MrGone
:)
I started saltwater almost two years ago setting up a 10 tank in my dorm room and I haven't looked back. That tank grew and grew and I decided to move it home at the end of the year because it was becoming to difficult/risky to keep it in Pullman while I was away for breaks. Well what started at 10 gallons has grown to 150 gallons but I'm sure everyone can relate that it is difficult to enjoy it when you are 275 miles away (fun to see how much things grow though!)
I've had my pico for a about a year and a half but it has been in a box since last May. Last time I ran it completely stock and it did fantastic. It is common for people to make a refugium out of a HOB filter but I decided to try my hand at drilling glass and drilled the pico. I still need to finish the sump but it is nice to not have the heater in the tank, make topping off easier and not having to worry about flooding my desk if I move my hand too quickly lol.
Boiling water + small diameter vinyl tubing = no need for hose clamps! horray for college reefing (na, I thought the 1/2" barbs would work with 1/2" ID vinyl but either the hose is mislabeled or the 1/2" on the barbs refers to the barbs ID. Eitherway I'm confident I won't have to worry about any leaks (or rusted hose clamps)
temporary sump
sump cracked on the drive back to school
Once I figure out how to cut glass I'm going to use panels from the busted tank to baffle a new 10g sump. Kinda sucks but oh well.
I had the rocks setup perfectly on the right but then they collapsed, guess I need to get more
The water is cloudy from me playing around, plus I do not have any mechanical filtration on the tank yet :-/
Livestock:
I took the rock covered with the not terribly good looking polyps on it along with two loose green mushrooms, a small xenia frag and a small colt tree from my 150g and put them in the pico. There are also a few hitchhiker starfish from the refugium on my 150g (came over on the shell I brought). The rubble to the right is from my Dad's 255g tank, I dumped a bunch in his sump last week. Today I bought 4 hermits, a small margarita snail and a bumble bee snail. It didn't occur to me until later I didn't really need the hermits and snails would be more useful. The substrate is from my original 10 gallon tank, some of which was in the pico at one point, kind of fitting that it somehow made its way back into my pico
Equipment:
3 Gallon JBJ Picotope drilled with a 1" Bulkhead
10 gallon sump (will be baffled later, probably turn the main compartment into a refugium)
Maxijet 1200 Powerhead as a return pump
Coralife 36w 12" Compact Florescent light
Marineland Visi-Term Deluxe 50watt heater
Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Lite Controller
Toms Aquatics Aqualifter Pump for automatic top offs (not hooked up yet)
I'm probably going to baffle 3/4 of the sump to be the normal water level for the 10g to run HOB filters. I brought along a Marineland Penguin 110 HOB powerfilter and a TAAM RIO HOB Protein Skimmer I've had on past setups (the 10g) but I haven't decided if I want to use them yet (they are just going to make noise and I can build a media chamber into the baffles). That compartment will probably be an excessively large refugium. If it wasn't on the floor under my desk I'd make it a seahorse tank. I thought about making a freshwater compartment in the sump for top offs but I decided I'll use a gallon container next to the tank. I'd also like to make a lid for pico if I have time.
If I can find a small goby I might get it but for right now I'm just going to play with corals. It turns out one of the light bulbs burned out, once I get the replacement I might try an SPS frag and see how it goes. Until then I'll just let these softies get settled and try to find some more live rock (and finish the sump).
The controller handles the lighting, temperature and auto top offs (once I get it dialed in). I'm just going to set a timer to turn on the aqualifter for x amount of time to top off, I don't feel like spending $100ish on the SL2 and a switch kit to do it completely automated with fail safes at the moment. I can ball park it and be fine for now.
Here are pictures from my first go around with the pico
Eventually I built a surface skimmer for the HOB filter
I've had my pico for a about a year and a half but it has been in a box since last May. Last time I ran it completely stock and it did fantastic. It is common for people to make a refugium out of a HOB filter but I decided to try my hand at drilling glass and drilled the pico. I still need to finish the sump but it is nice to not have the heater in the tank, make topping off easier and not having to worry about flooding my desk if I move my hand too quickly lol.
Boiling water + small diameter vinyl tubing = no need for hose clamps! horray for college reefing (na, I thought the 1/2" barbs would work with 1/2" ID vinyl but either the hose is mislabeled or the 1/2" on the barbs refers to the barbs ID. Eitherway I'm confident I won't have to worry about any leaks (or rusted hose clamps)
temporary sump
sump cracked on the drive back to school
Once I figure out how to cut glass I'm going to use panels from the busted tank to baffle a new 10g sump. Kinda sucks but oh well.
I had the rocks setup perfectly on the right but then they collapsed, guess I need to get more
The water is cloudy from me playing around, plus I do not have any mechanical filtration on the tank yet :-/Livestock:
I took the rock covered with the not terribly good looking polyps on it along with two loose green mushrooms, a small xenia frag and a small colt tree from my 150g and put them in the pico. There are also a few hitchhiker starfish from the refugium on my 150g (came over on the shell I brought). The rubble to the right is from my Dad's 255g tank, I dumped a bunch in his sump last week. Today I bought 4 hermits, a small margarita snail and a bumble bee snail. It didn't occur to me until later I didn't really need the hermits and snails would be more useful. The substrate is from my original 10 gallon tank, some of which was in the pico at one point, kind of fitting that it somehow made its way back into my pico
Equipment:
3 Gallon JBJ Picotope drilled with a 1" Bulkhead
10 gallon sump (will be baffled later, probably turn the main compartment into a refugium)
Maxijet 1200 Powerhead as a return pump
Coralife 36w 12" Compact Florescent light
Marineland Visi-Term Deluxe 50watt heater
Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Lite Controller
Toms Aquatics Aqualifter Pump for automatic top offs (not hooked up yet)
I'm probably going to baffle 3/4 of the sump to be the normal water level for the 10g to run HOB filters. I brought along a Marineland Penguin 110 HOB powerfilter and a TAAM RIO HOB Protein Skimmer I've had on past setups (the 10g) but I haven't decided if I want to use them yet (they are just going to make noise and I can build a media chamber into the baffles). That compartment will probably be an excessively large refugium. If it wasn't on the floor under my desk I'd make it a seahorse tank. I thought about making a freshwater compartment in the sump for top offs but I decided I'll use a gallon container next to the tank. I'd also like to make a lid for pico if I have time.
If I can find a small goby I might get it but for right now I'm just going to play with corals. It turns out one of the light bulbs burned out, once I get the replacement I might try an SPS frag and see how it goes. Until then I'll just let these softies get settled and try to find some more live rock (and finish the sump).
The controller handles the lighting, temperature and auto top offs (once I get it dialed in). I'm just going to set a timer to turn on the aqualifter for x amount of time to top off, I don't feel like spending $100ish on the SL2 and a switch kit to do it completely automated with fail safes at the moment. I can ball park it and be fine for now.
Here are pictures from my first go around with the pico
Eventually I built a surface skimmer for the HOB filter
