corpusse
02-18-2014, 02:17 PM
I've really been getting back to reefing lately, not that I haven't always had tanks running, but let things go for a while and the past few months things have been going well. All along the way I've had this 2 gallon dymax iq3 pico I bought as an impulse buy 3 and a half years ago.
At the start I jammed many corals in and quite a few got overgrown by others, but now it's gotten to the point where almost everything is doing great and there is no room at all for anything new. I bought a little rock flower anemone on the weekend then couldn't find anywhere to put it :) it ended up in my main display but took some more photos of the pico.
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-KHFvSHh/0/X2/picofeb162014-X2.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-gmNjD7d/0/XL/IMG_5486-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-Dv4np6G/0/XL/IMG_5481-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-W3c9FT2/0/XL/IMG_5490-XL.jpg
This chalice is growing up 2 sides of the acrylic, unfortunately that means the bottom faces out.
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-c7kHPv3/0/XL/IMG_5492-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-gqR7Zf2/0/XL/IMG_5511-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-FWGSwVn/0/XL/IMG_5507-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-kr4Ztrw/0/XL/IMG_5513-XL.jpg
The tank is lit by a par30 bulb. I replaced the cheapo return pump with a mini jet. I had to take the covers off the pump to jam it in. I also drilled an additional hole in the false wall (while the tank was running) to put a zoo meds powerhead in for additional flow. Finally there is a red sea pico power filter which has fliter floss and one tablespoon of carbon and half a tablespoon of GFO. Since it's not exactly tumbling I'm not sure how much good it does. I still get algae in the tank, but it does get a lot of natural sunlight, however I like this. The natural light likely helps my mangrove survive but not really thrive it only has 7 leaves despite approaching 4 years old. I'm debating pulling the bottom rock that has the GSP on it so I can put something new in, but the tank is doing well don't want to mess with it much. Besides changing the floss I do 1 gallon non religious weekly water changes. The carbon and gfo is replaced every 2 weeks. Originally this tank did have a small sandbed but it's such a detritus factory it was very counter productive. Now after having this tank for years I firmly believe no sandbed is the key to success in pico aquariums. While I certainly dislike the look of bare bottom tanks as much as the next person, you can hardly tell this is a bare bottom tank :)
At the start I jammed many corals in and quite a few got overgrown by others, but now it's gotten to the point where almost everything is doing great and there is no room at all for anything new. I bought a little rock flower anemone on the weekend then couldn't find anywhere to put it :) it ended up in my main display but took some more photos of the pico.
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-KHFvSHh/0/X2/picofeb162014-X2.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-gmNjD7d/0/XL/IMG_5486-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-Dv4np6G/0/XL/IMG_5481-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-W3c9FT2/0/XL/IMG_5490-XL.jpg
This chalice is growing up 2 sides of the acrylic, unfortunately that means the bottom faces out.
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-c7kHPv3/0/XL/IMG_5492-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-gqR7Zf2/0/XL/IMG_5511-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-FWGSwVn/0/XL/IMG_5507-XL.jpg
http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/Picoreef/i-kr4Ztrw/0/XL/IMG_5513-XL.jpg
The tank is lit by a par30 bulb. I replaced the cheapo return pump with a mini jet. I had to take the covers off the pump to jam it in. I also drilled an additional hole in the false wall (while the tank was running) to put a zoo meds powerhead in for additional flow. Finally there is a red sea pico power filter which has fliter floss and one tablespoon of carbon and half a tablespoon of GFO. Since it's not exactly tumbling I'm not sure how much good it does. I still get algae in the tank, but it does get a lot of natural sunlight, however I like this. The natural light likely helps my mangrove survive but not really thrive it only has 7 leaves despite approaching 4 years old. I'm debating pulling the bottom rock that has the GSP on it so I can put something new in, but the tank is doing well don't want to mess with it much. Besides changing the floss I do 1 gallon non religious weekly water changes. The carbon and gfo is replaced every 2 weeks. Originally this tank did have a small sandbed but it's such a detritus factory it was very counter productive. Now after having this tank for years I firmly believe no sandbed is the key to success in pico aquariums. While I certainly dislike the look of bare bottom tanks as much as the next person, you can hardly tell this is a bare bottom tank :)