ReeferMan01 Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I've been following the small but steadily growing Pico Jar movement on nano-reef and decided to share my experience with anyone interested (shout out to new-b-reefer for a good setup and providing inspiration). I should start out by saying that I had a large 75 gallon salt water aquarium for about 4 years so I've had some experience in the hobby. I can personally attest to the frustration and learning involved in setting up a large tank, and know that a tank this small could potentially be even trickier to mantain! The tank- A small 1/4 gallon jug from Michael's purchased for $5. The heat supply - A small 8 watt terrarium heater from amazon which cost about $12. I'm keeping the setup at work and I'm afraid the water will cool over the weekend when the ac/heater are off. It's very temperate where I am in San Diego, but better to be safe than sorry. The temperature controller - A Finnex MAX-300. This was the most expensive piece of the setup at $30. The terrarium heater doesn't come with a temperature controller, so I'm planning on using the Finnex to regulate the heat. It hasn't budged a single degree since the water has been heated to 79 degrees. The light I got from ebay - 15w LED e27 bulb (again, thanks for new-b-reefer for the suggestion in his thread): http://www.ebay.com/itm/131104200274?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT And lastly, the setup. I bought a cheap desk lamp from Amazon ($10) and installed the light. So far I've got the water in and heat stable. The fully cured live rock will be chosen tomorrow and added to the jar. I want to give the live rock a week or so to make sure there is no die off on the way home from the fish store, then do a water change, wait a couple of days and add some very small frags of zoas and GSP. More pictures to come! Link to comment
gkarris Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Neat! That lamp will work for freshwater also? I have plants in my .7 gal Tetra tank that will need a bit better lighting. Link to comment
ReeferMan01 Posted May 7, 2015 Author Share Posted May 7, 2015 Neat! That lamp will work for freshwater also? I have plants in my .7 gal Tetra tank that will need a bit better lighting. Couldn't say for growing plants, I don't have much experience in the area. I did find this article with a quick google search: http://homeaquaria.com/best-led-grow-lights-aquarium-plants/ Link to comment
ReeferMan01 Posted May 7, 2015 Author Share Posted May 7, 2015 Water temperature hasn't budged more than 1 degree since I set it up. Here is a pic with the rock included. Picking up some Zoas and macro algae this week: Link to comment
Halo_003 Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 How is the heater working out? I wasn't sure how it would work not being full covered by the wtank. Link to comment
ReeferMan01 Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 Heater is working perfectly. Temperature variation has been 1 degree or less since day 1- the Finnex control is doing its job. At 8 watts it doesn't get very hot but it doesn't need to. Link to comment
Halo_003 Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Heater is working perfectly. Temperature variation has been 1 degree or less since day 1- the Finnex control is doing its job. At 8 watts it doesn't get very hot but it doesn't need to. Does it matter that a lot of the pad is exposed? If not I am so buying one. Link to comment
ReeferMan01 Posted May 11, 2015 Author Share Posted May 11, 2015 Does it matter that a lot of the pad is exposed? If not I am so buying one. Not at all. It doesn't even get that hot. They say to keep it free from water but I spilled all over it while doing a water change and there has been no issue. Amazon has a few different sizes and wattages as well. Link to comment
ReeferMan01 Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Picked up some orange and green zoas and a small frag of some GSP. Also got some red macroalgea. The zoanthids opened up within about 10 minutes and although the GSP is opening, it is doing so at a slower pace. Looks like there is a very tiny hitchhiker snail and copepods swimming all over the place. Everything is looking good so far! Hopefully there won't be any algae outbreaks... Link to comment
scoopaloops Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Nice setup definitely following for sure!! Link to comment
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