My Pico...

[ZOKU]

Hey everyone...

Not sure if I've ever really posted in here. I didn't get a chance to make it to the February meet. But I'm looking forward to meeting some of you... and since my pico is new, I'd like to be able to buy some frags down the road.

Anyway, my name is Scott... live in Oshkosh with my girlfriend, Chrissy, in a super tiny studio apartment. I love reefing... but since we don't have much room, I opted for the JBJ 3-gal. picotope. It's a relatively new tank that finished cycling a couple of weeks ago. I got my first coral today... a small frag of zoas... like, 13 polyps or so.

I've got 3.8 lbs. of Bali live rock and of course, my CUC that does a decent job of keeping things nice 'n clean for me. I have an AquaClear 70 that I modified into a refugium along with a Rio50 powerhead that provide more than enough adequate flow in the tank. Right now, I'm using the stock light (9W) that came with the pico... but I plan on upgrading to the 2x18W Current Dual-Satellite fixture in due time.

Pics? ...sure.

* these are the new zoas... not sure what they are. Mean Green's? I took the photo shortly after acclimating them. They're slowly opening!*

* full tank shot *

Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting some of you guys over time.

 

[jhildebrand]

Welcome! Nice little tank. Can't wait to see the progress...

 

[mark_mo]

Welcome to the group scott & chrissy! we're relatively new to this group as well but it's been a blast so far. Your zoas are very nice - love the bright green color and your tank is looking good! Always fun when you can get your first coral in there. Watch out -- it's ultra addicting.
Did you get the frag from a LFS?

 

[ZOKU]

Yeah, I made the drive today from Oshkosh to Reefs Aquatics. It was my first time in that store.

 

[RCS]

Zoas are some form of "Green Bay Packers", definitely not Mean Greens. Welcome and good luck!

 

[mark_mo]

oooo I still have not made it to that store. We also live in Oshkosh and need to take a day to do that soon!

 

[ZOKU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14504667#post14504667 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RCS
Zoas are some form of "Green Bay Packers", definitely not Mean Greens. Welcome and good luck!

Yeah, the more I look at 'em as they're opening up... they're definitely not Mean Greens. I've been looking at different sites... but it's difficult to tell.

Thanks for looking!

 

[msch1999]

Nice looking...welcome.

 

[ZOKU]

Here's a better pic of my new zoas after they were a little less fussy just before lights out yesterday.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend...

 

[rrcg50]

looks like radioactive greens. nice rock work

 

[yaitisme]

Very nice! How about some pics of the overall tank and setup?

 

[ZOKU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14508258#post14508258 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yaitisme
Very nice! How about some pics of the overall tank and setup?

Thanks for stopping by!!

Here's a few other pics...

* i painted the back of the tank flat black with Krylon spray paint. *

* i use Tropic Marin Pro-Reef salt mix and love it... *

* here's the tank in its location in our little bitty kitchen... but it makes doing the dishes that much more enjoyable *

* my 50W Hydor-Theo heater sits in one of the compartments I made out of my Aquaclear 70 refugium to keep a lot less equipment out of the display *

* added live sand... *

* these are the three pieces of Bali live rock I got my Aquarium Pets in Oshkosh. I don't know him personally, but the owner, Jim Faust is a really nice guy... *

* FTS after adding the rock w/lights on. *

* after tank was finished cycling... I had some GHA show up on the rock on the far right hand side. I added my CUC and they did a pretty good job with it. *

* here's that rock pretty well covered with GHA. *

* here's that same rock one week after adding my CUC *

I ordered a pair of submersible in-tank 10W LED lights that I plan on putting in the refugium compartment of my AC70. Right now, I've got a small ball of chaeto in there. The LED's will help the chaeto flourish and grow...

I'll try and take a photo of the AC70 later today so you guys know what I'm talking about.

 

[ZOKU]

* UPDATE! *

I know promised pics of my AC70 mod... so here it is:

On the far right hand side, I've got chaeto that I added to the refugium earlier this week. I initially had it in the display tank tucked behind the rockwork... but it made a mess of things with little pieces of chaeto floating around. Bleh. I temporarily shoved it in there because I don't have the submersible lights that I ordered yet, but they should be here on Saturday. In the meantime, I placed the chaeto in the refugium where it will stay.

The submersible lights are the ones I ordered from In Tank. They'll be housed in my refugium on an opposite lighting schedule from the main display tank to prevent pH fluctuation.

You can also see my 50W Hydor-Theo heater along with filter floss. I plan on adding Chemi-Pure Elite to the same section of my AC70 'fuge this weekend.

Not sure if you can tell in this photo or not... but my pod population is growing by leaps and bounds. I noticed this after adding the chaeto earlier this week. I must've gotten a good batch of chaeto from another reefer online... because my main display tank is now crawling with pods.

Here is another FTS.

I hope everyone is having a great night... tomorrow is Friday. *yay!!* Damn, I need some more frags.

 

[crabbejoe]

Looks good so far! I really like picos.

 

[ZOKU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14545257#post14545257 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crabbejoe
Looks good so far! I really like picos.

Thanks, Joe!!

 

[ZOKU]

Got a couple of new additions thanks to Mike!

* unknown pink zoas *

* Goochsters *

* FTS *

Went to my LFS yesterday and also added Magnavore's "Pura Complete" to a small filter media bag inside of my AC70 fuge. The water definitely looks more "polished" this morning. It also incorporates a nitrate and phosphate remover, as well. Since my tank is only 3+ gal. of water with the AC70 'fuge... I mainly added it as a precautionary measure.

I'd like to eventually get a dremel to cut away the bulk of the frag plug... then I could just epoxy the whole plug to the location on my live rock where I want it. If the frag "pops" off the plug pretty easily, it's not a problem... but otherwise, at the risk of damaging the polyps... the best bet I've heard is just to use a dremel.

What do you guys do?

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

 

[msch1999]

Hey Scott,
Most of the plugs I use are ceramic so the break really easy with a bone cutters. Just break the bottom plug off, and epoxy the disc where you want it, and it will not be long the disc will be covered and you will not see it.

 

[ZOKU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14564571#post14564571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by msch1999
Hey Scott,
Most of the plugs I use are ceramic so the break really easy with a bone cutters. Just break the bottom plug off, and epoxy the disc where you want it, and it will not be long the disc will be covered and you will not see it.

Thanks for the info!

I had some heavy duty wire cutters out in the garage. I cut off the post with those and then used some epoxy to make them stay on my live rock. That looks much better.

 

[ZOKU]

Change of plans... I did cut off the post, but I ended up placing the Goochsters back in the same spot on my sand bed while still on the frag plug itself. I'm thinking of a zoa garden on the sand bed. Hmmm...

 

[ZOKU]

* UPDATE!! *

I finally got my submersible lights in from InTank. Steve is a great guy. The lights were backordered for a while but they finally came in earlier this week... so hopefully, my chaeto will really take off now.

What little frags I do have in my tank are all doing well. Heck, the tank as a whole is doing very well. The coralline algae is beginning to grow on my rocks and some amazing colors are beginning to come in.

This is a photo of my modified AC70 refugium. You can sorta tell in the photo how bright these submersible lights are. There are (2) 10W LED's and this lighting unit is supposed to do wonders for growing chaeto.

And here's a few photos of some of my frags.

I added (3) Cerith Snails to my tank last weekend, as well. Just another small addition to my already aggressive CUC.

Thanks for looking!!