1 gallon pico reef suggestions ;)

[Willster]

Before the one gallon is shut down completely hear me out! I currently have a 37 gallon aquarium that will be ran as a fish only (for now) and the idea is to have the one gallon hex as a "refugium". It will be tied directly into the main display and will house coral only. Everything is gravity fed so there wont be much current at all. My concern is for lighting. I found a fixture that seems like it would work for zoas and possibly low light Lps like favias and other encrustings. It will be a temporary thing since we are turning the 37 into a reef.


Anywho enough babbling, here are the lights I have in mind:
http://www.bluewatercorals.com/inma8wa14skl.html

Should this be enough lighting or should I go with the 3 led fixture?

 

[brandon429]

gallon reefs keep sps and lps and inverts for years long you don't have to treat them with kid gloves I know of one that has a thousand bucks worth of coral into it

done right, they live longer than most huge reef tanks.

why not just run both tanks independently? no temporaries...keep em both going

thats a good light you posted.

 

[Willster]

Well, I live in a very small apartment and so space and outlets are limited. I will post pics of the "ideal" set up when I get back and add my fish to the 37.

 

[Orion120]

I have the same light on my 2 gal fluval spec. Working great so far!

 

[Willster]

Do you have any pics of your tank? I'd love to see what kind of stuff is growing under them!

 

[Willster]

As promised here are some pics:

<a href="http://s360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/?action=view&current=4061294A-F41F-406A-828B-15B577EBFA6F-2119-0000028CE161EDDF.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/4061294A-F41F-406A-828B-15B577EBFA6F-2119-0000028CE161EDDF.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

A small pump will carry water down to the pico and inside the rock structure there is a PVC overflow (1/2 inch). This will go down into the skimmer discharge on the rapids pro.


<a href="http://s360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/?action=view&current=4062C2E7-E5B8-43EF-B215-9A87D6539A64-2119-0000028CDA4B2D9E.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/4062C2E7-E5B8-43EF-B215-9A87D6539A64-2119-0000028CDA4B2D9E.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

Just a couple of pics of the guys

<a href="http://s360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/?action=view&current=E669B061-3033-4B28-9026-BE52C90D84B0-2119-0000028CD13FF9C9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/E669B061-3033-4B28-9026-BE52C90D84B0-2119-0000028CD13FF9C9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

<a href="http://s360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/?action=view&current=6F6591D0-2689-4BEF-BC21-2F0953933D75-1941-00000272BB4B4CB6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo47/pladoe_snail/6F6591D0-2689-4BEF-BC21-2F0953933D75-1941-00000272BB4B4CB6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

 

[x3thelast]

boostled par 30 led BOOM gameover! the should cover your 1 gallon hex and grow just about w/e you can fit in there

 

[Willster]

With the par 30 they have a chance of over kill. And it's an apartment I can't drill into they ceiling to hang par 30. Nice ideas though!

 

[x3thelast]

With the par 30 they have a chance of over kill. And it's an apartment I can't drill into they ceiling to hang par 30. Nice ideas though!

go to walmart or ikea and get a desk lamp, preferably an adjustable one. ive use one for a long time on my 1 gallon. It was definitely not over kill. Over kill is me hanging a nano over the 1 gallon. :wildone:

 

[Willster]

X3thelast, do you have pics of how you ran your tank?

 

[wlyon]

I have the smaller version of that light over my half gallon tank with mostly softies and a few lps with a 30 gallon zoo med turtle canister filter. It's been up and running for quite some time now with little to no issues as long as I keep up with water changes.

 

[x3thelast]

X3thelast, do you have pics of how you ran your tank?

sure buddy here ya go

Boostled par30 (3 blue 2 white)
Ikea adjustable desklamp

here it is with an AI NANO lol

 

[Willster]

How did you like your ai fixture?

 

[Willster]

Also, has anyone ran sexy shrimp in a tank this small with any problems/success? Filtration is plenty so that's not really my problem area. Just the size and if they'll abolish my coral in such a small area

 

[brandon429]

yes they tend to get removed soon after addition due to coral picking.

 

[x3thelast]

How did you like your ai fixture?

its great!

 

[Willster]

Made a drive to Irving Texas to get some lights and look into some coral frags. Getting a good deal on the LED fixture. So pics to come once I make the 5 1/2 hour drive home ^_^

 

[x3thelast]

Made a drive to Irving Texas to get some lights and look into some coral frags. Getting a good deal on the LED fixture. So pics to come once I make the 5 1/2 hour drive home ^_^

jeez. i thought my 20 min drive to my LFS was long...

 

[Willster]

jeez. i thought my 20 min drive to my LFS was long...

Well this trip was more to visit friends. It's just hard to say no to fish stores! Having that said, even at home my nearest non petco lfs is still a little over an hour away :/

 

[Willster]

Here is the tank with lighting. The more I look at it the more change I want. Only time will tell