livestock for a 2 gallon pico jar?

[Friendly]

what do you think can be stocked in a 2 gal pico jar? 

 

I'm thinking inverts like shrimp n crabs. I wouldn't be so mean to put a fish, even a tiny goby, in something so small.   

 

edit - for that matter...1 gal and 1/2 gal too!  

[Friendly]

muah! I just ordered a poop ton of containers for pico reefing!

 

Anchor Hocking Drum Fish Bowl's in .5 gal, 1 gal and 2 gal capacities.

and...

Anchor Hocking Heritage Hill Cookie Jars w/glass lids in .5 gal, 3 quart, 1 gal and 2 gal capacities.

 

now to order a poop ton of heaters and air pumps!

 

any air pumps out there with 3 or 4 outlets?  

 

I'm also open to lighting suggestions...  

[brandon429]

mine are on kessil 160we but that's a $$ ripoff

 

people are getting nicer colors and equal or better growth off ABI tuna lights from amazon for 25 bucks. we can keep about 90% of all corals kept in the hobby in a jar or vase, so you're set there. search out Maritza the vase reef. sps growth so well, they're accused of photoshopping and there's no better tank complement than you must be faking man.

 

https://youtu.be/Va2yZsiI5tM

[Friendly]

not a bad price on those ABI Tuna Lights. 

 

how deep will the two wattage's penetrate and what's their spread? the only details given are the LED's light wavelength's. 

 

for the fish bowl's, I was thinking of having them side by side and then have a LED light bar over top of them. any recommendations for something there?  

[SeaFurn]

I use the 12W ABI bulb on my bowl. It sits about 15"-16" above the water. The spread is pretty narrow - barely as wide as my bowl. It does well for the SPS on the top of the rock in the very center but the others on the sides are getting some shading and the bases are turning white. I'd say 12" spread max. 

 

It does great for the rest of the coral no matter where they are placed- acans, zoas, palys, hammer, GSP, candy cane.

 

You'd definitely need one bulb per bowl. 

[JoeR]

You really can't beat the ABI Tuna Blue light in terms of value. I'd get one if I were you, I love mine and it grows everything from softies to acropora. It has to be suspended relatively far away from the tank because it's such a strong light. Even then, I often bleach new frags in the tank. I don't know how to really explain the spread other than it's somewhat narrow, but I have no basis to compare it with.

[Friendly]

yes, i believe Sandeep used one of these for his 2.5 gal scale project, but removed the optics to give a wider spread. 

 

I'm concerned with depth penetration though, as the 2 gal jar is 14" tall and from reading about the Kessel A80, it's only good for 8" in it's 24" spread. 

 

any thoughts on a LED bar that gives value like the ABI Tuna Blue? from dimensions, it looks like I would need something that's 36"+ wide.  

 

also, any reason the light bars don't appear to have a PAR rating? 

[Friendly]

also, while we're talking about these bulbs. what are my options to control them? at least sunrise/sunset automation? 

[SeaFurn]

I was considering a 36" Aquamaxx NemoLight as a value priced alternative for a tank at one time. It's more expensive than a PAR38 bulb but it offered more features. And of course I read about limitations with those features from people as compared to more expensive alternatives - as you could expect.

 

The ABI bulbs are not dimmable. They are either on or off. I have mine set on a timer. 

 

What corals are you planning to keep? 

[Friendly]

sure wish ABI had an 18w Tuna Blue.  

 

I think the 23w would be perfect for the 2 gal bowl, the 12w for the .5 gal bowl and then an 18w for the 1 gal bowl. 

 

is there any other vendor out there like ABI that might have a broader range of inexpensive products?  

[Lula_Mae]

On 8/2/2017 at 7:24 PM, Friendly said:

not a bad price on those ABI Tuna Lights. 

 

how deep will the two wattage's penetrate and what's their spread? the only details given are the LED's light wavelength's. 

 

for the fish bowl's, I was thinking of having them side by side and then have a LED light bar over top of them. any recommendations for something there?  

I believe Natalia has her ABI about 18" above her bowl.  I suspect the optics are pretty narrow (my ABI 50/50 wasn't giving enough spread to light a 3.5 gallon tank, I haven't tried removing the optics though). 

 

I have a 7w bulb from Reef Radiance that would work great on a sub-2 gallon tank, though it gives a purplish cast on the tank.  Corals seem to love it though.

 

If you want a dimmable PAR bulb, look at Coral Compulsion, some of those are dimmable.

 

Not sure what you mean by an LED bar...you mean a fixture like a Current Satellite?

[Friendly]

9 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Not sure what you mean by an LED bar...you mean a fixture like a Current Satellite?

 

yup, something like the Current Satellite. 

[Lula_Mae]

8 minutes ago, Friendly said:

 

yup, something like the Current Satellite. 

