Toombs Tiny Tank 🐠

[Toombs]

How goes it everyone, Toombs here brining you my over the top picotope!  Started on April 1st with the intent of being a very simple coral tank with a couple of inverts.

The tank is a 1.2g AIO from Amazon and a ZooMed Nano 10 canister filter to bring it to a whopping 2g, I think 😂. The ZooMed has been turned into a chaeto reactor with its own fuge light as well.  The tank has about 2lbs of live rock, 25% which is rubble for filtration, and about 3 cups of course caribbean sand. Also has a powerhead but will be upgrading to the Hygger Mini Wave Maker for it 😂. 

The light is the Lominie S20-S that is overkill for it I think but will definitely help with the types of coral I want to house. And yes it does have a skimmer!  I ended up DIYing a tiny bubble skimmer for it and hope it will keep the nutrient fluctuations down with the chaeto. 

This tank is definitely overkill in many many aspects but I wanted to see how the newer tech I've come across helps.

Water is from Imagitarium and water changes are done 2x a week, 50% each change and will be dosing as well, don't know what company or companies for the dosing yet.

Don't know if I forgot anything but if I did you can always just ask 👍.  

I hope you enjoy the tanks growth and I will try my best to keep everyone updated on this little monster build 😬! Until then I will let some pics and a link to a quick vid I took of it for now!

Happy reefing everyone!

https://youtu.be/gLXInNpHFNk

Edited April 12, 2021 by Toombs

[Toombs]

As promised a small update, had to re-scape a little since the wave maker made waves.....big ones lol 😅, BUT now that I have some rock scaped around it and on the lowest of the low settings it looks good!  Just need one more piece for the side that is showing, going to try and find a small slab so I can have a table top to work with. Enjoy the pics👍

Will post a small vid later on showing the wave maker in action as well 😂

Happy reefing everyone!

Edited April 13, 2021 by Toombs

[dunpeal]

Looking cool. You got the aqua scaping down!

Me and a buddy always joked about doing a 10 gallon display that was plumbed to a fish room with every tool imaginable. We're talking, 4 protein skimmers, 9 apex systems, 7 refugiums, et cetera... Then when someone came by your house and said "I heard saltwater is more work than freshwater." You then show them fish room of what is involved and say "Nay, it's not that hard really."

[Toombs]

6 hours ago, dunpeal said:

Looking cool. You got the aqua scaping down!

Me and a buddy always joked about doing a 10 gallon display that was plumbed to a fish room with every tool imaginable. We're talking, 4 protein skimmers, 9 apex systems, 7 refugiums, et cetera... Then when someone came by your house and said "I heard saltwater is more work than freshwater." You then show them fish room of what is involved and say "Nay, it's not that hard really."

Thanks, aquascaping is definitely the enjoyable part of that tank, having to tinker with each rock to just turn in the tank is a challenge in itself.  My old shop used to have a centralized sump, refuge dosing ect. with all the tanks plumped into it and the live rock bin was tied in as well lol.  It took about 3 month's of constant floods and or no flow for me and the other peeps to get it running just right.  I don't miss the smell of PVC cement 

[Toombs]

Another update for the Tiny Tank!  Another LED strip 👍 adding some reds and blues and of course night lights 😬! Also upgraded the tiny 45gph pump to a HUGE 74gph monster pump 🤘, with a custom return nozel made from leftover flex tubing and ZooMed parts bc recycle and reuse ♻️, also another short vid of the lights, which are hard to film till I get my filters in, and the wave maker and return pump in action!

 

As always enjoy the tank and happy reefing everyone!

https://youtu.be/mVFK7lPWT4k

[scubaethan]

This is pretty rad!

[Toombs]

Quick update, got a couple pieces of Live Rock to cover the other side of the wave maker, still making good waves, but not as intense lol.  Also the first tank inhabitants are being acclimated!  3 Tiny blue leg hermits and 2 tiny astrea snails! I hope all of them grow and live!

 

Peramiters are good, less then .25 ammonia and just got some Dr tims one and only to help out even faster.

 

As always enjoy the pics and happy reefing everyone!

[Toombs]

Another quick update, finally got the aquascape how I like it, working with only 3" deep display is very challenging 😅, but after smashing the new rock into about 6 new pieces I picked the best pieces and got a semi blocked wave maker, last picture the wave maker was almost fully covered, and now makes waves at about half the power it was.  

