While I was doing water changes and such today, I noticed an old glass-stopper bottle on my bookshelf. Well, one thing lead to another...



I had plenty of live sand and live rock for this one, no trip to the LFS needed. I also had a lighting fixture - currently using a 40 watt Reveal bulb, but think I will have to get a smaller bulb since this one looks like it will run too hot.



I even have a hitchhiker, never saw the snail when I was filling this up. Looks like I will be doing water changes with a turkey baster...

hahaha, adin did the samething with a 10ml. GL, doubt it works.

how are you going to get flow in there

lol the rock in there looks like one of those ship in a bottle things.

I think the only way you will be able to get flow is to add some sort of tiny bubbler, that might be too much flow lol

I'm planning on doing 2x day micro water changes...Since it is just live rock ( and a snail), not much flow will be needed (I've had some interesting things grow ion live rock n just a bucket of saltwater with a bit of natural light). I remember seeing some micro-tubing long ago, maybe I will see if I can find some to give some flow, then I could add some micro-zoos.

also trying to keep living things in a sealed container doesn't always work out for the best... great idea though, good lucka nd I hope you get it to work out.

Yea I would take the top off there's no air in that water.

The stopper actually allows a limited amount of airflow - when I used this for alcohol preserved disply, it had some evaporation, I had to seal with wax to use it. I am now on a mission to find micro tubing...to the big network of tubes to find some itty bitty tubes! Maybe I can make a micro sump and a tiny skimmer too.

Drill the "cap" for a pump shaft. Then install an impeller on the bottom for flow and a propeller on the top side and set near a breeze.

Still need some gas exchange tho

Just ordered some micro tubing...now, about that LED lighting....

single 10mm 20K LED

wow

Now I know why they call you "Evil"...that sounds tempting! This is quickly getting out of control...

cool ,, just keep it on top of your washing machine,, the vibration from a good load of laundry should be enough flow... ha-ha

An air pump but don't put the tube all the way into the water. Just blowing at the surface.

really good idea....

What are you doing for heat

wow you are actually buying stuff for this. I thought this was a little joke/experiment. Good luck!

another wacky pico project going nowhere quickly....

just make sure somebody doesnt get thirsty in the middle of the night.

could wind up bad for the tank & the drinker.

i bet the snails like wtf mate.

And this has all ready failed

This will be my only serious comment to this thread - for anyone that wants to bash this "little project":

Define fail?

Seriously, most here understand this is done very tongue in cheek. I am not trying to grow an Acro forest or even keep zoos in here...simply live rock and algae - the Stomatella snail is an added complication, but I really doubt that it will be more bioload than the container can handle, especially with acess to nutrients (water changes and addition of food if needed). It just seemed like fun to see what happens (I've done things like this since about 1968 when I helped my Dad when he was just starting ins saltwater aquarium keeping).

Total investment on this is practically nil, and I have another micro sized, natural light cube with about a cup of water that has been growing Chaeto and Stomatella for a couple of month - no problems, just water changes and an airstone. Even have a few pods roaming around.

Have fun, relax...

GL wit it, it looks interesting

http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/showphoto...amp;ppuser=1922

You gonna put a TANG in that?

Actually, thinking a trio of Yellow Tangs would be just the ticket. They only grow as big as the tank they're in, right?



That is epic! Tried to find something on it, but came up empty...thanks for the link!

Thats pretty sweet, good luck.

I am relax the fact is tho I define fail by somthing thriving not just surviving. You are looking at it the wrong way its not how much money you have in somthingits how healthy is it.

What's supposed to be healthy? The live rock in it? the snail? He'll be fine.

Yes smaller tank smaller animals. As I all ready stated this tank is not somthing that will last long. For one how is he even going to clean it?

And to think I thought amphipods were small.. I totally don't understand these super micro tanks. Is it for the challenge? I can see a gallon as the smallest anything less just seems totally pointless. If it's bragging rights typically bigger is always better... When I say cheers, don't drink your nano, but good effort on the microcosm.

It is partly for the challenge. I like the fact that it changes the perspective of how you look at things - in the bottle, you are focused completely on one tiny piece of rock (the algae rock in this case) that would be unnoticed in even my 2 Gallon. It really isn't much work - it is basically just live sand/rock, with whatever tiny critters came along for the ride out of my holding bucket.

Ever kept live rock in a bucket? When I had my shop, I kept what we called scrap rock (broken and odd shaped pieces) in a 55 gallon trash can with a powerhead and a hanging small wattage light for months at a time. It grew all kinds of goodies. When I closed shop and we took it down (three years later), there was an unbelievable amount of live stuff in there!

Bottom line, it is fun (for me at least). Drink it? I think I've swallowed more water than that starting a siphon!

For a guy with a 1 gallon, you sure think big! The algae will grow, and the snail will live. Bacteria will keep reproducing. Daily water changes keep all the parameters in fine balance. Clean it? I will be bending a bit of plastic tubing to shape, with a bit of scrubber attached with a dot of super glue. Quick spot siphon daily with the turkey baster I use for water changes...How long would you say it has to last? How long is the longest you have kept a system? Oh yeah, have you ever lost ANY livestock - if the answer is yes, I thought your goal was thrive?

Seriously, let's just encourage one another - as Thumper said, "If you can't say somthin' nice, don't say nothin' at all."

Ok so your saying for the rest of your life you are going to have the time to do daily water changes? And yes just because I have lost livestock dose not mean I did not want them to thrive. And if you looked a little more you see I have smaller then a 1gal and bigger. And I am trying to encourage Im not saying dont do this im just saying this will not last long but I guess we will see.



And a 55 gallon bucket with a power head and light is no differnt then a 55 gal tank with light and a powerhead.

why not?/

Actually I'm sure the flow was horrible in the bucket... Just shows the resilience of the animals

How do you get this?

Yep, it was a tiny Penguin powerhead from an old undergravel filter. Our light was a 60 watt incandescent work light hanging from a wire shelf over the trash can. There were tons of tiny brittle stars, bristle worms, amphipods/copepods beyond description - even some sponges and such growing. We even had a couple of damsels in there - came in near DOA and we tossed them in to see what happened, they came back ond got fat and sassy.

Well I had a 1 gallon pico,an airstone and sunlight.
I had a young zebra blenny,sand goby,some hermits,nerite snails,LR,macro and some soft coral.
Obviously I cycled it first,but it worked well,I had a cap with some holes in it(evaporation prevention)
and a variable airpump with a walmart airstone.
For this case,it could work but keeping it at the right temp is my worry.
I had the pico for 3 months,then realized it was hard to see through the pickle jar,
and I went to a 7 gallon.

Yeah, the bottle is not the best viewing.

Right now, I don't worry about temp - hot valley summers means A/C keeps the house at a steady 78 degrees. When things start cooling off, I'm considering putting it in one of my gecko enclosures, they stay at a pretty steady temp, upper 70s...the lights might even be enough and the geckoes would have a cool reef tank to look at!

U gonna run a skimmer on that?

Not another one.. some guy tried to do this with a frappicino bottle.

Tried putting tthe bottle in the window late today for a few hours. I'm thinking this will be better for now. The 40w Incandescent runs way too hot.

New Pics...I'm doing weekly water changes now and using natural sunlight - eventually I'll work out some other option for lighting but I am in no rush. I have a tiny single polyp zoa in there , but I can't get a clear picture as it is back at the edge of the rocks. Snail has grown and there are a few pods swimming about as well.

I'm working on a super micro pico in a thimble! I don't mean to steal your thunder, but watch out! TOTM!

It is just so hard to keep those yellow tangs from jumping out of the thimbles...

Shhhh....they'll hear you...