pico started

[alicamo]

You will need to have to put the 40 degee optics pretty high above the water level. Be careful with sps b/c you can fry them. Believe me I have.

I run 2 spots at both 60 degrees. 1) 19" from the sandbed + 7" from the waterline. 2) 16" from the bed + 4" from the waterline.

I was going to see if I can borrow someones PAR meter to figure out placement. I could just bring the bulbs to a meeting or whatever.

I'll probably have to put mine 12" (at least) above the tank. Sandbed is ~9" down and the top of the rocks are about 4" down or so (tiny tiny tiny). If its too strong I can always just swap to using one of the two bulbs, we'll see. I'm really excited about these LED's though. :inlove:

I just did a 1.5gall water change and I will check the nitrates once it settles down, but I think it should be good now that I stopped using the bad RO water.

 

[alicamo]

It's hot, I was working outside for the last two days got a niiice sunburn... :furious:

ANYWAYS, I got my lights up and going. The stand took me awhile to work out but we will see how it holds up.

Bulbs are 22.5" away from the surface atm, should be far enough, may need to be closer. Any suggestions on photo period? I usually do 6-8 hrs.

The tank looks awesome, but I'm wondering what corals will look like under them, rocks are looking rather white/blue.


piks: fyi, tank looks bluer in pictures than it does normally.

 

[Grant W]

Hey Troy before you get too far I would cover the back or paint it either black or blue you will like the contrast and it helps hide the wires and such

 

[GiantBen]

While I agree painting if probably the best option, you could probably get a piece of black acrylic and put it against the back of the tank too. I had something like that on my 55 gal freshwater, and it was servicable.

 

[Reef Bass]

You guys with your black backs. I like the natural look of old coraline encrusted with short hair algae. Blocks the view of wires totally and naturally.

To me, those lights look very high off the water surface. If you were Grant I'd say you had too much rock in your tank. I've got a couple smaller, nano / pico size pieces (dry) if you'd like.

Thanks for sharing pics of your setup. When it comes to tank aesthetics, it's very subjective. Just like you may think a dish you cooked is perfectly seasoned, there's probably someone who will say it needs more salt, and another who says it's too salty. You are the final judge of the seasoning, metaphorically speaking.

 

[northbay-reefer]

Those pumps just look huge and the light is so high from the tank makes the whole things look unproportional. Since you already got the filter mounted on one side, how about make that the back and turn the tank into a pico peninsula tank? thus mounting both powerheads and filter on one end of the tank? which will be the new back

 

[Friday Night]

I would ditch the heater. Weather out there is rediclious anyways and will be warming up soon and by those lights im sure will help as well. Go by the Ambient room temp as well as ditching the heater it frees up some tank real estate. Maybe cut back on one large rock so there are more water channels for flow. i think one power head should be enough. i run a k2 on my 20 gallon and thats more then enough for me. Otherwise your going to have corals and fish flying out of the tank.

Keep bio load small and keep up on water changes and your good to go.

The bigger the tank the more room for error the smaller the tank one mistake = nuke

 

[alicamo]

Thanks all, for the comments.

I have one of the crummy plastic sheets for backing, I just hadn't put it in place yet. I'm hoping Coraline covers it, but if it looks too bad I'll paint it. The tanks light enough I can scooch it around.

I typically like more rocks in my tanks, probably because my tanks(and me) never get to stay in one place for very long (life of a collage student ). I think I will be here for awhile, we'll see what happens. I'm happy with the middle/left side aquascape, but the right was bugging me and I changed it, took the big one out and busted it up a bit.

The heater is bugging the crap out of me, I'm debating taking it out and replacing it when it gets cooler with one (or more) of the Hydor mini's(shove them in the HoB). Also, the left Korelia is annoying too, I may do what you said northbay and stick it under the filter with the other one. Dunno if i wanna turn it sideways though.

Photo period is set to 8 hrs. I'm planning on doing a 100% water change spread over the month, little by little as routine maintenance.

