so I had a cool pico idea

[jquailus]

i know its not an original idea but here is what i want to do, i currently have a 30gal tall display with a 10 gal sump, in the sump is heater skimmer uv sterilizer return pump. display has about 26-27lbs lr, 40lbs ls, and the tank is a few months old and established have many assorted corals, snails crabs a blue yellow blenny, and a lubbocks fairy wrasse, tanks is healthy. anyways i came across a bunch of old glass bottles in great condition, and what i would like to do is take a few drill holes and somehow plump them into my tank and have a few seperate "picotopes" or something like that where i could keep seperate corals or specific inverts, is this plausible and does anyone have any ideas on how i would go about doing this, im post a few pics of the first 3 bottles i have cleaned, they are all 1gal or less some with wide mouth heads and some very narrow heads. any ideas with lighting moving the water, etc etc etc. thanks in advance for any help or ideas.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

There are glass 5 gallon jugs floating around. They may be more suited for what youre looking to do.

 

[jquailus]

would just using a powerhead or small pump in my sump workdrill a hole for the inlet and another small hole where i want the water line to be and somehome plump an easy return to my sump. if so could i put a rock and some sand from my display and put a frag in there

 

[jquailus]

i know its more complicated then that but what i want to know is some specific info about how that system could work

 

[new_world_disor]

i cn see it working. id have thought that a 5g jar wld be better than a jug. cos u cld seal the unit totally ( lid and silacan ) and it as part of a closed loop ?
worth a try

 

[dendro982]

I would rather use the wider, open top containers, like coffee pots, vases, cubes.
There will be the problem with hardware placement - heater, filter, aeration, and with access for a cleaning, don't mentioning the optical qualities of the bottle's and jar's glass...

The other thing with multi-tanks is expenses - time and monetary- on the testing each tank individually, it will be no way 10 min weekly (don't ask me how do I know ). And amount of tanks x(multiply) on cost of heater, filter and light for each, unless you already have them.

The positive thing - you can tailor the particular system for particular inhabitants.

 

[danch]

Dendro, I think he's talking about plumbing them all together, so the water would be shared. They might need individual heaters, and cleaning could be a problem.

 

[dendro982]

You are right, lazy me. Just reaction on the title, pico usually means the low volume tank...

 

[jquailus]

yea i told you i needed help lol

 

[edwing206]

It would be an awesome little tank if you could find a way to do it. Maybe have a small power head pupming water into it from the sump then have ahole on the back draining it maybe. Not sure but it would be cool.

 

[jquailus]

thats what i thought edwing, real simple, real clean looking. I think i could have a few with seperate species I.E. a little seahorse tank, or a zoo tank etc. and maybe one as a ref. i think it will work when i get it i will have a thread with pics and info

 

[specialkb]

LED lighting?

 

[jquailus]

how powerful does led lighting get??? i wasnt even thinking that as a possibility. I was thinking three or four on a row on a shelf with a 50/50 t5 bar above them, i was thinking about a light 24hour one to use to grow macro algae

 

[dogstar74]

Could you plumb a line into the bottom of the bottle, and have it overflowing on the top to look like the bottle is pouring into something perpetually? Like cut a bulkhead into the bottom of a coffee mug and drain it into a nightstand and route it back to the sump. And have the bottle pumped with fresh saltwater from the pump through a small hose. Then you could put a small species in it like a mantis shrimp or something. That's my 2 cents.

 

[snulma1]

The only problem I see with that is cleaning the inside glass. If corraline or even just regular algae builds up, you may be SOL

 

[jquailus]

i dont think i want it pouring constantly becasue of the noise but ithought about that, and as fas as algae i am going to be using a wider mouth bottles here are a few pics with my first attemp at drilling the holes

 

[jquailus]

the bottle is about 8 in high and cant hold more than a half gallon probably more like a quater gallon. i know the holes need to be a little cleaner but it took almost an hour to drill those with my dremel and i needed a break

 

[jquailus]

ok here is another pic with a margarita type glass the glass is very thin though i sont know which type to use as far as light reflection vs. heat retainment. most the the other pieces are very thick

 

[jquailus]

for size that ruler is 7in long