1/2 gal fun

[holry7778]

Okay so I'm loving my new 1/2gal Redsea/azoo pico reef. I have:

3/4" LS
1# LR. w/ tons of mini-dusters on it now
One (1" crown) Feather duster
Macroalgae
3 hermit crabs

the tank has be going for about 1.5 months
fed phytoplankton and flake crumbs every 2-3days
Salinity is checked about every day
topped off every day
tested weekly
and about 15% water change weekly

But now comes my quandry...
What can I put in that would really set this tank off and make it an awesome spectical??? I'm looking for something obviously small and that stays small. (This mostly like means no fish) and that doesn't require any special expensive equipment.

Any suggestions

 

[brandon4291]

Welcome Holry, nice to meet ya. Welcome to our forum and thanks for submitting your .5 pico reef to add to our pico/nano thread diversity! I think soon RDO might become the one-stop infocenter for these types of setups because so many of our guys and ladies (greenighs ) are working with these types of reefs.

If you are seeking to turn the system into an eye-catcher, we need to get some color diversity in there as well as maintain water quality while you fill out the design. Good start with the quality live rock you've mentioned, I'd try some Green Star polyps mat and some zoanthid rock frags first. I have always done this in my newer pico reefs because you get color and growth in the beginning without having to wait months and months for the aquascaping to fill out. Some prefer not to use these corals in nanos/picos due to their aggressive growth tendencies, but those reefers are generally referring back to the growth rates in larger systems and not those of a pico reef-I have found pico reef coral growth rates to be much slower hence they don't pose much of a problem IMO>

Start with soft coral frags, maybe a small leather coral and some GSP/zoanthids in that vase and it should work fine. I'd step up the water changes if possible, to 50% weekly ideally. 15% just isn't enough to outpace nitrification of waste and in time you may find the systems developing algae/dark patches which means its on its way to a crash. If you match your water change parameters nicely, this will not hurt the system and in fact you will see renewed vigor from the corals soon after the water change.

Feather dusters are especially tricky in nanos, the larger ones. If it sheds its tentacle crown and gets smaller I'd remove it and trade it for some soft coral frags. Other than that, it just takes a little time for your system to get some natural purple growth and all will look fine in a couple months.

Brandon

 

[holry7778]

Thanks Brandon. I hope this tank does well too. I'll make a note to really step up those water changes. I think I'm going to wait another month or so before I getting too crazy with the corals but this should give me some ideas on what to research. I hope to get off my bum and get some picts going but it is far back on a list of things a mile long.

The large feather seems to do quiet well. Right now he/she in a PVC tube bc the hermits nipped off the protective closure at the end of the tube. He might go to the 55gal once set up

Thanks again

 

[holry7778]

Here are so picts of my Peco...

 

[holry7778]

 

[holry7778]

 

[holry7778]

 

[Cruiznblue]

Sweet...really like it!

 

[Len]

Just wanted to say nice idea protecting that feather duster

 

[Anonymous]

Is that some kinda feather duster condom? Like for "safe dusting?"

I don't get it. :?:

Peace,

Chip

 

[holry7778]

No the d!!@ #$@!#$ hermits took at it first day, and "nipped the tip!" I was worried that they may harass the worm enough to get him to leave its tube so I had some PVC laying about and gave him a temp home. It is coming out in a week or two as he is almost done rebuilding the tip of the tube.

 

[invert]

u may have trouble getting him out of the pvc tube as he will of attached his tube to it most likely. be very carefull when u remove him from the pvc tube as the tube he lives in is very soft and will tear if u pull on it. I have found hermits do tend to like the taste of the worms tube for some reason.

 

[holry7778]

Well I’m one less hermit down. Anyone know why hermits leave their shell. I found his shell alone in the sand and found him one the other side of the tank (not far away) being sucked dry by a spaghetti worm. Any clues why he/she would leave the safety of the shell? Looking for bigger? I’m testing water quality tonight.

As to the tube worm… The soft base is much longer than the tube so the PVC never touches that, but I’ll make an extra note to be extremely careful when removing it.

 

[Unarce]

Wow! That looks great. I'm really leaning towards starting a pico now.

 

[invert]

dont give up on the crab yet. they will shed thire skin every now and then. when they do this they will become inactive for a few days or so. he could still be in the shell hiding because his skin will be soft. it its amazing how real looking molts can be. if he isnt in the shell he may have stolen a shell after eating a snail, but im sure u would of noticed that in such a small tank.

as to reasons why it could of died if it did. most likely would be lack of food or salinety fluctuations. high temps may have got him if they spike at times. only other thing that i can think of would be high nitrates or poor water quality. i know that most shrimp start to slowly die when nitrate reaches arround 40ppm but hermits are very hardy. how long u had him might of just had a hard travel to your tank.

 

[holry7778]

Nope the crab is dead. one of the other ones took his shell already. All the water test came out normal like every other time salinity does flux obviously with evap, but nothing severe. I had only had the little guy for about a month.