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Cultivated Reef

My next project, A 2.5gallon Pico reef!


DonnieP

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I always liked trying crazy stuff, this is probably the craziest yet! I bought a 2.5g Aquarium and am planning on building a sealed pico reef tank. It will incorporate the same functionality as my 28g. I am going to build a false wall on one end and use this for a refugium with chaeto lighted by a nano glow led light, filter will be live rock, return pump is a via aqua 80 gph. The false wall will have an overflow then returned to the tank, this should give me a turnover rate of 40 times per hour. Lighting will be led 6000k and blue moon led. Tank will be sealed but top can be removed if need be. I will still need to work out the dosing and water change details but shouldn't be a problem. I know ya'll thought I was gonna upgrade but I went the other way. Constructive comments welcome but don't tell me this won't work because I think it will. More details later in the build, I have stuff ordered and on the way so it will be a few days before much happens.

 

Note: I actually have this posted on another forum so if something looks out of place on time line thats why, I'm just moving the build over to here.

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Working on the stand and light hood, coming along considering I'm only using a skill saw and hand tools. I'm going to shoot for black laquer for the finish but thats hard to do without an enclosed shop so it may end up being a fleckstone finish, we'll see how the laquer goes. Still waiting on parts for the tank and light.

 

 

 

Ok guys, so I got it laquered, it looks pretty good to have been done outside. I think I will leave it as is for now anyway, heck I can always go with the fleckstone anytime. That enough until next week, maybe do some FISHIN' this weekend!!!!

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I'm thinking about a jbj nano glo light, I have one hooked on it right now and its pretty bright, I think they are 1 watt led x 4, Gotta experiment a little there cause I gotta light the Chaeto that will be in the compartment behind the false back wall. I decided to build the false wall all the way across the tank giving me 1-3/4" for the fuge and return pump. The display will be about 4" x 12" x 7" deep Return pump=80gph with two returns, one on each end of the back wall. I may have to add some blue led, need moon glo anyways. Gotta keep the heat down, hence leds

 

Got a little more done on the pico today. I cut out and installed the false back wall, made a return flow spout, overflow grate, and siliconed the whole thing in place. I'm thinking about building a miniature filter basket to put floss and maybe a little carbon or chemipure in. I only have like 2-1/2" in there to put one because the heater is in that spot to. After water leaves that compartment it flows under a divider wall and into the Chaeto chamber, then overflows a divider wall into the pump compartment. The wall before the pump will keep a constant level in the heater and Chaeto compartments, any evaporation will take place in the pump compartment.

 

I also got my light in, its a 21 led light with 3 blue. After installing it in the hood and checking it out, I may have to order another and put two of them in the hood, it puts out enough light but its concentrated in the center so two may be necessary. The heater I'm using is a marineland 10watt fixed temp at 78 degrees. I should be able to put water in it tomorrow and give it a trial run, see if everything works as expected. Notice, I cut an emergency overflow just in case, if something stopped up the overflow water would flow over the emergency cutout instead of flooding.

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I decided to get the other 42 led light for the tank, it has 6 blue but not controlled seperate so I can't use the blue for moon light so I am building my own moon light. I went to Radioshack and got two 5mm blue leds for about $4.00 and they will be powered by an old 3volt cell phone charger I had lying around. I tried the 10mm but they were to bright and shined a spotlight, the 5mm has a 154* lens, perfect.

 

 

 

Ok, got the soldering done and mounted the blue leds in the hood, I think this is going to be just right for moon glo. My new 42 led light will be here tomorrow. I'm still testing and that dang fixed temp heater is still getting way to hot, I'm taking it back to petsmart tomorrow and pick up another and see if it works any better.

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all true, its just that you're now even more limited with what can comfortably live in such a small space. insterested in seeing the rockwork!

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Yeah, I know, thats why its called a PICO. I've seen Pico's that were less than 1/2 gallon, I've got 1.5 gallons in the disply.

I know it's a pico. I have a pico, and have had several before this one.

 

I was commenting on scaping it, as well as fish.

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1.5 gal display in not really enough for fish imo...

 

You are correct, it is not big enough for fish, fish don't belong in a pico. I have it planned out though, keep up with the thread to see how it turns out. I welcome all constructive comments.

