1.25 ltr pico jar

[kurnn]

Have been inspired by pjreef and other jar based pico around here, i have built my own picojar for my office desk.

 

it is a 1,25 ltr glass jar, drilled 2 holes at the bottom. Put two plastic nipples on it that i plan to conceal it under a single crafted lr. They then connected to an external 5 volt usb powerhead as a circulation.

Water then flows through a diy peltier based chiller tec-12703 that is driven @5 volt  instead of 12v normally. This way i can get temperature down from 30-32 celcius ambient to 27-28 degree.

It is hot here. I live at jakarta, indonesia btw. So forgive me if there is any inappropriate grammar or vocabularies please.

 

the light, was modified from a broken light fixture. Replacing the 5 x 1 watt led with a single 1 watt led. The seller told that it is 30k kelvin but i doubt it. Its kind of blueish but not blue enough to be 30k i think. I put a 45 degree lens on it. So i get 30000 lux at surface an around 2000 lux at bottom (wihout water). I use my smartphone to test it.

 

Hope it will be enough. As a light test i put alittle frag of gsp and baby sarcophyton and they seem happy. 

 

i am planning to keep a little frag of alveopora, goniopora, gsp colonies and sarcophyton. And maybe some zoas too. 

 

so i need to keep my alkalinity stabil at 7-8 dkh i guess. Thats why there is a diy auto doser that i have made from parfume dispenser. It will pass through a tiny hose that went through the goose neck of the light. In a period of time the auto perfume dispenser will pump the solution of alk buffer from the bottle to the jar. It is about 1 gram alk buffer powder at 1 ltr of ro water. 

 

Oh and for keeping it clean from nuisance algae, i will introduce stomatella snails to the tank. They are really really effective againts it. 

 

Will use salmix and ro water.

water change will take place twice a week at maybe 500 ml each.

 

Ok, that s all for now guys.

hope they all will thrive and happy in there, and thank you.

[debbeach13]

Welcome to NR that is a nice little set up. You are very creative. I see you join in 2017. Do you have any other tanks? 

20 hours ago, kurnn said:

Indonesia

So do you have some great Local Fish and coral stores near you? Are you near the ocean? Can you collect corals in tide pools? 

[WV Reefer]

21 hours ago, kurnn said:

Have been inspired by pjreef and other jar based pico around here, i have built my own picojar for my office desk.

 

it is a 1,25 ltr glass jar, drilled 2 holes at the bottom. Put two plastic nipples on it that i plan to conceal it under a single crafted lr. They then connected to an external 5 volt usb powerhead as a circulation.

Water then flows through a diy peltier based chiller tec-12703 that is driven @5 volt  instead of 12v normally. This way i can get temperature down from 30-32 celcius ambient to 27-28 degree.

It is hot here. I live at jakarta, indonesia btw. So forgive me if there is any inappropriate grammar or vocabularies please.

 

the light, was modified from a broken light fixture. Replacing the 5 x 1 watt led with a single 1 watt led. The seller told that it is 30k kelvin but i doubt it. Its kind of blueish but not blue enough to be 30k i think. I put a 45 degree lens on it. So i get 30000 lux at surface an around 2000 lux at bottom (wihout water). I use my smartphone to test it.

 

Hope it will be enough. As a light test i put alittle frag of gsp and baby sarcophyton and they seem happy. 

 

i am planning to keep a little frag of alveopora, goniopora, gsp colonies and sarcophyton. And maybe some zoas too. 

 

so i need to keep my alkalinity stabil at 7-8 dkh i guess. Thats why there is a diy auto doser that i have made from parfume dispenser. It will pass through a tiny hose that went through the goose neck of the light. In a period of time the auto perfume dispenser will pump the solution of alk buffer from the bottle to the jar. It is about 1 gram alk buffer powder at 1 ltr of ro water. 

 

Oh and for keeping it clean from nuisance algae, i will introduce stomatella snails to the tank. They are really really effective againts it. 

 

Will use salmix and ro water.

water change will take place twice a week at maybe 500 ml each.

 

Ok, that s all for now guys.

hope they all will thrive and happy in there, and thank you.

Such a cute jar! Can’t wait to see all the corals in there. 😊

[kurnn]

16 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Welcome to NR that is a nice little set up. You are very creative. I see you join in 2017. Do you have any other tanks? 

So do you have some great Local Fish and coral stores near you? Are you near the ocean? Can you collect corals in tide pools? 

Thank u debbeach13,

 

Yes, i was amazed by so many beautiful setup here at that time. So i started to build my first pico in 2007. Mistake i have made back then was tried to correct the calcium level too high, that ended with the decrease in alk level without notice.

 

Right now i have 2 other tanks running.

5 ltr that i plan to become a stomatella farm. It has no light, just powerhead, and very low power chiller. I use it as a temporary quarantine tanks too when necesary.

 

The other is 1.5 ltr tanks (almost the same volume with this jar). Same setup, unless that it has  auto thermostat to keep temp stabil at 28 celcius. This jar version doesnt have one. It start running (coral in) at the beginning of september. I have uploaded it to the nano-reef gallery as well.

