Italian Newbie's Pico Aquarium

[Spidi]

Hi everyone!

It's a pleasure to be able to share my very first salty adventure here on R2R!
On March 23, the journey began when I took an old 15-liter tank from the depths of mycellar and placed it next to the desk where I work.
The target of this aquarium is to understand how sustainable a marine reef aquarium is in terms of effort and costs.
Therefore I decided to challenge myself with pico reef in which I plan to insert exclusively a CUC and soft corals (perhaps an Okinawa gobiodon).

With a 3D printer I created the wall in black PLA to create an all in one filter with three rooms in the back.
The chambers contain perlon, biological media (seachem matrix), 25W heater and 600l/h return pump.

All the technique mentioned so far was in house, the first purchase I made were the rocks and a small movement pump (sicce voyager 1000). The rocks were previously placed in an aquarium that was disused after a few months. The rocks were boiled and cleaned with running water by the previous seller, I carried out a second boiling to be safe.
Together I also received a hydrometer and a watch, all for 10 euros,

The second purchase was online from a fish shop: I purchased the Aquaforest salt, the AF Bio S bacteria and the biological media, an analogue Aquili PO4 test, a thermometer and a self-starting siphon with tap.

At home I already had 5 in 1 Aquili test (probably not the best for a marine aquarium).

Searching a bit on the used online markets I spotted a Luminie Pixie 30 including wifi module which I purchased for 40 euros shipped.

I had everything I needed to get started, all that was missing was osmosis water (to keep start-up costs low and given the limited quantity of water for the moment I prefer to purchase it from the LFS) and a live rock to introduce different bacterial fauna.

Initially I thought of a bare bottom Berlin setup but the LFS convinced me that it is possible to have such a small aquarium even with a layer of sand, as long as there is constant maintenance.
For 25 euros I took home a small live rock, live sand and 25 liters of osmosis water.

To reduce the amount of water that evaporates I decided to place an lid open on the sides.

 

[Spidi]

The second step was to complete the water return pipe which initially flowed momentarily through an ugly white pipe.
I printed a 90 degree bend and a water director.

In about 2 weeks I gradually brought the salinity to 1023 and dosed AF Bio S daily.

After adding the fish food on April 5th I recorded an increase in nitrites and nitrates (0.08 and 17 mg/l respectively)

To date the tests were practically transparent, a sign that no2 and no3 are close to 0.

Is it possible that the aquarium has already cycled after 18 days?
The first week the aquarium was dark and practically zero algae, only a litle bit on the live rock.

How do you suggest continuing? Do I put in more fish food (ammonia) or do I put in a couple of invertebrates?

 

[Spidi]

Speaking of light, it is a Luminie Pixie 30w with 4 different channels CH1: 6 blues, CH2: 6 whites, CH3: 3 blue, 2 royal blue, 1 violet, CH4: 1 green, 1 red, 4 white.
But you have a big problem at least in this version 1 (I don't know if they fixed it in the new version), the wifi controller can only manage 3 channels.
I therefore decided by also reading the online reviews to combine channels 1 and 3 into a single channel in this way with only the RGB channels I can control the ceiling light in the best way
R = CH2
G = CH4
B= CH1 and CH3.

 

[Spidi]

To complete the technique I created a DIY ATO by purchasing two float switches (one for water line and one for backup) and a 5v 3w pump on aliexpress.

in the attached photo there is the circuit I created which is very simple and does not require an external switch as the pump only absorbs 0.2 A.
The two float switches works in opposite way the left one when it reaches the maximum open the circuit and the right one do the opposite.

If you think there is something wrong with this project, write it, I'm here to receive all possible suggestions

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! Can't wait to see how the tank turns out!

 

[Spidi]

Good morning,
April 10, 2024 the first algae began to appear.
They are brown algae I assume Diatoms.
From my tests the nitrites and nitrates are almost at 0 and this worries me a bit.
What happens if there are no longer any nutrients for the bacteria in the tank?
Maybe I should measure out some food?

 

[Spidi]

April 13, 2024 approximately 21 days have passed since the tank was started.
Thinking a bit about the problem of nitrates at almost 0 I made a decision...
It is always difficult to wait for the maturation to end, even if the movement of the pumps helps.
The lack of pollutants and the algae that were starting to grow pushed me to insert the first animals into the tank.

The idea is to include animals in the tank that could increase the pollutants in the tank and at the same time fight algal growth.

The choice fell on a Clean Up Crew made up of:
- 1 nassarius snail
- 1 turbo snail
- 1 turbo brenneus snail
- 1 hermit crab calcinus elegans.

The LFS carried out a double check on my readings confirming the salinity of 35 ppm nitrites at 0 and nitrates present in low doses.
However, the phosphates are quite high! We are about full scale from the 1ppm eagle tests.

The LFS advised me to purchase resins but I would like to make the aquarium as autonomous as possible and not dependent on consumable materials. I tried to orient the solution towards a macroalgae...
Unfortunately I don't remember exactly what type of algae, if anyone can identify it I would be very grateful.

I'll try to keep the Po4s monitored.

