OverlookCaretaker Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Hey everybody. It's been a few years since I've been in the hobby (had a 14g reef for 2 years and a 55g FOWLR for 3) but, like Pacino in Godfather part III, "just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in!" With our current apartment space I decided on trying out a pico reef. Equipment: JBJ 3 gallon picotope currently running stock filter (with chemipure elite) and lighting but will be upgrading soon, also have a hydor 70 pico on order Livestock -5 lbs live rock -1 nassarius snal -2 blue leg hermits -2 nerite snails -1 porcelain crab, unknown variety (hitchhiker) -2 red mushrooms, one about 1 1/2" in diameter, the other about 1/2" (hitchhikers) -Zoanthids, a few neon green, a couple brown with neon orange center, and a few brown with green mouths that have started to turn purple under my lights...think they might be PPEs but not sure. -GSPs, already starting to take off Stocking plans: I really love ricordea so they'll definitely show up once I can get my hands on some. Maybe a couple more interesting shrooms, a bunch of zoas, xenia, snowflake polyps. Some sexy shrimp or a pom pom crab..haven't decided yet. Green clown goby. Maybe some macro if I see some that strikes my fancy. Looking for a used Aquaclear 70 filter, not sure what direction I'm going to go with lighting yet. Running for 4 weeks now, pics coming soon. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 honestly youd be better off with the AC50, unless you plan on trying to hide your heater in the filter. But incidentally, I hide my pico3's heater on the bottom of the tank running horizontally. I have the picotope 3 as well and found the 50 with eheim mini bio balls to be more efficient at keeping nitrates down than using macro. And given that you appear to be gearing towards zoas/softies, a little no3 is a good thing. Sounds like you have OPPE/PPE's. I had the brown with green and orange oral discs as well. They're near impossible to kill as it turns out I'll have a few frags of radioactive dragon eyes available in a few days. Let me know if you want/need some P.s. the best price I've found so far for the AC50 was on the intank website. http://shop.mediabaskets.com/AquaClear-50-Aquarium-Power-Filter-HG10610.htm also, used http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000260FUM/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1374963712&sr=8-1&keywords=aquaclear+50&condition=used Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I pretty much went the same route with my pico contest tank, but the tank has internal filtration. AC70 does seem to be pushing it on a 3 gallon. I would even say an AC20 might be perfect for 3 gallons. The nice thing about extremely low stocking and hardy coral is the true lack of maintenance you need to do on it. I've been slightly reluctant to get sexy shrimp even though that was my original plan just because I don't want them to end up snacking on my rics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 another thing you'll want to invest in is an ATO. Salnity swings are fast and dangerous with only 3 gallons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverlookCaretaker Posted July 29, 2013 Author Share Posted July 29, 2013 Thanks for the advice everyone! I plan on mostly running the filter as a fuge but I think I will switch plans over to the AC50 and save some green. I promise pics later. Got a little frag of anthelia from AquaTek this weekend for $3 that I really like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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