Hi all,

About 5 years ago I brought the legendary 72 gallon bowfront evolution to nano-reef, and after a two year break from the hobby I am back...

I have always had a passion for smaller tanks and when the pico tanks opened it's doors to the reefing community, I was there and one of the first to jump on the band wagon...

I built a beautiful 1 gallon pico many years ago and it's beauty was equal to it's tiny size, just a breathhold in ahh...

Here she is back in 2005



With my love of that reef tank, I decided to build another and this is my story...

Here are the pieces of my new pico..


Setting up the rock work...


Additives plus filter media that keep my pico thriving...


Reefkeeper lite perfect for such a small tank...


Modifying the Coralife 18watt fixture with Reefkeeper moonlights...


Very simple diy and it's ready...


Hydor mini-heater is perfect...


Concealing the heater into the AC20 is simple...


Here is angle shot...


Front view..


Close up view...


More to come later....

The beauty was tiny too?

I'm just kidding. That pico looked great but I think the new one looks even better!

Holy..............
just........NICE.

WELCOME BACK! The tank looks awesome, as always.

Thanks,

Times change and so do your tanks...


Thanks for the welcome, I have always loved reefing. It was just a matter of time...




Comments are always appreciated...

very nice.. i like those red acans

Hey Ryan,

Yeah the Acans are nice, I've never had them before. I've always loved Blastos, the LFS was out. I have a Yuma on order, just stellar, I will get it next week, should look nice once it's in the pico...

MG

Wow, awesome pico. Where did you get the tank?

How much rock did u use? How r u using the RKL?? Hows the flow off the AC20? Lighting ok for everything, including the acans?

Overall, BEAUTIFUL tank!!!

forgot to ask, how r setting up the light? Is there arms?

Where did u get a 1 gal pico from?

To think I was thinking of going bigger then my 8g now I gotta rethink my thoughts!!! Geeeeeez that is 2 beautiful tanks! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the comments... I will be selling the picos very shortly online... My brother and I are test marketing all the bugs out of the pico before they go into circulation...

Send me a PM if you just want the tank, but the whole setup minus the corals and RKL will go for under $199. I'm cutting a lot of corners to keep the costs down, but keeping the beauty of the tank in place.

MG

I use 5 lbs of live sand and only 1.5 of premium live rubble. I grow just the rubble under my Metal halides and dose my tank only with calcium additives. I'm very selective in all the rubble that I grow.

The RKL is controlling my heater on channel three, light on channel one, and sump on channel two. The RKL moonlight attachment controls the blue lights as a POD to immulate the moonlight cycle naturally.

The AC20 is the prefered filter fo this tank because of it's robust construction and ability to slow down flow during the night. I tried several other filters as you can see from the pic with the most cost effective in quality and workmenship being the AC20.

The lighting is more than enough for this type of setup, my experience in the past is any more light and you will start prunning your reef much quicker, a good thing for some but a hassel for picos. The Acans are doing fine.

The light rest on top of the Pico which comes with a glass top to keep evaporation to a minimum. There is no need to place the light fixture any higher on legs. The flush look is much more appealing than when the light is on legs.


MG

Awesome tank! I remember seeing the old one when I was researching about picos way back when. Glad to see the new one is just as magnificent.

I have reefed, 72 gallons, 90 gallons, 12 gallons, 6 gallons and just love the 1 gallon pico. It's not for the beginner yet challanging enough for the intermediate reefer. Sometimes bigger is not always the winner.

You just don't see too many 1 gallon picos, they have a very small footprint and I mod all cables to make sure nothing shows except the beauty of just the reef.

MG

Holy Sack! That tank's amazing! Good going!

Fab,

Coming from you, this is a great honor. Since coming back onto nano-reef, I'm just speechless with what you have created in your own pico and what you have given back to this community with your detail layout on keeping these magnificant beauties...

I'm not just an avide hobbyist but also an Advanced Open Water certified diver that took off 2 years from the hobby to dive and explore the beauties of the reefs. I was mistifyied by how you can just explore one section of a reef and have seen it all....

That led me back to picos, just a small piece of the ocean is all one requires to experience the utmost beauty of the natural enviornment.

Fab, thanks for inspiring me to come back to reefing, your thread was inspirational...

I seriously thought that was a Finnex 4g at first. Nice work.

I fully agree. I do enjoy fish and you don't really get to enjoy that with the small environment that a pico provides, but the 1.25g tank that I had setup was by far my favorite. The small footprint lets you see things in so much more detail as well as countless smaller organisms that would otherwise be lost to the eye in larger tanks.

And thank you for inspiring me in the first place!

