1.5g pico build

[CrazyEyes]

Got a little impulsive yesterday. Picked a 2.2g deep pico from FAOIS yesterday. Also picked up a small Tunze 106 pump, a small piece of dry rock, a small hob filter, a betta tank heater, a small book shelf from target and a desk lamp. Just want to keep a little simple tank with zoas.



3500k bulb



Maybe I'm insane but I really like the way 6500k light looks.

 

[seaduck]

Nice for an office. What kind of bulb for the light?

 

[mark.red]

Hell yeah! Christmas tree that rock with zoas or blend up some mushrooms and dump it in the tank. Couple sexy shrimps and a clown goby.

 

[tony727]

The tank makes that HOB filter look enormous!
I kinda want to build a pico..

 

[CrazyEyes]

Thanks all. For now it's just a $4 6500k CFL. Will more than likely upgrade it with a par30 in the near future. And yes Mark, that is exactly my plan. I want this tank cover in zoas.

 

[TheAquatect]

I like picos, very cool! What kind of tang you gonna put in there?

 

[Webmanny]

I like picos, very cool! What kind of tang you gonna put in there?

He can probably put a couple of these. I hear they don't get that big. :lolspin:

 

[Webmanny]

I also love pico tanks and it looks like you will have a nice setup soon. I just wish you could add a pico sump without the risks of overflowing it. I did once before and it was pretty good until I got tired of the little cleanup and the absolutely needed weekly water changes.

The other thing that got me mad was how easily things get impacted on this size tanks. Temperature was a problem to maintain, PH was swinging like crazy, etc.

I hope you have better luck than me.

 

[tony727]

What are your plans for keeping everything stable?
I would like to try a small tank, but I'm afraid every little thing will impact it greatly..

 

[CrazyEyes]

Im going to try to do tiny, and I mean tiny daily water changes, maybe that'll help keep it in check better than larger weekly/bi weekly water changes. Need to figure out an ato because the slightest bit of evap is going to make it go all over the place.

 

[Webmanny]

Im going to try to do tiny, and I mean tiny daily water changes, maybe that'll help keep it in check better than larger weekly/bi weekly water changes. Need to figure out an ato because the slightest bit of evap is going to make it go all over the place.

This was exactly my issue with mine. I had to do something to it every day and mine was all manual so I could not take a vacation or anything. I loved how it looked, but it wasn't worth all the maintenance problems.

The only way I would try this again, would be if I could put it in a nice stand with plenty of room under it and hook it up to a 20 gallon sump below. This, IMHO, would keep it stable enough so that it could flourish, but for now, I'll stay with my 36G.

Below are a few pictures of mine when I had it with a custom LED light I built for it.

By the way Crazy, if you need a small custom LED light, let me know and I'll build you something you can hang onto the tank and it may look better than the 6,500K one you have.

Just send me a PM and we'll coordinate.

The light:

The tank with the light on:

Some of the corals I had on it:

 

[mark.red]

Gravity feed as an ato with an airline.....like dog bowls with a massive water vat.

 

[Mustang Boy]

If you want to spend a little money on the ATO the Hydor Smart ATO is tiny and would be great for a tank this size.

 

[CrazyEyes]

I think I got an ato in mind using a bike water bottle frame, a water bottle and some airline tubing. Going to see how that works out before I shell out $100 on an ato. I still need an ato for my big tank so Im being a little stingy with money for this thing.

 

[mark.red]

ato

ato

Plus 1

 

[BlueCoast]

I would ditch the hob filter, put a glass top on it and do weekly 80% changes. A small air stone would keep the water oxygenated and the glass top minimizes evap.

This is basically how I run my copepod culture in a 3 gal hex tank. Without the glass top, evaporation happens quick

 

[CrazyEyes]

But why ditch the hob? Plus I don't want an airstone in a display tank.

 

[BlueCoast]

But why ditch the hob? Plus I don't want an airstone in a display tank.

two different methodologies in running a tank.

Your setup mimicks a more standard reef setup with some filtration, top off, etc.

The suggestions I made were from seeing small pico tanks that went a different route and instead of filtration, relied on large water changes and little evaporation.

An open airline would most likely be sufficient. If there is a glass top on the tank, there needs to be a way for fresh air to interact with the surface of the water.

Nothing wrong with your setup, just different ways of running a tank.

 

[Webmanny]

Hey Crazy.

I also wanted to get input from the guys on the light idea we had for this tank. I think 18watts may be too much for it and we may need to bring this down a bit.

I'll share the pictures of the design with the rest of the team here and see what they come back with.

The circuit has 3 Royal blue, 2 14000K white and 1 Violet. All these are 3W LEDs running on two micro drivers. I tested the light and it feels very strong, but wanted to see what you guys think.

 

[CrazyEyes]

watts really aren't that important when it comes to LEDs aside from how much power the light is consuming. The thing that needs to be looked at is lumens.