 

Yes they are several local fish n coral stores here. But with the latest government regulation, its kind of hard to find premium corals. Good corals usually comes from other island that is now illegal to import. Luckily i got a beautiful red goniopora two weeks ago. I dont know how they managed it. 

 

Jakarta is near the ocean, but the water pollution is so bad. So there is no tide pool around.

 

You will find so many tide pools at anyer district along the sunda strait. It is about 90km west from here. I used to work near that region between 2012-2017. I had found a nice spot of tide pool where there are so many diversity like pulsing xenia, pocilopora, acros and of course zoa colonies. They had color range from brownish to green. Sadly, i heard the news that this spot is now become land reclamation area.

 

This is my other 1.5 ltr pico before the addition of red goni, and red goni itself (recovering process):

[kurnn]

16 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

Such a cute jar! Can’t wait to see all the corals in there. 😊

Me too,,😀

Hope the light will be sufficient for alveopora and goniopora

[debbeach13]

Those are some very nice corals. Too bad about the tide pool. Keep us posted on your jar and the pico.

[kurnn]

I will, wish them luck

[kurnn]

Back to the past, found these old pics. This was my first pico in 2008, started at the end of 2007. It was 4 ltr capacity. The goniopora died because i was too eager to rise calcium level without knowing that it had direct impact on alkalinity level.

[kurnn]

I have the liverock ready and have replaced the light.

[kurnn]

Meanwhile, i am preparing the future inhabitants: some frags of alveopora (bleaching so bad), gsp, goniopora, n baby sarcophyton

[Wonderboy]

This is going to be so cool cause it already is! I absolutely love your alk dispenser and the way you hid it! Great work with that past pico - sorry about its flowerpot :[  but good lesson. Nice job with the light and the plumbing - I really like how you've made it seem like just a simple setup. Really looking forward to seeing those corals go in!

[kurnn]

Thank u, wonderboy

Yes it was very good lessons indeed.

 

Since then i was trying to build alk dispenser. My first version was with syringe connected to manual timer. It didnt work well. Only last for several day before the timer got jammed.

 

It means to be an office pico, so i need it to be easy to move and set.

 

The alveopora frag is bleaching now because it has been neglected in my 5 ltr tank without light for months. But i kept alk level at 8-9 dkh, so i hope it will recover soon.

 

[Wonderboy]

That's fantatstic! I love it - too bad it got jammed up - thanks for sharing!

[kurnn]

Yes, the one way valves had made the syringe movement became too rough for the timer i supposed.

[kurnn]

Can we post video?

 

 

[kurnn]

Today, the office pico is officially running 😀

[Wonderboy]

Awesome! I see a little coral in there  :]

[kurnn]

Yes, it is a tiny gsp frag.☺

[kurnn]

Added goniopora frag, and sarcophyton along with gsp. 

 

And also a branch of montipora digitata(?) and tiny piece of blue favia from my trip to lampung 2 weeks ago.

 

[Wonderboy]

Sweet!

[Christopher Marks]

Great to see another pico reef jar coming online @kurnn! I'm very impressed with your chiller system for the jar. Keep up the good work!

[kurnn]

Thank u, Chris.

There are a lot of knowledge i have taken from this forum. It is really helpfull.

Awesome,,

[kurnn]

System failure,,

 

Last monday morning i was shocked to found the 2 stomatellas were died. A big lost for the system.

 

The liverock smelled bad. The wild corals, montipore and favite were dying too.

 

I still had the luck that  the first generation corals: goniopora, baby sarcophyton, and gsp were still in good health. Now they are in the quarantine.

 

It was because the circulation had clogged at somepoint, the flow rate turned too low, and was unable to provide enough oxygen probably for 4 days of my absence from office.

 

Took the tank back home for maintenance, i decided to replace the rock, have managed the filter pad an open access so it is now easy to clean.

 

Below are the pics taken at monday and after maintenance:

 

 

[Seadragon]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:12 AM, kurnn said:

It was because the circulation had clogged at somepoint, the flow rate turned too low, and was unable to provide enough oxygen probably for 4 days of my absence from office.

 

Thanks for providing what caused the system failure.  I tried dampening the flow in my own tanks to get the Xenia pulsing more, but that came at the price of cyanobacteria hosting a big party.  I learned my lesson.  I never thought about what would happen if the circulation nearly stopped for 4 days... now I know. 🙂

 

[kurnn]

 

55 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

 

Thanks for providing what caused the system failure.  I tried dampening the flow in my own tanks to get the Xenia pulsing more, but that came at the price of cyanobacteria hosting a big party.  I learned my lesson.  I never thought about what would happen if the circulation nearly stopped for 4 days... now I know. 🙂

 

Welcome, @Seadragon

I m glad to know that you have managed to avoid such problem before its too late.

That s right, we can only see xenia pulses in a calm water. But we shouldnt risk our system in order just to see them pulse.