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bwoodward0012

looks great so far. my brother in law had a 2.5 he made as an all in one and it pretty much could have been sealed. it ran for 8 or so months with almost no problems (got flatworms at the end but that was it) or nuisance algae before he sold it. i even used it as an emergency qt when i had a tank meltdown and my corals recovered nicely. he probably did 2 water changes on it the entire time and the only time it got dosed was when i used it as a qt. doesnt sound like yours will actually be a "sealed tank" if youre doin water changes and what not, to me youd have to silicone the top on and not mess with it at all for it to be "sealed", but it does sound like a nice "hands off for the most part" pico. anyhow following along and cant wait to see how it turns out.

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bwoodward0012

by the way, the best fixed temp heater ive found is the cheap tetra one from walmart (used a 10w for my picotope, and a 50w for my 10 gal) which claimed 78 + or - 1 deg and kept mine at a constant 79 (summer got a little hotter, but that was due to the 105 deg temps and a constantly failing ac). id still keep an eye on it and constantly check temp when thought about, or could add a digital thermometer hiding the probe in the a.i.o. and the digital read out behind the tank. good luck.

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Thanks guys, thanks for the heads up on the tetra heater, I will check that out if my returned heater don't work out, I figured marineland would be a good one.

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Ok, I got the new light in Saturday. I had to dismantle it and remove some unwanted parts like the clip and goose neck. I attached it to the canopy with some good ole velcro. I added two 3/4" pvc couplers over the blues to broadcast the light more down than out. I will try this and see how it works for the moonlights, I can always remove them. I am concerned about a lot of light glow on the wall behind the tank so I ordered a 5mm computer fan today and I will enclose the back of the hood with some black ABS plastic sheet I have to stop the glow from behind the hood, hence the need for the fan to remove any type heat build up from the higher power leds.

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Well, I got everything put together and started the tank up today. I used water from my other reef tank, dry sand and rocks and a spoonfull of sand from my other tank. I added Chaeto from my other tank and put a small frag of green Zoe's in there to see how they would do.

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Dnanoreefer

I really dig your idea.. My buddy has a 2.5 gallon picotank that he setup with 2 mini fuges plumbed inline.. He has had a couple minor overflows lol but other than that it is beautiful! He has some very unique mushys in it and a tiny jawfish.. The jawfish loves it in there by himself. Constantly rearranging the tank haha.. Can't wait to see your tank completely setup and running.. Good luck

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  • 2 months later...

Just some pics to bring this build up to date. I have it stocked with sps and so far everything is doing well.

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Seamonkey84

I'm loving my two gallon but it has a ac70 fuge and two par30 boost led bulbs. I have a brown Xenia and a few mushrooms and Zoanthid frags, but it's mainly my maxi nem tank, 7 so far

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  • 2 months later...

I took a few new pics of the pico, I changed the led lighting to more of a 20k spectrum, seems like things are doing much better now. I added a Panda Goby to eat some of the pods that were pestering my corals but the little 1/2" long Goby didn't help much so I added a blue Damsel and will be taking the Goby out on my next water change and dropping him in my 28g JBJ nano. The Damsel has made short work of the pods.

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What brand/ fixture lighting are you using? Thanks!

 

I ended up building my own. I ordered 1-watt super blue and 1-watt white from a place in China along with a driver to run 12-1 watt bulbs. I have tried different combinations but settled on 10-blue and 2-white. I also have a single 1-watt blue hooked up to a 1-1watt driver for my moon light. I have also built a 2-1watt white fixture that hangs on the back of the tank and lights my Chaeto compartment. I will post more pics of the light build below and add a link to the site I bought my leds and drivers from. I think the main light fixture ended up costing $34.00 and the refugium light about $12.00, can't beat that.

 

LED light source

 

In the pics below you can see where I initially built the led fixture but it only shows 9 leds and the one moon light, I have since added to make it 12 leds and the moon light. The driver I have will run from 9-12 one watt leds.The last pics are of the refuge light, it needs no cooling because the two 1-watt leds are on heat sinks and it does not even get warm. Also in one of the pics you can see the old fuge light I am no longer using.

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DP I don't know how I missed the thread man with all the pm's

 

the color is fantastic

I can see base plating of the sps you must have been dosing this tank!?!

B

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