Hi All,
When I set up my first 60 gal tank, I was a lurker who used the information from the members to educate myself and help build the tank. When I finally registered to post on forums, I didn't have the necessary pictures organized to do a build thread. I wanted to at least share a picture of how it is doing today before writing about the pico tank.
I saw that Petco had a deal on their Imagitarium 3.7 Gallon PRO Deluxe for $36 and had been in the market to put a tank on my desk. I called the local store and they said they had it for $49.99. I asked if they price matched their online prices and they said yes. The nearby store had 1 left so I dropped in after dropping the kids off at school and it was too good to pass up. It seemed like it was perfect size.
I wanted to do things differently this time. In the previous build, I used live rock and live sand to speed up the cycling process (the kids wanted their clown fish in the tank next day). This time around, I had the luxury of being patient. I picked up some dry rock and dry sand from my go-to LFS.
The contents included a foam filter, filter sponge, carbon filter cartridge and zeolite filter cartridge. I decided not to use any of it because I figure the amount of rock and sand I placed in would eventually be enough biological filtration. It also came with a pump that was rated 40 gph which seems low but after turning it on seemed like enough flow for what I plan to do with it. I bought a Tetra HT aquarium heater and put it in the back where they suggested the foam filter went. I forgot to take pictures of the unboxing, sand and water placement but ended up with this. The light that came with it isn't the sturdiest but it isn't bad.
So there I was -- ready to start the cycle. Except I didn't have any ammonia on me. At this point it was like 10PM and everything was closed. Having read more than one R2R thread regarding ghost feeding I tossed in some pellets and a small cut off a cube of frozen mysis.
Sure enough, the next morning, initial tests showed that the cycle started.
I also went to Ace Hardware and picked up some ammonium chloride to help dose ammonia as needed.
During the next 5 days the ammonia would go to 0 and nitrites would stay around 4ppm.
I kept dropping ammonia in to keep it at 2ppm. Again, the ammonia would drop to 0 and nitrites would stay around 2-4. When I saw ph drop I did about a 30% water change.
I patiently let it continue to cycle for another 2 days. We had a 3 day vacation planned and nitrites were still not zero yet. I was thinking I should dose ammonia before leaving so that the bacteria built wouldn't die but I decided I would let it run. When we came back from vacation both ammonia and nitrites hit 0. I dosed ammonia to 2ppm one last time and saw that everything hit 0 the next morning. The cycle was seemingly complete and did another 30% water change.
The kids were excited to go pick out some fish and chose a hi-fin goby and a pistol shrimp.
Here's how it looks on my desk (as if I wasn't distracted enough with the other tank).
When I set up my first 60 gal tank, I was a lurker who used the information from the members to educate myself and help build the tank. When I finally registered to post on forums, I didn't have the necessary pictures organized to do a build thread. I wanted to at least share a picture of how it is doing today before writing about the pico tank.
I saw that Petco had a deal on their Imagitarium 3.7 Gallon PRO Deluxe for $36 and had been in the market to put a tank on my desk. I called the local store and they said they had it for $49.99. I asked if they price matched their online prices and they said yes. The nearby store had 1 left so I dropped in after dropping the kids off at school and it was too good to pass up. It seemed like it was perfect size.
I wanted to do things differently this time. In the previous build, I used live rock and live sand to speed up the cycling process (the kids wanted their clown fish in the tank next day). This time around, I had the luxury of being patient. I picked up some dry rock and dry sand from my go-to LFS.
The contents included a foam filter, filter sponge, carbon filter cartridge and zeolite filter cartridge. I decided not to use any of it because I figure the amount of rock and sand I placed in would eventually be enough biological filtration. It also came with a pump that was rated 40 gph which seems low but after turning it on seemed like enough flow for what I plan to do with it. I bought a Tetra HT aquarium heater and put it in the back where they suggested the foam filter went. I forgot to take pictures of the unboxing, sand and water placement but ended up with this. The light that came with it isn't the sturdiest but it isn't bad.
So there I was -- ready to start the cycle. Except I didn't have any ammonia on me. At this point it was like 10PM and everything was closed. Having read more than one R2R thread regarding ghost feeding I tossed in some pellets and a small cut off a cube of frozen mysis.
Sure enough, the next morning, initial tests showed that the cycle started.
I also went to Ace Hardware and picked up some ammonium chloride to help dose ammonia as needed.
During the next 5 days the ammonia would go to 0 and nitrites would stay around 4ppm.
I kept dropping ammonia in to keep it at 2ppm. Again, the ammonia would drop to 0 and nitrites would stay around 2-4. When I saw ph drop I did about a 30% water change.
I patiently let it continue to cycle for another 2 days. We had a 3 day vacation planned and nitrites were still not zero yet. I was thinking I should dose ammonia before leaving so that the bacteria built wouldn't die but I decided I would let it run. When we came back from vacation both ammonia and nitrites hit 0. I dosed ammonia to 2ppm one last time and saw that everything hit 0 the next morning. The cycle was seemingly complete and did another 30% water change.
The kids were excited to go pick out some fish and chose a hi-fin goby and a pistol shrimp.
Here's how it looks on my desk (as if I wasn't distracted enough with the other tank).
