Pico gift for co-worker

[ChristopherDido]

Hey all,

So I'm involved in the Pico container contest, definitely not an expert in Picos or reefing lol. I also Have a 20 gallon in my classroom, the science teacher across the hall comes in and looks at our classroom reef all the time and loves it. 

 

So I have some questions about getting him a small Pico, not a jar.

 

I bought an 8X8X8 deep blue cube ~ 2 gallons.

I'm trying to think it the best way to set this up.

 

Have a few ideas here is what i am definitely doing (Already purchased...)

Doing an ABI 23W PAR38 bulb. Picking up ~3 Lbs of live rock on Monday to start the cycle. 

 

Need help with a few Question items:

Should I stick to an Air Pump or do an Internal Filter like this or this? 

Would I be able to put a pistol/goby pair in here? Seems like I could, someone said YWG would be fine. Are their any goby/pistol pairs I should avoid?

Would Hawaiian Black Sand be too large for a goby? If not which sand will work?

And for a hanger for the light will this with this work?

 

TIA... He is thinking he wants to set up his own tank but is nervous, I think going this simple setup may help him jump on board.

 

 

 

[Nelson]

I have the same size cube and use an aquaclear 20 for flow which fits perfectly. Why you want to use an internal filter? Instead of filter media you can put the heater in the AC20 and some chaeto. Oh and I really recommend either a glass lid or to use a pet bottle as auto top off. I have a lot of evaporation on mine. 600mL runs out in like 3 days at 19 degrees celsius. Sealing of a cube isn't as convenient as a glass jar  

Hope he loves the little reef you will make for him. Good luck. I really like your bowl btw

[hinnenkm]

Nelson gave some good advice. Go for the aqua clear - great filter and will be good flow for the tank. As far as goby pistol pair, make sure you choose a goby that stays small - some get fairly large. Sounds like a fun project!

[ChristopherDido]

@hinnenkm @Nelson Thanks! Not sure why I was over thinking this with filter. I guess I was wanting it to look "sleek" and nothing hanging off back... But yeah a HOB would be perfect duh. 

I was thinking in goby, sub 3 inches. That should be fine right?

 

@Nelson I would love to see yours, can you post a pic?

 

Any thoughts on the sand? Or lamp stand?

[dandelion]

For a pico this small the good thing about a HOB is that it will increase the water volume significantly. That said I agree how internal filters sometimes just look more clutterfree while still can be pulled out and cleaned relatively easily.

 

Black sand won’t buffer alk so if you plan on putting hard corals in I would do regular aragonite sand.

 

Lamp stand wise, I have seen clamp on lamps at IKEA that would work great. Let me see if I can find a link.

[dandelion]

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40355720/

 

I just looked at the assembly manual. Looks like the shade can be removed too. They also have a version that has a stand instead of a desk clamp. I think it would work perfect for this size tank.

[Lula_Mae]

I've gotten a good task lamp from Amazon for under $20. I may have it linked in my 5.5 or jar threads (in my phone at the moment so no handy link).

 

23w bulb will be super intense for this size tank.

[ChristopherDido]

2 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I've gotten a good task lamp from Amazon for under $20. I may have it linked in my 5.5 or jar threads (in my phone at the moment so no handy link).

 

23w bulb will be super intense for this size tank.

I'll check through. Thanks. I thought about that with the light, but overall it was doing well with the 3/4 gal Pico everything was living and growing, I changed because it was too intense in our living room mostly and was thinking it may have been too much for the RFA that scuttled behind the rock.

 

@dandelion didn't know about the Alk thing. I doing there will be much in terms of that to start, probably just some colorful softies. My main concern with the black is the grain size, do you think it will be to big for a goby/pistol pair? Thx

[ChristopherDido]

Thought I would give a Quick update to this... The Gift has been delivered!

 

Here's a Couple Pics, I ended up going with an Internal Filter, mainly for a selfish reason, I wanted to see what it does because after the Pico Contest I plan on going over to the same tank for my Pico Contents.  So if the Internal works great then I will probably go that route, if not either a Water Pump or a HOB.  It's really hard to put my hand in my jar to get a good clean or to move things around lol.

 

Anyway here's a couple pics of the setup... yes I rigged a lid for evaporation over the weekend using broken CD Covers lol.

 

[Cintax]

Everything looks great. I'm a bit jealous since I can't have anything like that at work. I really like the shape of the rock that's being used too. 

 

My YWG got fairly large so maybe a goby that says around 2"?

[Lula_Mae]

On 2/25/2018 at 8:29 PM, ChristopherDido said:

Thought I would give a Quick update to this... The Gift has been delivered!

 

Here's a Couple Pics, I ended up going with an Internal Filter, mainly for a selfish reason, I wanted to see what it does because after the Pico Contest I plan on going over to the same tank for my Pico Contents.  So if the Internal works great then I will probably go that route, if not either a Water Pump or a HOB.  It's really hard to put my hand in my jar to get a good clean or to move things around lol.

 

Anyway here's a couple pics of the setup... yes I rigged a lid for evaporation over the weekend using broken CD Covers lol.

 

Is that purple star polyps in the corner?

[ajmckay]

41 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Is that purple star polyps in the corner?

This.   I was thinking the same...  Very cool.

[Tamberav]

Cute little tank! Which filter did you go with?

[debbeach13]

How is the tank progressing? Is your friend excited?  Is the internal filter the only flow in the tank?

[ChristopherDido]

It's progressing pretty good. He has officially taken over the pico. 

@Lula_Mae I guess they could be Purple Star Polyps... Honestly I just thought they were GSP, picked them up for $5! He loves them. 

Really his favorite thing in the tank is a small piece of MacroAlgae that I pulled out of the 20 gallon Classroom tank. The Macro is growing like crazy! I also accidently fragged a piece of bird'snest in my 28g at home, so I attached it to rubble rock and gave it to him it seems to be doing well. @debbeach13  I really need to take another pic on Monday and update here. 

@Tamberav as far as filter, I went with Exo Terra internal terrarium filter, was perfect size for this and picked it up for 15 bucks and it's working perfect, even has room for small bag of carbon if he needs it. Here's a link: http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/repti_clear_f250.php

 

Thanks for checking in! 

[Christopher Marks]

What an incredible gift @ChristopherDido, I'm happy to hear it's doing well so far! Can't wait to see the progress.

 

I think what you're doing is amazing! One of my first experiences with aquariums was helping my 6th grade science teacher move and setup a 40 gallon freshwater aquarium in her classroom. Soon after I built my own freshwater aquarium at home, and before long I was trying to put salt into it. By high school I was building glass AIO 'nano reefs' to sell online and I started creating this website. You're introducing so many kids to something that they may have never really had a chance to see in person, who knows what awesome things it may inspire in them, in their lives. Teachers are the most amazing people, because all this here, this very website, I owe to them. ?