My .094 (11.83 oz) pico reef
- Thread starter Melbourne
- Start date
fishes2889
In Memoriam
I think hes gone guys......
Steve
Steve
motoxracing782
New member
how is that little tank doing?
AVALover5498
*Zoa Freak*
He posts such a cool tank and then leaves.
roushboy2857
New member
This is awsome! Updates?
I was overdue for an update 
I took this tank down due to a few design flaws.
1 - the airlift tube was too small and prone to clogging with bits of rock / sand.
2 - the narrow tank made for a nice size but too hard to clean.
The little tank has lived in my sump for the past couple of months. I took it out to compare to the new tank which hopefully addresses the short comings of the previous one.
New tank next to old tank
New tank compared to a 12 oz can of soda
The new tank holds about the same amount of water but utilizes a closed loop for circulation. I will build a DIY inline heater for it. The tank has a much better footprint for aquascaping and the bulkheads enable me to have more options - I can easily add in a sump.
New tank specs - 5.5" long by 2" deep by 3" high. Tank volume 0.1 gallons.
Closed loop / two bulkheads (located in corners) using an Aqualifter pump to provide roughly 3 gallon per hour circulation in tank. Lighting is by a 27W PC desk lamp.
I took this tank down due to a few design flaws.
1 - the airlift tube was too small and prone to clogging with bits of rock / sand.
2 - the narrow tank made for a nice size but too hard to clean.
The little tank has lived in my sump for the past couple of months. I took it out to compare to the new tank which hopefully addresses the short comings of the previous one.
New tank next to old tank
New tank compared to a 12 oz can of soda
The new tank holds about the same amount of water but utilizes a closed loop for circulation. I will build a DIY inline heater for it. The tank has a much better footprint for aquascaping and the bulkheads enable me to have more options - I can easily add in a sump.
New tank specs - 5.5" long by 2" deep by 3" high. Tank volume 0.1 gallons.
Closed loop / two bulkheads (located in corners) using an Aqualifter pump to provide roughly 3 gallon per hour circulation in tank. Lighting is by a 27W PC desk lamp.
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Here are my other larger pico reefs. They consist of three 2.5g tanks all drilled and plumbed into a 12g sump. Additional circulation in tank is provided by 3 Mini Tunze pumps controlled by a Red Sea Pro wavemaker. Autotop off is done via a Aqualifter pump controlled by a dual float switch. Skimmer is a Deltec MCE600. Sump also contains a Phosban reactor and some additional live rock rubble. Heating/cooling is from an external Azoo thermoelectric heater/chiller.
Lighting used from left to right (2x13w,1x18w,1x18w) all PC.
Lighting used from left to right (2x13w,1x18w,1x18w) all PC.
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InvaderJim
Coral Junkie
Very cool.
StunnaShadez
New member
those picos are looking very nice. whats in the middle pico? how long has each of them been set up for?
The 2.5g's are all from a 2.5g I started for a contest on another website. That was about a year or so ago. The middle tank is the newest, the left is the oldest having been setup from the contest tank. Right tank is just a few months newer than the left. Each tank contains 1 fish, different kinds of hardy damsels. Left tank has a Yellow Belly Blue Damsel (Pomacentrus auriventris), the center has a Talbot Damsel (Chrysiptera talboti) and the far right has a Three Striped Damsel (Dascyllus aruanus). Corals are a mixed reef - everything from mushrooms to various types of montipora. Fish will eventually go into my sump on a larger tank when they get too large. My kids like the small tanks since they are at their height and they can see everything close up.
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MrMexReefer
In Memoriam
Melbourne, any shots of the plumbing? I actually had thought of doing something like this before, and lighting like 4 of them in a row with a Tek Fixture or something... but wasnt sure if those 2.5 tanks could be drilled. A look at your plumbing would be helpful
Thanks - I'll try and take some pictures this weekend of the plumbing. To drill the 2.5g tanks you just need to go slow and build a template since the glass is very thin. I drilled each tank with one 1/2" bulkhead and use over the tank returns. For the .1 g tank I used model airplane fuel line bulkheads since anything else would be too large.
That was a cool concept. Too bad it didn't work out. I really like the overall look of that little tank.
Have you tried these as a heater? For something that tiny you'd do best hooking it up to at least a dimmer to control the heat output, but its an idea.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_heaters_hydor_mini.asp?CartId=
Have you tried these as a heater? For something that tiny you'd do best hooking it up to at least a dimmer to control the heat output, but its an idea.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_heaters_hydor_mini.asp?CartId=
Thanks, I thought about those but the problem is even that heater is too big . My solution is to build a DIY inline heater module out of PVC or maybe just buy the Lifegard unit and run it with reducers.
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=RB5151
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=RB5151
Here are pics of the common sump setup as requested.
Back of 2.5g drilled using .5 bulkheads with slip fittings and over the top returns.
Sump with ball valves on tee's to tune flow and MCE600 and Phosban reactor.
Not much to report on the .1g pico tank. Compared to the airlift design I get much less evaporation on this tank. I've only had to top off a tiny amount of water once so far.
Back of 2.5g drilled using .5 bulkheads with slip fittings and over the top returns.
Sump with ball valves on tee's to tune flow and MCE600 and Phosban reactor.
Not much to report on the .1g pico tank. Compared to the airlift design I get much less evaporation on this tank. I've only had to top off a tiny amount of water once so far.
MrMexReefer
In Memoriam
Very Cool melbourne. You got me thinking of all sorts of things
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