1.5 gallon pico reef journal

Alright, just got back from petco. Picked up some live sand and a 2 pound live rock. 11 bucks for the rock what a tipoff. I didn't have a choice though, unfortunately. Also picked up a little blue legged hermit crab. Put the sand in, an the rock. Very cloudy at the moment. Should be better tomorrow. Heater is running as well. Water temp is at 78.Will post pics tomorrow after the water settles.

awwesome, keep us posted with pics...

PS you can give me your chili red any time soon, LOL

Ok, got a question. My premixed saltwater i had bought accidentally got spilled today. I dont have any saltwater mix. Can I use sea salt that I have at home that does not contain iodine and mix that up? If so, what ratio would I use? Any help would be appreciated.

So you threw some water and sand and a rock in a tank and thats your salt water tank. Oh boy...

Wow wait to be Mr Positive! If you actually read this then you would see that is not quite what I did. I bought live sand, I bought reef water, I bought live rock, and I put it in my tank to let it filter before I put in corals. Maybe try not being a jackass next time.

Im not sure how that premixed saltwater stuff works, but I wouldnt try to add anything to it, i would get some more if possible, that way you know for sure that it's correct

if you do not have an RODI unit to make your own water I would go to any store and buy 1 gallon jugs of distilled water then go to your LFS and pick up a small bag or box of Instant Ocean or Reef crystals there both good.
start with one cup of salt added to the distilled water let it dissolve completely and check your salinity1.024-1.025 is good. check salinity either with a Hydrometer or a refractometer.
refractometers are more accurate but also more expensive. I used an IO hydrometer for quite sometime before I bought a refractometer with no issues.
you are going to want the pico to cycle for quite sometime before adding coral
you can jump start this process by either adding Bio spira or Stability use as directed. also pick yourself up a good Salifert test kit basic 5 ammonia,nitrate,nitrite
ph, and Phosphates dont bother buying the dip test sticks there garbage and notoriously inaccurate. test your params. once you have done that you can start by adding a couple hermits/snails and some green star polyp I say GSP because if you can't grow that then you will know theres something wrong its a good starter coral that won't break the bank.
depending on what corals you want to grow you will in time also want to check Mag,cal,alk.
here's and example of what I test for in my tanks this is from my testing last Saturday.
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ph 8.2 in the am ph rises through out the day.
phosphate 0
cal 485
mag 1450
alk 10 dkh
I grow SPS if you stick with zoa's and softies the last 3 won't be that important to you.
I've seen many people with nano and pico tanks that ended up growing easy sps at the top of there tanks but you would need to upgrade you light to do that.
http://www.petco.com/product/12201/Instant-Ocean-Hydrometer.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMGooglebase-_-Fish-_-Instant%20Ocean-_-928887&mr:trackingCode=CF6E1416-8381-DE11-B7F3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS352US353&q=refractometer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3483430109971124246&sa=X&ei=37mJTbPbH5Cy0QGPhISEDg&ved=0CF8Q8wIwBA#
if memory serves me well 08canam you were in this very spot just a couple of months ago so don't be calling the kettle black its a waste of time.
try to contribute things you have learned from your own mistakes.
good luck and hang in there its not as hard as it seems once you learn the basics:)

where did the other pages of this thread go?

I think they started a new thread for the journal ^^

wildbeanerz wrote:

I think they started a new thread for the journal ^^

ahhh ok.. and here I thought oldtimers had set in

08can-am wrote:

So you threw some water and sand and a rock in a tank and thats your salt water tank. Oh boy...

what a D-Bag!^ just becuase you have a salt water tank already set up and have a LIL more knowledge doesnt mean you have to be a jerk about the pico
show some respect for she/he is obviously new to the SW hobby!! set an example and help him/ her out

I think this will be great plus your being really brave by starting so small. You will be a pro at SW in no time lol! cant wait to see some pics!

exactly keeping the water stable in a tiny tank is much harder than in a med/lg tank.
have fun and learn all you can. soon you will just look at your tank and know when something is off.

^

Ok, so a quick update. After talking with my wife about this, she (I mean we) have decided to upgrade this tank to a 10 gallon nano. She wants to be able to have a fish in there. So we went out and bought a 10 gallon setup to start with. Currently I am running a small HOB filter, a 50 watt heater, a small powerhead, a coralife 50/50 bulb. I have the live rock that was in the 1.5 pico, and the live sand. Current inhabitants are two turbo snails, and two blue legged hermit crabs. I just ordered an aquaclear 30 to use as a refugium, a Koralia nano powerhead, and a refractometer off Amazon.com. Should I use any other lighting in this setup? I am also having a hard time finding coral frags cheap enough and of good quality here. Unfortunately Petco is my only option within a 100 mile radius. Any other tips I will need to know? I am using Instant Ocean salt for my water and refilling with bottled water each day for evaporation. I am thinking of putting a clownfish and a mated pair of harlequin shrimp in there as well. Anywho, here are some pics I took last night just to let you see the basics.

nice. a 1.5 gallon tank is small lol.

WOW... well done... hope your upgrade goes well!!

Will be awesome!

the lighting you need all depends on what you want to keep in the tank (corals)
50/50 are usually ok for soft corals like mushrooms and leathers. maybe some zoas
hows the tank so far?