Pico reef?

[aquarookie]

Hi all,

I have had a "successful" reef tank for several years now, and I seem to be most successful with the 50-90 gallon range. But I would LOVE to try a pico reef. Is it a bad idea for someone who does not have a lot of free time? How much more maintenance is it? Would I just scoop out water from the big tank for water changes, or should I mix new water for the tiny tank? Any advice on how to set it up to be as low maintenance as possible? I see tiny (2-3 gallon) tanks online which have just a light and a HOB filter, is that enough if the water changes are frequent? Or would something more elaborate make life easier? Any other thoughts?

BTW, I have a 7 gallon glass bow front-I don't know if that qualifies as a pico or if it's a nano... Should I do open top or hood? Sand or bare bottom? (I've tried both in my larger tanks and both worked, but I don't know what's best for a small tank). I have no need to stuff it to the gills with critters, but I would love to have it looking nice with a variety of zoas, rics and small LPS (when they grow out I can transfer them to my main tank).

Thanks a lot!

 

[Burke]

You will want to use fresh made water for water changes, but you only have to do a gallon at a time. So it's really not much work. I have a 3 gallon with an open top. I do have to add a little water in it every day. I have a 1/2 gallon jug near it with RO/DI water in it, so when I check on it every day I just add a little. I have a very small amount of sand in mine (maybe 1/4 inch), I like the look of sand. It's a great zoa and mushroom tank. Good luck.

 

[aquarookie]

Thanks for the advice. What kind of light is over your 3 gallon, and how often do you change the water?

 

[Burke]

It's a 9w PC. The bulb is near the end of life and I'm looking at a stronger light. I do water changes every two weeks (I do them the same time I do a water change for my 125 gal, so it doesn't add any extra work ), I had a fish in there at one time and I did water changes every week then.

 

[nano24]

Here is mine...

It's a 4G Finnex, with Nova Extreem Pro T5 light. 36 Watts I believe, they do require daily attention. And weekly water changes. But, It's not too bad, long as you look at it everyday, then you'll be o.k.

 

[Caesar777]

Where'd you get the Finnex? is that an online-only thing, or are there local shops (as in anywhere around the Sound; Seattle, Tacoma, Issaquah, and everything in between) that have them?

 

[nano24]

Where'd you get the Finnex? is that an online-only thing, or are there local shops (as in anywhere around the Sound; Seattle, Tacoma, Issaquah, and everything in between) that have them?

Yeah, I got it from an online vendor. Aquacave.com Love the tank.

 

[Caesar777]

LOVE the Finnex! <3

 

[MrGone]

I have a 3 gallon JBJ Picotope, I've run it completely stock and it is fine, the biggest thing is evaporation.

This time when I set it up I drilled it and ran a sump, mainly just to get all the equipment out of the display tank and to make topping off easier but having a 10g sump doesn't really make it a pico anymore

I know Blue Sierra in Issaquah has some JBJ Picotopes but I bought mine from www.drsfostersmith.com

 

[Caesar777]

I like the picotope, too, thinkin' of getting one cos I've got some credit at Blue Sierra. Put somethin' cute n' little in it.

Got a ten-gallon half-moon as my nano (without any of the stock equipment LOL--halide, bish!)... Does that count as a "pico"? LOL! COS I'M STICKIN' TO CALLIN' IT A NANO!

 

[Caesar777]

Oh, it's going to have a WM H1 skimmer (rated to 75 gallons or so, I'd say to 30 but I'm into "overskimming") and a thin sandbed, 1/2" or so. Lots of flow, 150 watt halide. Weekly water changes, 10-15%, feeding of corals and a few tiny fish. IMO, that's the way to go.

BLACK background. I hate blue-back for reef, as well as no bkg... Personal opinion, of course.

 

[nano24]

Oh, it's going to have a WM H1 skimmer (rated to 75 gallons or so, I'd say to 30 but I'm into "overskimming") and a thin sandbed, 1/2" or so. Lots of flow, 150 watt halide. Weekly water changes, 10-15%, feeding of corals and a few tiny fish. IMO, that's the way to go.

BLACK background. I hate blue-back for reef, as well as no bkg... Personal opinion, of course.

70Watt MH would be too much.... You'll need to give tank occupants sunglasses!!!!!
Holy hell girl!!!

 

[Caesar777]

You're crazy! Halide rocks, DUH! And it's an 18" tall tank, not a standard shallow $10 ten.

To give you an idea, I had a 250 over a 26 bowfront; same height, just wider. , indeed!

To newer reefers, 70 watt would be ideal. Better PAR than anything. I suppose T-5's are cool, but you need a bunch of them.

 

[nano24]

You're crazy! Halide rocks, DUH! And it's an 18" tall tank, not a standard shallow $10 ten.

To give you an idea, I had a 250 over a 26 bowfront; same height, just wider. , indeed!

To newer reefers, 70 watt would be ideal. Better PAR than anything. I suppose T-5's are cool, but you need a bunch of them.

Lol. T5's are just what I could find at the time... I want to do LED's but Nanotuners has not released the new fixture yet for pico setups.

 

[Caesar777]

I do like T5's; I just like halide so much more! LED's are neat, too.

Cooling = no issue: fan blowing across the surface. Top off every 2-3 days, maybe sometimes daily, NP. Also it's a clip-on pendant. I'll get some pics soon.

 

[aquarookie]

Nice setups. Tiny reef tanks look so neat . I have a T5 fixture but it is twice as long as my tank, I wish I could cut it in half, LOL. And a MH seems a bit overkill for a 7 gallon zoanthid tank!

 

[Caesar777]

MH would be a bit much for a 7 zoa tank, yah.

 

[Caesar777]

Light is fine on the corals.. My dead skimmer, on the other hand, is NOT. GRR @ dying $120 echino + dead appleberry & dead orange Pavona maldivensis. Life sucks sometimes. My damsel was freaking nipping them, too! While still alive! I'm thinking of getting a cool angler to eat his ass, but then it'd eat my sharknose goby *and* I couldn't have any of the pompom crabs and stuff I want. They're expensive retail, though, so may I'll just get the damned angler.

 

[HumblePie]

For my pico I would say that maintence is really low. I do about a 1-2g water change every week and have an autotop off that dosses kalkwasser. Other than that I feed the corals 1-2 times a week (no fish right now). It's really pretty easy. My 29g (rest in pieces) was a lot more work to maintain...but it was also a much bigger and more established reef tank...

 

[spllbnd2]

I've had 3 tanks now that were 7 gallons and under and can say that they are not any more work than a larger tank.

I ran a 7 gallon bowfront tank with one fish and a ton of corals in it with dual 32W pc lights for a total of 64W. It was nice and didn't get hot at all, especially considering I never ran fans on it. I performed a weekly water change on that one.

I've also ran a 3 gallon pico with a dual 9 watt pc set up without any heat issues. Ran fans across the top during the summer months and temp stayed at 79. Performed water changes twice a week and never had any issues.

Currently I swapped out the 3 gallon for a 5 gallon to test a few of my non photosynthetic corals as well as mini anemones. Easier to target feed in the tank without fish or hermits. Currently running a single 32W bulb and temps stay at 77-78.5 without fans. I have put a 70MH on and temp when up to about 81. Have yet to have any issues with algae probably due to the fact that tank is fishless. I perform a water change at least once a week but usually when I am doing a water change in one of my other tanks I will do a 2 gallon water change in this one at the same time.

Good luck with the pico or nano tank and I think you'll have just as much fun with it as you do with your larger tank.
Alex