my pico tank

[nanoreefboy]

Having had many 2.5 gallon set ups I will chime in here about your idea. First of all Beautiful tank, glad to see it. As for the background to each their own, but if you would like to be able to peek back there and still have a background here is what I did. Buy the backing from the store and cut it to fit on the back of the tank. Tape it with some clear packing tape and just pull it up a bit for a peak every now and then. You really dont notice the tape if you only have it around the edge a tiny bit because it will blend in with the silicone.
As for the heater there are pretty much needed more for stability especially during the night. I will post a picture of mine to give you an example of how to set it up in a HOB filter. Actually I have the same filter, AQ 20, and all I had to do was cut a bit off the corner for it to stick out. The heater I am using is a Tronic 50 watt. I believe it is one of the smallest out there and will be fine standing up straight in the HOB filter. Here is a pic showing what I mean.

If you wanted you could probably get a bigger HOB filter and be able to fully submerge the heater instead of it sticking out. I will say though that a faulty heater will burn the tank very quickly, and is always one of my biggest worries about having 2.5 gallon tanks. So I recently went to a 5.5, I know huge step right...

Thanks and good luck.

 

[Agu]

Very nice :thumbsup:

I agree with moving the heater to a hob filter............

 

[circusordie16]

yup thats the heater i was talking about. i couldnt find that one though so i ended up with my current one. i never worried about a heater failing until you guys came along haha. now im worried!

 

[nanoreefboy]

If I were you I would not worry about the things you can't control( a heater failing) and just make sure to keep everything going ok for them. A heater failure will only happen once in a blue moon but when it does, it is most of the time a disaster in that small of a tank.

If you want you could buy a $200+ controller and have your heater plugged into that to make sure it shuts off after your tank gets to a certain point........ or not. Just take my advice and do not worry about it and enjoy your tank.

 

[circusordie16]

thanks nanoreefboy, im really not worried, ive had a heater going strong in my freshwater tank for over 11 years.

just some new pictures from this weekend. im waiting til summer to pick up some new additions, hopefully some more lps.
my blue ric thats slowly splitting

my green ric

the start of a new zoa frag

and a full tank shot after fragging out some gsp and candy canes

and heres a quick growth comparison of one of my monti caps.
here it is a month ago.

and on sunday

not too bad for a 2.5 gallon with no dosing i dont think.

 

[cschwaj]

A heater is needed just to offer some stability. Buy a quality one to reduce your risk of failure. I use a 25W Hydor.

The flat betta tank heater from Hydor is a bad idea. It heats all the time and will add 3-5 degrees even when the room is hot (summer is coming). The only time I have seen this work is when is is set to run on a schedule opposite the lighting.

I still love your aquascaping; well done.

I just jumped from a 9W strip light to the 36W Coralife fixture and WOW, what a difference. I haven't even removed the second acclimation screen yet and my mushrooms have doubled in size.

 

[circusordie16]

ive been thinking about upgrading the light but since everythings doing so well right now i figure if im gonna spend more money on lights, ill spend a little more and get a bigger tank so i have more coral room. once you start this hobby, you just cant stop haha.

 

[nanoreefboy]

Yeah I can understand the wanting more room bit. Just think though even if you go up to the next standard glass tank at 5.5 gallons, you will more than double your water volume. Which just happens to be what I did in the past couple of weeks. I set up a 5.5 but now have the 2.5 sitting around empty and trying to figure out what to put in it.

 

[circusordie16]

so i had my first loss, the birdsnest frag i got died from what i think was rapid tissue necrosis. it turned white from the bottom up and even 2 fraggings couldnt save it. its too bad cuz it was starting to have a nice pink color to it. maybe ill try again this summer. other than that, im just waiting 4 weeks until schools out and i can grab some micros.

 

[circusordie16]

ive got a couple new additions. a blue micro, an orange micro, and a red/green/purple acan. have a look!

 

[vanmo92]

Thats an awsome pico!

 

[reefin'aggie]

Very nice pico!!! Everything looks very happy.

Jacob