The inhabitants I was looking at were something like:
sexy shrimp (3?)
hermits(2-4?)
porcelain crab or 2
and of course corals

I don't really like fish all that much. I'm a odd ball...

new pics: ignore the thermometer, was testing that one for accuracy.

 

[Friday Night]

Troy

whats on the livestock list whens she done with cycle?

Alex.

 

[alicamo]

Troy

whats on the livestock list whens she done with cycle?

Alex.

I mentioned it in my last post but I'm pretty much only going to have small inverts in the tank.

The inhabitants I was looking at were something like:
sexy shrimp (3?)
hermits(2-4?)
porcelain crab or 2

I checked the nitrates today, there still at ~20. I'm wondering if my test kit has gone bad or if there has just been that much die off from my old rock. With the lights on I should get a algae bloom if there truly are at 20. I'll continue to do water changes.

 

[Reef Bass]

I would be testing nitrites and ammonia for detecting end of cycle.

 

[AMAYEU]

Troy,

Can you easily move your fixture down/up? Or is it fixed? FWIW, I have seen pics of 40 degree optics that high over small shallow tanks. Almost seems like you need a 15 gallon high tank at 20 x 10 x 18 to look proportional to the fixture height.

On my 12 gallon nano with 2 par38's, I am currently running a photoperiod of 8 hours. When first installed, I ran 10 hours and slowly scaled down to 8 hours over the course of 2 months.

Looking good.

 

[alicamo]

I would be testing nitrites and ammonia for detecting end of cycle.

My ammonia card is annoying and hard to tell but I'm sure its at 0. Nitrite is at 0.

Troy,

Can you easily move your fixture down/up? Or is it fixed? FWIW, I have seen pics of 40 degree optics that high over small shallow tanks. Almost seems like you need a 15 gallon high tank at 20 x 10 x 18 to look proportional to the fixture height.

On my 12 gallon nano with 2 par38's, I am currently running a photoperiod of 8 hours. When first installed, I ran 10 hours and slowly scaled down to 8 hours over the course of 2 months.

Looking good.

The fixture is mostly temporary, I plan on making it look better at some point. It doesn't look so bad IRL, but it does look out of place with such a small tank lol.

My friend was telling me I should run into SF and grab a small Starfire tank if I'm gonna do such a small tank, I may do that at some point.

It is fixed but the lights are not, so I can move the lights if needed.

 

[alicamo]

Did a water change yesterday nitrates are down to 5-10. Mixing another patch now, almost ready for live stuff. :rollface:

Shot this one yesterday, still getting used to taking photos under the new lights.

 

[dday80]

Hey Troy,

This is an impressive setup bro. Your micro shots look promising too. Definitely following.

Drew

 

[alicamo]

Hey guys,

Been busy with things and was gone all last week so I didn't have any updates. The tanks going great, went though a small diatom bloom and I'm starting to see some macro algae popping up as well as green coralline. The LED's are not so great for growing algae so mine takes longer than with a halide. I'm thinking that I will up the photo period to 9 hrs before I leave this weekend.

Last week I went down to Caesars and bought some little coral frags and some hermits. They have been doing great accept the small one with green tips, he is not extending his polyps as much as I would like (maybe due to acclimation? I dunno). I moved the little green one today to see if he will like a different spot better.

I checked the parameters yesterday when i got home and nitrates were still at zero, I did a water change today. Going away for the weekend (...again ) so hopefully everything goes well.

Pics, the corals are still a little angry from the water change.

 

[dday80]

Hey Troy,

Nice additions! I saw that you added some hermits but, are you going to add any snails? How's the little green guy doin? Updates!

Drew

 

[Remn]

Sps in a pico, nice! can't wait to see more updates

 

[alicamo]

Hey Troy,

Nice additions! I saw that you added some hermits but, are you going to add any snails? How's the little green guy doin? Updates!

Drew

I might add a snail or 2, all mine usually fall on their backs and die somehow, I get all the stupid ones I think. :worried:

Little green guys doing good, his polyps are extended and hasn't lost color or anything anyways.