Femto? reef advice

[Micronanoguy]

So maybe I’m insane, but I’m fascinated with the idea of  really small reedy, and there’s this bowl I think looks cool at my work and I wanted to know if anyone here has tried anything this small and or could give me advice on how to do it. I’m just looking to put some zoas in it

[Micronanoguy]

I should add that this “tank” is probably less than a quart in

capacity.

[Chris's Fishes]

I'd start by just scrolling through the pico journals, and gathering ideas. There's a ton of amazingly creative ideas that made for incredible aquariums.

 

I think the first thing to think about is what equipment you're going to be using. More than likely, for something that small, you're going to have to look at an air pump and an airstone for circulation. I don't know any pumps or filters that would fit something that tiny (or something shaped like that), and airstones have been proven to work very well in small tanks. 

 

Second, what are you going to do to heat the bowl? I've seen some people use betta heaters, and others use micro-sized heaters that I've never been able to find. Stability is probably more important than anything - knowing the temp of the room is going to be important. If the room drops down into the 50's on the weekends when nobody is there, a tiny betta heater likely won't be able to keep up. The opposite is true - if the room gets up into the upper 80's, you're going to have a reef stew.

 

Third, what are you planning to light the bowl with? I wholeheartedly recommend that you look into the ABI PAR 38 bulbs, as they're cheap, simple, and efficient. One of the 12W bulbs around 1 1/2' above the bowl would probably grow just about anything you wanted, and you could plug it into any normal E27 household socket. Even one of the swing arm desk lamps would work, as long as it'd support the weight of the bulb. Or, you can DIY a PVC fixture for like $14 like I did.

 

Finally, you're going to need a relatively tight lit to fight evaporation. On a tank that small, you're going to see massive salinity swings, and I'd be looking into an ATO. I don't personally have any recommendations for an ATO, but you could probably cut out a decent lid for yourself with a cheap glass cutter from lowes and a scrap pane of glass. Or, you can just pick out a container with a lid.

 

And, of course, if this tank is going to be at work, keep in mind that you'll need a timer for your light, as well as peace of mind that no one is going to be coming in and spraying a bunch of cleaning chemicals on/around the tank.