My 1.5 Gallon Pico

[baodown]

After the success with my 10 gallon I decided to get a little "ballsy" and started a 1.5 gallon pico with my old Tetra Wonder aquarium that was laying around. Needless to say it's a good start right now. If anybody got any small softies frag (preferably zoas) to sell at a decent price or maybe nice enough to donate to me please let me know

 

[baodown]

Oh right here's the picture. I don't have a camera so I used my Macbook, so everything is backward

 

[cody6766]

Keep up with daily top offs and don't start adding much more than coral and you should be all set. Picos aren't really difficult, but they do take religious attention to to keep healthy. Watch the temp too. Depending on your light, it can get up pretty high pretty fast.

Good luck with it!

 

[baodown]

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately those coral are a gift for my sister and I had no room in my 10G so I just put them there for show. Also the temp should be fine since it's an LED light

 

[cody6766]

I'm sure those will be fine, especially if the rock you used was in another system before going in the pico. I kept zoas, shrroms and a few very small LPS in my 2.5g pico I kept when I first got in. My first tank was actually a 2.5g. I was budget strapped and a little ambitious. It lasted 6mos before I incorporated it into my 30g.

 

[baodown]

As it turn out the light that I bought for my pico, a Dymax Robot LED light, have a short life and isn't as bright as I thought. I am currently looking at two lights right now:

The Ecopico LEd arm light that come with one strip of with 2 x 12,000K White 1 x 453nm Actinic Blue LED lights
http://www.ecoxotic.com/aquarium-led-lights/led-light-fixture/led-arm-light.html

And the Finnex 26w blue white bulb with moonlight led
http://www.amazon.com/CL26BK-Aquarium-Cliplight-including-Moonlight/dp/B003GVOF8I

I don't know which one to choose, if anybody can tell me that would be great, or maybe even suggest a different light altogether

 

[Lytehouse]

I like the look and the ability to add led strips on the Ecopico.

 

[ghellin]

If you wanted you to go DIY you could build a much better light for less at this size. Like use a meanwell lpc 35 700 driver for $18, 2 Cree XP-E RB LEDs that are $3.60 each and one XP-G NW or CW for $5. Group them together on a small 3x3 or 4x4 heatsink and you would have a very nice light for under $40. And you could even keep a small SPS if you keep your water conditions right.

Just a thought.

 

[baodown]

Oh dang I just found this one too

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HH7XM3ZW9NQGTXDH6XG

Now I have more choices to make, dang it...

 

[Lytehouse]

have you found a light

 

[baodown]

Not yet, I really like the EcoPico light but it's kinda on the pricey side especially for a college student like me. I was thinking about getting this:
http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1566

It's cheap and it sounds good. And if it doesn't work then hey it's only $15 bucks I'm not really losing much there

 

[Lytehouse]

Where are you in school?

Have you considered one of the PAR 38 led bulbs

 

[ghellin]

I had two of those bulbs on a 5.5 and the color was very white if you want something more blue might go your led route.

 

[Lytehouse]

I had two of those bulbs on a 5.5 and the color was very white if you want something more blue might go your led route.

I think color depends on which one you get
the quality of leds vary as well as the number and color

but, may not meet the need for inexpensive

 

[ghellin]

Oh sorry Lynn I was talking about the pc bulbs in that link. Two par 38 bulbs would be awesome LOL.

 

[Lytehouse]

oooops,
mis understood you

I have a par 38 if you want to check it out for your pico

 

[ghellin]

Thanks but the tank has long been sold upgraded to my aquapod, now i am upgrading to the 58. I will be with this one for awhile due to me living upstairs.

 

[baodown]

To answer Lynn I am currently attending OU right now. I have seen many picos online use the par38 and par30 bulb. While they do look very nice they're not exactly on the cheap side and I still have to find a fixture to support them because those bulbs ain't light either. Would a 13w 50/50 bulb not support a 1.5 gallon pico?

Also another quick question. As you can see in the pico there's an empty spot in the middle, any suggestions for what could be the centerpiece?

 

[Lytehouse]

I ran a 20watt 50/50 on a 5 gallon acrylic hex
kept any softies and some lps
waste management is the biggest issue

 

[baodown]

Yeah I saw the pic on your page, it looks great! If 20w over a 5 gallon looks that good then I bet a 13w over a 1.5 gallon will be pretty good too. And yeah I been keeping up with water changes, it's really easy to do a water change in a pico when you only have to take out a cup of water every other day lol