Science Triplets

[Kai]

Well it's science if you write it down right? 

I've posted a few times in recent days about starting a pico tank in order to be able to better transport my corals when I move in about a year. Well I've never been good at making up my mind. I saw several ideas online and I couldn't decide which tank I wanted, or which size. So I decided to get them all. 

 

I was able to take rock out of the sump of my 75g and some from the frag tank that I'm disassembling due to the impending move so all of the tanks have something well established in them and are ready to go. 

The one on the left is a Tetra 1.5 gal tank. All standard box equipment right now. The middle is a 3.7gal Imagitarium AIO from Petco. And the right is a one gallon jar with an air stone. 

 

I have no stocking plans as of now. I'm new to the pico concept, so aside from fragging some of the zoas in my main tank and getting a (or many) sexy shrimp I'm all ears. 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Definitely an approach I hadn't thought of. Let's get a bunch of tanks to move.

[Tempestas]

The most obvious combo off the bat would be to do softies, LPS, SPS.

 

Or maybe an RFA, Zoa, and shroom combo.

 

I personally would like to see single species in each one, like euphyllias, montiporas, acans or favias.

[seabass]

The jar would be the most durable during a move.  They do have a two gallon version of that jar which a number of people have used in a recent contest; also, @Christopher Marks, the founder of Nano-Reef, is currently running one with a neat light lid.  The curved glass does distort the view (which I'm sure you've noticed).  People have picked up the 2 gallon jars at Target and Walmart.

 

The Tetra 1.5 would provide less distortion, but wouldn't be substantially different from keeping a jar.  Lighting and a top are things to consider.

 

The Imagitarium offers the most water volume, a place for a pump (for flow), and a filter chamber.  I'd ditch the light, but it seems like a reasonable option.

[Christopher Marks]

This is a fun idea @Kai! I am quite pleased with my 2 gallon glass jar and air stone reef setup, having a lid to reduce evaporation has worked out wonderfully. 1 gallon (with a lid) seems plausible to me, but for the same amount of effort, investing $15 in a new 2 gallon jar will give you room to grow and a little more stability. Are you going to run them all at room temperature, or have you picked out your heaters yet?

[TatorTaco]

Maybe it's just me, but the I feel like the Imagatarium 3.7 tank is pretty tough.  Glass seems thick and heaven knows how many times I've moved it around dry and/or wet. 

[Kai]

On 7/10/2019 at 3:05 PM, TatorTaco said:

Maybe it's just me, but the I feel like the Imagatarium 3.7 tank is pretty tough.  Glass seems thick and heaven knows how many times I've moved it around dry and/or wet. 

The imagatarium one is fairly solid, it's the one that's also doing the best but it's also then that I put my good light on.

[Kai]

On 7/10/2019 at 11:28 AM, Christopher Marks said:

This is a fun idea @Kai! I am quite pleased with my 2 gallon glass jar and air stone reef setup, having a lid to reduce evaporation has worked out wonderfully. 1 gallon (with a lid) seems plausible to me, but for the same amount of effort, investing $15 in a new 2 gallon jar will give you room to grow and a little more stability. Are you going to run them all at room temperature, or have you picked out your heaters yet?

Thanks! I did notice after I got it that they also sell two gallon jars. Maybe that'll be a bit better, right now I've almost decided that I'm going to let the one gallon jar go off and 'neglect' it. All that's in there is some ulva and pods. It's a fun experiment to see what each of them do. 

[Kai]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:36 AM, seabass said:

The jar would be the most durable during a move.  They do have a two gallon version of that jar which a number of people have used in a recent contest; also, @Christopher Marks, the founder of Nano-Reef, is currently running one with a neat light lid.  The curved glass does distort the view (which I'm sure you've noticed).  People have picked up the 2 gallon jars at Target and Walmart.

 

The Tetra 1.5 would provide less distortion, but wouldn't be substantially different from keeping a jar.  Lighting and a top are things to consider.

 

The Imagitarium offers the most water volume, a place for a pump (for flow), and a filter chamber.  I'd ditch the light, but it seems like a reasonable option.

For sure the glass jar is the most sturdy. Maybe I'll run to target and pick up a two gallon jar and dump things over. I only have one light at the moment and it's on the imagitarium one so that's where my corals are. I like that the tetra has a little filter in it for a bit more movement/watt than a bubbler. As of now they're all pretty much the same. The Tetra one is cycling because it's the only one I started with dry rock but they're all doing fairly well.

[Kai]

On 7/4/2019 at 7:27 AM, debbeach13 said:

Definitely an approach I hadn't thought of. Let's get a bunch of tanks to move.

Experimenting with the best way to sustain and move a small tank, or moving a 115 gallon system 🤔

[Kai]

So I'd gotten a few frags from LFS and put them into the imagitarium tank, as well as three sexy shrimp. Some of the corals started to die fairly quickly but I moved them to the bottom of my big system on the sand and they're coming back thankfully. No idea what it was that made select corals recede like that but at least they're doing better. I'm glad it was just the $6 new frags from LFS instead of my miniature 'colonies' in my big tank. 

[debbeach13]

Sorry if I came off as sarcastic. I was not trying to be. Apologies for my lack of understanding. I was joking because it seemed like more work. I am old school moving a tank with buckets and bins.

[Kai]

2 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Sorry if I came off as sarcastic. I was not trying to be. Apologies for my lack of understanding. I was joking because it seemed like more work. I am old school moving a tank with buckets and bins.

I'm sorry as well, I'm used to much more... aggressive forums online so that's the natural reaction at times. I've moved a tank with buckets and bins way too many times and I've only been in the hobby a year and a half so I am very much not wanting to do any major overhauls again .