Aqueon Evolve 2 gallon Pico Reef

[JJB103]

I'm in the process of trying to get into a house, so until I put my dream tank in the new house I am starting up a Pico Reef. I can't live without having some kind of reef project going. haha. Here are a few pictured of the beginning. I just put the live sand and rock in yesterday, so it's a little cloudy.

 

[JJB103]

If anyone has tips or tricks with Pico tanks I'd appreciate the help. It's my first. I had a 55 gal mixed reef that I did well with but had to sell it.

 

[Noaconstrictor]

Did u take the filter out and put live rock rubble in that chamber?

 

[JJB103]

Yes. I plan on filling that chamber with Chaeto and putting the rubble in the other chamber if it has enough flow. Not quite sure yet. Maybe some kind of chemical like purigen.

 

[Noaconstrictor]

Any other cool mods your gonna do to it? Keep me updated.

 

[JJB103]

Here are a couple updated pics. The cycle is almost done and the only mod i have made so far Since my last post is I took out the pump and removed the flow regulator and bored out the hole on the plastic part of the inlet. I also took the flow direction nozzle of the outlet. All this increased my flow quite a bit. I still might end up getting a whole new pump for even more flow. The next big thing I need is a stronger light. I have a few selections to choose from, so I will let you all know what I do.

 

[Noaconstrictor]

What are u planning on using for lighting. ?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

pretty scape - nice start !

 

[sheavens]

Nice pics. I was just wondering about that rock touching the glass, are you planning to move it? Just thinking a little way down the line when you need to clean the glass.

 

[JJB103]

What are u planning on using for lighting. ?

I have really been wanting to do a DIY LED. Rapid LED has some really good stuff that is easy to put together. A lot of the lights I have seen for picos are a little too big for my tank. I like the par38 led bulbs but I want to have blues and whites on separate circuits. Innovative marine has some good lights for Pico reefs too. I am still researching and deciding.

 

[JJB103]

Nice pics. I was just wondering about that rock touching the glass, are you planning to move it? Just thinking a little way down the line when you need to clean the glass.

I am going to move some of that rock to the back of the tank when I figure out how I'm going to put Chaeto and a light in it.

 

[nate540]

What heater are you running? I have the aqueon 10w and it is cooking my tank at 86 not good any suggestions?

 

[aphawkins]

Very cool tank!

Sent from my Motorola ATRIX HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Hi Nate,

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

 

[JJB103]

Here are some updated pics. Just bought some frags. One eagle eye and one packer with some mixed zoos. Also, one very small red mushroom. Sorry about the horrible pictures. My wife has the camera, so these are from my phone and iPad.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

pretty zoas & mushroom

 

[JJB103]

What heater are you running? I have the aqueon 10w and it is cooking my tank at 86 not good any suggestions?

I use this Hydor 25w and it keeps my tank at 79 all day and night. It fits perfect in the back

 

[JJB103]

pretty zoas & mushroom

Thank you, The lighting is still stock, so the colors don't pop unless the actinics are on. I am still looking into some good lighting. I don't want to resort to those cheap overseas LEDs you see on ebay.

 

[JJB103]

So, underneath the first compartment of the filter is an open dead space that doesn't make sense from a manufacturing standpoint. My ammonia levels were always high and I found a ton of detritis in that area. The stock hose that connects the pump to the outlet to the display is too short to have the pump in that empty chamber, so I went to Lowes and bought a longer hose and shoved that pump under that space. I then filled the place where the pump was with live rock rubble. I put Chaeto in the first compartment with a temporary light. Ammonia levels are now 0 and after I did that my water went crystal clear in a couple days.

 

[JJB103]

Here is an update. I got one more Zoa frag (radioactive dragon eyes) and an aptasia just popped out of it about 5 min ago. I hate these things. I even spent 20 min. staring at this frag to make sure no aptasias were on it and this guy decided to pop out 2 days later.