Pico? Need Options for 2.5 or 5g tank

[Racnakd]

Sexy shrimp* not sexy grip. Auto correct

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Racnakd

Sounds like a plan, I think they do better in pairs. I am not sure where I found that info I just remember from my research that their primary diet is stars. It my be worth a shot I just don't want you to spend the money on something and It won't make it. I recently picked up 30lbs of lr to add to my 120lbs and before I nuked it there was a ton of the little white stars. A lot of tanks have them and have them due to hitchhiking.

Bristle worms are a good sign of your cycling. Their a great addition to a cuc. They primarily feed on left over food and detritus. Glad to hear you have something wiggling around.

What type of lighting do you have in that 2.5?

I have 2 of the 50/50 compact fluorescent bulbs in a standard hood from my 10 gallon. I believe they're 10 watts a piece. I have little nuisance stars that are sure to have hitchhiked their way into the 2.5. I just haven't seen them. I am planning on adding some more rock. I rescaped last night.







This is what I'm going for on a much smaller scale, of course. (not my tank. Just a pic that inspired me. Lol.) I will only have softies in there. Probably polyps, zoas, and mushrooms. Probably a Kenya tree. I'm hoping mine in my 55 will spread. I've heard they will. Lol. Maybe some pumping Xenia eventually.

Originally Posted by SaltwaterNuB

My light came in and looks great. Going to check ammonia levels today and probably do a 1.5g water change. Would it be a bad idea to add a couple crabs if everything looks good. My lfs isn't getting neons in until next week. I don't want to add any shrooms or polys just yet. I also want a couple sexies. I just can't watch them each chocolates. Haha

Lol. Try chopped shrimp. I read they like that. How do your nitrites and nitrates look? What kind of crab?

[jmay33]

I think some hermits would probably be okay.

[Racnakd]

Originally Posted by jmay33

I have 2 of the 50/50 compact fluorescent bulbs in a standard hood from my 10 gallon. I believe they're 10 watts a piece. I have little nuisance stars that are sure to have hitchhiked their way into the 2.5. I just haven't seen them. I am planning on adding some more rock. I rescaped last night.

This is what I'm going for on a much smaller scale, of course. (not my tank. Just a pic that inspired me. Lol.) I will only have softies in there. Probably polyps, zoas, and mushrooms. Probably a Kenya tree. I'm hoping mine in my 55 will spread. I've heard they will. Lol. Maybe some pumping Xenia eventually.

Lol. Try chopped shrimp. I read they like that. How do your nitrites and nitrates look? What kind of crab?

I've seen that picture before. It is a beautiful tank. Has be in the neighborhood of 500+g.
I'm trying to understand your lighting. Their 50/50 compact fluorescent bulbs. I was thinking it was a power compact but wow I'm off today. I'm sure the 20w will be plenty. That's 8w per gallon. Should suffice. Have you looked into the LEDs for the pico's? They are pretty amazing. If the Kenya and Xenias like the lighting and parameters hold on, your going I be fragging a lot. They don't care what six tank their in, they'll take over.

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Racnakd

I've seen that picture before. It is a beautiful tank. Has be in the neighborhood of 500+g.
I'm trying to understand your lighting. Their 50/50 compact fluorescent bulbs. I was thinking it was a power compact but wow I'm off today. I'm sure the 20w will be plenty. That's 8w per gallon. Should suffice. Have you looked into the LEDs for the pico's? They are pretty amazing. If the Kenya and Xenias like the lighting and parameters hold on, your going I be fragging a lot. They don't care what six tank their in, they'll take over.

That tank has to be huge. Thats a huge school of chromis! I want a tank like that one day.
I already have them and I have a place to move them. Lol. Plus several people who I know are interested in some frags. they lived under these exact same lights in my 10 gallon(along with a 15 w t8 coralife bulb) The bulbs are just coralife 50/50 screw in bulbs. Lol. I've been thinking about going LED. I'm wanting to invest in some lights for this tank. Just haven't decided what yet.

[Racnakd]

This is how my lighting looks, I just recently switched from 4 t-5 to 4-t5 and 2-150w mh. Really amazing what lighting will do for your tank.

This is before with my old T5 fixture



After with the mh



Happy corals











The bubbles on the back are just an accumulation of micro bubbles from my return.

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Racnakd

This is how my lighting looks, I just recently switched from 4 t-5 to 4-t5 and 2-150w mh. Really amazing what lighting will do for your tank.

This is before with my old T5 fixture

After with the mh

Happy corals

The bubbles on the back are just an accumulation of micro bubbles from my return.

That looks great! Beautiful tank! Love the mushrooms. I want mine to spread really bad. I just got them under some decent lights. So we'll see.

[Racnakd]

Originally Posted by jmay33

That looks great! Beautiful tank! Love the mushrooms. I want mine to spread really bad. I just got them under some decent lights. So we'll see.

