Rain's pico reef - the dorm edition

[Maddlesrain]

I assembled a ghetto prototype of this tank a few months ago hoping to keep a pico in my dorm, however, it was short lived and I disassembled the project after only a couple weeks.

The betta fish I had brought from home has passed onto the next life, so now I'm left with a classy little tank. I stripped it down and washed it out - in my hall-shared dorm bathroom I might add - and am now ready to fill this baby up. I'll be getting the final needed materials this weekend and getting it wet this next coming week.

Not sure on stocking plans other than stealing pieces of coral from my tank back home, which has a downsized aquarium being custom built to take its place, so I figure I might as well start ripping it apart now.

Here's the newly cleaned pico.

The only flow will come from the filter pump, which has fairly decent kick for such a tiny thing. Filtration system will be live rock, a large sponge which is housed in the back section of the tank, and I'll be incorporating carbon and some other media in the cut-outs in the sponge.

 

[saltyphish]

Nice. Wouldnt mind something like that in my bedroom

 

[Maddlesrain]

Nice. Wouldnt mind something like that in my bedroom

Thanks, I'm excited to see how it works out!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Working up a rough outline of the scape with rubble I have laying around. I have a couple small pieces from my already established tank I'll be using to kick-start everything as well, be here's a sneak peak!

 

[Maddlesrain]

I made it back to the dorms stupid-late last night after a weekend in the city and threw everything in the tank. I brought a nice selection of corals from back home, some of which are in need of TLC, and am hoping by being able to constantly monitor them they'll start to liven back up.

Corals include:
Assorted zoas
Corky sea finger
Yellow Sea whip
Frogspawn
Cabbage leather
Acan
Blue ridge coral

Other critters:
Blue leg hermits x3
Turbo snail

I rearranged everything a bit over an hour ago, so the corals have yet to open up fully, but I'm seeing a bit of polyp extension. The water also is cloudy, so I'm hoping it'll clear up here soon.

Eventually, I'd like to add some supplemental blue lighting to make the colors on everything pop a bit more, but am going to hold out until I see how the corals fair under the current conditions.

Here's a bad pic of the cloudy water and angry corals.

 

[tehSAC]

very cool. What kind of tank is this and how many gallons?

 

[Maddlesrain]

very cool. What kind of tank is this and how many gallons?

Thanks.
It's a Fluval Spec III and is 2.8 gallons.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I like the scape. Following along.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I like the scape. Following along.

Thank you!! It didn't turn out exactly how I imagined, but it's growing on me.

 

[Maddlesrain]

Unfortunately, there's not much for me to update on for now.

The water has cleared, and the corals are slowly opening. The lps are showing the most extension, especially given the amount of receding they did before being transferred. Zoas are opening sporadically, and the gorgonians are showing signs of sloughing a slime coat and extending polyps.

The yellow whip and ridge always had issues with opening, so I guess we'll just wait and see!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Quick, sort of downer, update:
There was a brutal nitrate spike, so I'll be removing the most unhappy looking corals for the time being.

I'm in the process of reigning in the parameter fluctuation through water changes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it passes quickly!

Nothing looks beyond repair, but I'd rather not risk it. I've never kept a tank this small before... it definitely takes a higher level of diligence in my opinion. There is zero forgiveness. Haha

Hopefully next week I'll have some better news!

 

[Maddlesrain]

#reef2reef #worldwidecorals #mywwccontest