Myka's 10L Pico Reef

[Myka]

EDIT: The 3L Bubble was swapped out for a 10L Bubble on Feb 6th.

One of the local Facebook pages, Saskatchewan Saltwater Aquarium Enthusiasts, started up a "jar reef challenge". Jar reefs are popping up all over the place in the last couple years, recently there was even a couple articles in Coral Magazine highlighting jar reefs.

I've wanted to try a pico reef for many years, and figured why not now?

Of course I am always up for a good challenge, and the first thing was finding a "jar" I liked the look of. I wanted something that was clear to look through, not wavy and distorted. I also really like how the 12-gallon IM Cylinder tank looks at Bayside Corals - the convex acrylic makes the livestock look bigger than it is.

My inspiration is from floating flower bowls:

[Myka]

This is what I came up with, and I'm sure it will take some tweaking to get it right.

- exactly 3 liters actual water volume, filled using water from my reef
- 14 ounces (0.5 lb) live rock from my reef's sump
- 1 1/4 cups coarse dry sand
- 8 watt reptile mat for heat, not adjustable
- Cobalt heater controller
- air pump for water movement, no stone (figuring out ideas to replace this)
- AI Prime HD lighting

So far temp fluctuates between 74.0 to 74.2 F. A little cool, but should be ok. I ordered a tiny DC water pump, not sure if it will be SW safe, but I'm hoping it will help add some heat to the tank, and replace the airline which makes messy salt creep.

Light is AI Prime. I ordered a white one through Bayside Corals (they only have black in stock right now), but don't have it yet.

Honestly, this pico may prove to be too small. I just like the shape. I haven't worked on aesthetics around the tank yet - just set it up an hour ago.

Livestock: Wait and see!

[WarDog]

Crazy... but interesting.

[Craigdillman]

Lol thats awesome some Zoa would look cool in there and maybe like 1 super cool looking hermit that you could target feed or something

Should be quite easy to keep stable as 100% Wc will be a snap , yea some cool inverts or something you can target feed would be cool in there

[corpusse]

Good luck, I had a 2 gallon pico for 7 years and it was a lot of fun, you can actually see a photo of it in that coral magazine article, but I ran mine more or less like a traditional tank with a few minor changes. I kinda wish I hadn't taken it down but the tank itself was just so worn out, I did crazy things like drill the back while it was running to hide another tiny powerhead and allowed chalices to encrust to the acrylic.

100% water changes are your best friend in a pico.

[Myka]

Yes, certainly 100% water changes will be the norm. I'm using H2Ocean so that should help keep parameters in check.

I picked up a Fluval 106 canister filter today. The adjustable flow can be reduced all the way from 0-100% so I can actually crank it back far enough to use it. The media capacity of the canister is supposedly 0.3 gallons so this will double the water volume which will help significantly for evaporation. Hopefully it doesn't add too much heat. I won't have time to hook it up for a few days. I'll have to figure out how to hook it onto the tank in a clean manner. I'm going to get some sort of cabinet/side table to set it on so the canister can be hidden. I think I'll probably either put live rock and a filter pad/carbon in the canister or Siporax.

Corpusse, which pic is your former tank?

[corpusse]

Originally Posted by Myka

Corpusse, which pic is your former tank?

It's on page 33, 2 gallon pico Andrew from Ontario, Canada.

For heating your tank you could try a reptile ceramic heater instead of the mat. With a temp probe you could program it to come on / off then get rid of the probe if your house temperature is pretty stable. Adding the pump may push things up a degree or 2 which will get you into the comfort zone anyway.

You can really do a tank any size you want but after a while it just gets too small. That was the biggest reason why I took down my pico other then the fact the tank itself was in rough shape and with everything encrusting it would be difficult to just transfer it to a new tank. You get tired of knocking things over, trying to glue them back ect.

Think about how you're going to clean the glass, there is a tiny 2 little fishes magnet cleaner, but at least back when I had my tank they rusted out relatively quick.

[mseepman]

Looking good Myka!!! I like the challenge of the little pico.

[Myka]

I bought a little cabinet for it today to set it on, and the Fluval canister fits under it. Looks pretty good. The hoses on the Fluval are ugly as all get out though, so I ordered up some glass lily pipes. They're going to take a couple weeks to show up though.

Originally Posted by corpusse

It's on page 33, 2 gallon pico Andrew from Ontario, Canada.

For heating your tank you could try a reptile ceramic heater instead of the mat. With a temp probe you could program it to come on / off then get rid of the probe if your house temperature is pretty stable. Adding the pump may push things up a degree or 2 which will get you into the comfort zone anyway.

You can really do a tank any size you want but after a while it just gets too small. That was the biggest reason why I took down my pico other then the fact the tank itself was in rough shape and with everything encrusting it would be difficult to just transfer it to a new tank. You get tired of knocking things over, trying to glue them back ect.

Think about how you're going to clean the glass, there is a tiny 2 little fishes magnet cleaner, but at least back when I had my tank they rusted out relatively quick.

Ah ok, I thought that was yours! I think you shared it on here before didn't you? I think I recognize it.

Well, I hooked up the Fluval 106 canister filter a couple hours ago which added 5L of water, so that makes more water to heat. I'm hoping the pump on the canister helps. I'll see what it says tomorrow.

I am looking for one of those Vertex Simplex Mag-Cleaners for cleaning the glass. They are super slim. I have a Duplex one, but a Simplex would work better. Can't find them anywhere though. I might have to make my own using magnets from Lee Valley or something.

I imagine once it's grown in it will be a pain in the butt to have to trim all the time, so I will certainly keep in mind how easy or difficult a particular coral will be to keep in check.

Thanks for your tips!

Originally Posted by mseepman

Looking good Myka!!! I like the challenge of the little pico.

Thanks Mark! Still have your 10-gallon going?

[mseepman]

You might try the TLF nano magnet cleaner. It is flexible on the in-tank piece and should work for your curves. Check out you tube in boxing on it.