Ackshee's 2.5 gallon / 10 litre Pico Reef

[ackshee]

Thanks for reading.

I 'inherited' this tank yesterday (25th May 2024) from someone who is moving across the country. It's a 2.5 gallon / 10 litre aquarium. It's a very low-tech setup. When I inherited it, it had a heater, a sponge filter, and that's it. I have since added a 3W submersible pump to add some flow, as well as a NICREW LED light.


The current inhabitants:

1. A masked goby (Coryphopterus personatus) named Bripp
2. Blue-legged hermit crab (Clibanarius tricolor) x2
3. Mexican Cerithium snail x2
4. 'Acid Rain' macroalgae
5. Frammer coral (Euphyllia sp.)
6. Green star polyp (Briareum sp.)
7. Green hairy Rhodactis coral (or maybe Florida Ricordea?)
8. Astraea snail
9. Sexy shrimp (T. amboinensis) x2
10. 'Fiji Bam Bam' orange zoanthids

The prior inhabitants:

1. Peppermint shrimp (L. boggessi) -- Exiled for eating my hammer coral
2. Chaetomorpha -- Mostly removed and replaced with 'Acid Rain' macroalgae

Pictures of the tank on day 1:

Recent pictures:

 

[tzabor10]

Looks cool. What is your water change plan?

 

[ackshee]

Looks cool. What is your water change plan?

The original owner was doing a 30% water change, twice monthly.

Waiting two weeks between water changes seems risky with a tank this small, so I'm going to start doing 20% water changes every week.

 

[ackshee]

The snail finally made an appearance! Looks like a Mexican Cerithium snail, although I'm certainly an amateur when it comes to ID'ing marine species.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[ackshee]

Got a cheap NICREW LED light off of Amazon. This will get the Chaetomorpha growing again. It's not ideal but I think it will be fine. I found an Amazon review from someone who tested this light with a PAR meter and the results were decent.

I can't resist diving headfirst into my hobbies... I was on Craigslist today and I saw a post from a gentleman selling frags of branching "mint green" Hammer Coral (Euphyllia sp.)

He was only asking $10 for a frag, so I drove over after work today and picked one up. The gentleman that grew this coral had a large head of it that fell over and broke. So, he grew it out as smaller frags and has been selling it on Craigslist. Dave, if you're reading this, you're the man!

 

[ackshee]

Less than 24 hours later, the hammer has opened up. It's a beautiful animal.

For work, I manage a laboratory. Lucky for me, it's really convenient for me to test my water at my lab. We have an ICP-OES as well as a couple of automated spectrophotometers (and some other minor instruments). I took a water sample last night and brought it into work this morning. Everything looks like it's perfectly within the recommended range, with a few minor exceptions:

• Magnesium is 1102 ppm. Recommended range is 1250-1350.
• Iron is 0.94 ppm. Should I get this lower?
• Sulfur is 627 ppm. What's the target range? I'm seeing conflicting numbers.
• Iodine is 0.55 ppm. Recommended is 0.03 ppm.

I'm not too worried about any of these water parameters yet. Nothing a few water changes won't fix.

 

[ackshee]

A couple updates:

The tank had very little water movement/flow. So I went ahead and purchased an appropriately sized "powerhead." It's this tiny little 3W PULACO submersible pump. I stuck it on the glass and it seems to be working totally fine. It's just a steady stream of water rather than a proper wave-maker, but it's providing flow. The hammer coral seems happy, and my masked goby has been swimming around in the current, picking at bits of food.

I stopped by a local reef store called Cuttle Fish and Corals and met some cool people and bought some cool stuff. I got a magnesium supplement to dose the tank, as well as some phytoplankton and some frozen food for my goby. I wanted to get a sexy shrimp, but they were sold out. However, I did get an Astraea snail and another Cerithium snail. The staff member, Pete, was extremely kind and gifted me with a couple small pieces of live rock which are covered in various types of macroalgae and other organisms. I spotted a small reticulated brittle star (Ophionereis reticulata) and some sort of tiny little shrimp-type thing. I'm hoping it will survive and get bigger, so I can find out what it is! Pete also was kind enough to gift me a small little piece of green star polyp (Pachyclavularia violacea). It's just a loose fragment, not attached to any rock or anything. Right now it's just resting on a rock in my tank, but I need to glue it down eventually.

