My Pico...
- Thread starter ZOKU
- Start date
ZOKU
Resident Ninja
One of my co-workers came over to my apartment last night to borrow an ethernet cable... and I've been telling him about my pico tank.
He's seen photos and I've showed him my thread here on the forums and he's been impressed. But when he saw it for the first time in person yesterday... he was still impressed, but his initial impression was... That's It?!
...I guess it's difficult to imagine what three gallons looks like.
You tell someone to come over and check out my fish tank and for some reason, they immediately vision this entire wall of glass and saltwater... with thousands of schooling fish.
Oh well... I still love my pico.
He's seen photos and I've showed him my thread here on the forums and he's been impressed. But when he saw it for the first time in person yesterday... he was still impressed, but his initial impression was... That's It?!
...I guess it's difficult to imagine what three gallons looks like.
You tell someone to come over and check out my fish tank and for some reason, they immediately vision this entire wall of glass and saltwater... with thousands of schooling fish.
Oh well... I still love my pico.
ru ru ru rumpsk
New member
Hopefully the damsel isn't a jumper! With fish poop/food going into your pico, keep a close eye on your peramiters. Fish throw everything off quickly in the small tanks.
ZOKU
Resident Ninja
** UPDATE!! **
I ordered the Coralife Dual Timer 'cuz I scored a deal on eBay. I know a lot of people bad mouth Coralife products but it seems to be a nifty gadget. I really ordered it because I've been really bad about having a set light regimen. I've never had a timer hooked up to my pico yet. So, I'd turn on the lights before I left for work in the morning (5:30 a.m. or so) and then turn them off after I got home (sometime after 5 p.m.) I wasn't very disciplined about it. Plus, I don't really think I need a 12 hour light cycle on my pico.
So... here's what I've got:
My heater is plugged into one of my wall outlets so it constantly stays on.
The other wall outlet holds my Coralife Dual Timer.
My AC70 fuge is plugged into the only CONSTANT ON outlet on the timer because it's something that never turns off.
My stock picotope light and Rio50 powerhead come on at 10 a.m. and turn off 8 p.m.
My submersible in-tank fuge lights for my chaeto turn on at 8 p.m. and turn off at 10 a.m. I have the fuge lights set on a reverse photo period to keep the pH balanced. I was previously leaving the fuge lights on 24/7 but I've read that certain micro-organisms, copepods, amphipods, etc, etc. benefit from a standard "night cycle". Not sure how true that is... but if anything else, my pH doesn't have any swing and remains a constant.
I was playing around with my camera settings this evening and snapped a few photos. Because... who doesn't like photos?
I ordered the Coralife Dual Timer 'cuz I scored a deal on eBay. I know a lot of people bad mouth Coralife products but it seems to be a nifty gadget. I really ordered it because I've been really bad about having a set light regimen. I've never had a timer hooked up to my pico yet. So, I'd turn on the lights before I left for work in the morning (5:30 a.m. or so) and then turn them off after I got home (sometime after 5 p.m.) I wasn't very disciplined about it. Plus, I don't really think I need a 12 hour light cycle on my pico.
So... here's what I've got:
My heater is plugged into one of my wall outlets so it constantly stays on.
The other wall outlet holds my Coralife Dual Timer.
My AC70 fuge is plugged into the only CONSTANT ON outlet on the timer because it's something that never turns off.
My stock picotope light and Rio50 powerhead come on at 10 a.m. and turn off 8 p.m.
My submersible in-tank fuge lights for my chaeto turn on at 8 p.m. and turn off at 10 a.m. I have the fuge lights set on a reverse photo period to keep the pH balanced. I was previously leaving the fuge lights on 24/7 but I've read that certain micro-organisms, copepods, amphipods, etc, etc. benefit from a standard "night cycle". Not sure how true that is... but if anything else, my pH doesn't have any swing and remains a constant.
I was playing around with my camera settings this evening and snapped a few photos. Because... who doesn't like photos?
JohnstonAtoll
New member
Looks sweet! Glad to see the zoas are doing good
ZOKU
Resident Ninja
** UPDATE **
Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I've not posted much here on the forum for a few days either. I've been really preoccupied with work... I'm now officially doing twice as much work volume as I was at this time last year without much added compensation. I think I'm just worn down and worn out. I've been physically and mentally exhausted and it sucks.
