Mr. Microscope's JBJ Picotope

[Mr. Microscope]

Mr. Microscope's JBJ Picotope

Hello fellow Captive Reefers!

I've been in the reefing hobby for about two years now. As of today, my three gallon JBJ Picotope is about sixteen months old. I'm very excited by this forum. As a member of several other forums, I'd admit this one seems to stand out above most others. Okay, enough flattery. Let's get down to the tank.

I've found keeping a pico tank to be incredibly fun. It's not quite as difficult as one may think. These small tanks come with their own set of issues, and have very different problems than regular reef tanks or even nanos. Stability is probably the main challenge, but many innovations have developed in the last few years that make pico tanks entirely possible to keep in the long term.

This is my first salt water tank and I'd say I owe any success to lots and lots of research and patience. It seems every time I turn a corner there's something new to learn in this hobby. It all started a few years ago. I received an Amazon gift card from my sister for my birthday. I've always loved aquariums, but my wife really doesn't like them. So, when I saw the picotope online, I knew that I could keep this at work with no problem. After I figured out that I wanted to do a reef tank, I spent a good two months researching each piece of equipment and making the most careful decisions I could before taking the financial plunge.

Since then I've experienced plenty of downfalls, crashes, death, and destruction. I've certainly come close to quitting once, but I just kept up with water changes and research. Today, I'd say I'm very glad I didn't stop reefing. This hobby has really brought about a sense of pride and excitement to my life. It's amazing what a few gallon of simulated ocean can do for one's well-being.



Started 2009.10.31

FTS 2011.02.09


Top down


Here's a shot of it on day three back in 2009:


Current Equipment
3 gallon JBJ Picotope
Hydor Pico Evo 180 Circulation Pump
DIY LEDs
AC70 Fuge with Chaeto, Marineland Stealth Pro 25W heater, Filter Floss
Picotope Stock filter hung on side of AC70 dedicated to Chemi-Pure Elite
Sybon Refractometer
1L gravity fed ATO
5 lbs LR, 1/2" LS
[list]Current Stock
CUC: 3 Scarlet Hermit Crabs, Mithrax Crab, Feather duster, Brittle Star, Colinista Snails
Corals:
Soft: Toadstool leather, Anthelia, GSP HH, Purple Cabbage Leather
Zoanthids and Palythoa: Crown Royals, Green Implosions, Whammin' Watermelons, Zombie Eyes, Magicians, Inside Outs, Valentine's Day Massacre, Lunar Eclips, Kedd's Reds, Organisms, Tub's Blues
LPS: Neon green Trumpet

Previous Inhabitants in Picotope
Softy: brown mushrooms, red mushroom, blue spotted mushroom, Papaya Cloves, Yumas
Zoas/Palys: Neon Greens, Radioactive Dragon Eyes, Tub's Blue, King Midas, Fire and Ice, Green Lanterns, Day Trippers, AOGs, Purple Death, Pink and Golds, Mohawks (Variable Stars), button polyp HH
Large Polyp Stony: Green Goniopora, Trumpet Coral
Small Polyp Stony: Birdsnest (Frog in a Blender), Pink Procillapora, Green Procillapora
CUC: 2 Nerites, Stomatellas, Tonga Nassarius, Porcelain Crab, Bristle worms, Scarlet Hermit Crab, White Hermit Crab
Fish:
Yellow Clown Goby "Gobiodon" C.O.D.> Desk surfing
Blue Damsel "Blue Lightning" C.O.D.> Unknown

Previously Used Equipment
18W Current Satellite PC, MiniJet 404 Circulation Pump, Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead, Hydor Theo 25W heater


Here's a couple close-ups of my current livestock:

Green Implosions


Crown Royals


Magicians and Organisms


Some zoas. Check it out. The Whammin' Watermelons on top are kaleidascoping!


Finally, here's a fun shot of two of the three Scarlets I have in there.


Enjoy!

[Sir Patrick]

Wow!!! Nice little tank!!!

Gotta love colonista snails, especially in a tank this size!! Very proportional, eh?

How high are ya running the Par38 above the tank?

[Mr. Microscope]

Thanks! Yes. Those snails are the best!

The PAR38 is at least 18 inches above the waterline, but that's going to change very soon when I finish my new LED light. You can see a pic of the PAR mounted above my tank in my DIY thread.

[demonclownfish]

do you know what kind of toadstool that is? really like the look of it , and awesome tank!

[MizTanks]

Very sweeet tank for sure. Love the fact that it's over a year old even more

[Mr. Microscope]

Originally Posted by demonclownfish

do you know what kind of toadstool that is? really like the look of it , and awesome tank!

I'm not sure what kind of toadstool it is, but the polyps are white and the body is more or less a light brownish-pink. Not the most colorful addition, but I really love it from a shape standpoint. I think it looks like some sort of exotic mushroom (not marine type). It was one of my first corals and has survived every stupid mistake and unfortunate mishap during the life of this tank. I can tell it's aging well because I haven't seen a slough in a very long time, and it's been looking particularly happy since I started feeding it live photo about two months ago.

[Mr. Microscope]

Originally Posted by MizTanks

Very sweeet tank for sure. Love the fact that it's over a year old even more

Thanks MizTanks!

[Shamus]

Nice looking tank! I like the look of the pico and will be interested to see your LED once you're done with it!

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

All of my recent hype has been about my new LED's, but there have been plenty of other changes going on with my tank as well.

To start out, here's the obligatory FTS:

The tank feeding has been going very well. I'm dosing live phytoplankton from Reef Nutrition, Coral Frenzy, and frozen cyclope-eze followed by larger water changes. Additionally, I moved my heater down to a temperature of 76! Since then, I honestly haven't needed to clean my glass. I've literally had NO green film build up on the glass in weeks despite the heavy feedings. I really think that lowering the temp has made the difference.

Here's a fun video of my CUC hard at work after a small feeding:

BusyCUC.mp4 video by Mr_Microscope - Photobucket

I traded my colony of Crown Royals. It took up way too much space in my tank and the long skirts were irritating a lot of corals. I think they caused my EZ's to melt. In return, I got a small colony of Ked's Red's, some grees palys of some sort, and a Kenya Tree frag. The Kenya tree frag is also a bit too large for my tank. So, I might get rid of that as well.

I also met a local reefer who gave me some Pink and Golds and some Pulsing Xenia. That has been one of my favorite recent additions. I let it sit on the sand bed until it held onto something. Then I put it up on top of my cone rock. I caught my first glimps of it pulsing on Friday. I'm hoping it eventually gets to the point that I saw it pulsing in the previous owners tank. It was way faster than mine.

Here's a vid of this my first signs of pulsing. Note: all pumps were off during this video. It's doing this all on it's own.

Xeniapulsing20110311.mp4 video by Mr_Microscope - Photobucket

I'm sure you noticed in my FTS the big frag rack on the right side of the tank. This is my new MR3-S frag rack that I ordered from blackrockreef.com. I really like this thing. It's filled up already with frags from the Crown Royals, Green Implosions, Magicians, Ked's Reds, and a few others that are starting to come back to life including my Bam Bams and Zombie Eyes which I thought were goners a few months ago.

I've been experimenting with the taking pictures with the new LEDs. Having the dimming option on things really makes photography much easier. I just pumped up my neutral whites a little and was able to take images clear as day without the blue washout. However, I couldn't resist capturing an image with the royal and cool blues. It seems that green is almost the only color that the camera can pick up under those conditions.

I entered this image into the green photo contest here.

[Mr. Microscope]