Office Tank Keepers

[clink51]

im thinking about setting up a pico tank at work. 3-5g max. What do you guys do to prevent swings? How do you gentleman prepare and change water? Do you dose? any and all input would be nice

[BulkRate]

I cheated - my "office tank" is TECHNICALLY an "ornamental vase" (about half a gallon)... no pumps, filter or heater. Lid is close-fit, allows enough gas exchange but drops evaporation to nearly nil. Lighting is a warm white LED puck powered off a cellphone battery stick.

 

Water changes are about 50-75% a week. No dosing.

 

Stock list is a colony of Hawaiian volcano shrimp, a couple of asterinas to help keep the glass clean and a couple of dwarf hermit crabs - everything in there does fine so long as the room temp doesn't get lower than 60F or higher than 85F. Salinity is maintained at 1.018, so no corals, unfortunately. On the bright side, few pests can survive in such - I've had it running for just over 2 years.

[seabass]

Unless you are the boss, you'll want to get it approved. Keep the setup simple and clean (and keep the tank clean too). Don't dose if at all possible (primarily keeping soft corals should make dosing unnecessary). Bring in a 2 liter bottle of water for top offs. Mix saltwater for water changes at home and just bring in what you need (a one gallon jug should be all you need). Don't mess with the tank during business hours.

[clink51]

seabass do you speak from experience?

[seabass]

My first reef tank was a 7 gallon Mini-bow office nano. I later upgraded it to a standard 15 gallon tank (with a custom made VHO light fixture). Sorry, it was long enough ago that I no longer own the web site where I posted the pictures. During a department move, (instead of breaking it down and moving it) I brought it home and put in in a 40 gallon breeder.

[chanathon]

I've had my Cad8 running in the office since late last year. Keep it simple (reason why i chose AIO). I don't even mess with mixing water, I just buy it from the lfs. Good thing about the office is that the temps don't really swing. Make sure they don't shut down the outlet power at the end of the day. My store, for some strange unknown reason, kept doing that until I specifically requested it to be left on. Also, I've ran into issues where we'd lose power every so often. Make sure you have a backup plan when/if that happens.

[Sunstar]

I use an ATO 1.5 gallon tank with a 2g backup tank, pump and switch

[ajmckay]

I would love to start up a simple office reef but I'm in a cube and apparently the cubes have lower electrical draw capacities so they prohibit plugging anything personal in beyond a phone charger (and obviously computers and lights and stuff). I could probably get away with it though as a colleague has her fan plugged in most of the time and I've seen a few rogue microwaves hidden away! Seems seabass got to the meat of the discussion - it probably depends a lot on the environment you work in whether a tank is feasible or not. Personally I would love it though not sure it's a reality at this point.

 

If I were to do it, maybe a jar is the way to go though I still find it difficult conceptually to maintain a tank without flow... I suppose I would just try to find animals that normally live in stagnant puddles and such... Bulkrate, got pics?

 

If I took a 1-2g tank (possibly an 8" cube?) and had 2 jugs, one with mixed SW and one with FW. Each Monday and Thursday do a 1/4g water change... I think that partially covering it would limit evap - another possible solution to this would be a "hamster bottle" type ATO reservoir...

[GTi]

I would love to start up a simple office reef but I'm in a cube and apparently the cubes have lower electrical draw capacities so they prohibit plugging anything in beyond a phone charger. I could probably get away with it though as a colleague has her fan plugged in most of the time and I've seen a few rogue microwaves hidden away! Seems seabass got to the meat of the discussion - it probably depends a lot on the environment you work in whether a tank is feasible or not. Personally I would love it though not sure it's a reality at this point.

 

If I were to do it, maybe a jar is the way to go though I still find it difficult conceptually to maintain a tank without flow... I suppose I would just try to find animals that normally live in stagnant puddles and such... Bulkrate, got pics?

 

If I took a 1-2g tank (possibly an 8" cube?) and had 2 jugs, one with mixed SW and one with FW. Each Monday and Thursday do a 1/4g water change... I think that partially covering it would limit evap - another possible solution to this would be a "hamster bottle" type ATO reservoir...

 

I have a similar situation but I also travel fair bit. Check these out - they're cool and low maintenance - there are also lots of other similar products out there. It sounds like the fully sealed ones should be avoided.

 

http://www.fukubonsai.com/M-L1a.html

[BulkRate]

I would love to start up a simple office reef but I'm in a cube and apparently the cubes have lower electrical draw capacities so they prohibit plugging anything personal in beyond a phone charger (and obviously computers and lights and stuff). I could probably get away with it though as a colleague has her fan plugged in most of the time and I've seen a few rogue microwaves hidden away! Seems seabass got to the meat of the discussion - it probably depends a lot on the environment you work in whether a tank is feasible or not. Personally I would love it though not sure it's a reality at this point.

 

If I were to do it, maybe a jar is the way to go though I still find it difficult conceptually to maintain a tank without flow... I suppose I would just try to find animals that normally live in stagnant puddles and such... Bulkrate, got pics?