This coming week I'll definitely have to post a vid trip to a salt water store and grab my first piece of coral! 

 

As always enjoy the pics and happy reefing everyone!

[Emerald525]

5 hours ago, Toombs said:

Another quick update, finally got the aquascape how I like it, working with only 3" deep display is very challenging 😅, but after smashing the new rock into about 6 new pieces I picked the best pieces and got a semi blocked wave maker, last picture the wave maker was almost fully covered, and now makes waves at about half the power it was.  

This coming week I'll definitely have to post a vid trip to a salt water store and grab my first piece of coral! 

 

As always enjoy the pics and happy reefing everyone!

That wave maker is living up to its name. Looks like you could surf on that LOL 🏄‍♀️ 

[Toombs]

8 hours ago, Emerald525 said:

That wave maker is living up to its name. Looks like you could surf on that LOL 🏄‍♀️ 

Just a little hang ten happening, it's only on 20% power as well and ramps down to 5% with the mode it's on 😅so I think it might turn into more of an LPS and SPS mixed tank with a few zoas, but I think the flow will be a little strong for most softie's and even some LPS, but the stocking is going to be very limited as well lol.

[Emerald525]

2 minutes ago, Toombs said:

Just a little hang ten happening, it's only on 20% power as well and ramps down to 5% with the mode it's on 😅so I think it might turn into more of an LPS and SPS mixed tank with a few zoas, but I think the flow will be a little strong for most softie's and even some LPS, but the stocking is going to be very limited as well lol.

Good luck with the sps I struggled with keeping acros in a 20 gallon. They would live just brown out at times due to alk swings im sure. I wasn’t dosing and testing as I wanted a low maintenance tank but LPS did fine.

[Toombs]

1 minute ago, Emerald525 said:

Good luck with the sps I struggled with keeping acros in a 20 gallon. They would live just brown out at times due to alk swings im sure. I wasn’t dosing and testing as I wanted a low maintenance tank but LPS did fine.

Definitely a feet in it's own but monti's and digi's should do fine since the main focus is going to be a button scoly and a plate coral. Along with 2 water change's a week will keep the fluc's down to a minimum.  SPS was my specialty back in SD and AquaSD still has some of my old monti's and acro's growing and being sold which i'm happy about 🤩, but you are right, picos are very prone to tank swing's so being at my desk almost 16 hour's a day I should see and catch anything before it happens, hope's and pray's to the all mighty coral god's🐡, only time will tell what this tiny tank will do lol.

[Emerald525]

12 minutes ago, Toombs said:

Definitely a feet in it's own but monti's and digi's should do fine since the main focus is going to be a button scoly and a plate coral. Along with 2 water change's a week will keep the fluc's down to a minimum.  SPS was my specialty back in SD and AquaSD still has some of my old monti's and acro's growing and being sold which i'm happy about 🤩, but you are right, picos are very prone to tank swing's so being at my desk almost 16 hour's a day I should see and catch anything before it happens, hope's and pray's to the all mighty coral god's🐡, only time will tell what this tiny tank will do lol.

Aqua SD has some beautiful corals for sure. Can’t wait to see how this tank progresses . Power to the pico!!✊

[Toombs]

Just now, Emerald525 said:

Aqua SD has some beautiful corals for sure. Can’t wait to see how this tank progresses . Power to the pico!!✊

I'm actually going to call them about a specialty plate coral, also to talk to them since I used to work for them and then just disappeared and moved to WA. lol 😅 and one of monti's I want to grab again is my seasons greeting's monti.  Still have yet to set foot in any coral shops up here except Denny's Pet World so i'm excited to find what's up here!

[Emerald525]

1 hour ago, Toombs said:

I'm actually going to call them about a specialty plate coral, also to talk to them since I used to work for them and then just disappeared and moved to WA. lol 😅 and one of monti's I want to grab again is my seasons greeting's monti.  Still have yet to set foot in any coral shops up here except Denny's Pet World so i'm excited to find what's up here!

Cuttlefish had some very nice lps when I was there today.

[Toombs]

1 hour ago, Emerald525 said:

Cuttlefish had some very nice lps when I was there today.

🤤 So pretty! I'll have to see if anything catches my eye on their web page since I live pretty far from them.

Also thought I'd show off the new chaeto ball in the ZooMed algae reactor with its custom light panel 💡

[Toombs]

How goes it fellow reefer's!  Been a few days since I've updated on the pico and it has come a long way!  It now has its first tank inhabitants which will be listed below and 2 new frags that came from Seattle Corals.  Good thing I was on a budget lol but anyways here are a few pics! Sorry for the bad quality, cell cam's definitely don't like blue light lol.

