starting A JBJ picotope soon

[ldballoon4]

Im awaiting my tanks arrival, i got off ebay, with extra 18 watt light, and upgraded filter.

 

i want to denitrify the tank correctly, so i am conteplating putting L. sand in or not.

 

i wont keep fish in it, just zoos, and pods , snail, crab,some cheato rock.

 

will the live stock omit nitrates? should i use L sand? or just rock?

[bubbles3660]

will the live stock omit nitrates? should i use L sand? or just rock?

 

 

Omit or emit? Livestock emits ammonia - which eventually cycles into nitrates. Overfeeding and untreated water also contribute to nitrates. I use live rock and live sand in my jbj. It should eliminate the need for the nitrate sponge in the HOB filter.

 

 

-bubbles

[shiveley]

I use both live rock, and live sand in my 3G pico. I also run a small 80GPH HOB filter on it to maintain water quality. With such a small amount of water you don't have much room for error.

you might want to add cheato or other macro to the tank to help maintain water quality. I'd modify the filter to hold the cheato (sort of like a mini-sump), but if that doesn't work you could either just throw it in tank, or use the clear plastic soap holder method commonly utilized around here.

And I'm glad that you're not planning on trying to keep fish in that thing. It's just too small. Stick with zoas, palys, mushrooms and the like, and you'll have a nice looking display in no time at all (with very little bioload).

[ldballoon4]

if I intended using sand, i would then go with 3.5 inches deep live sand base .Is that correct? otherwise your really not doing anything.for nitrates. Crushed coral is a poop trap IME.

 

I would use fine live sand, i can transport worms and such from my other tank.

Part of me wants the added deep base protection, the other part says to add if i need it it.

 

I could just leave the tank base it bare; put L.R and test for any nitrates that develop with the future livestock.

 

If they exceed 20 ppm then i may add live sand in a container within the tank. That may sound weird, but the purpose of this take is to grow out my zoo colonies, and breed pods, not necessarily a viewing tank, just a support tank to my 12 gal AP.

 

I have added internal "containers" within my AP, they are functional, one with a deep sand base, the other holds calepera, and cheato.

 

any ideas?

 

Omit or emit? Livestock emits ammonia - which eventually cycles into nitrates. Overfeeding and untreated water also contribute to nitrates. I use live rock and live sand in my jbj. It should eliminate the need for the nitrate sponge in the HOB filter.

-bubbles

 

emit...

[shiveley]

a deep sand bed in a pico is just not going to do much except take up space. 3.5 inches of sand in a 3G or smaller tank just isn't going to have the volume needed for adequate biological effectiveness. and think about it, what's going to happen to such a small amount of water should the DSB crash and emit the pollutants it's been harboring?

[Chebon]

I have a picotope these things are only 8" deep if you put a 3.5" deep sand bed in there and much live rock you're gonna end up with a 1/2 to 1 gallon tank! I've got live sand about 1" deep and about 4 lbs live rock and mine only took a little over 2 gallons since you can't really fill it all the way up because of the HOB filter and the lighting (unless you just love salt creep).

[bubbles3660]

any ideas?

 

Some folks are rethinking deep sand beds because they are succeptable to old tank syndrome. As far as looks go, I've got 1 1/2 inches of LS in my pico and even that feels like a little too much.

 

Btw, don't get an emerald crab if you want to keep macro algae in the tank. They will wipe it out tout suite.

 

I swore I wouldn't mod this pico but I'm considering a lighting upgrade and HOB minifuge for the chaeto because it's clogging up my filter and pump intakes.

 

 

--bubbles

[Sushi]

I would put a shallow sand bed, 1" would be perfect in a pico. Less would probably work too...