When I was first looking at picos more than two years ago your tank was one of the few that inspired me to put more thought into the project and to look at it as something much more than a miniature holding tank.


Inorite? That's what I thought too, I can't believe it's only a gallon. That may be something I might have to look into.

Evil,

Working on small tanks has been a passion for me, you sometimes miss some of the smallest critters that are often overlooked in larger tanks...

Take for example the bristle worm and it's function in a pico. Just the other day I was cleaning my pico with my homemade papertowel ghetto chopstick held by rubberband. Totally effective on the sides of curved tanks, when I saw something odd...

Odd because my Ricordea was closed for most of the day and I thougtht something was up. So I start to stare at the ricordea and notice that something is comming out from the center...

I at first ignore it as digested food comming back out the exhaust. I continue cleaning and notice that the poop is moving more than normal, currents are pushing it one way and it wants to go the other way...

So I shut off the sump pump and then the string of poop starts moving all over the place, what the heck?

Is my Flordia Ricordea getting attacked by some evil worm? I reach in and pull out the small miniscule worm only to find out my ric has partially digested half of it... WOW!!!

Priceless moments like this in a pico make you want to document it on film for National Geographic, okay, I'm being saracastic, but hey things like this are way over looked in larger tanks that I have had...

Picos are just priceless...

Evil, dude your LED's rock.... I might have to give you the dimensions of my tank to see about really small pico LED's...

uh=oh... fab has some competition...






jk.... amazing lil tanks buddeh!

Hi all,

Just wanted to share with you my new addition to my pico. My yuma came in, and I went to pick him up. He came with a baby Florida ricordea on the rock. I rearranged my yuma to be one of my show pieces in the front, and I moved the two larger rics on the left side of the tank.

What do you guys think?

Here is a FTS...


Closer view of pico...

just love it!!

Very nice!

I'm sure you know by now, but GREAT TANK!!!!!!!!

Could you elaborate on how much you dose for such a small environment. Also, do you put the Chemi pure in a media bag in the filter? How often do you have to change the media?

Thanks.

orange yuma is ORANGE...


would look amazing next to "toxic yellow yuma"...

I'll have to second Evil that I thought it was a 4g when I saw the pics too, good work!!

LOVE the orange yuma. I know mine is probably my most favorite.

Thanks for all your comments, it's what fuels us to keep posting and sharing with the community. You reefers know this is an addiction, should I say more?

The AC20 ships with filter floss and simple charcoal. I'm using just the basic setup that came with the AC20. If you follow my post in the past, you will see that I'm not a big fan of DIY projects.

Not that I don't like the DIY projects, I just don't have the time or tools to create these fantastic ideas. I therefore lean on the KISS rule. Keep it simple stupid rule. You buy it, take it out and put it on your tank.

My real magic comes in the selection of the rubble I pick and the frags that go into my tank. I need stellar equipment to maintain such a fragile ecosystem, just ask Fab he will tell you the same.

The chemipure that I have purchased is the 1/2 unit, and it's ready after I exhaust the charcoal that came with my filter. It stays in the bag it ships and there is no need to place it in another filter bag. It could clog if you add to much barrier.

The chemipure will last easily in this size tank a good 6 months since the volume is super small. It also creates a really nice blue tint to your water that makes your tank shout!

On a note about getting the tank, I'm trying to get a shipment of tanks and will announce once I have them. I'm only trying to sell just a couple as I want to make sure the users of this tank really benefit from it's beauty but are warned how fragile this guy is if not reefed properly.

More to come....

Wow! Simply amazing.
I don't know if this was said already (I skimmed) but what are the dimensions on this tank?

Thanks for answering my questions, I appreciate the response. But...

If you don't mind, I still have a couple more, maybe dumb, questions about your tank, and then I will leave you alone... maybe....

I noticed at the start of the thread a pic with all the components displayed. You have a Red Sea Deco Art filter in the pic, is this something you use along with the AC20? I cannot see this in place in any other pic.

Next, you mention the additives you use, the Kent Marine Starter pack. How much and how often would you use these products, I understand (mostly) what they do. Do your corals just "let you know" when it's time, or do you dose on a regular basis.

Last, how often and what are you feeding your corals. They are beautiful.

I am sorry to be a pain, I appreciate getting info from someone who obviously is doing it right. KISS or not.

P.S.- I would be interested in tank/set-up when you have them available. Thanks.

Salty,

First off, I love your questions and any others that come my way. I love this hobby and thus the questions that come down the alley. Having said that let me fire away at your questions.