 

If I took a 1-2g tank (possibly an 8" cube?) and had 2 jugs, one with mixed SW and one with FW. Each Monday and Thursday do a 1/4g water change... I think that partially covering it would limit evap - another possible solution to this would be a "hamster bottle" type ATO reservoir...

 

A couple of older ones... it's a little more busy in there than it was a year ago. I'll try to remember to snap some new ones on Monday.

 

The anchialine pools the shrimp live in are pretty stagnant and wide salinity swings from evaporation/rain happen all the time. My little vase must be a cakewalk for them. No breeding as of yet, but as all of them were juveniles when I started the tank up so I'm not worried.

[GTi]

 

A couple of older ones... it's a little more busy in there than it was a year ago. I'll try to remember to snap some new ones on Monday.

 

 

 

The anchialine pools the shrimp live in are pretty stagnant and wide salinity swings from evaporation/rain happen all the time. My little vase must be a cakewalk for them. No breeding as of yet, but as all of them were juveniles when I started the tank up so I'm not worried.

Nice! Any details on where you got the container and livestock?

[BulkRate]

Sure thing:

 

Container - 1.6 Qt "Guzzini Blanca" canister (they have another series in black). http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/foodStorage/canisters?productId=10030843&N=74062

Practically made for this use, even has a clear center in the lid for lighting and the hermetic seal can be removed without cutting/tools to allow an air gap. My one gripe is the lack of one size larger in this style.

 

Shrimp - Reputable captive breeder, has an extensive forum on this same site with a LOT of practical accounts of keeping these shrimp. http://www.petshrimp.com/store/

Sadly, mine likely came from the wild as a co-worker gave me his extras from his own order and they shipped from Hawaii.

 

Light - Energizer LED puck-style light (part# TUFPAL31E). Available all over the place, converts to being powered off an iPhone charger in a snap.

[GTi]

Sure thing:

 

Container - 1.6 Qt "Guzzini Blanca" canister (they have another series in black). http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/foodStorage/canisters?productId=10030843&N=74062

Practically made for this use, even has a clear center in the lid for lighting and the hermetic seal can be removed without cutting/tools to allow an air gap. My one gripe is the lack of one size larger in this style.

 

Shrimp - Reputable captive breeder, has an extensive forum on this same site with a LOT of practical accounts of keeping these shrimp. http://www.petshrimp.com/store/

Sadly, mine likely came from the wild as a co-worker gave me his extras from his own order and they shipped from Hawaii.

 

Light - Energizer LED puck-style light (part# TUFPAL31E). Available all over the place, converts to being powered off an iPhone charger in a snap.

 

Sweet! Thanks!

[GTi]

Sure thing:

 

Container - 1.6 Qt "Guzzini Blanca" canister (they have another series in black). http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/foodStorage/canisters?productId=10030843&N=74062

Practically made for this use, even has a clear center in the lid for lighting and the hermetic seal can be removed without cutting/tools to allow an air gap. My one gripe is the lack of one size larger in this style.

 

Shrimp - Reputable captive breeder, has an extensive forum on this same site with a LOT of practical accounts of keeping these shrimp. http://www.petshrimp.com/store/

Sadly, mine likely came from the wild as a co-worker gave me his extras from his own order and they shipped from Hawaii.

 

Light - Energizer LED puck-style light (part# TUFPAL31E). Available all over the place, converts to being powered off an iPhone charger in a snap.

 

Sorry for hijacking. One more question - under that LED, what softies could you grow? Thanks again!

[BulkRate]

No idea... the brackish salinity I keep the Shrimp Pit at is a bit too low to do much but watch even majanos melt (an attempt to add a bit more color that ended in failure). So I haven't tried corals at all.

 

But it's a warm white, so I imagine lower light zoas and the like might do ok. Color will likely be meh without adding some actinic to the mix, though.

 

Sorry, clink51 for the sidetrack. IME it's a bit chancy to set up a tank in an office... after all you're there to work and they're paying you to.

 

But to swing back to your op - a lid's a must to minimize evaporation & jumpers. Smaller is better because of maintenance needs. I'd only look at aio's if not going live rock-only for filtration. Prepping your water change at home is also a must, and stay small enough that 1 gallon is enough to do a significant water change.

[rhodium]

I have had a Fluval Edge 6g running on my desk at work since about the beginning of the year. I am fortunate to have a private office in an office suite, so I don't really have to worry too much about what other people think. I have the whole system hooked up to a backup power supply like you would use for a computer, so that helps with brief power outages. I am also fortunate to have a limitless supply of the most perfect DI water you've ever seen just down the hall. I mix up saltwater in a 5 gallon bucket with a powerhead and heater and do 50% water changes about every week or so. I built my own LED fixture to replace the stock Edge light and have no trouble growing SPS, LPS, or softies. The tank is a great conversation starter with visitors to my office. Love it!