Yes, it’s a true pico and has proven as temperamental as you would think! Here is its tale:
June 1 - Discover scuba dive in St. Thomas took a few days to pick my jaw up off the sea bed and had me in a trance about having a part of that in my home (I did not disturb the natural coral) and so my research into HOW began.
June 12 - Began pricing out the material, trying to come in as cheap as possible with some level of reliability.
10$ - Vase 8”x8”
3$ - Tray for sump
5$ - Acrylic sheet for sump baffles and lid
6$ - Small Pump 80 gph
20$ - Wood for Base and Light
15$ - Aragalive pink Fuji
15$ - life rock fragments
17$ - instant ocean reef salt mix
8$ - Plastic tubes for tank plumbing
7$ - Vinyl Hosing for tank plumbing
9$ - 5w heater
-On hand supplies for a DIY light (~14k adjustable brightness)
-Other misc on hand supplies
June 18 - Cutting holes in vase for the tubes, silicone tubes in place and cut to size. Craft the stand and light fixture. Silicone sump baffles into place. Silicone rocks together in desired shape.
June 20 - Assemble complete tank and stand combo. Plumb sump and rinse assembly with fresh water. Add salt water and feed ammonium to cycle tank!
June 23 - Ammonium levels depleted and nitrites still around 5ppm, but trending down.
June 24 - Realized ReefaPalooza was happening down the road, that weekend, amped up so…. 100% water change and ready to get some corals!
June 25 - Tank measurements are good in the morning before headed to ReefaPalooza to get corals to stock my tank. Picked up a Rasta Zoa, Watermelon? Zoa, Green birds nest, Lemon Candy cane, an acan, a Duncan, and some chaeto macro algae (for the sump). Acclimate everything to the tank conditions and set on sand bed.
June 26 - Fix corals to the rocks and perform a 20% water change after.
June 27 - Perfect, but low flow so upgrade to pump with higher flow rate.
June 28 - Tank reaches 95F, everything but zoas melt or bleach. Sad day, larger pump generated more heat than anticipated with no safety measures in place. Immediate 20% water change to bring down temps, fans installed to cool more gradually, and removal of dead corals :’(
June 29 - Develop microcontroller system using Arduino, temp sensor, relays, peristaltic pump, home made water level sensor, and fans to set up multistage cooling system to prevent further disaster. Installed a small 5v submersible pump into back of tank for enhanced flow with minimal heat increase.
July 1 - System is stable! Temps at 78 consistently, auto top-off working overtime but it is necessary. Take advantage of July sale at Vivid and order, 3 zoas, a pipe organ, monti, and astrea snail.
July 7 - Long period of stability, receive new corals, with bonus Duncan! Acclimate corals and snail. Too many corals to place in sand, so They were fixed to rock after dipping. Additional 20% water change. Add actinic (405nm) light to the grow light in place of 2 greens (520nm).
July 8 - Notice little flecks swimming around, thinking it is copepods? Feeding corals zooplankton directly once a day now.
Stay tuned for updates!
June 1 - Discover scuba dive in St. Thomas took a few days to pick my jaw up off the sea bed and had me in a trance about having a part of that in my home (I did not disturb the natural coral) and so my research into HOW began.
June 12 - Began pricing out the material, trying to come in as cheap as possible with some level of reliability.
10$ - Vase 8”x8”
3$ - Tray for sump
5$ - Acrylic sheet for sump baffles and lid
6$ - Small Pump 80 gph
20$ - Wood for Base and Light
15$ - Aragalive pink Fuji
15$ - life rock fragments
17$ - instant ocean reef salt mix
8$ - Plastic tubes for tank plumbing
7$ - Vinyl Hosing for tank plumbing
9$ - 5w heater
-On hand supplies for a DIY light (~14k adjustable brightness)
-Other misc on hand supplies
June 18 - Cutting holes in vase for the tubes, silicone tubes in place and cut to size. Craft the stand and light fixture. Silicone sump baffles into place. Silicone rocks together in desired shape.
June 20 - Assemble complete tank and stand combo. Plumb sump and rinse assembly with fresh water. Add salt water and feed ammonium to cycle tank!
June 23 - Ammonium levels depleted and nitrites still around 5ppm, but trending down.
June 24 - Realized ReefaPalooza was happening down the road, that weekend, amped up so…. 100% water change and ready to get some corals!
June 25 - Tank measurements are good in the morning before headed to ReefaPalooza to get corals to stock my tank. Picked up a Rasta Zoa, Watermelon? Zoa, Green birds nest, Lemon Candy cane, an acan, a Duncan, and some chaeto macro algae (for the sump). Acclimate everything to the tank conditions and set on sand bed.
June 26 - Fix corals to the rocks and perform a 20% water change after.
June 27 - Perfect, but low flow so upgrade to pump with higher flow rate.
June 28 - Tank reaches 95F, everything but zoas melt or bleach. Sad day, larger pump generated more heat than anticipated with no safety measures in place. Immediate 20% water change to bring down temps, fans installed to cool more gradually, and removal of dead corals :’(
June 29 - Develop microcontroller system using Arduino, temp sensor, relays, peristaltic pump, home made water level sensor, and fans to set up multistage cooling system to prevent further disaster. Installed a small 5v submersible pump into back of tank for enhanced flow with minimal heat increase.
July 1 - System is stable! Temps at 78 consistently, auto top-off working overtime but it is necessary. Take advantage of July sale at Vivid and order, 3 zoas, a pipe organ, monti, and astrea snail.
July 7 - Long period of stability, receive new corals, with bonus Duncan! Acclimate corals and snail. Too many corals to place in sand, so They were fixed to rock after dipping. Additional 20% water change. Add actinic (405nm) light to the grow light in place of 2 greens (520nm).
July 8 - Notice little flecks swimming around, thinking it is copepods? Feeding corals zooplankton directly once a day now.
Stay tuned for updates!
Attachments
-
A7271C02-37AD-45E0-AE8D-1DBA2763457D.jpeg -
AD0D7A56-A0AA-4259-8C13-B405D1B5E241.jpeg -
E2036084-CBD2-4B84-8CC2-E00630965A96.jpeg -
19CC5DB7-2A3A-4CF4-9CA5-7857D74E43B3.jpeg -
3610C32A-5AAD-489F-BB52-607AD215D0A9.jpeg -
D78B33B8-1A89-4D76-A0CB-C7DE5B35F31C.jpeg -
D334ACF7-363A-41C1-B9BD-516803D2DB52.jpeg -
2D6240E3-DCDC-40AC-9681-83140CB2939F.jpeg -
E98D946A-3193-49EF-AC9B-FF4CD05B9B00.jpeg -
9A73009A-936E-4AC9-BCC5-35C1D0063CD5.jpeg
