royal gramma facing off with one of the clowns.

 

[Zack]

The gramma looks super angry in that pic!

 

[jdaven22]

Thats a killer looking pico. The new rock work is going to be sweet.

 

[Ross]

Thanks for the comments!

Pulled out the camera today and took a few shots





Some cool zoos.









Acan 'lords' as I remember them being called a few years back when they were so popular. Now they seem to be referred to as 'aussie acans'

 

[Ross]

One of my clams. Got this guy from PEA.



My crocea that I've had for about 2 years. Nothing special. Got this guy from Blue zoo.



My other maxima from PEA.



One of my favs, sunset monti


I noticed all these photos don't show the editing I did to them. I uploaded them from Iphoto to photobucket. Anyone know why they aren't edited when they are uploaded to photobucket?

 

[Ross]

Here are the edited ones (i think)

 

[Ross]

 

[Ross]

 

[spacetime]

Looks good Whats the volume on that tank?

 

[Reef Fever]

looks great, have you ever considered doing a GSP or Zoa covered bottom?

 

[Ross]

Thanks guys!

Spacetime, the volume is about 14 gallons total.

Reef Fever, I am considering going with a zoanthid coated bottom. I am also considering goint with a mix of encrusing montiporas on the bottom (sunset, reverse sunet, and pokerstar probably). I will probably do a combination of encrusting montis and zoos.

 

[Reef Fever]

That sounds sweet!

 

[Ross]

I re did the tank yesterday, got all my old rock out and new rock in, as well as removing all of the sand. Everything made it just fine. A few pics, not the best but you get the idea.

 

[R33 GTR]

looks really nice love the hardscape

 

[Mr. D]

Updates?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

 

[JuanGutz]

Wow this is a very very nice tank!!

 

[Ross]

Thanks for all the nice compliments. The tank is still doing well and I am in the process of setting up a 65g that will be 99% sps. Everything from this tank including the rock structure will be moved into the new tank. I have found it very hard to maintain my alkalinity in such a small tank with so many sps. I am also not completely sold on my LED's. The new tank is going to be very nice though. If anyone wants to check it out here is my build thread.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2311770