1. Regarding the Red Sea Deco Art filter, when coming back to the hobby to build this Pico again, I wanted to market them to other reefers, nothing big, just a couple tanks here and there to see if hobbiers wanted one. In thinking about cost factors, I purchased a couple HOB filters. The AC20 is the premier choice for serious hobbiest, but I needed to try out other HOB filters as well. Enter the RedSea which is not going to work on my line of picos. It just doesn't have the water movement I was looking for, and is more suited for Betta tanks in my opinion. There are two other HOB filters that I am testing as I write, and they are much cheaper than the AC20, again I'm trying to keep this pico way down in price to make them very affordable. Stocking the tank is up to the reefer himself, which is the funnest part of the hobby. I will be suppling just the live sand and premium live rock hand picked by me. I plan on taking pictures of certain setups and letting the reefer choose his rock. I'm growing it in my gargage and it is free of flat worms and has plenty of purple coraline.

2. Kent Marine Starter pack. I went with what I know. I have used this product in the past with amazing results. With a Pico that is getting blasted with such a high intensity of light on such a small tank, the corals all pull the nutrients pretty quickly. If I wasn't adding additives I would be doing water changes once a week if that. The dosing of Kent allows you to do a simple once a month water change that takes no more than watering a house plant. I dose two drops of each, every other day and it's very simple, just lift the top of the AC20 plastic lid and drop into the current away from the carbon, it goes directly onto your corals. Simple and efficient.

3. Asking about what I feed my corals. My corals are reaching its third week and I might have to get rid of the frog spawn, becuase she is growing and expanding. I might need to replace her with a beautiful Blasto which will keep in size for a pico. So the light and additives is what feeds the corals.

I have you noted for a simple small setup, and as soon as I clear RAD you will be one of my first to get a Pico setup.

Mike G

I didn't know that by using that starter pack you only have to water change once a month......that's amazing! Great pico btw. I might have to get myself the starter pack once i start filling my pico

sweet pico
one question though- what stage RKlite is that? did it come with the moonlights? i want a controler for my pico thanks!

also let me know about buying a bare setup with just the tank (those awesome light clips too, i have the same light) and maybe filter

I think this is hands down the best pico since its the definition of a pico. I have never seen a 1 gallon aquarium as clean and sweet livestock as this one. I've seen other people's make smaller picos, but the content is just not there

Nanoclown,

Yes that is the Rklite with the addition of moonlights from Digital Aquatics. I did a little research and learned that it was more cost effective to purchase the addition which comes with two moonlights for only $69 bucks vs paying $43 dollars and having no controller.

The Rklite allows for an incredible amount of control to dimming the lights following the Moon cycle, you just sit back and enjoy your tank, each night is different and makes viewing your tank a super treat on the different nights. Your critters love the lights, I've seen different behaviors from my tiny blue legged hermits and the sexy shrimps also behave different.

You will be second on the list for the 1 gallon tank just basic bare with a HOB of your choice if you want it. I will be sending out PM to you guys shortly after I have completed RAD.

MG

Evo,

Remember that this tank is almost a complete closed mini ecosystem. You just add a little purified water once every three days if that, the evaporation is a lot slower in this tank since it has a glass top as oppose to tanks that don't.

And you add very little water, maybe a quarter of the bottle, almost like watering a simple house plant.

The Kent starter kit last forever and dosing is simple, just two drops of each every other day. The corals are reacting really nicely to this dosage.

MG

I remember you tank and username from 2005 when i first got the sw bug. What a beauty is was and is.
Thank you kind sir for introducing me to this hobby !!

I really appreciate your comments, I like the majority of these reefers take a great deal of time to view all options and carry through with best possible practices...

I feel almost any intermediate reefer can get these spectacular results with a little patience and guidance...

I need to thank all of you! Nice to have some of my original old school reefers are coming by to say hello, and encourage me to build even better reefs than I did in my past...

Really, to all of you that new me back then, thanks for your comments. And to all the new reefers that are dropping by to say hi, thanks. All of your comments are well received.

Sincerely,

Michael Guerrero

I take it that you're using the kent marine reef starter pack? i saw a kent marine marine starter pack also so i got a little confused. You're lucky you have a glass lid on top of your tank...my pico is topless

Beautiful tank

nice

Your tank is Smexy

Wow, awesome stuff! I want one:)

I got you down, and will be sending you a PM shortly....

Thanks,

MG

and my pm
haha probably will get one from you entering the new year

That is a gorgeous tank!

Makes me want to start one, would be great on my desk in my office .... if I worked in an office.

pretty sweet tank

Hey all,

Here is another update with the pico. I returned the frogspawn and got some credit and came home with some new corals...

So what do you guys think?


Closer shot of pico...


Just wasn't complete without a Sexy Shrimp macro...


I just love Yumas, macro shot...