As always everyone happy reefing!

2x bumblebee shrimp

4x blue leg hermits

2x Astrea snails

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Toombs

[Toombs]

Been a week now, big things in store for the pico!  After last week's new additions I have been busy with water changes and aquascaping to get things just right.  I have also stocked the tank a little 😅 and yes a water change will be done in the next 2 days with all the new stock to keep fluctuations too a minimum 😬 but couldn't help myself when I went back to Seattle Corals and picked up one of my fav corals, a lobo with just a little GSP on it so I can maintain where it grows lol, along with a psamacora, another favia and a gorgonian which brought some good color to the tank! 

Then today I ended up going to Unrivaled Reefs and Gene just blew me away!  His little frag store setup brought back memories of my small shop and actually brought tears to my eyes 🥲 and just seeing the look on my roommates face who finally understood how beautiful show tanks are and wanting one makes me hopeful to convince the wife 😂!  But I ended up breaking down and I bought 6 things 😗, I know I know, a lot of coral at once for such a small system but I concur, my water changes will now be done more often for the next few months and also daily testing and feeding will keep everything stable, along with a crap ton of supps on the way, with a plan for a diy Cal reactor 🤨, but that's for another time! 

I got a better app for photos and got some decent shots tonight, and I will be taking more over the next few weeks as all the coral gets acclimated and used to the new tank.

 

Once again everyone thanks for taking the time to come and see the pico and I hope the next few weeks brings some excitement and amazement for not only me but for you guys and gals as well! 

And as always happy reefing everyone!

[Toombs]

Had to share a quick pic of the pico plate coral in a pico tank looking all happy and fluffy, thanks again Unrivaled Reefs for this little beauty and the others👍

[Toombs]

When your bumblebee shrimp can't get along eating on one piece of fish 😑

[Emerald525]

Wow you got some of the classic corals !  Some of my favorites !!

[Toombs]

2 hours ago, Emerald525 said:

Wow you got some of the classic corals !  Some of my favorites !!

Thanks Emerald!  Going back to Unrivaled Reef's this weekend after diying some frag rack's into floating rock islands for some more space for a few more frag's lol.  And going be resetting up my old 5g Cube build from a few year's ago 😅 and setting up a few patio ponds as well 😬

[Emerald525]

13 minutes ago, Toombs said:

Thanks Emerald!  Going back to Unrivaled Reef's this weekend after diying some frag rack's into floating rock islands for some more space for a few more frag's lol.  And going be resetting up my old 5g Cube build from a few year's ago 😅 and setting up a few patio ponds as well 😬

With all the great frags Gene has there I can see how you would run out of room quickly !

[Toombs]

1 hour ago, Emerald525 said:

With all the great frags Gene has there I can see how you would run out of room quickly !

Oh yes, Gene's brought a tear to my eye, and my room mate came along with me and she was just mesmerized lol.  Said she wouldn't be apposed to a bigger tank to look at maybe lol 🧐 and the new frag islands are going to be dedicated to mostly montis lol, i'm in love with the rising phoenix and minions! 

[Toombs]

A quick update on the the pico and a DIY I'm doing for it over the next couple of days. 

I ordered a couple of frag racks thinking they would be small enough to fit into the tank and make a couple of nice ledges and over hangs I could glue some rubble onto, turns out the two racks are almost the same length as the display part of the tank 😅 so after about an hour of pondering and thinking of just returning them I started to plan out a DIY since this tank is basically just a testing ground for everything 🦐!

I ended up taking one of the racks and cutting the edge off it leaving the back part with the suction cup, still too big for the tank 😩, soooooo I took the other piece that had two frag holes in it and saw it was tiny enough to make a floating ledge!  Then I realized I didn't have enough rubble rock to decorate it 😂.  So about 5 hours into the DIY I finally got things kinda settled and happy, especially after a 25% water change since it was only the second time the tank has had my hands in it. 

Also started dosing continuum coral exponential to supplement feeding reefroids, less bio load and gives the coral variety, at least that's my take on it, but I will keep everyone updated on what the supplement does in the tank! And moved the mousepad out of the way and let the natural wood desk show instead, kinda like it ☺️.

As always everyone thanks for stopping by and enjoy the pics and happy reefing!