Thank you. Been a lot of work but I enjoy it a lot. My wife and daughter love it too.
I wanted them to spread too. Be careful what you wish for. I am being overrun by shrooms. That is just one rock in the corner of my tank. They are spread out all over. It does look nice though. You just have to be patient and they will grow. They aren't a high light coral and they were like that before I switched to the halides. They'll grow.

[Ricksreef]

Originally Posted by Racnakd

Everything sounds good and there are plenty of choices. Whatever you decide to go with I'm sure will work fine. I do like the way the sexy shrimp look but it's just to bad that their main diet is star fish. I don't think that they would last very long in a 2.5 due to lack of food supply.

You're thinking of the Harlequin shrimp,not the sexy shrimp.

[Racnakd]

Originally Posted by Ricksreef

You're thinking of the Harlequin shrimp,not the sexy shrimp.

Thank you. You are correct. I apologize to everyone for m mistake. It's been a while since i researched them and I got them mixed up.
Thank you again.

[Ricksreef]

Originally Posted by Racnakd

Thank you. You are correct. I apologize to everyone for m mistake. It's been a while since i researched them and I got them mixed up.
Thank you again.

Sexy shrimp are cool.Link to my video.

[Beengirl]

Sexy shrimp will eat pellet, mysis, flake. They do like to be in groups, though. I once saw a cute video of someone feeding their sexy shrimp pellets with tweezers. When they put the pellet in the water, all the shrimp came running over and each one took a pellet in their "hands" and ran off. Too cute!!

[jmay33]

I feel like I haven't responded in a long time. Not sure why. I've been keeping up with it. Lol. I got some things for my pico!!! I ordered a new light. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Some rock, some Purigen for the filter, and a new power head for my 55 gallon, meaning that I can move my hydor nano power head into my pico.

[jmay33]

Eek! Wrong thread!

[Dimdim]

Hows the pico going!?

[jmay33]

Great so far! I found something a little strange in there today. You can see the little guy sticking out of this rock. Not sure what it is. Maybe some kind of worm? I touched it and it shot back into the rock, so I know it's alive. Lol.



I also added some dry rock. I need to clean my glass. There is really fine sand on it.



I'm not sure I'll be able to post my parameters until tomorrow.

[Dimdim]

Looks good! And oh boy lol seems pretty big ! Maybe a type of flat worm or tube worm? I noticed a few bristle worms in my half gallon today i fed him a pellet ! Lol

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Dimdim

Looks good! And oh boy lol seems pretty big ! Maybe a type of flat worm or tube worm? I noticed a few bristle worms in my half gallon today i fed him a pellet ! Lol

Thank you! I'm excited for it to finish cycling. Lol. Eek!! Don't feed them! They will take over. I have SO many. This is on some live rock a guy was kind enough to give me. All of these were eradicated and I probably have twice as many in my tanks! And they get HUGE! But they make a great part of a cuc, so I don't mind them too much. They are just scary when I'm moving stuff around. The boogers pack a punch! I ordered some long tweezers from amazon.



I looked at the sexy shrimp at my lfs today. They're so tiny! I can't wait to have some!

[Dimdim]

Omg jay! Is that yours? U have so many!! I would not be sticking my hands in there! They freakme out more then the sting from my sebae nem, got me today during a water change somedays i feel like petting it lol. Call me crazy. Doesnt bother me much and i bet! Im going to be trapping my peppermint shrimp and transferring him to the half gallon nano as hes diverted to eating my acans,

Tongs sound like a great idea, i wanna get some elbow length rubber gloves

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Dimdim

Omg jay! Is that yours? U have so many!! I would not be sticking my hands in there! They freakme out more then the sting from my sebae nem, got me today during a water change somedays i feel like petting it lol. Call me crazy. Doesnt bother me much and i bet! Im going to be trapping my peppermint shrimp and transferring him to the half gallon nano as hes diverted to eating my acans,

Tongs sound like a great idea, i wanna get some elbow length rubber gloves

Yep! That's mine! Lol. They breed like crazy if they have a lot to eat. I cut back my feedings to twice a week for a while and the population decreased drastically. I usually just shine a light on the rocks and they all hide. The sand I don't touch though. Lol. They are useful. When I go out of town, if one of my fish dies I don't have a huge ammonia spike because it doesn't take them but 12 hours or so (if that) to devour it completely. So good and bad. I read about peppermint shrimp doing that the other day! It's made me think about maybe getting blood shrimp the next time around. I had a Condy and I was absolutely terrified of touching it. Lol. You should have seen me trying to package it to take to my lfs. I'm sure it was hilarious. It took me forever!

Edit: I've thought about rubber gloves but I don't trust them to be thick enough! Lol