Derf's ~ Forget It Pico

[derf9h]

Stay tuned....

 

I bought a Top Fin 3 Gallon AIO from Petsmart today because it was on sale. I already have my 12.5 gallon nano running smooth so I figured what the hell, lets do a pico too.

 

Ankle Deep Reef Nano

 

For this pico I am going to use crushed coral for substrate and a couple of lbs of dead rock. Lighting will be a 30W "black box" LED fixture from amazon that was originally on my nano and worked well. Filtration will be non-existent other than the rock and water flow. I'll boost the bacteria with some bottled stuff when I get it going.

 

My overall plan is to set it all up, let it cycle naturally over the next month or so, and then do a big water change. Then I'll add some crabs and snails, a few easy corals, and then basically forget it. I want to see what happens when water changes are stretched over longer periods of time on smaller tanks. I'll be monitoring the major parameters every so often.  For the most part this will be a 99% hands off tank with everything inside allowed to do whatever it wants. 

 

Pics to follow soon... 

[derf9h]

The start...

[Reefkid88]

Awesome little tanks,I have looked at those numerous times before. 

 

 With pico's,no filtration besides biological filtration you would more than likely have algae issues until the biological population has enough time to establish itself and be able to combat nutrients on its own. With you wanting to stretch out water changes that is going to make things worse. 

 

 While its not impossible,it will definitely be frustrating and a struggle. Hence why people who run virtually no filtration will do significant water changes weekly in order to keep high nutrients from taking over the tank.  

[derf9h]

We shall see 😉

 

Blocked off the lower intake and part of the upper intake. Chopped off the top part too in case the slots do not let enough flow through. 

 

Also added a tiny 60gph pump in the back sump area and drilled a hole through the back wall to mount it. 

 

I am planning on covering the whole wall with rock, hopefully start that process tonight 

[derf9h]

Rock work scaping. Need to let the silicone set and then do one more session of silicone to fill in some of the gaps to get some more strength. I put the silicone down then cover it with crushed coral. 

 

The tower has a rod going up through the middle so I just need to cover the rod sections that show with silicone and crushed coral. 

 

Ill wait until tomorrow to do the next round of silicone just to make sure it’s set. 

[derf9h]

Rock work done. Let it dry overnight and put some water in it tomorrow at some point. 

 

This is just with the stock light the tank came with. I need to figure out a way to mount my LED fixture tomorrow as well. 

[derf9h]

Water in and both return pumps running. Surface skimming working like a charm and pretty good flow through the tiny tank. I also put the heater in the bottom of the sump, it was a tiny 50w beta tank heater preset at 78. 

 

[derf9h]

Light fixture mounted. 

[Reefkid88]

What light ?

[derf9h]

It’s a 30W black box off amazon with dimmable blues and whites. Nothing fancy but I had two over my long 12g nano and my corals loved them. 

 

I moved the tank to my kitchen counter. 

 

I also ended up doing my water change on the nano so I used that water to fill this pico. I added the last of the bacteria in a bottle that I had too. 

[Reefkid88]

Aquaknight ? 

[derf9h]

It’s this light. I just relocated the mount to the end of the unit instead of the side. 

[Reefkid88]

Correct,so the AquaKnight V1. Awesome little light. 

[derf9h]

Ok, I don’t know anything about the Aquaknight, where do you see that? I just saw this on amazon and tried it out. I agree though, it’s been a great light

[Reefkid88]

Just google Aquaknight led and a plethora of info will pop up.  

[derf9h]

End of Day 1 for the pico. No light schedule yet, just whenever I turn it on and off. I need to dig out one of my timers and get it set up for 8 hrs on. I am going to throw in a 1/4 cube of frozen brine shrimp too in order to jump start the cycle. 

[derf9h]

So on day 3 now. I’m having heat issues. Not too bad, hovering at 81, but still too warm for my tastes. This will just feed algae. I’ve been able to curb this by only running the mini powerhead during the day and turning it off at night. Still runs constant at 80 or so. I’m not putting a fan over it so I guess I’ll just add it to the list of things that are just a bit “off” with this tank lol. 

 

Day 3 pic attached. I put frozen brine shrimp in last night, half cube. Water getting cloudy.

[derf9h]

Forgot to mention. When I was doing a water change on my nano, I must have sucked up a snail and when I filled the pico with that water, the snail went with it. It hasn’t moved in the 3 days so I guess that’s dying/dead in there too. 

[derf9h]

1 week update.

 

Did a 90% water change today but again used the old water from the water change on my nano. I’ll give it a few days and then do some water tests. Threw some crabs in there too. 

 

Nothing too exciting yet, can’t wait until I start seeing some algae!