I think that might actually be ideal for what you seem to be thinking about doing, if you can figure out a good mounting solution!

[Friendly]

I could probably take some 1" x 4" wood and make a DIY stand where the lil feet could be secured with zip strip's or something...or hang it via a couple L brackets off the wall.   

[ccr]

I have a year and a half old 1 gallon Hocking cookie jar. I never tried a fish, but none of my inverts lasted more than a month or two. Snails: gone. Slug like hitchhikers: dissolved. Small crab: I can't even find the shell. I have had mixed luck with Zoanthids. Ricordia have done well. Waving Hand Zenia has thrived. Mushrooms are growing. I was surprised that Montipora have done well in the jar.

 

I keep the bioload very low and do 100% water changes every week with bottled sea water. I completely empty the tank and the corals seem to treat it like a brief period of low tide.

 

I have Shuber-Wright nano lights, but I am considering an upgrade. The light levels are adequate, but I want better aesthetics. I use an air stone for aeration. I added a Zoomed TCN-30 for mechanical filtration, but mostly for water circulation. I think that made the biggest difference for the tank. The hoses are unsightly, but the water movement is important.

[Friendly]

yeah, reading about 100% water changes, the ammonia/nitrate/nitrites would kill off the inverts.

 

I'm thinking it might be cool to do one of those bucket sumps off a jar reef...makes the water change easy and should keep things more stable to allow some inhabitants.

 

alas, my shipment arrived in a box that was all taped up and covered with plastic and the insides jingles of glass shards.   

[Lula_Mae]

12 hours ago, ccr said:

I have a year and a half old 1 gallon Hocking cookie jar. I never tried a fish, but none of my inverts lasted more than a month or two. Snails: gone. Slug like hitchhikers: dissolved. Small crab: I can't even find the shell. I have had mixed luck with Zoanthids. Ricordia have done well. Waving Hand Zenia has thrived. Mushrooms are growing. I was surprised that Montipora have done well in the jar.

 

I keep the bioload very low and do 100% water changes every week with bottled sea water. I completely empty the tank and the corals seem to treat it like a brief period of low tide.

 

I have Shuber-Wright nano lights, but I am considering an upgrade. The light levels are adequate, but I want better aesthetics. I use an air stone for aeration. I added a Zoomed TCN-30 for mechanical filtration, but mostly for water circulation. I think that made the biggest difference for the tank. The hoses are unsightly, but the water movement is important.

I think a lot of the reef jars leave off the airstone and just use straight airline.  The turbulence the bubbles create provides good water movement.

 

11 hours ago, Friendly said:

yeah, reading about 100% water changes, the ammonia/nitrate/nitrites would kill off the inverts.

 

I'm thinking it might be cool to do one of those bucket sumps off a jar reef...makes the water change easy and should keep things more stable to allow some inhabitants.

 

alas, my shipment arrived in a box that was all taped up and covered with plastic and the insides jingles of glass shards.   

Sad day!  Hope you can get one that's not quite so musical!

[Alfredo da reef guy 85]

I have a 2 gallon cookie jar from Walmart. What I have inside is 3 pounds of live rock. 3 pounds of crushed coral. It runs on a heater and air stone from Walmart also. The light fixture I bought from Amazon for 16 dollars. Live stock is zoa's, palys , Duncans, trumpet corrals,acans. Have one blue legged hermit. And like 4 snails forgot the name of them but they are low profile with a small shell. It's been running now for almost a year this December. Thinking of adding more corals. Mostly softies and lps Corals. Also my tank has a lot of corilene alge wich looks great.

[Friendly]

well, I opened the box today, cause Walmart demanded they see the broken product before they would refund my credit card...so I opened it up. 

 

happily, the 1 gallon, 3 quart and 1/2 gallon jars are all fine...alas, i really wanted to do the 2 gallon as my pico tank.   

 

i also have the three fish drums...but I think I'll take those back tomorrow for refund. see if I can get one of those Heritage Hill jars by walking into the store. it's just a good hour away on the transit.   

 

2 gallon on a 2 gallon sealed bucket sump...and use the pump in the sump to create my circulation.   

[Lula_Mae]

14 hours ago, Friendly said:

well, I opened the box today, cause Walmart demanded they see the broken product before they would refund my credit card...so I opened it up. 

 

happily, the 1 gallon, 3 quart and 1/2 gallon jars are all fine...alas, i really wanted to do the 2 gallon as my pico tank.   

 

i also have the three fish drums...but I think I'll take those back tomorrow for refund. see if I can get one of those Heritage Hill jars by walking into the store. it's just a good hour away on the transit.   

 

2 gallon on a 2 gallon sealed bucket sump...and use the pump in the sump to create my circulation.   

Will they not send you a new one to replace the broken one?