Budget 5 gallon pico *Six Year anniversary*

[ssteven1]

I have had a 15 gallon nano for about 8 months now with good success. I got the bug to try a pico with a 5 gallon minibow setup I got off of craigslist a while back for 20 dollars.

5 gallon minibow
cheap hob filter to run carbon and some filter floss and at current
50 watt heater
all for 20 $

5 gallons of saltwater (I am going to try using the zero water pitcher to filter tap water)

sand---free left over from my first tank.

20 watt 50/50 power compact bulb 20$

6 pounds of fiji live rock 40$
two blue leg hermits hitchhikers --
I also has a single polyp of my yellow polyp break off and self frag in my 15 gallon so in it went.

So 80 Dollars so far but it is my birthday present to my self.

I am thinking of mushrooms, zoas, maybe a peppermint shrimp and a clown goby or neon goby.


Update 10-21-12

The 20 watt PC was not really doing it for me, so in the spirit of this budget build. I tried to do a Low budget DIY LED upgrade. I bought a Hybrid 8000k / royal blue 10 watt and driver off of ebay for 17 dollars. I had a CPU heat sink. I soldered it all up and cleared out the hood and installed. I think it went well. It had to do it all over I would by a 3up 1 x 4500k / 3 royal blue chip from Steve LED for about the same price. Not bad for about 20 dollars.

More even light with no dark side. Seems brighter. It is bluer with a hint of purple. The zoas are much more colorful and are more open and are no longer reaching toward the light.

With DIY LED 10-21-12

 

Wave Point 16 Watt LED

FTS 12-7-13

 

 

2 years old  (8-14)

 

 

 

Now 4 years old. (10-16)

 

 

 Here is my tank at Five years  !!!! (7-29-17)

 

 

My little reef is now six years old  still going strong.  😀

[1105]

Looking good. How is that HOB filter doing for flow in the tank? That live rock also looks nice and clean. I think that little tank is off to a good start.

[ssteven1]

I got me a citron clown goby for my pico.

[el_ote]

Hows the 50/50 light? Trying to setup a 5 gallon Pico and debating on lighting. Can you post more info on your lighting?

[ssteven1]

The 20 watt screw in light is honestly not bright enough at least in my tank. I am not running a reflector and with the hood design it is somewhat dark on the right side. The zoas are open but are obviouly straining toward the light. I am planning on a led upgrade in the near future.

[Weetabix7]

I would think it would be fairly cheap and easy to DIY a reflector in there, and I suspect it would make a big difference.

[uglybuckling]

As far as commercial products go, a PAR30 or PAR38 over a 5g minibow would probably be ok (a PAR38 might even be overkill). LEDTRiC makes a nice PAR38 full-spectrum bulb, and I've always been partial to the mix of LEDs you can choose for a PAR30 bulb over at BoostLED (not full-spectrum, but you really can't do full-spectrum with a PAR30).

 

If you go DIY, look into the DIM4 running 4 chains of three LEDs each as follows:

RB-RB-NW

RB-RB-NW

TV-TV-TV

DR-CY-CB

 

Total cost will be about $75 for a PAR30 + socket, $110 for a PAR38, or $120 for the DIY solution (which also gives you a lot of control over color temperature and a really cool sunrise/sunset timer; but of course requires soldering).

 

Not entirely "budget" no matter how you upgrade the light. Sadly lighting is expensive. I do think that what Weetabix suggested is worth a shot too--a reflector will be a lot cheaper than any other lighting upgrade, and might get it done for zoas and shrooms anyway.

 

--ugly

Edited October 5, 2012 by uglybuckling

[ssteven1]

Upgraded to a budget DIY LED as noted in first post.

[Clarinet_Reefer]

Any new progress on the tank?

[ssteven1]

This is how the tank looked at the end of december.

 

 

The Xenia is very pretty but grows like a damn weed. LOL. I had to cut the xenia off the top of the rock because it took over the whole top and was killing off my zoas. I still have thexenia the is on the side of the rock. I will post updated pics soon.

 

This is a low maintenance tank. I scrape the sides with a magnet twice a week. I do have this hard brown algae that is hard to get off the cheap plastic without scraping. I top off every 2 day and change 2 gallons every other week.

 

Update coming soon.

[ssteven1]

My LED light driver went out so it has been back to the old 20 watt PC. Just a month from being a year old.

 

[ssteven1]

Update 12-7-13

 

I got a wave point 16 watt light and it is working well. I am turning this tank into a mushroom tank slowly.

 

 

[ssteven1]

2 Year update. I turned it into a mushroom garden. The wavepoint LEd went bad,. I got a Beamsworks and it works fines.

 

 

[aviator300]

PICS, PICS!!!!!

[xEL Chupacabrax]

Nice looking setup are you still changing 2 gallons every other week?

[ssteven1]

Just a little update. Still going stong after 4 years. Nothing fancy jist still basic heater and hob filter.

[rturiak]

Wow! Very cool to see it's beginnings to now. 4 years is a long time for everything to grow

[xenia30]

I think your tank is absolutely stunning!

[brandon429]

That's among the longest living picos well done! It has every calcification hallmark of that age what a great algae free job

[jtwisconsin]

Wow - nice job!

[HammerLover]

This is awesome! I wanted mine to last long as well

[Clarinet_Reefer]

This is still going?? That is epic! Keep up the great work and post more pics!!!

[ssteven1]

Yes it is still up and running.  I will put up new pic next month on the tank 5 year anniversary.

[ssteven1]

Here my tank just a few weeks shy of five years.

[Weetabix7]

40 minutes ago, ssteven1 said:

Here my tank just a few weeks shy of five years.

 

Impressive, happy tankiversary!!