2.5 Gallon Pico Reef Experiment

[Braden8558]

Hello Reefers!

 

I recently got the idea to set up a small 2.5 gallon pico reef. I know that they are not easy to maintain and I want to set up my own as an experiment and try to mantain it and grow coral and keep inverts and maybe 1 small fish.

 

Corals: I might not have room for all of these but this is just some ones that I want to use in the tank. I will start off with softies and lps and if I feel like I can maintain and keep the water quality in a good condition, then I will introduce some SPS. In all honesty I will probably just do softies and some LPS but you never know!

 

Coral List:

 

Soft Corals:

-Mushrooms

-Zoas/Palys

-Ricordea

-Green Star Polyps

-Blue Clove Polyps

-Pulsing Xenia

-Hairy Mushrooms

-Yellow polyps

-Kenya Tree

-Daisy Polyps

 

LPS:

 

-Hammer OR

-Frogspawn

 

SPS:

-Montipora (Red Cap)

-Pink Birdsnest

 

For the livestock, I was thinking of mainly doing inverts. Snails, crabs, and shrimp. I may also try to fit in a small fish if I can once everything is cycled. A clown goby, or maybe a small shrimp goby like a yasha hase goby? It might have a big bioload on the tank though and not be a good choice.

 

Stocking List:

 

-3 hermit crabs

-1/2 emerald crabs

-1 cleaner shrimp

-5 dwarf ceriths

-1 larger snail

-2 nassarius

 

Any suggestions?

 

Equiptment:

 

Filtration: I think I will use an Aquaclear 20. What do you guys think about this choice? I also have an Azoo palm filter, but I feel it is really small and will not provide enough flow for the pico. I want to try and incorporate a little bit of macro algae into the tank to try and help with water conditions. It might not do much, but I feel like it will help the tank in the long run.

 

Lighting: Now this is where I am lost! I have a 11 inch marineland led strip that fits the tank perfectly. I don't know if this would work for softies, lps, and sps. If it couldn't do the SPS it wouldn't be a problem though. The light seems pretty white though as there are 45 leds and only 3 are blue. I have a driver for leds but no heat sink or leds. I could DIY one but it would probably end up costing a lot to make.

 

This is the light I have on it now...

 

http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-LED-Aquarium-Light-11-Inch/dp/B004HSYGFQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414366034&sr=8-1&keywords=marineland+led+light+11+inch

 

Heater: I plan do go with a 25 watt heater. I have a hagen elite I could use. Any other suggestions? Hydor theo? Stealth?

 

The tank is not wet yet and is just sitting there. I want to dive into it, but need some advice first before I start the tank up. I plan to use sand from my established tank and get some base rock as well as use some from my existing setup. I also plan to try and setup a very basic Auto top off system. I have a refractometer to keep track of my salinity.

 

Thanks for looking! Suggestions and comments are greatly welcomed and appreciated!

 

Braden

 

The tank right now with a piece of base rock just to make the tank less empty

 

 

 

[jonnydelane]

id stay away from fish in a tank this small, as for lighting a par30 bulb would work great and are not very expensive.

[Braden8558]

id stay away from fish in a tank this small, as for lighting a par30 bulb would work great and are not very expensive.

Thanks for the advice. I agree that fish might not be a good idea in a tank this small. A 5 gallon would be fine but 2.5 is pretty tiny. I believe that I may do 1 fish but only in the future and once the tank is well established and stable. I think inverts and coral will be very neat and interesting to watch on my desk! I hope I can get my schoolwork done though!

 

Do these par30 bulbs plug directly into a desk lamp? Does it have the same socket a CFL would have? How far would I want it from the tank? How long would I want to run it for?

 

Also would the light I already have work? I appreciate your advice, but it would be great if I could use the fixture I already have. I feel like the spectrum might be off though and there really does not seem to be enough blue...

 

Thanks, Braden

 

P.S. Do you have any links to par30 bulbs?

[Jonnywhoop]

just do sexy shrimp. The top off and stability is going to be crazy hard..

[Braden8558]

just do sexy shrimp. The top off and stability is going to be crazy hard..

Other people have done it. I don't see why I can't! Stability shouldn't be that difficult...I plan on doing weekly water changes. I believe as long as I don't overstock with livestock and use good water, I shouldn't encounter many problems. I want to use an auto top off system especially in the summer. I think that I might use a 5 gallon instead, but I would like to try and do it in a 2.5 gallon. I like sexy shrimp, but I think that the cleaner shrimp and other inverts may be more interesting and what I am looking for.

 

Thanks for the comment, Braden