chickenofthesea
Well-known member
So it's been a few years since I have even had a tank let alone been back on reeffrontiers. One thing I have discovered is that I really miss my Pacific Northwest reef keepers. I have been to Hawaii, where corals are illegal for the most part and now live in Texas and am disappointed at the lack of participation in the hobby and great support forums like this one.
Anyway.... I am back at it pico reef style!
I have a 2g Aqueon AIO running a finnex stingray LED fixture and a custom supplemental RGB LED setup for extra wattage and color pop. Filtration is achieved through 5lb of live rock, 1 and a half in sand bed, some cheato in the fuge and some blue scroll algae in the display. I also have some sponge for mechanical filtration.
What's in it you ask?
Well it finished cycling about three weeks ago and so far I have a small cleanup crew consisting of...
- 1 nassarius
- 2 blue leg hermits
- 1 brittle star (hitch hiker from the LR)
- 1 cleaner shrimp.
Live stock is...
- 1 Yellow watchman goby (very small)
- 1 Blue mushroom frag
- 1 Hammer coral frag
And so far everything is doing very well.
Goby is eating brine once a day and I see him sifting through the sand and the shrimp cleans up the left overs. Nitrates have been high @ 10ppm but I have added the cheato and do one cup water changes twice a week and everything looks really healthy. Fish has good color, cleanup crew is active and coral has great extension and color. Ph is solid at 8.2, calcium is right at 380 with salinity just over 1.023 Which I am working at slowly raising over the next couple weeks to 1.025~026 range although there are many schools of thought on that.
Anyway, I will hopefully have pictures up shortly so you can all see what I have going on.
It's good to be back and I hope you all are enjoying your reefs!
Anyway.... I am back at it pico reef style!
I have a 2g Aqueon AIO running a finnex stingray LED fixture and a custom supplemental RGB LED setup for extra wattage and color pop. Filtration is achieved through 5lb of live rock, 1 and a half in sand bed, some cheato in the fuge and some blue scroll algae in the display. I also have some sponge for mechanical filtration.
What's in it you ask?
Well it finished cycling about three weeks ago and so far I have a small cleanup crew consisting of...
- 1 nassarius
- 2 blue leg hermits
- 1 brittle star (hitch hiker from the LR)
- 1 cleaner shrimp.
Live stock is...
- 1 Yellow watchman goby (very small)
- 1 Blue mushroom frag
- 1 Hammer coral frag
And so far everything is doing very well.
Goby is eating brine once a day and I see him sifting through the sand and the shrimp cleans up the left overs. Nitrates have been high @ 10ppm but I have added the cheato and do one cup water changes twice a week and everything looks really healthy. Fish has good color, cleanup crew is active and coral has great extension and color. Ph is solid at 8.2, calcium is right at 380 with salinity just over 1.023 Which I am working at slowly raising over the next couple weeks to 1.025~026 range although there are many schools of thought on that.
Anyway, I will hopefully have pictures up shortly so you can all see what I have going on.
It's good to be back and I hope you all are enjoying your reefs!