I took a vacation day today because my girlfriend, Chrissy, also has the day off work. I got up at the sametime I normally do every morning only because my body seems to have its own permanent built-in alarm clock... which is fairly annoying, even for days when I'm allowed to sleep in. With a high of 85 degrees today here in Oshkosh B'gosh... what a better day to take a last minute vacation day?? ...we're going to ride our bikes for a little while today, get some lunch, relax, go out to dinner tonight and then go see that new Disney movie, "Earth". Good day, right?? ...don't hate.
I grabbed my rod and reel and headed down to a park which is a mile from our apartment very close to Lake Winnebago and Menominee Park in Oshkosh. I didn't get any fish except for a couple of Crappie which I wasn't even intentionally fishing for... nonetheless, I got to take an hour and a half for myself and watch the sunrise over the lake. It's nice to take some deep, slow breaths and relax for a change. Birds chirping... and the only other sound of line flying off my reel as I'm making cast after cast into the lake. *sigh*
On to the reef stuff...
I came home from work yesterday and it marked the second day in a row my pink zoas on my substrate have been closed up tight. It's a little disheartening because everything else in my tank looks great. I normally do my water changes and tank maintenance on Saturday mornings... but I did it all last night instead hoping to make these little guys a lot less grumpy.
I did a freshwater dip on the pink zoas first and swished them around really good for a few seconds in some fresh RO/DI water and placed them back in my tank. Initially, I didn't think they were getting enough flow because I had them tucked to the side of my live rock... but now I moved them and I'm positive they're getting adequate flow. As I mentioned, everything else in the tank continues to look great... and not only surviving, but growing and thriving!!
When I took the frag out of my tank, I carefully looked for any weird zoa mites or other weird things I've read about here on the forum. Zoa pox, zoa mites, zoa creepy crawlies... but nothing caught my eye. They don't appear to be melting... or otherwise, unhappy... this is simply now the third day in a row where they have remained closed up tight. I don't have any Lugol's Iodine solution... but I know the last time I saw it at my LFS, they want $22 for a tiny bottle. And considering the frag cost me $5... it's not an added cost I'm willing to cough up at this time.
Here is the culprit: ...any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
In other news...
These pinkies are doing very well. I looked under the polyps last night and they're beginning to grow off the frag plug and onto the live rock!! :happy:
Something else that caught my eye last night while doing my tank maintenance, I saw a tiny little piece of bubble algae on my yellow polyps. The bubble had wedged itself in between two of the polyps on the frag plug. I grabbed my tweezers and carefully plucked the bubble off the plug. I didn't pop the bubble but it was very tiny, as well. This concerns because I've seen the plague that bubble algae can cause in tanks. So I'm going to be carefully looking at my pico the next few days. In the photo below, in the upper left just behind my Goochster zoas... those are the yellow polyps I am referring to. Aside from that little piece of bubble algae, they are doing well... they're small, but they add a nice brilliant color to my pico and they seem to be healthy.
I'll post up more pics over the weekend. I hope everyone has a great Friday and a great weekend.
Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I've not posted much here on the forum for a few days either. I've been really preoccupied with work... I'm now officially doing twice as much work volume as I was at this time last year without much added compensation. I think I'm just worn down and worn out.
I've been physically and mentally exhausted and it sucks.I took a vacation day today because my girlfriend, Chrissy, also has the day off work. I got up at the sametime I normally do every morning only because my body seems to have its own permanent built-in alarm clock... which is fairly annoying, even for days when I'm allowed to sleep in. With a high of 85 degrees today here in Oshkosh B'gosh... what a better day to take a last minute vacation day?? ...we're going to ride our bikes for a little while today, get some lunch, relax, go out to dinner tonight and then go see that new Disney movie, "Earth". Good day, right?? ...don't hate.
I grabbed my rod and reel and headed down to a park which is a mile from our apartment very close to Lake Winnebago and Menominee Park in Oshkosh. I didn't get any fish except for a couple of Crappie which I wasn't even intentionally fishing for... nonetheless, I got to take an hour and a half for myself and watch the sunrise over the lake. It's nice to take some deep, slow breaths and relax for a change. Birds chirping... and the only other sound of line flying off my reel as I'm making cast after cast into the lake. *sigh*
On to the reef stuff...
