Tiny funny reef on budget

[sikorskys]

so what's your upkeep on this tank how does the skimmer Run for you

Skimmer works just fine. It's performance heavily depends on airstone and air pump quality. Better airstone means better skimming but needs a better airpump to operate (wooden airstone may be too dense for a cheap pump). A pump with controllable airflow is best because it allows you to adjust skimming intensity.

As for upkeep, it's comes to weekly 50% water changes Beside that, I just do manual top off every 2-3 days and clean glass from time to time.

To make water changes super fast I always have some of these on hand:



Each bag contains 35 gramm of Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt mix. So, I just mix one with a litre of RO/DI to be ready for 15% water change in a minute By the way, Salifert test-tube holds exactly 35 gramm of salt, so it not a big deal to refill these bags

With such a small tank and softies there is not much to worry about. I check for salinity once a month and nothing more, literally. I haven't tested this tank for anything yet, including temperature

Volume is so small, it's easier to fix water quality issues than to find them out. Whatever the case, just change the water up to 100%

 

[knukles55]

Officer I swear it's just tropic Marin sea salt Lol. it's a good idea though definitely keep doing what you're doing tank looks awesome so far

 

[Amattyc]

Love it!

 

[EzraZamir]

I'm inspired! Great job on the tank and light!!

 

[sikorskys]

I'm inspired! Great job on the tank and light!!

Thank you. That's just the beginning

 

[sikorskys]

Here is my new non-photosynthetic addition to the tank, Blue-legged hermit



It's hardworking and fun to watch, I love it

 

[powers2001]

Did you make that skimmer?

 

[sikorskys]

Did you make that skimmer?

No, that's Dymax IQ5 from http://www.fish-street.com/dymax_iq5_nano_protein_skimmer . It's available at eBay.

It's not that hard to make a DIY version of such skimmer, but it's not worth it.

 

[sikorskys]

Just curious, how much Blue-legged hermit cost in US?

 

[don_chuwish]

Depends on the source and size. LFS can be pretty cheap - $1 - $2. I see LiveAquaria has 12 tiny ones for $8.
http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+1346&pcatid=1346

 

[sikorskys]

Depends on the source and size. LFS can be pretty cheap - $1 - $2. I see LiveAquaria has 12 tiny ones for $8.
http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+1346&pcatid=1346

Thank you. It's good to live in US then, if you are a hermit lover

I saw LiveAquaria's offer, but couldn't believe it's for 12 of them I my country, they cost ten times more.

 

[don_chuwish]

Larger ones can be that much.
No tiny fish in your tiny reef yet?

 

[sikorskys]

No tiny fish in your tiny reef yet?

I'm dripping a chromis right now

 

[Scottsquatch]

Nice pico! I was running a 5 nano for about 2 years. Now I'm working on two seperate builds - a 33 extra long and a 220. I might have to set up the nano on my desk though, because I really miss that thing.

 

[sikorskys]

Here is what I got from a fellow reefer few days ago



Small and cute tuxedo urchin.

 

[BMMMW]

I hope everything is glued down well. They pickup everything.

 

[sikorskys]

I hope everything is glued down well. They pickup everything.

Another one in my 8g is all covered with bubble algae

 

[Congaken]

Hello R2R from Kiev, Ukraine

Here in Ukraine, reef keeping is not that popular and most people out of the hobby believe all corals they see are plastic toys in freshwater One may suggest that's because reef keeping is quite costly, but I personally believe the truth is much worse. It's all about turkey blasters! You see, we don't celebrate thanksgiving here, so there is no such thing as "turkey blaster" in our country. That's the reason, no one needs a reef without turkey blaster!

Anyway, I'm going to start a reef It will be just 3 gallons and it will be on budget. And when I say "on budget" it doesn't mean something like IM Nuvo +MP10 + NanoBox. No, it means for $50 in total So, no jawdropping eye-candy or high-tech fetish here, sorry Just dead simple DIY and rather boring livestock.

For equipment I'm going to use my old freshwater tank (no sump), cheapest airstone skimmer, freshwater pump as wavemaker, DIY LED lighting and DIY rock.

Here is how it supposed to look:


As you (I hope) can see, the rock is to have quite "unnatural" conical look. That because I'd like it to be aligned with the shape of the tank to use all available space most effectively. It supposed to be covered with SPS some day (not now, I'll start with softies).

That's all for now Stay tuned for updates, much more progression info and photos are coming

Just saw your post about "turkey blasters"...actually in the US the word is "turkey baster"...other-words you baste a turkey with it...reefers do use it to blast, but its still a turkey baster...good luck with you nano...

 

[sikorskys]

Just saw your post about "turkey blasters"...actually in the US the word is "turkey baster"...other-words you baste a turkey with it...reefers do use it to blast, but its still a turkey baster...good luck with you nano...

LOL, I didn't know that Thank you.

 

[Congaken]

LOL, I didn't know that Thank you.

I have a 10gal. reef, sort of a small scale version of a bigger tank...I was looking for appropriate fish for my tank, fish that will get along...(IDK about a 3 gal), but I have now in QT a purple fire fish, a chalk bass and just added a yellow watchman to my DT...my point is that there should be no aggression in my 10 gal. space...as soon as all the fish are in (2 weeks in copper), I'll put up some pictures for the nano or cube group... take care...P.S. are you related to the helicopter Sikorskys?