Another Reefsmart PicoJar

[householdofpayne]

I recently came across Christopher Marks Pico Jar that really intrigued me to give it a try. My biggest draw back before was dealing with top offs without having any bulky equipment hanging out the side of the jar. Reefsmart developed a light that was integrated into a lid that reduced the amount of evaporation by having a tight seal, and directing the water back into the jar. With seeing how much joy our display tank has brought my wife, I decided this would be the perfect Valentines gift for her desk at work. Steve at reefsmart.com was amazing to deal with, providing tons of hand holding information so get me started with success. I headed out to Target to purchase my 2.5 gallon jar that would house our mini reef. I found that the clarity of the jars varied greatly from jar to jar, and choose the best that I could find. Once I got home I water tested it to see just how clear it was, and decided to head to a different store with more options to have the best view possible. I did however have to accept that there was no perfect jar out there, and settle for one that had the optimal viewing window for about a 130 degrees around the jar. Selecting the jar was the hardest part thus far. I purchased a few different air stone defusers to experiment with, and found that just the air tube itself with no defuser created the largest bubble that created the least salt creep. Other difusers also created micro bubbles that bothered me aesthetically. The other examples that I followed used just the air pump for filtration. I have always approached the hobby by over sizing, and over filtering everything I set up. I opted to put a small internal filter to be able to seed some filter floss from my display tank, as well as create a little more flow. One thing that I found to be pretty cool about the jar was that beings the sides are curved, you can actually hide the equipment on the sides as it obscures the view. The internal filter is a little to large to completely hid, but some coral placement should make it hidden pretty well over time. As for aquascaping I put 2.5lbs of CaribSea Bahamas oolite live sand in the base, but decided to add just under another pound for looks. I was able to find the perfect size rock in my sump and left it to cycle. The first light you see in the tank was a bendable air stone with light that I used to test the clarity, and experiment with the entire back of the jar being bubbles. The back of the jar beings solid bubbles was cool, made a lot of flow, but created a ton of micro bubbles. The 2nd picture is just a extra light that I had that I used for cycling while I awaited the reefsmart light. We are now a day before valentines day, and I have placed my first few corals to be ready for the day. Again for over filtration and for more color, I placed some red macroalgae. I am very excited to try this back to the basics approach to reefing. I will be completing a 50%-80% water change weekly.  

I will include the equipment that I am starting with.

Filter:

Aqueon X_small filter quiteflow internal, 3 gallon

A 3.5w air pump by Imagitarium

An Aqueon 50w Heater.

Nimble Nano glass cleaner

Light:

Reefsmart Picopro

[WV Reefer]

5 minutes ago, householdofpayne said:

I recently came across Christopher Marks Pico Jar that really intrigued me to give it a try. My biggest draw back before was dealing with top offs without having any bulky equipment hanging out the side of the jar. Reefsmart developed a light that was integrated into a lid that reduced the amount of evaporation by having a tight seal, and directing the water back into the jar. With seeing how much joy our display tank has brought my wife, I decided this would be the perfect Valentines gift for her desk at work. Steve at reefsmart.com was amazing to deal with, providing tons of hand holding information so get me started with success. I headed out to Target to purchase my 2.5 gallon jar that would house our mini reef. I found that the clarity of the jars varied greatly from jar to jar, and choose the best that I could find. Once I got home I water tested it to see just how clear it was, and decided to head to a different store with more options to have the best view possible. I did however have to accept that there was no perfect jar out there, and settle for one that had the optimal viewing window for about a 130 degrees around the jar. Selecting the jar was the hardest part thus far. I purchased a few different air stone defusers to experiment with, and found that just the air tube itself with no defuser created the largest bubble that created the least salt creep. Other difusers also created micro bubbles that bothered me aesthetically. The other examples that I followed used just the air pump for filtration. I have always approached the hobby by over sizing, and over filtering everything I set up. I opted to put a small internal filter to be able to seed some filter floss from my display tank, as well as create a little more flow. One thing that I found to be pretty cool about the jar was that beings the sides are curved, you can actually hide the equipment on the sides as it obscures the view. The internal filter is a little to large to completely hid, but some coral placement should make it hidden pretty well over time. As for aquascaping I put 2.5lbs of CaribSea Bahamas oolite live sand in the base, but decided to add just under another pound for looks. I was able to find the perfect size rock in my sump and left it to cycle. The first light you see in the tank was a bendable air stone with light that I used to test the clarity, and experiment with the entire back of the jar being bubbles. The back of the jar beings solid bubbles was cool, made a lot of flow, but created a ton of micro bubbles. The 2nd picture is just a extra light that I had that I used for cycling while I awaited the reefsmart light. We are now a day before valentines day, and I have placed my first few corals to be ready for the day. Again for over filtration and for more color, I placed some red macroalgae. I am very excited to try this back to the basics approach to reefing. I will be completing a 50%-80% water change weekly.  

I will include the equipment that I am starting with.

Filter:

Aqueon X_small filter quiteflow internal, 3 gallon

A 3.5w air pump by Imagitarium

An Aqueon 50w Heater.

Nimble Nano glass cleaner

Light:

Reefsmart Picopro

Welcome to NR! 

 

I think it looks great so far. 😊

[JBM]

I like it. Tagging along.