I came home from work yesterday and it marked the second day in a row my pink zoas on my substrate have been closed up tight. It's a little disheartening because everything else in my tank looks great. I normally do my water changes and tank maintenance on Saturday mornings... but I did it all last night instead hoping to make these little guys a lot less grumpy.
I did a freshwater dip on the pink zoas first and swished them around really good for a few seconds in some fresh RO/DI water and placed them back in my tank. Initially, I didn't think they were getting enough flow because I had them tucked to the side of my live rock... but now I moved them and I'm positive they're getting adequate flow. As I mentioned, everything else in the tank continues to look great... and not only surviving, but growing and thriving!!
When I took the frag out of my tank, I carefully looked for any weird zoa mites or other weird things I've read about here on the forum. Zoa pox, zoa mites, zoa creepy crawlies... but nothing caught my eye. They don't appear to be melting... or otherwise, unhappy... this is simply now the third day in a row where they have remained closed up tight. I don't have any Lugol's Iodine solution... but I know the last time I saw it at my LFS, they want $22 for a tiny bottle. And considering the frag cost me $5... it's not an added cost I'm willing to cough up at this time.
Here is the culprit: ...any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
In other news...
These pinkies are doing very well. I looked under the polyps last night and they're beginning to grow off the frag plug and onto the live rock!! :happy:
Something else that caught my eye last night while doing my tank maintenance, I saw a tiny little piece of bubble algae on my yellow polyps. The bubble had wedged itself in between two of the polyps on the frag plug. I grabbed my tweezers and carefully plucked the bubble off the plug. I didn't pop the bubble but it was very tiny, as well. This concerns because I've seen the plague that bubble algae can cause in tanks. So I'm going to be carefully looking at my pico the next few days. In the photo below, in the upper left just behind my Goochster zoas... those are the yellow polyps I am referring to. Aside from that little piece of bubble algae, they are doing well... they're small, but they add a nice brilliant color to my pico and they seem to be healthy.
I'll post up more pics over the weekend. I hope everyone has a great Friday and a great weekend.
PrisonCityReef
In Memoriam
Nice updates! Glad to hear fishing was relaxing at least, even if it wasn't that fruitful. Nothing beats some pan fried just-caught fish.
Not much advice to give on the closed zoas. Do all your params check out?
Not much advice to give on the closed zoas. Do all your params check out?
mark_mo
New member
Hey Scott.
Sorry to hear about those zoas not opening up. It's so frustrating when you have one frag that's being a little bugger and you can't figure out why.
You can get a bottle of lugols at aquarium pets... however, it's pricier than what you can find online (about $20). We just picked some up there last week because we were desperate.
If you'd like to stop by and pick it up to see if it works, just let me know. We're pretty busy this weekend, but maybe we could work something out.
Sorry to hear about those zoas not opening up. It's so frustrating when you have one frag that's being a little bugger and you can't figure out why.
You can get a bottle of lugols at aquarium pets... however, it's pricier than what you can find online (about $20). We just picked some up there last week because we were desperate.
If you'd like to stop by and pick it up to see if it works, just let me know. We're pretty busy this weekend, but maybe we could work something out.
DouglasTiede
Premium Member
Wife and I got engaged out on that end point in Oshkosh. On a beautiful Icy fog morning. The lake looked romantic and felt like we were up in the mountains. Everything was just quiet and beautiful that morn. I knelt down in the frozen mud and proposed.
I then stood up and she showed me her answer by kneeling down in the mud and.. just kidding
ZOKU
Resident Ninja
You guys are the best... thanks.
I'll keep you guys posted and let you know how the pink zoas continue doing...
I'm going to keep my eye on them over the next few days and see if I see anything out of the ordinary. They aren't melting and don't really look bad, per se... they simply aren't opening.
ZOKU
Resident Ninja
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14889918#post14889918 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DouglasTiede
Wife and I got engaged out on that end point in Oshkosh. On a beautiful Icy fog morning. The lake looked romantic and felt like we were up in the mountains. Everything was just quiet and beautiful that morn. I knelt down in the frozen mud and proposed.
I then stood up and she showed me her answer by kneeling down in the mud and.. just kidding
LOL!!
That's a good story...
I love that little peninsula on the lake.
