K's 5G Ecoxotic EcoPico

[kar86]

Hello everyone!

This is my first time posting with Reef Central. I made the mistake of selling my Red Sea Max last year and I have been itching to get back into the hobby ever since. I was fortunate enough to receive this 5G Ecoxotic EcoPico tank for Christmas. My brother was kind enough to cycle the tank for a month before the Holiday. He did a great job aquascaping and water parameters are ideal.

Everything in the tank is stock. The 3 LED strip lighting and filter are original and I should have a Fluval 25W Edge Heater arriving in the mail today.

Here are some pictures of setup:

Im not 100% sure what I will be adding to the tank as far as corals and livestock.

Here are my preliminary thoughts for livestock:

• Pom Pom Crab
• 2x Sexy Anemone Shrimp
• 2x Red Spotted Goby

Probably some assortment of Polyps, Mushrooms, and LPS (Hammer) but I'll figure that out as I go...


P.S.
Apologies if the photos do not show up right. Any advice with those is always appreciated.

 

[ExpdNewb]

I'm ready to see some stuff in this tank! It's been empty for far to long. I'll give you a week!

 

[ptr13]

very nice tank, keep us posted

 

[VoidRaven]

Very interested in your new tank! I've been looking at the exact same setup and pondering if the 3 strips of LED's (9 LED total) will be enough for the colored sticks I want. Seems pretty bright with the 9 that you have.

What are you using for flow?

 

[spieszak]

Very interested in your new tank! I've been looking at the exact same setup and pondering if the 3 strips of LED's (9 LED total) will be enough for the colored sticks I want. Seems pretty bright with the 9 that you have.

What are you using for flow?

I have four of the stock strips on mine... Candy cane, zoa's and paly's, leather and kenya doing well... not sure I would attempt sps though...

 

[VoidRaven]

Well from other threads I was reading with folks using LED on picos....12 LED's over a 5g depending on positioning should be good enough to have sps. Sure not as good as a halide or as a BoostLED PAR30 light (which is 15w of LED) but should be more than enough for basic stuff. I mean, I've had Acropora and Montipora under PC and under VHO though I freely admit it was placed high up in the tank.

Can't hurt to experiment, no?

 

[SkullV]

5 strips is 15w. Keep in mind this is a tiny tank. I'm on my way to the office with my par meter as we speak.

 

[kar86]

Very interested in your new tank! I've been looking at the exact same setup and pondering if the 3 strips of LED's (9 LED total) will be enough for the colored sticks I want. Seems pretty bright with the 9 that you have.

What are you using for flow?

I plan on using the stock filter/pump to create the flow. I swapped out the original filter media for carbon/phos pads. There is a retailer up in Phoenix with a similar setup and he claims to have no problems with flow.

 

[jmsalt1]

I run my Ecoxotic EcoPico w 2 of the stock pumps and like the flow much better than the single stock pump. Running 3 strips, keep in mind all LED's are not created equal and IME, these are not PAR monsters. Skullv is going to take some par measurements but I recall seeing some in another post and they were just ok. Can't recall if it was 3 or 5 strips in that thread. I would probably go to a different fixture for sps on this tank but if you go to the Ecoxotic site there is a link to a great looking tank running 5 strips. Can't recall if there were sps in that tank.

 

[SkullV]

I didn't have much time today to get good readings, but it was about 80 at the floor of the tank. You can probably keep some montis up high with 5 strips. I actually put a setosa in there today up high so we'll see what happens.

 

[kar86]

I didn't have much time today to get good readings, but it was about 80 at the floor of the tank. You can probably keep some montis up high with 5 strips. I actually put a setosa in there today up high so we'll see what happens.

Thanks SkullV for the PAR - your tank looks great!

I stopped by the LFS and picked up a few small pieces of coral and placed an order for two sexy shrimp. I am of the philosophy of starting small and letting it grow - you won't see any large pieces to start in my tank.

I picked up a couple mushrooms and a pulsing xenia from the Red Sea.

These were taken 1 hour after purchase. The xenia was a little camera shy - pictures should be up in the next few days.

 

[ExpdNewb]

Lookin good! Green Fuzzy Mushroom is going to look so good in there!

 

[kar86]

Sorry for the delay in updating the thread. Real life tends to get in the way of hobbies. Not much has changed in the tank. I have added a couple Polyps and the Mushroom has started to take over its half of the rock.

 

[ExpdNewb]

Love the new corals bro! You need to grab some GSP for the side of the rock.