 

[Spidi]

[DAY 44]
Hi everyone,
yesterday I carried out the first substantial water change (about 5 liters which was more than 50% of the aquarium I think, which made me a little worried about the quantity of water present in the aquarium) and sifted the sandy bottom.
I had already planned for some time to remove part of the rock that was filling the aquarium too much.
This is the new look of my pico reef.
As you can see there is also a piece and a small cutting of briareum.
The idea would be to let it grow on the bottom, we'll see how it evolves.

The aquarium chemistry seems to be improving, PO4 seems to be dropping, LFS measured around 0.6 ppm, however NO2 and NO3 are still almost 0.
Algae are scarce and I'm feeding the hermit crab with some food I had for freshwater fish, he seems to like it

Today I also changed the photoperiod of the light, bringing it to 12 hours, of which 4 are gradual dawn and sunset and 8 peak hours.

We'll see how it responds to these changes.

Until the next update! Maybe with a few more corals.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Looking great!

 

[Spidi]

I forgot there are big updates on the fauna present inside the tank.
At the moment I have spotted a dog worm, some gammarus and a Serpentine star. La roccietta viva deve essere stata di ottima qualità!
Is glass today also full of these what look like micro snails?
Can anyone help me identify them?

 

[ackshee]

Awaiting further updates!

 

[Spidi]

[DAY 68]
A huge change occurs.

As I told you in the first post, the idea behind this tank is to host CUC and soft corals, perhaps a single goby.
But due to pressure from my family members asking for more fish, I made a huge change!

I used all the space I could on my desk to accommodate the largest aquarium possible and after some online research the perfect aquarium came up for sale.
The new tub measures 45 x 28 x 30h cm, 38 liters or 10g and I only paid 30 euros for it. The price also included a rear filter and a heater.

I was thinking of using this Hang On Back filter instead of an AIO style filter like the previous one.
But due to the poor quality of the filter and also to avoid a second RO water tank, I decided to continue as the previous project.
This time I was forced to buy a 5mm black acrylic panel because my 3D printer bed is too small and I can't print it like the previous tank.

This is the CAD project, from left to right:

- sponge and biomedia (but can also be used for a Bubble Magus skimmer if needed)
- Heater and return pump
- RO/DI water (approximately 3.5 lt)

To transfer the support from the old to the new I prepared the new salt water and heated it, then moved the rocks and all the techniques.

This is the new aquascape and I hope you like it

As you have surely noticed, a new baby is in the house!!
A small Amphiprion ocellaris! Yes, the goal is to house two clownfish. I plan to buy the second one this weekend.

But not only good things happened in the aquarium. All non-living rocks are full of brown algae. Not sure if they are cyano or dyno (
I was more oriented towards dynos, due to their shape and colour, but today I read that in conditions of high po4 and low no3 (like my tank), cyanos tend to proliferate more than dynos which proliferate in water low in po4 and no3.

To combat this algal proliferation and to proliferate the zooplankton (copepods and rotifers) that I introduced a few days before the clownfish, I purchased 1 liter of phytoplankton from an Italian manufacturer called BEA (Bio Engineering Aquaculture).
In particular, the phyto is called Synecho Mix and is composed of Synechococcus and these are the main capabilities.
As you can see this is perfect for my tank, it is capable of reducing phoshate and fight against cyanos and dynos.
I'm dosing it 10-15 ml on alternate days and from two days i'm noting a good changes.

I will keep you updated against this fight.

See you soon!!

 

[Tang fastic]

Hope you succeed in the fight to get rid of the dyno and getting a mate for the clown, make sure they don’t fight

 

[Spidi]

Hope you succeed in the fight to get rid of the dyno and getting a mate for the clown, make sure they don’t fight

For the dyno I am positive (finger crossed) for the ocellaris I am already more worried given that the little one is quite lively. But let's hope for the best.

 

[Tang fastic]

For the dyno I am positive (finger crossed) for the ocellaris I am already more worried given that the little one is quite lively. But let's hope for the best.

If it’s a smaller one is quite likely it’ll be the male So it’s quite likely it won’t harm other one since females are more dominant

 

[Tang fastic]

If it’s a smaller one is quite likely it’ll be the male So it’s quite likely it won’t harm other one since females are more dominant

The larger fish of the pair is the female. She controls the dominant male from becoming a female while he controls the juveniles from becoming mature males. Should something happen to the female, the male of the breeding pair changes to a female, rapidly increasing in size.

 

[saltcats]

If you have a paper coffee filter, you can take out some of the algae, shake it up in water until there aren't clumps, and then strain it through the filter. If you leave it with a light source for 30 minutes or so, you can get an idea if it's dinos or not (dinos will form clumps again by themselves in the strained water).

Tank looks nice!

 

[Tang fastic]

Ge

If you have a paper coffee filter, you can take out some of the algae, shake it up in water until there aren't clumps, and then strain it through the filter. If you leave it with a light source for 30 minutes or so, you can get an idea if it's dinos or not (dinos will form clumps again by themselves in the strained water).

Tank looks nice!

Genuinely genius

 

[Tang fastic]

Maybe try some micro algae if you would like as they would use up extra nutrients that the bad algae uses

 

[Spidi]

If you have a paper coffee filter, you can take out some of the algae, shake it up in water until there aren't clumps, and then strain it through the filter. If you leave it with a light source for 30 minutes or so, you can get an idea if it's dinos or not (dinos will form clumps again by themselves in the strained water).

Tank looks nice!

In Italy when use Moka [xD]