1.6Gal (6L) Leptastrea dominated pico

[Adiantum]

Introducing my pico! This tank was established in January, and got its first corals in mid February. I cycled with dry rock and sand, as I had it on hand. This is my first successful saltwater tank, though I’ve kept freshwater on and off since I was a kid. I had a failed pico attempt in 2019 that I tore down due to my poor (dysfunctional) mental health at the time. But this teeny tank is so far going well!

I aim for it to be dominated by Leptastrea. I have two varieties thus far: orange (acquired locally from a hobbyist), and blue/green (fortuitous find at a Denver fish store). I have three from AquaSD coming today as well. And I plan for more. Leptastrea is one of my favorite corals and the size of its polyps just seemed like the right scale for such a little tank.

A few photos from last week (FTS as of 03/06/21):

That’s all for now! But I will post more later about my routine, and more importantly, my new frags! Thanks for looking!

 

[Zach B]

Awesome tank, I really like the rock work!

 

[resortez]

Looking really good.

 

[brandon429]

looking so clean and bright nice job

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Love it!!

 

[Azedenkae]

Awesome, good luck! I love themed tanks, especially when the coral species/types are limited. So very looking forwards to seeing how this turns out.

What light do you have by the way, if I may ask?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

he was asking for suggestions yesterday. Any luck on finding something small and controllable?

 

[Adiantum]

Awesome, good luck! I love themed tanks, especially when the coral species/types are limited. So very looking forwards to seeing how this turns out.

What light do you have by the way, if I may ask?

Not at all! It's NICREW 30W, all LED, with separate dimmable channels for whites and blues. For a ~$60 light, I really like it. I picked it over the ReefBreeders pico because of it's dimmable channels and higher wattage. I bought a different light of that brand for my planted paludarium (will house vampire crabs) and really liked it.

he was asking for suggestions yesterday. Any luck on finding something small and controllable?

I haven't decided yet! I may end up just going for some zoa. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Azedenkae]

Not at all! It's NICREW 30W, all LED, with separate dimmable channels for whites and blues. For a ~$60 light, I really like it. I picked it over the ReefBreeders pico because of it's dimmable channels and higher wattage. I bought a different light of that brand for my planted paludarium (will house vampire crabs) and really liked it.

Awesome, good to know. That's interesting.

yesterday. Any luck on finding something small and controllable?

Nah. I mean the Kessil is cool, but thinking about it deeply, I think I'll just go with the AI Prime. Like it seems like my mind is set on it, so might as well.

 

[Adiantum]

Now I'm not sure who was being referenced, here, whoops, haha.

But yeah, it's not a bad light. Especially considering I found it on amazon. And the price point was for sure a winner.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I confused everyone! Including myself! Thanks the the pico light recommendations though!

 

[Azedenkae]

I confused everyone! Including myself! Thanks the the pico light recommendations though!

XD S'all good.

 

[Adiantum]

No worries! I am taking suggestions on a controllable corals for my back wall though. XD

 

[Adiantum]

We have our first hitchhikers! These are terrible phone photos. I got better onew with a camera macro lens but can’t find the cable to import them.

It appears there are two little worms (?) of some sort and two tiny hermits (Paguritta sp. ?) living in this frag. Would anyone have an ID on these for me? I can hopefully post better pics later today.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Can you circle the worm? I didn’t know what I’m looking for here.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

We have our first hitchhikers! These are terrible phone photos. I got better onew with a camera macro lens but can’t find the cable to import them.

It appears there are two little worms (?) of some sort and two tiny hermits (Paguritta sp. ?) living in this frag. Would anyone have an ID on these for me? I can hopefully post better pics later today.

Some filter feeding hermits and a pair of barnacles, both are harmless hitchhikers and look pretty dang cool!

 

[Adiantum]

Some filter feeding hermits and a pair of barnacles, both are harmless hitchhikers and look pretty dang cool!

I figured they were harmless. I supposed they could be barnacles. I shall do some googling. Can’t believe I hadn’t seen bought of that! I’m actually quite excited about the little hermit crabs. The circled things in yellow are the non-hermit filter feeders.

 

[Adiantum]

Okay, having looked up barnacles feeding, that is spot on. I knew what dead/fossil barnacles looked like, but not living ones. XD

 

[Adiantum]

I was playing around with a macro lens on a borrowed camera today. I haven't done macro photography in ages, so not my best work. Seeing photos of the hitchhikers in focus, they are, in fact, barnacles. So two types of itty bitty crustaceans! The blue/green Leptastrea is already starting to grow onto the rock on the back side.

 

[Adiantum]

Picked up a pair of frags today: Sympodium, which I will probably glue to my back glass, and some yellow zoas of some sort.
I thought they were solid yellow, but they seem to have a lighter white/pink ring at the base of the tentacles. Anyone seen ones like these? They aren’t open all the way yet.