Pico Tank?

[jdegrasse]

Hey Richard and fellow TBSaltwater fans!

I love my TBS tank at home -- its doing really great. I've been remiss to not post more of my pics and videos, but one day I'll get to it.

I decided to start a tank at work. Long story short, I decided to go with the JBJ Picotope 3 gal aquarium. My main goal is to have one small fish (maybe a TBS tiger goby?), inverts/CUC, and soft coral (e.g. ricordea, zoas, and mushrooms).

What do people think? Can a 3 gallon TBS package work well in this situation? The filtration is roughly the same as the nano-tanks (mech, carbon, ceramic) and the lighting can be upgraded. I'd rather not get some boring LR and bagged LS.

JD

 

[Jocko]

How's the temperature control at work? Small water volumes always scare me because the temps can swing so quickly.

Although the idea of a tiny little pico with TBS rock is cool because you could get so up close and personal with the rocks and really enjoy all of the life.

 

[jdegrasse]

Temp control sucks, but I have a 7.5 W heater to should attenuate the temp swings.

And that's what I was thinking -- a 3 gallon is so small that you can't have fish in it, besides a 1 inch goby. The TBS rock has so much life built in that it will make an instant aquarium.

 

[ReefBuff02]

I have a couple of suggestions on your Pico idea (I have a 10 gal TBS nano reef). I don't know if you have most of the equipment already, but if you do, setting it up at home and running it with just water for a few days to check temperature and evaporation rate might provide useful information on potential problems. Depending on which light source you're going to use, cooling the tank is actually harder than heating it. The small heater you have should be plenty to heat 3 gallons to whatever temp you want. But if you're out of the office for a 3 day weekend there may be a lot of evaporation if you use an open top tank (salinity and pH would fluctuate wildly). You could try covered and uncovered for a few days and experiment with just water.

That being said, TBS rock is awesome, especially up close in a small tank where you can see all the stuff growing on it! Good luck - and post pics if you can!

 

[jdegrasse]

Very good points!

I'll have to keep an eye on it and luckily it is in a lab. I can easily put something together to solve those problems. I may have get an ATO switch.

I'll post pics for sure.

 

[Jocko]

Yeah definitely agree. My problems with small volume tanks has always been overheating. One unexpectedly hot day and the temp can shoot up to dangerous levels in a matter or hours. That scares me.

If the office is air conditioned, then it's a lot better. Although most office buildings like to shut off the A/C on the weekends. So that makes life more difficult!