KyleAwesome Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 10/3/2015 - Updated FTS --------------------- I've been into freshwater planted tanks for many years now, and I've always been interested in the picos here and finally decided I had to try it. I originally wanted something for my desk so I went looking to see how small I could reasonably go, found a few examples in the 1gal range. Used the hunt for a suitable container as an excuse to walk around a few home goods stores with the Mrs, and found a 1 gallon jar with lid from crate&barrel, cost me $12. Got approx. 3lbs of live rock and about a pound of live sand, a few feet of silicon airline tubing and a small air pump from my LFS. One of the rocks came with a big wad of some type of marco, another had a smaller amount of a thinner, long marco. I'm not sure what they are just yet, I'm sure someone here can tell what they are. I wanted a few days then took a trip back to the LFS and my guy gave me two small blue hermits, and a third one to tiny to tell, and two Margarita snails. Using only biological filtration I'm keeping the water moving pretty well with a small air stone. I'm using a 5w, 7 led strip light I repurposed. The temps are around 80, and I'm performing 50% water changes every 48hours until everything settles in. Eventually I'm hoping to through a few small corals and maybe a small crab. Not quite sure what to do with the marco just yet, I'd love to hear what you guys think! Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Not a crab, maybe some very small snails But it is looking good Link to comment
joy13 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 A hermit crab would be fine in there. Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Some bright colored zoas or shrooms would look nice in there as well Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 A hermit crab would be fine in there. The tank would need to be littered with shells Link to comment
Angel<3Nanos Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 A hermit crab would be fine in there.1+. A Dwarf blue legged crab. The tank would need to be littered with shellsNothing wrong with throwing a bigger shell in there for the crab. Once it grabs the bigger one you can take out the small shell and throw a bigger one there. That process will take months with the dwarf blue leg I suggested. They don't change shells that often. Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 1+. A Dwarf blue legged crab.Nothing wrong with throwing a bigger shell in there for the crab. Once it grabs the bigger one you can take out the small shell and throw a bigger one there. That process will take months with the dwarf blue leg I suggested. They don't change shells that often. Mine must have been different ones they moved my shells all the time Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Some bright colored zoas or shrooms would look nice in there as well Thats my exact plan, I'm going to give it a month or so, see how things work out, then start adding slowly. I'm not sure what would work out best just yet. I'm still learning the specifics of the picos! Any suggestions on varieties? The tank would need to be littered with shells I'm more worried about keeping the snails happy than the hermits, they're all quite tiny, and I do have 3 or 4 various sized, empty shells in there that came with my sand. They all seem to be cruising around, as far as I can tell they seem to be enjoying themselves. I don't plan on keeping any fish in the jar, but I do want to eventually get to a place where there is some diversity in the flora/fauna. I respect the capabilities of something this size, and don't intend to treat anything unethically (not stocking anything that wont flourish in a tank this size) but with the proper planning and environment I'm confident I can provide a good home for quite a few different species. My biggest concern right now is keeping the temps from dropping too much in the evenings. I'm using a mini undertank heater I had lying around, this seems to be keeping things fairly consistent, but coming into winter I may have to devise something else. Also, is there anything I should be doing to keep the two marco's alive? How soon do you guys think I should consider adding my first zoas/shrooms? Link to comment
xEL Chupacabrax Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 KyleAwesomeHow soon do you guys think I should consider adding my first zoas/shrooms? was your live rock cultured? if it was then you should be good to go if not i would test params every few days and go from there looks good so far! Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 As long as your tank is holding at stable reef parameters it should be fine to add corals. Just get whatever zoa or mushroom you like. I like ricordea personally. I would also recommend a ninja star snail to help add a little organic matter to the water Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 I took a few more photos of the jar. Its hard to gauge the size from the photos, its both surprising roomy for a 1gallon container, and pretty tiny at the same time. The photo also makes the macro look more unruly than it really is. Can anyone ID it for me? I havent learned all the nomenclature yet. Aiptasia, I know these are undesirable in a reef tank, but is there any real reason I should get rid of it? A close up of one of my two hermits, was your live rock cultured? if it was then you should be good to go if not i would test params every few days and go from there looks good so far! Yes, it was pulled from a long established tank. All of the params come back fine. I'm not sure how often I really need to be performing water changes. I've been doing 50% every 48hrs. other pico keepers how often do you change your water? Link to comment