The live rock seems to have introduced a lot of detritus, so I'm going to do a couple water changes throughout the week, and "clean" the sponge filter in the old tank water.

 

[ackshee]

Continuing with the occasional water change, trying to get the detritus cleared. Water parameters are still testing great. Got the magnesium levels up to where they should be.

It seems like one of my two hermit crabs molted and upgraded his shell last night. At first I was worried he died, but then I noticed his legs poking out of this shell to the right of his molted exoskeleton. This shell is comically large for his body... There are other, smaller shells he could have chosen, so I don't know why he picked this one.

 

[ackshee]

My hermit crab that molted is doing well. His new shell is really big, but I'm sure he'll grow into it.

I'm a little bit concerned about my green hairy Rhodactis coral. One edge of it has turned sort of pale/white. I moved it to an area with lower flow and lower light. Hopefully that helps.

I noticed a very, very small polyp of Aiptasia poking out of a corner of the live rock. Not looking forward to dealing with that. I may just get a peppermint shrimp. Here's a blurry, out-of-focus, zoomed-in photo of the Aiptasia:

 

[ackshee]

I pulled out the Chaetomorpha. I prefer the look of the Acid Rain. I decided I want this little tank to look like a tide pool. So I want to get some more live rock and macroalgae and whatnot.

There's a bit of Aiptasia popping up on my live rock that I will need to deal with eventually. I've heard mixed things about Aiptasia-X. I don't want to deal with a constant ongoing struggle. So I think I'll get a peppermint shrimp. I wanted to get sexy shrimp, but alas. I also have some hydroids popping up, pictured. I've heard peppermint shrimp may deal with these as well.

I noticed somebody's digging tunnels in the sand. Not sure who the culprit is yet.

 

[ackshee]

My LFS got in a shipment this week so I was able to pick up a sexy shrimp and a peppermint shrimp. After getting home and taking a better look, the peppermint shrimp appears to be L. boggessi.

I'm hoping he takes care of the Aiptasia.

 

[ackshee]

Not a great picture, but my sexy shrimp has been hosting my green star polyp. Pretty neat.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

looking nice! your hammer is beautiful! and what a great price!

 

[ackshee]

looking nice! your hammer is beautiful! and what a great price!

Thank you! The hammer appears to be popping out a few new heads from the skeleton. Pretty exciting stuff.

 

[ackshee]

My peppermint shrimp decided to start eating my hammer coral today. So I might need to find him a new home, unfortunately.

 

[jabberwock]

For a tiny tank like yours, I would recommend micro-daily water changes instead of larger weekly or monthly water changes. Think, 16 ounces out, 16 ounces in. This should help with stability. It is easy for a small tank to have big swings in parameters. Looks like a fun project!

 

[ackshee]

For a tiny tank like yours, I would recommend micro-daily water changes instead of larger weekly or monthly water changes. Think, 16 ounces out, 16 ounces in. This should help with stability. It is easy for a small tank to have big swings in parameters. Looks like a fun project!

Yeah, I'm trying to be better about regular water changes. Thanks! It's been a lot of fun so far.

 

[ackshee]

My peppermint shrimp decided to start eating my hammer coral today. So I might need to find him a new home, unfortunately.

Luckily my LFS let me exchange the flesh-eating peppermint shrimp for another sexy shrimp. So now I have two sexy shrimp!

I also bought some 'Bam Bam' orange zoanthids, as well as another piece of live rock, which is covered in some sort of sponge. The guy at the LFS also gave me a few empty snail shells from the bottom of their tanks to expand the collection for my hermit crabs. Since taking ownership of this tank, both hermit crabs have molted and upgraded shells.

 

[ackshee]

My macroalgae kept getting dislodged and floating around. Apparently it can grow free-floating or anchored to a rock, so I decided to glue it down. I actually glued it to an old conch shell rather than a rock, but I'm much happier with it now.

My hammer coral has started to open back up after the incident with the peppermint shrimp.

My green star polyp seems like it's already spreading! I'm going to have to frag it soon to keep it isolated to one rock.

My mushroom coral (the LFS told me it's a Florida Ricordea, but to me it looks like a green hairy Rhodactis) is still looking pale and mediocre. I showed a picture to the guy that works at the LFS and he said that it looks like it's getting overexposed to the light. So I moved it under the shade of a rock ledge, we'll see if it improves.

Full tank shot for the day. 23rd June 2024.