16L Pico Reef

[lljdma06]

Exactly as above, picos, IMO, are not hard to maintain. Hello, I have 3 of them. It's just that you have to be up on your water changes, that's it, and pay attention more to bioload with regard to fish. If you get lazy with a pico, well then... It is capable of crashing. As the system matures, you have a lot more leeway, especially if your corals are not particularly demanding. mini_matt has softies, wonderful corals to keep. My picos are mixed reefs, except my nps pico, that's all lps corals. I'm running into problems with corals and their effects on organisms. My elegance is a particularly nasty coral and has stung fish pretty viciously. Killed a Tanaka's wrasse. So, I learned, and am getting a small clownfish for the tank. Much more resistant to coral stings and he may even host the elegance.

I use filters as refugiums. Many of the larger filter models, with some simple modifications can be used as refugiums to store filter media and grow macro algae for nutrient export.

I don't skim any of my tanks, even my larger 36g. I bet, that with frequent larger water changes, I can get away with as large as a 55g tank without a sump or skimmer and grow some decent corals, especially if I utilize macro algae in the display. I'd just have to increase my SW production. That's my lucky advantage in the hobby. I don't rely on LFS to provide my water. I make my own. I have an RO/DI unit. IMO, the best investment for SW I ever made.

L

 

[SB96]

hello,
great nano just wondering, what is the zoa in the bottom right corner ??
thanks, stan

 

[mini_matt]

Hi, not really sure, it's green center with brown around the outside, was trying to find I better pic but I don't have one closeup.

Had a big strip down cleanup, took out a load of Liverock rubble which is now in my new teeny tiny tank with about a liter of water! tank now looks like this:

 

[lljdma06]

Again, a lovely example of how stunning a softie pico can be. Great work!

L

 

[mini_matt]

thanks Llj! means a lot!
here's a pic just for you!

that mushroom is so huge now! and has two mouths(?)

I think my dresser is getting a little full

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Utterly amazing dude!

 

[lljdma06]

Sooo....

Give us some details on that teeny, tiny tank in the middle...

I'm curious.

 

[ainsy]

Your tank is so full of excitement I hardly know where to look next!

Every time I look I see something that I didn't notice last time!

The second mouth on the Rhodactis mean it is getting ready to split.

 

[mini_matt]

Utterly amazing dude!

wow thanks buddy! I love it too!

Sooo....

Give us some details on that teeny, tiny tank in the middle...

I'm curious.

Hehe, well, it's just for fun really, a way to use what rock I had leftover!
Total volume of the container is 1.8 Litres so with the rock in there it's probably about 1 litre of water
I'm just working out how to bend acrylic so I can make a divider/overflow

Your tank is so full of excitement I hardly know where to look next!

Every time I look I see something that I didn't notice last time!

The second mouth on the Rhodactis mean it is getting ready to split.

haha thanks! it does have quite a lot in there, there were a lot of trips to the LFS, on the days they cleaned there frag tank I would be looking in the buckets and getting the odd polyp that got sucked out for free

Rhodactis? thought it was just a mushroom, lost my book when I moved and didn't get a good ID
I can't actually remember buying it but it has grown a lot!
It has had two mouths for a few months I hoped it would split as it's huge now! need to get some more mysis or rotifers to feed it


also, anyone have an ID for these zoas(?)?

Thanks for all the lovely comments , matt

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

Love this little tank inspiring!

 

[mini_matt]

Well thought I would pop on to say this tank is still going! Under the very unwatchful eye of my sister :s moved out of home but couldn't take the tank with me turns out nothing really likes the LED array I don't think it's intense enough so going to change back to the arc pods! Lost my entire GSP when I swapped lights and last week my heater broke which went un noticed till I came over at the weekend! So a little touch and go ATM tank looks like crap and generally disappointed I can't look after it properly! Moving house soon and it will be moving with me!! Wish me luck!

 

[mini_matt]

not sure if anyone is still following but lets get this thread up and running again! 
 
Lets start with how I spent my weekend, well, seeing as I know I will be moving soon I thought I would spend my Saturday doing some much needed tank maintenance! This involved a trip to my mums to get the water barrels then a trip to the LFS to get RO and Salted RO (to save me having to mix it 

 ) I also managed to find another nano heater for a bargain £14.99 for a new 50W.
emptied the talk water into two containers then moved all the rock and corals out (removing two big bristleworms in the process gross)
 
I was then left with a tank half full of water and dirty sand so swirled it all up and emptied the water then repeated with salt water till it was nice and clean then went about reassembling the tank and I changed back to my old lights too.
 
They now seem really dim possibly the LED's were a bit overkill, the large ric was doing great before the change and now is a really intensly bright colour but has shrunk down a lot! I think maybe low light might be the best route but will try the LED's in a new array at some point I'm sure.
 
Sunday we visited World of water in Romsey and what a great place that was! Definitely going there next weekend!

 

[MBOU]

Was wondering who had bumped  the post
 
It is interesting to keep having updates!! Cant wait for more photos

 

[mini_matt]

All my picture links are broken will try and fix that later!
This tank is still going by the way! 3years and 4months!
Have just bought a RSM130 to transfer into so that will be the end of it soon

 

[DrRob]

Not a bad reason for it to go though. I look forward to seeing the updates, well done for keeping a 16l going for so long as well.