xEL Chupacabrax Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 KyleAwesomeAiptasia, I know these are undesirable in a reef tank, but is there any real reason I should get rid of it? yeah it seems cool and harmless now until its killing off all your other corals Some good aiptasia info- http://www.saltyunderground.com/pages.php?pID=11 KyleAwesomeYes, it was pulled from a long established tank. All of the params come back fine. I'm not sure how often I really need to be performing water changes. I've been doing 50% every 48hrs. other pico keepers how often do you change your water? Good stuff on the live rock you could add coral whenever you are ready This is my opinion on water changes in pico reefs 90-100% weekly, in your situation i would slowly adjust to that. 50% every 2 days may be a little overkill This makes me want to start a vase! keep the pics coming Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 10/10/2014 - So when I was originally hardscaping the jar I took a few large rectangular rocks and split them up into ruble. I didnt immediately pay attention to the stuff I didnt end up using, I just threw it in a bucket with 3 gallons or so of left over water and put it off to the side. Well this evening I went and rummaged around through the left overs and found something interesting! Its probably around the size of a nickel. What do you guys think? Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Take a look at October's reef of the month it's a 0.8g pico so you can get a good idea of what is capable with only a gallon of water Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 A hermit would be totally fine!!! Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 Ive added some updates to the first post. Things seem to be progressing well. I'm going to give it another week or so before starting to add corals. I've got three "shelves" on the hardscape, I'm not sure what to stock it with. Ideally I'm looking for something that stays smaller, and grows out instead of up for two of the three spots. Any ideas? Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Made some significant changes over the past week.I've removed the large mass of green macro in exchange for some blue ochtodes that I broke into three small masses and stuck in various spots.I've also added a small colony of some orange zoa that I fragged into two. The first colony has approx 12-15 heads of varying sizes, the second has 7-10 however these guys are much smaller and dont seem to be doing as well. There are a few that have opened up but many of the smallest havent opened in the 4 days I've had them.I got a nice frag of small pulsing xenia. I also added some mushroom that is attached inside of a medium sized snail shell. Pictures! Full "tank" shot. this was taken this afternoon, the curve of the glass distorts the image a bit, you dont really notice this in person. Here you can see the larger zoa frag, shroom and xenia. A close up of my zoas, can anyone tell me anything more specific about them? Close up of the Xenia, and up above you can see the smaller of the two zoas. Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 i thought I should post a quick update. I added a couple "green button" polyps, not sure what they really are. I also picked up a skkye light 8w 14k from a forum member here, its been working great, you can really notice the growth. Link to comment
farkwar Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Whats that strip of lead, or whatever it is, on the lid? Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Tank looks really great now with the corals and the bluer light. That xenia will grow fast so just be ready to frag it so it doesnt overrun the tank. I'm not sure if you could but you should see if you could get some sort of circulation going, it will help keep the corals healthier in the long run. Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Whats that strip of lead, or whatever it is, on the lid? Its a string of white LED's, they're my morning/evening white light. They're not as powerful as the whites in the fixture so I can have a few different settings. Nightlights - only blue morning - dim whites and blues daytime - skkyelight whites and blues evening - dim whites and blues Tank looks really great now with the corals and the bluer light. That xenia will grow fast so just be ready to frag it so it doesnt overrun the tank. I'm not sure if you could but you should see if you could get some sort of circulation going, it will help keep the corals healthier in the long run. I have good water movement, there is an airstone buried at the base of the liverock, forcing water up and over the rock work. I have the screw value turned about 1/4th of the way, any higher and its a whirlpool in there. Link to comment
KyleAwesome Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 Update - I added four new frags last evening. I cant remember the specific names of each color variation, anyone know? Otherwise things seem to be going fairly well. I did loose my margarita snails, I wasnt as knowledgeable about them at the time. I'm not looking for something to compliment the two hermits in there, any ideas? Link to comment
rimga123 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 You can try to put some mysis shrimp or a few ghost shrimp in there, those are hardy creatures.Jar is coming along nicely Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 A ghost shrimp would be good. They swim around quite a bit so it will keep the tank lively. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.