I've joined the dark side- Minibow 2.5 pico! *Frag pics!!!*

[Kribensis_2004]

not bad for a little 2.5 gallon, i like the look so far on it. i would add some more zoos and mushrooms at the bottom before the aquarium goes out of controll.

 

[severum mama]

As I mentioned, I added 2 new frags and 3 nassarius snails yesterday. I also did a 25% water change just to be safe- I know it is difficult to keep perams stable in such a small tank, and I want to do my best to accomplish that. I tested the water a little while ago after work.
pH= 7.8
ammonia=0
nitrite= 0
nitrate= 10
temp= 78
SG= 1.023 (I mixed up the water a bit weak the other day so it dropped from 1.024.)

Here are my new pics!

and a couple full tank shots; I took the bottom part off the tank and I think it looks better.

closer:

Things seem to be going well at this point, hopefully that will continue! And hopefully my new zoo's will open up more.

As always, opinions are welcome! Y'all know more about this than I do, lol.

 

[roka64]

Very impressive!

 

[severum mama]

Thanks Scott! I appreciate the compliment, makes me feel like I'm doing stuff right.

 

[roka64]

Looks like you are doing great.

 

[severum mama]

I know I said I wasn't going to buy any fish, but I just couldn't resist a yellow clown goby. It seems happy so far, but if I can't keep it happy then I will return it. I love this fish- it is so adorable!

I also got this cool rock with purple mushrooms on it. It's got little fan worms all over it too, and I think a couple of brittle stars. Since my rock had no life on it, that was really exciting for me.

Also, I managed to work out a solution for my new 9 inch Coralife Aqualight. I knew it didn't work with the mounting legs, but I bought it anyway hoping to rig something up. I ended up replacing 2 screws in each side of the Aqualight with screw eyes. The screw eyes hold the chains onto the light. Then, I had the BF drill 2 holes in the underside of my cabinet (who doesn't need a reef in their kitchen? ). I screwed cup hooks into the bottom of the cabinet and hung the light there.

closer:

Not the most attractive solution, but it cost me less than 5 bucks. Now I have 18 watts instead of 10- what a difference!
I'm hoping that the new light being suspended over the open tank will help me keep the pH up where it needs to be. I think that MiniBow hood was my problem, we'll see.

Other random pics- my new zoo's look a lot better, my star polyps seem happy, and things seem to generally be going well at this point.

I'm testing the water again later, I'll post the results this afternoon. 8)

 

[severum mama]

Yesterday's test results:
pH= 7.8
ammonia= 0
nitrite= 0
nitrate= 10
temp= 78
SG= 1.024

This was after I did a 40% water change to bring the nitrates down from about 15. I am in the process of switching to RO water from distilled- yesterday's pwc was part distilled, part RO. I'm topping up twice a day now with RO since I switched to the new light with the open top.

That's all the updates I have ATM.

 

[roka64]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Tank looks great! Nice job.

I like the light mod too!

 

[clearerphish]

Looking good! I especially like the purple mushrooms! Great Idea with the light!

 

[surjer]

What is a BF?

Then, I had the BF drill 2 holes in the underside of my cabinet..

Tank looks awesome BTW! Good job!

 

[roka64]

BF=boy friend

 

[surjer]

DOH!

/me = noob

 

[severum mama]

BF= severum dad

*edit* More updates.... 8)
My goby took a couple bites of mysis this evening! That was good news for sure.
And, my water's looking pretty good I think. I tested a little while ago.
pH= 7.9 (maybe 7.8, but it looked a little darker than the color chart)
ammonia= 0
nitrite= 0
nitrate= 10
temp= 79
SG= 1.024
I'm planning on doing another water change tomorrow. I've got the water mixing now.

Now for the new pics...

I got 2 of these snails free with my mushroom rock this weekend. This one almost decided to bail out of the tank tonight.

And my clown goby is a little less shy these days... I LOVE this little guy!

As you can see, I need to clean the acrylic already.

 

[aquariumnoob]

All I can say is wow. I didn't really get into fish until when I started college (last fall), because I grew up with tons of pets (no fish) and I missed having something to take care of. I have a 10 gal because it's all I can really fit in my room, but your tank is inspiring. Surely I could fit a 2.5 gal on my desk (I think I'm buying a stand for my 10 gal). Anyways, I had considered salt recently-ish, but since I have to move my tank home for Winter break/back afterwards and then for spring break/and back and then the summer, I didn't think the saltwater fish could tolerate the 100% water changes. But a small tank like a 2.5, I could just take a little bit out and just carry the whole tank home. If I'm completely wrong, someone correctly, please. But otherwise, how expensive would a 2.5 gal be to start-up/maintain? (1 time question, if I have anymore I'll start a new thread, I apologize in advance).

 

[severum mama]

No pics tonight, just updates.

I did a 30% pwc tonight.
pH= 8.0 as of a few minutes ago, right before lights out. I'm happy about this, as per MT's advice.
ammonia= 0
nitrite= 0
nitrate= 10
temp= 79- holdin' steady, great news!
SG= 1.024

And my clown goby ate some more mysis tonight. As DT so eloquently stated, it seems that no fish can resist the powers of mysis, LOL!

And that's all for now.

 

[MT79]

That is a very cool tank! I had no idea we were talking about a something so small. Looks like it is off to a great start. I'm glad to hear your PH is looking good.
BTW- FYI those like what are commonly called margarita snails. Happy reefing

 

[lando]

Great pics. I have a yellow clown goby in my pico as well. It should be fine in your tank. Thanks for sharing!

 

[severum mama]

Thanks for the compliments, and the snail ID!

Tested tonight, again.
pH= 8.0- this reading came a couple hours before lights out. I'm crossing my fingers that it's a sign things are stabilizing.
ammonia= 0
nitrite= 0
nitrate= 10
temp= 79
SG= 1.024

I'm really surprised with how well this is going so far! Hopefully it will continue to go this well. As always, I welcome any suggestions for things that I can do better.

 

[roka64]

Lookin great and congrats! It's good to see you doing so well.