Jestersix

Pico 5-Gallon

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Here is a pic of the set up.
 
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Big news! Tomorrow I’m placing the first live stock in. I’m getting 2 percula clowns and a rose bta they’re hosting. I’ve talked with their breeder quite a bit and I’m confident this tank will be a good fit for them. Water changes here I come!

With this addition coming in, I spent some time today setting up and programming my lighting. I need to get my hands on the PAR meter so I can get some hard numbers on this light. There’s so many conflicting experiences people have posted about on various forums. It’s a bummer it’s only available to 2 + month supporting members but I get where the club is coming from.
 

Flow check! What do you think?

Any suggestions on placement of things?

I’m waiting on the bta to choose a new location as the pot is not with my aesthetic. It’s got some good bacteria on it though for sure
 
Everything is happy and healthy. The clownfish are too entertaining to watch. I am planning to build a stand for this set up so that it can be seen a bit better compared to where it currently is on a side table. This way, I can also fit an ATO in the stand as I am currently using a gravity feed with a 1L bottle that I have to refill every 3 days or so.

I am also excited to have requested a few pieces on DBTC. I figure that with such a small tank, anything I put in it will eventually outgrow it so getting pieces that I can later break down and pass along is the perfect way for me to diversity my tank while participating in the community.

Here is a picture from the short end of the tank looking towards the filtration area taken through some orange glasses I had around.

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Update!

I haven’t really made any changes to the tank in the last 2 weeks besides switching from a janky filter basket made of left over acrylic and egg crate to a 3D printed one courtesy of my friend.
It’s been good to see how the tank thrives with minimal intervention. You’ll note the appearance of algae growing on the rocks which isn’t ideal but from what I’ve heard is unavoidable. I’ll be getting some snails to handle it.

All my coral is growing like crazy! My Utter Chaos from JVU has grown at least 5 heads and has completely taken over the frag disk. I moved it off the sand bed and on to one of the rock structures because I’d like it to spread more. The frog slaw (also from JVU) has some itty bitty heads frowning in the side too!

The only thing that is definitely not doing well is one head of a zoa that was part of the package I got with the Clownfish. I don’t really care for the zoa much at all because it’s fairly plain in my opinion. Should I just toss the whole rock out because this zoa looks funky?

I’m also sick of the terra cotta pot in the tank but I’m deathly scared that all the bacteria and goodies on it are the only reason my tank is thriving. Is it more help than eye sore?

I’m ready to add one or two more corals at this point. Im thinking a cyphastreae and something else that’s fun to look at and will add color. If anyone reading this has any input on anything at all but especially what I should put in next coral wise, please express your thoughts!
 
I love seeing your tank doing well!

Regarding the zoa you don’t like, in a small tank like this you’ll have to be a bit picky and get rid of things that aren’t working out for whatever reason. I’d just remove the small rock it’s on.

You will definitely be able to remove the pot at some point safely, since the good microbes that came with it will spread to your rock. Hard to say when, but most likely already have enough.
 
JVU said:
I love seeing your tank doing well!

Regarding the zoa you don’t like, in a small tank like this you’ll have to be a bit picky and get rid of things that aren’t working out for whatever reason. I’d just remove the small rock it’s on.

You will definitely be able to remove the pot at some point safely, since the good microbes that came with it will spread to your rock. Hard to say when, but most likely already have enough.
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Thank you so much!

Zoa is garbaged and the pot is next in the can. I’ll give it a few more weeks till I have something in mind to put in that area of the tank.
 
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Ever since I started this project, I knew I would need to buy or build a stand for the Spec V as it was currently sitting on the last free horizontal space available which happened to be a side table.

With the help of my SO’s father, a hobby wood worker, I designed and built this stand. The wood and tools were all generously supplied by him as he had lots of scraps around. You can see in the picture that the stand still provides some free horizontal space to make up for the side table it had taken over and provide extra stability due to the narrow footprint of the Spec V.

Originally I was going to have it be all black like your classic modern tank stand. @robert4025 ‘s fancy commissioned build on Check out this build I am working on including the blue marble gave me new inspiration. I did a budget marble (aka vinyl peel and stick) to achieve my look and while it’s no where close to the beauty of the inspiration tank, it turned out better than I could have imagined.

All in, I put less than $85 into the stand with the paint, extra sanding paper, and vinyl. The front piece comes off for extra storage too.

Excuse the poor quality photo. I’m just sos excited to share it. I only got it all set up last night and grabbed a quick pic of it this morning.
 
ridgebackreefer said:
View attachment 32595View attachment 32596View attachment 32594Update!

I haven’t really made any changes to the tank in the last 2 weeks besides switching from a janky filter basket made of left over acrylic and egg crate to a 3D printed one courtesy of my friend.
It’s been good to see how the tank thrives with minimal intervention. You’ll note the appearance of algae growing on the rocks which isn’t ideal but from what I’ve heard is unavoidable. I’ll be getting some snails to handle it.

All my coral is growing like crazy! My Utter Chaos from JVU has grown at least 5 heads and has completely taken over the frag disk. I moved it off the sand bed and on to one of the rock structures because I’d like it to spread more. The frog slaw (also from JVU) has some itty bitty heads frowning in the side too!

The only thing that is definitely not doing well is one head of a zoa that was part of the package I got with the Clownfish. I don’t really care for the zoa much at all because it’s fairly plain in my opinion. Should I just toss the whole rock out because this zoa looks funky?

I’m also sick of the terra cotta pot in the tank but I’m deathly scared that all the bacteria and goodies on it are the only reason my tank is thriving. Is it more help than eye sore?

I’m ready to add one or two more corals at this point. Im thinking a cyphastreae and something else that’s fun to look at and will add color. If anyone reading this has any input on anything at all but especially what I should put in next coral wise, please express your thoughts!
Click to expand...
Tank looks great and wow those utter chaos really pop!
 
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