[Tamberav]

These look so cool 🙂

[householdofpayne]

Fighting that darn rock flower to be in a spot to enjoy looking at it. Instead its showing me its foot haha. 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Welcome to the community @householdofpayne! 👋

 

I'm so happy to see another @ReefSmart PicoPro come online, this is awesome!!! I was curious about using an internal filter of some kind in my pico jar, cool to see you're trying one out. This is an amazing gift, I'm really looking forward to following your progress as a fellow PicoPro owner! 😊

[householdofpayne]

22 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Welcome to the community @householdofpayne! 👋

 

I'm so happy to see another @ReefSmart PicoPro come online, this is awesome!!! I was curious about using an internal filter of some kind in my pico jar, cool to see you're trying one out. This is an amazing gift, I'm really looking forward to following your progress as a fellow PicoPro owner! 😊

Thank you for inspiring me! The Picopro light is absolutely amazing, brings the finish I was looking for. The internal filter is a bit bulky but plan on some strategic coral placement to hide it 😄 I wish there was a Pico wavemaker out there ahaha

[Coinee]

Welcome to the club!

[Christopher Marks]

1 hour ago, householdofpayne said:

Thank you for inspiring me! The Picopro light is absolutely amazing, brings the finish I was looking for. The internal filter is a bit bulky but plan on some strategic coral placement to hide it 😄 I wish there was a Pico wavemaker out there ahaha

I feel lucky to have gotten one of the first PicoPro lights, it has been fun to share! I think you were drawn to the design for the same reasons as I was. It's a tidy solution and a very powerful light, I am quite pleased with mine so far. It is too bad that crystal clear jars are so hard to come by, but once you accept some of the small flaws and pick out a decent jar in person, it makes for a really intriguing tank. The way the curvature acts as a lens as you move near and far, it's a such a cool tank to observe up close and in person. I was surprised to be able to 'hide' my heater, air line, and temp probe within the optical curve as well, they're pretty much invisible when viewing the jar head on.

 

Keep up the good work!

[Ticoreefer]

This is awesome! My Picopro jar should be getting filled next week, I look forward to following yours. Are you using the 2.5 gallon Anchor Hocking Montana jar?

[householdofpayne]

10 hours ago, Ticoreefer said:

This is awesome! My Picopro jar should be getting filled next week, I look forward to following yours. Are you using the 2.5 gallon Anchor Hocking Montana jar?

No it is actually the common heritage 2g jar. It is marketed as a 2gal but holds 2.5 and is sold with a glass lid

[householdofpayne]

Moving day! Thank goodness our van has a 115v plug to keep it warm on our 45 minute drive haha 

[NuisanceAlgaeCultivator]

22 minutes ago, householdofpayne said:

Moving day! Thank goodness our van has a 115v plug to keep it warm on our 45 minute drive haha 

 

Make sure you lift the tank with your knees, don't want to hurt your back 🙂 .

[householdofpayne]

18 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

I feel lucky to have gotten one of the first PicoPro lights, it has been fun to share! I think you were drawn to the design for the same reasons as I was. It's a tidy solution and a very powerful light, I am quite pleased with mine so far. It is too bad that crystal clear jars are so hard to come by, but once you accept some of the small flaws and pick out a decent jar in person, it makes for a really intriguing tank. The way the curvature acts as a lens as you move near and far, it's a such a cool tank to observe up close and in person. I was surprised to be able to 'hide' my heater, air line, and temp probe within the optical curve as well, they're pretty much invisible when viewing the jar head on.

 

Keep up the good work!

Totally agree on the light being powerful! Whats your assumed percentage based on the dial, do you have yours about 30%-50%? Yea the jars hiding the equipment on the side was a wonderful surprise! As you rotate around the jar and get a different perspective it almost feels like a different aquascape. My wife was absolutely thrilled with the gift today, she described it as something that would bring her great joy, that she didn't even know was possible. It also blew her away that I made her something rather then just buying a gift. Yea I skipped the DIY portion with the light, but there's some things you have to accept others are better at then myself hahah 

[ReefSmart]

On 2/14/2019 at 6:02 PM, householdofpayne said:

Totally agree on the light being powerful! Whats your assumed percentage based on the dial, do you have yours about 30%-50%? Yea the jars hiding the equipment on the side was a wonderful surprise! As you rotate around the jar and get a different perspective it almost feels like a different aquascape. My wife was absolutely thrilled with the gift today, she described it as something that would bring her great joy, that she didn't even know was possible. It also blew her away that I made her something rather then just buying a gift. Yea I skipped the DIY portion with the light, but there's some things you have to accept others are better at then myself hahah 

Glad she liked it! And a thought-full gift that will last for years. Looking forward to following the growout!

[Christopher Marks]

So glad she liked it @householdofpayne!

 

So far I've been running my PicoPro light at 100% on both channels. Some days I've tried it out slightly dimmed to various levels, but in the end everything has responded pretty well to full blast. I am still curious if I should tone it down a little though, I just moved a little ricordea to a shaded spot, it was starting to lighten up too much. My first zoanthid frags are healthy and growing quickly as well, but they aren't usually fully open, perhaps too much light? I might try a few days of "90%" and see how all the coral respond, I probably didn't give my adjustments enough time before.

[householdofpayne]

I started out at 50% and both my types of zoas opened up super happy within about 20 mins of placing them. Not convinced I’ve figured out the sweet spot by any means just sharing my experience 🙂

[ReefSmart]

19 hours ago, householdofpayne said:

I started out at 50% and both my types of zoas opened up super happy within about 20 mins of placing them. Not convinced I’ve figured out the sweet spot by any means just sharing my experience 🙂

I have always kept mine at 100%. It does very well at the level zoas take a little while to adjust because it is bright and the par climbs quickly as it gets closer to the top. Par meter shows 100 at the sand bed, 400 in the middle of the tank and 600 in the up quarter. I have zoas growing all over mine even at the very top where it is 600+ they do stay very small up there and at the bottom the polyps get much larger but no reaching which is nice.

[ReefMagix]

Any updates?