Picotope 3g upgraded=10g

[Newman]

looks cool.

glass covers are best, but its unfortunate if you cant find a good glass/mirror shop around you. they can do it for you. anyone who cuts glass to spec and dimensions should be able to do it for you.

You need to be checking your salinity each day or every other day. you do not want it fluctuating more than 0.001. And the goal is to have it around 1.025 so you're ok. You will need to top off eventually. its nicer if its a few days as opposed to needing to top off every day or even worse several times a day. A good way to know if you need to top off, is to measure your salinity, see if its at 1.025 then mark your water level. whenever it gets below that level, add FW up to level and you're good.

Watch out for temperature changes. what temps do you keep your tank around? make sure its stable too.

Feed the shrimp every other day once they start to take food. I wouldn't feed on the same day you introduced them though. they probably wouldn't even want anything.

Keep your hands out of the tank so that 1. you don't get stung by the worms, 2. you don't get stung by any coral, 3. you don't get any chemicals on your skin and then accidentally injest them later or rub your eyes, etc. its easy to get irritated with certain things that come from reef tanks. some corals are toxic, so you do need to take care. also if you have any cuts on your hand, you don't want anything odd affecting you.

In FW the worst that could happen is you get some random parasite (mostly from snails) that most likely wouldn't even affect you, but in SW, not only is there still the risk of parasites, but now you have to deal with coral chemicals. I am not even joking. just use common sense and be cautious. you do not have to be paranoid lmao. This hobby is pretty safe unless you go rubbing palythoa corals on cuts in your hand or something reckless like that xD.

[d2mini]

FWIW, i practically swim in my sw tank... armpits deep, moving rock, placing corals, feeding the fish, etc. I have all kinds of worms, crabs, mantis shrimp, pistol shrimp, urchins and who knows what else. Just wash your hands when you are done and if you are handling zoas, wear eye protection.

[Newman]

yes you don't want coral juices anywhere near your eyes and face :P
the stuff zoas and palys produce goes beyond simple irritation.

forceps are still a good idea. I'm not saying be a sissy girl and never use your hands lmao (you'll want to use hands to move larger rocks around more carefully) but for simple stuff like spot feeding, and frag placing, it's best to have forceps around. very nice for getting small pieces of stuff out, etc.
You can get lucky for many years, but you might also one random day get stung by something you could have done without.

[Neatfish]

All that talk right there about keeping your hands out of the tank will never make a newb want to start a SW tank and it's too late to take it down now so I'll to be pretty careful when working on it.

[Newman]

I think its better to warn new reefers.

In a small tank like this there isn't much room to use your hand in there anyways. forceps are the way to go.

You won't regret keeping this tank up. The awesome stuff you see in SW is unmatched by FW stuff. Just keep the tank simplified. do not go higher tech like I did. It just makes it more of a drag to maintain the tank; with 8 outlets it takes more electricity than it should; and damn my tank was loud! haha.

When you do get the AC fuge mod going, don't let any sand get into the intake. do a prefilter sponge if you have to. you won't appreciate all that impeller grinding that can make your tank loud.

[d2mini]

Neatfish, don't let all that talk scare you. You want to be wary of what you are touching but IMHO it's being blown WAY out of proportion. Just use common sense. Don't go digging around with open wounds on your hands/arms, wash your hands when you are done, don't rub your eyes, etc. Just pay attention to what you are doing. If you have sensitive skin, wear latex medical gloves (with no powders).

I was digging around last night, handling zoas, frogspawn, etc. I handle anemones, crabs, cucumbers, fish, urchins... all with my bare hands. I have 24" long stainless forceps that I use to grab the occasional mantis shrimp or pull out something when I don't feel like getting wet, but there is no way I would attempt to place sensitive coral or glue a frag with them. Not enough control. Relax and enjoy the hobby. There is nothing as interesting and fun to watch as a full blown reef aquarium so don't let all that stuff up there scare you off.

Check out my build thread on RC sometime.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2144250

[somewhatshocked]

WARNING: If you look at d2mini's reef journal? Your mind will be blown.

[Neatfish]

Hey thanks guys. Every day I see something new pop out of the live rock it's pretty weird stuff. I saw this thing eating a shrimp pellet today I'm not sure what it is.

[Neatfish]

Originally Posted by d2mini

Neatfish, don't let all that talk scare you. You want to be wary of what you are touching but IMHO it's being blown WAY out of proportion. Just use common sense. Don't go digging around with open wounds on your hands/arms, wash your hands when you are done, don't rub your eyes, etc. Just pay attention to what you are doing. If you have sensitive skin, wear latex medical gloves (with no powders).

I was digging around last night, handling zoas, frogspawn, etc. I handle anemones, crabs, cucumbers, fish, urchins... all with my bare hands. I have 24" long stainless forceps that I use to grab the occasional mantis shrimp or pull out something when I don't feel like getting wet, but there is no way I would attempt to place sensitive coral or glue a frag with them. Not enough control. Relax and enjoy the hobby. There is nothing as interesting and fun to watch as a full blown reef aquarium so don't let all that stuff up there scare you off.

Check out my build thread on RC sometime.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2144250

Man that's a nice looking tank and house.

[Newman]

It's a spionid worm - another common HH (hitchhiker).
Here is an excellent source for identifying some of the HHs you can find in reef tanks:
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html

[Neatfish]

Hey thanks for that link man. Look what was waiting for me when I got home tonight.

[Newman]

Nice.
I forget how a hydrometer works...you put it into the tank right? and then it tells you the SG with the needle. in the process does it take out any water out of the tank right? (I always used a refractometer, so I'm not familiar with this way of measuring it.)

look for that brown diatom stage in your tank's progress. when the sand and rocks are powdered in brown, then you know your tank is progressing well. and the nitrates should be 0ppm after that since the algae uses them up.

for the PAR38 what kind of color distribution are you looking to get? (as in how many of the LEDs on the bulb will be royal blue vs how many cool white, warm white, ultraviolet, etc.) you have tons of options when you go to buy the bulb.

[defender.TX]

The Picotope is looking like it's off to a good start - you might want to check out the AC70 modified intake post at nano-reef forums. Somebody designed a PVC intake that pulls water in from the bottom of the tank as well as skims from the surface of the water.

Also, just read all 30 pages of d2mini's reef journal - simply incredible!

[Neatfish]

You pour the water in the hydrometer and the needle will move and tell you the salinity after just pour it back in the tank. I have not got a par38 yet but maybe 21w 20,000K (3 - Royal Blue / 2 - White) or 18w (6 Blue, 4 White, 2 Red) I also want to get a controller for the new pump.

[Neatfish]

Originally Posted by defender.TX

The Picotope is looking like it's off to a good start - you might want to check out the AC70 modified intake post at nano-reef forums. Somebody designed a PVC intake that pulls water in from the bottom of the tank as well as skims from the surface of the water.

Also, just read all 30 pages of d2mini's reef journal and I have a semi. Seriously.

Hey thanks. I'm going to make the ac70 into a fuge that's why I went with the 70. I'll use the stock light for it and get a par38 bulb for the tank.