The Winter Reef

[michaelzk]

Thinking of going with the MaiceMinds Aquarium light 35watt

“I bought this light about two months ago, and it exceeded my expectations, performing very well

 

[Keko21]

Pretty sure I want a green clown goby. Thoughts on another fish? Is it too tight?

I was thinking (in order of preference)
- mystery wrasse (4in max)
- carpenters flasher wrasse (3in max)
- royal gramma (3in max)
- spotted croucher goby (2.5max)
- yellow stripe possum wrasse (2.5in max)
- helfrichi firefish (3in max)
- pink streak wrasse (2.5in max)
- tail spot blenny (2.5in max)
- a damsel thats not a jerk

The alternate is I go with one fish:
- designer clown fish
- mystery wrasse
- splendid dottyback
- flasher wrasse
-blue tang- jk lol

Let me know your thoughts as I am new to the PICO life!

Also new lights look great

 

[Keko21]

Little scape change up

Ugh just finish cycling!!

 

[Keko21]

Game on!!! Lets go!!!
(Yea i know Api is crap- ill bring my hannas to the office next week lol)

 

[Keko21]

THE CHOSEN!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Nice!

 

[Nano_Man]

THE CHOSEN!

Love theses 2 fish stunning colours

 

[Keko21]

The new guys are in!!

- brown clown goby
- tailspot blenny (still shy lol)
- 5 sexy shrimp

All picked up at @WWC !

Sadly my original order was from Live Aquaria and the tailspot was DOA and the green clown goby was absolutely covered in ich. I passed him off to a friend to QT and treat since my QT isnt set up at the moment.

Anyway all are acclimated and seem happy!

 

[Keko21]

Oooof BIG ammonia spike this am! up to 1.0ppm BIG water change today and adding more bacteria! Blenny and shrimp are fine and eating. My goby is definitely more stressed.

 

[Keko21]

Tank looks great. Sexy shrimp are dancing about and my tailspot blenny is awesome! He is super social and looks at me while i work lol. His name is Zippo.

Unfortunately my red clown goby is gone. As in I saw him yesterday (not eating and hiding sadly) but today- gone. No trace. I lifted every rock, looked in the overflow, looked around to see if he jumped out- nothing. I dont even have a CUC until tomorrow that could have eaten him. Its a pico theres only so many places he could be!! Straight up ghost fish!

 

[Keko21]

No ich yay!

 

[Keko21]

You gotta be ****ing me! I took every rock out! Houdini fish!

Now I’ve got two clown gobies and the blenny…. Very tight for bioload but we’ll see. They are all very small right now less than 1inch each.

Also the clown gobies dont seem to be bothered by each other yet and are on opposite sides of the tank…Fingers crossed.

CUC comes today as well.

 

[Keko21]

Man the PICO game is tough! Well just some growing pains as I get the system logistics set up. I'm using filter floss in a cup and have quickly learned not to over pack it or it will clog up, thus sending my ato into overdrive and filling the tank up and diluting it.

Also I was using an old salinity meter lying around the office from our old tank with a float arrow which I found out this morning is no longer working. Had a gut feeling I should bring my refractometer from home and found my salt at 1.30 . My green clown goby couldn't take it unfortunately

The cherry on top this morning was a bacterial bloom resulting from the surface agitation being blocked by a small nerite snail that crawled into the RFG.

When it rains it pours...

 

[Keko21]

Kraken Reef lid looks awesome! Unfortunately arrived a day too late found my tailspot on the floor in my office. Fish count back to zero…

 

[Haggisman14]

Kraken Reef Lid looks awesome! Sorry to hear your fish so far haven't made it.

Are you enjoying the Amazon light? Looks like it's doing a pretty good job over there!

Corals soon?

 

[Keko21]

Kraken Reef Lid looks awesome! Sorry to hear your fish so far haven't made it.

Are you enjoying the Amazon light? Looks like it's doing a pretty good job over there!

Corals soon?

the amazon light is great and is nice and quiet. I need the tank to stabilize a bit more before I add coral; also figuring out some little things that need tweaking here and there-e.g. my filter cup with floss seems to back up every two days which sends my ATO into overdrive; since the fish died I have had a little bit of an ammonia spike and I am waiting for that to subside- only at .25PPM so it should go soon. Right now the only thing in the tank are inverts.

 

[Haggisman14]

If it's any help, I cut my floss into little square pieces and poke it into the cup. It keeps the overflow working and properly skimming the water, and keeps the water line stable in the back. I have to change up the pad every 3-4 days (I just keep an eye on it).

Where I keep my water level in the rear chamber (helps keep the overflow skimming the top)

1 Cut filter floss pad in rear cup

 

[Keko21]

If it's any help, I cut my floss into little square pieces and poke it into the cup. It keeps the overflow working and properly skimming the water, and keeps the water line stable in the back. I have to change up the pad every 3-4 days (I just keep an eye on it).

Where I keep my water level in the rear chamber (helps keep the overflow skimming the top)

1 Cut filter floss pad in rear cup

That may be the way to go. I am using the loose floss so maybe a pad in a square will do better!

 

[Keko21]

Oh hey guys!!! Lotta pod activity for a new tank!!

 

[Haggisman14]

Good stuff! Keep on truckin!