3 gal pico?

[wolf pup]

So, I made the mistake of looking at my desk at work and thinking "Hey - wouldn't it be cool to set up a pico?"

DFS has a 3 gal they sell with a 18w CFL DFS Pico and I'm making the further mistake of thinking "Hey - I bet a little Zoa tank would be a lot of fun"

Question 1 - Is anyone local running a pico these days who could let me know how crazy I am?

Question 2 - evaporation/heating/chemistry - It seems to me that it would be a PITA to maintain water parameters when there is really no room for error.

Question 3 - livestock - Is there anything that can thrive (not just survive) coral or fish wise in such a small system?

Question 4 - weekends - with 1-3 above, am I asking to be the Grim Reaper by having the audacity to go home on Fridays?

 

[FiReBReTHa]

I have been looking at the picotope from jbj and the 4g from finnex,

with a lid it helps with evaporation.

 

[Caragol]

1) I'm running picos, a few of us are actually. You're not crazy, they're pretty easy. The biggest chore is the top off water.

2) There's room for error. Plenty, softies are tougher than you think, but don't expect to keep SPS. LPS works well in these too. Follow this formula weekly 1g water changes + daily topoffs + never dose. Heating is a 25 or 50w heater hidden in a HOB over behind some rock.

3) Coral YES, I get the best zoa growth from PC bulbs. Xenia, mushrooms, and many LPS thrive in this environment. Hitchiker stars, snails, stomatellas, and pods also do well. No fish. Maybe a panda goby, but I try to keep picos that don't need to be fed to keep the parameters in check. A goby wouldn't work for me.

4) Nah, I've left mine for an entire week. But mine is closed top so very little evaporation.

That 18w will not be enough. I use a 20 over a 2.5 gallon and it's just enough.

 

[yankeereefer]

Here's a 2.5g I just setup at home
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1353942

Tom's makes a 3g that's pretty popular in pico/nano circles

the only thing stopping me from setting up a tank at work is not being able to control temps and not knowing what types of cleaning agents from the service might come into contact with it after hours

 

[-=Efrain=-]

Just like in a normal tank if you have the time to look after it then I would go for it.. I travel to clients and I am in my office once a month but if I had a regular 9 to 5 office job and can have a tank I would..

 

[Caragol]

For my 2.5 gallon bowfront:

Equipment:
1 tank
1 50w heater
1 small powerhead
1 20w screw in 50/50 coralife bulb
No filters, skimmers, fuges, or reactors.

I don't feed the tank ever, no food, yet the tank is crawling with pods , collonista snails, sponges, bristleworms and other life. No hair algae somehow. I change 6 cups of water a week and top off as needed. This is the lowest possible maintenance tank and mushrooms, zoas, gsp, plate coral, candy cane, xenia, pipe organ coral, clove polyps all have done well. Tank has been up just over two years and has gone through extreme neglect.

Here are some old shots:
http://www.tarryncaragol.com/caragol/gallery/aquariums

Most of those corals have been moved out to other tanks by now so I don't have a recent shot.

 

[skunkmere]

thats a awesome tank.

 

[Lmecher]

I have had a 2 1/2 gal. on my kitchen counter for about 1 yr. There have been challenges but we have managed to solve them. It is my 10 yr old daughters. She has zoas, mushrooms, star polyps, some sm. frags of my leathers and a sexy shrimp. I do however feed few time a week, mysis for the shrimp and phytofeast or zoo plankton for the corals. Biggest challenge has been heat in the summer. We just turn off the light when the temp goes up. Chemestry is very easy to maintain with water changes, you need so little. A cover keeps evaporation down to a minimum, for a weekend away I overfill just a tad and never had a problem.
: )

 

[JPagliai]

If you're in the mood for a DIY project, here's a pico that caught my eye.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1265768

 

[wolf pup]

Grrr - I was hoping I would be disuaded. Thank you all for making me start to seriously consider this. :lol: I may start rumaging around in my basement because I think I actually have a 5gal glass tank from the days I kept live feeders. I may even have a heater and PH also sitting around. Only thing I should be short is a glass top.

I guess I could just bring a 5 gal bucket of SW from home every month for top offs / water changes.

Lighting will be the only thing I have to explore. I need to see what else is capturing dust in the basement. I may have an old light fixture that uses a screw in bulb. My wife would never believe it if I actually was able to do something aquarium related that didn't start at $100

 

[skunkmere]

you can use a gas can type container to carry SW in.

 

[wolf pup]

Hmmm....walking into a fire academy with gas cans....I LIKE IT - keeps em on their toes!