My 5 gallon Ecoxotic Ecopico build

[NemusMaximus]

After thinking about it for a while, I finally placed an order for this 5 gallon rimless pico kit. I'm excited to be active in the hobby again, and stocking my tank. Anyway, Im starting this tread to document the tank's progress.

Shipping was quick, and without incident:

Decided to paint the back of it black. I used some cheapo black glossy enamel, and it worked fine after 3 rounds of painting. You can see some spots didnt cover too well on the first round..

Put in an inch of some large grain sand I had from a previous tank, and stacked the base rock in a the best natural looking arrangement I could.

Filled up!

Right now the tank is running on the stock equipment (6 white LEDs and 3 blue) and their small pump/filter. The kit doesnt come with a heater, so for the time being Im using a 150w Hydor Proaquatics submersible heater, but I plan to replace it with a Hydor 50w Theo, to be able to hide it better behind the rocks. I also plan on adding 2 additional LED strips in all actinic so I can run them independently of the other LEDs.

This is the second day of the cycle. Ive seeded the sand with a cup full of LS from a FOWLR tank I have. Staring at an empty tank is the hardest part of this hobby lol.

Thanks for looking!

 

[ptr13]

really nice tank, have one that I am setting up for a friend, cant wait to set it up too. Great price for a great tank,cant believe that it comes with the LED set up.

 

[Dre59]

Might have to get one Looking great!!

 

[SkullV]

Looking good! I have been thinking about this tank too.

 

[daewon]

Awesome pick! Have a question....

Awesome pick! Have a question....

I've been really itching to pull the trigger on this AIO. It comes with the tank, pump, filter, and LED. I have a question though that I hope you can answer. I'd like to get softies in the tank for corals, but am unsure if the stock LEDs are enough to handle it. Is that why you are upgrading to another two LED strips? Will that be enough for the corals to grow? I know some add lights to sustain corals, but I'd like to add enough where they will actually grow and propagate...

 

[SkullV]

I've been really itching to pull the trigger on this AIO. It comes with the tank, pump, filter, and LED. I have a question though that I hope you can answer. I'd like to get softies in the tank for corals, but am unsure if the stock LEDs are enough to handle it. Is that why you are upgrading to another two LED strips? Will that be enough for the corals to grow? I know some add lights to sustain corals, but I'd like to add enough where they will actually grow and propagate...

The stock LEDs are not enough. You need 2 more ecopico strips to keep softies. rtparty has some par measurements somewhere in the Equipment forum.

 

[NemusMaximus]

The stock LEDs are not enough. You need 2 more ecopico strips to keep softies. rtparty has some par measurements somewhere in the Equipment forum.

Well, THAT I wasnt aware of :headwally: lol. I called and asked Ecoxotic and they told me it would support anything under SPS basically. So now I dont know. I called Old Town Aquarium and they told me they are running it as a reef tank successfully with only one light strip. I planned on getting the additional 2 strips with actinics (blue LEDs) only... will that still raise the PAR values? Id like to keep mushrooms, zoas and LPS (acans mostly).

Thanks ptr13, Dre59, and SkullV. Daewon, I'll let you know what I find out.

 

[SkullV]

Well, THAT I wasnt aware of :headwally: lol. I called and asked Ecoxotic and they told me it would support anything under SPS basically. So now I dont know. I called Old Town Aquarium and they told me they are running it as a reef tank successfully with only one light strip. I planned on getting the additional 2 strips with actinics (blue LEDs) only... will that still raise the PAR values? Id like to keep mushrooms, zoas and LPS (acans mostly).

Thanks ptr13, Dre59, and SkullV. Daewon, I'll let you know what I find out.

Yep adding two blue strips will put you right where you need to be for stuff you want to keep.

 

[NemusMaximus]

I found the thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2030574

TL;DR: The 3 stock strips are highly recommended by the owner who did the measurements. He gave them 4/5 stars, and says they should basically keep anything under SPS and clams. Thats great news to me. Similarly, he plans on adding 2 additional strips to supplement, but he said his corals were doing well with the stock lighting. Hope that helps daewon!

 

[NemusMaximus]

Update!

Update!

Here's an update on the tank. I added the tunze mini 5024 to supplement the stock pump/filter. This brings the total GPH to 160, for a 32x turn over per hour.
Then, I decided to finally place the order for the additional actinic strips.

Running 5 strips now, 6 white 1w LEDs, and 9 blue 1w LEDs.

I had a little bit of overhang on the strips on the lighting arm, but it was mostly because I did not space the original 3 out, in order to accommodate an additional 2. Its not really noticeable anyway, so it doesnt bother me.

Dohc97 hooked me up with my first coral, with his zoa colony which looks amazing under the actinics. Thanks Jose!

Then, I got a two headed duncan and a scoly from Petco. Before you flame me to death, I talked to the guy who manages their frag tank, and hes been a hobbyist for a long time. The frags looked really healthy and I had seen them there a month ago, so I got them. They were $20 each, and he threw in some free eagle eye -type zoas. I think they were a good deal.. you judge:

Then I hit up my buddy Irky, who hooked it up with the ultimate frag pack. I got 3 different acans, a chalice, a yuma, a rhodactis, and about 5 different zoas. He really hooked it up. Super nice guy, with a super nice tank. Thanks again Chris.

 

[NemusMaximus]

continued...

continued...

The FTS:

(sorry about the crappy shots, my phone actually takes better pics than my camera). I wish I could take a good picture of how awesome these pieces look under the actinics only. Big thanks to Jose and Chris!

 

[marius880]

wow... it looks really really good. makes me want to get one...

 

[NemusMaximus]

Thanks Marius. I'm looking forward to watching the frags grow out and encrust the rocks and frag plugs so it looks more natural lol. I still have some more gluing to do to remove all the frags from the sand, but It has def come a long way from when I got the tank 6 weeks ago.

 

[SkullV]

Looking great man!

 

[irky]

Always a pleasure man. Tank looks great!

 

[local anti]

This is a scoly?

 

[NemusMaximus]

local_anti: Thats what they had it labeled as. I actually cant find a good name for it online, but it does look most like what google returns for "Scolymia". What do you think it is?

 

[prototyp3]

Looks great. You really jumped all in on that extra lighting though!

 

[DaveWF]

That's an amazing tank. Something you can really be proud of. I can't wait to see updates on the corals as they fill in!

 

[local anti]

I thought it looked more like a lobo/brain?