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Restarting Pico- another Pest Tank?


Draco

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My 2.7 gal tank was once a beautiful pest tank that sat in my office for a good while- just about 2 years- here's the thread:

 

 

Right now it's a betta tank, and I am not loving it. I got the itch to rebuild it back to a SW tank. I miss those sexy shrimps and clown goby!

 

I am just unsure if I want to do another pest tank (As beautiful as it was!) or try something different. What would you guys do in a tank this size? I want to do something daring and different- shoot me those ideas, even experimental!

 

I am breaking down the betta tank today, giving all my plants and my betta to my dad. Right now I have dry rocks and the HOB filter (for both mini fuge, extra water and flow) and PAR35 light bulb. I just need to figure out a way to hang the light, and get a heater and I am set to start the cycle!

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debbeach13

That last set up was far from a pest tank. I have always thought a pico set up to feature just bright yellow sun coral would be stunnung. Paint the out side back and bottom black to really make the yellow pop. They like low light but feeding is a pain in the butt and probably means no skipping the WC. The minimal look is very popular right now or a bio. Sorry I am no help so many things you can do. Following this should be fun. Good luck with your new set up 2.0

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If you miss having sexys then build them a playground. Pillars to jump and perch from, soft places to land, flowing tentacles, a tree like coral to hide under.  Just be sure that you don't care if it gets eaten or destroyed.  

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If you want sexies, you could keep a minimax or rock flower anemone. A minimax would mean no fish except clown gobies (which seem immune to anemones), since they might just stumble into it. 

 

You could also make it a "most toxic things I could find" tank. Palythoa grandis, Palythoa toxica, those sorts. Just practice the usual reasonable precautions with palythoas.

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Elizabeth94

 So many things you could do! You could focus on one type of coral. Something easy- different leathers? Could be particular with the types you get. Like a nice weeping willow leather. Hmm

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so many great ideas! I like the idea of focusing on one type of coral, and mushrooms seems like a good easy option too

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ugh, reef store employees drive me insane sometimes!
 

I go into one, and I was carefully choosing a heater for the tank. The guy asks "What size tank?" so I tell him it's a 2.7 gallon reef tank.

 

"Oh, you don't need a heater for that size!"

 

"Yes I do."

 

"Why do you say that?"

 

"Its a 2 gallon tank, temperature will fluctuate easily and quickly. It's in a room that only has AC on at night"

 

"Oh pfft. Bettas do fine without a heater, they prefer cold water. You don't need it, trust me."

 

"This is not a betta tank.. I told you its a reef"

 

"Reefs thrive in cold water"

 

"Depends on coral and I prefer to keep temperature steady, thank you. Now shut up and ring me up"

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I re-used the rocks I previously had in the tank. Washed it a while ago

Also seeding the tank with a piece of established rock from my main tank to expedite the cycling.

 

 

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Oh, wow, that guy's advice sucks. Bettas do NOT do fine in cold water, it messes with their immune system and probably makes them pretty uncomfortable. They like 78-80f. Poor things don't need their body temp to be 10 degrees under ideal.

 

It's a really nice tank shape. Excited to see where it goes.

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3 hours ago, Tired said:

Oh, wow, that guy's advice sucks. Bettas do NOT do fine in cold water, it messes with their immune system and probably makes them pretty uncomfortable. They like 78-80f. Poor things don't need their body temp to be 10 degrees under ideal.

 

It's a really nice tank shape. Excited to see where it goes.

Exactly. I used to breed betta and I find they do much better in warmer waters!

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Wild B. splendens live in shallow water in Thailand. Admittedly, I don't know much about Thailand, but I do know it's hot. And since bettas are small ectotherms (cold-blooded animals), their body temperature is always going to be exactly the temperature of the water. They generally have a bit more tolerance for body temp shifts than we do, so a couple degrees off won't make them feel as bad as we do, but they have a narrow range that's ideal.

It's part of why I always suggest at least a 5-gallon for bettas, it's easier to keep the temp stable. That, and they like the space. They might not die in smaller, but they'll definitely use bigger. I had a short-tailed male betta in my 65gal community for awhile, and he used the whole thing. I also had, at one point, a huge female betta (nearly 3") who actively made use of a whole 30gal tank. 

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My point is really, a tank that size the temperature will fluctuate more than than a few degrees and it's not good for any creature, betta or snail. I still want to go back and argue with the guy but.. eh. lol.

 

I've had diatoms in my tank for a few days, yay 🙂

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2 hours ago, Draco said:

My point is really, a tank that size the temperature will fluctuate more than than a few degrees and it's not good for any creature, betta or snail. I still want to go back and argue with the guy but.. eh. lol.

 

I've had diatoms in my tank for a few days, yay 🙂

Good for telling that bad employee off, also yay diatoms. I vote for another pest tank because that tank was really the reason I learned so much about keeping coral and that every piece of livestock deserves a second chance!

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I haven't decided completely, but I am thinking feather dusters. I need to see if they'll do okay in a tank this small first. Some cocoa worms.. it'd be nice to have christmas worms but I think those would be out.

 

My mom's actually excited about feather dusters. I had them long ago when I lived home with her and she loved them the most in my tank and she's been asking my why I haven't gotten any in my other tanks.

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1 hour ago, Draco said:

I haven't decided completely, but I am thinking feather dusters. I need to see if they'll do okay in a tank this small first. Some cocoa worms.. it'd be nice to have christmas worms but I think those would be out.

 

My mom's actually excited about feather dusters. I had them long ago when I lived home with her and she loved them the most in my tank and she's been asking my why I haven't gotten any in my other tanks.

From experience with feayher worms in small tanks, it can work for a while but you gotta keep them well fed when they start to degrade it'll crash everything (especially if you do the larger species like I did) thats how I destroyed my bowl reef actually hahaha but if you do smaller species I think you'll be fine! You can maybe even do some plating lps to do your own type of feather duster rock 😍

Personally I would do soft corals, for ease of maintenance but maybe some higher end stuff this time instead of pests, like neon bro this and some pretty zoos 

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Feather worms, except the very small ones, are pretty tricky to keep fed in such a tiny system. They do best in larger systems, with fish, so they have nutrients constantly available to get. Be prepared to feed daily, preferably multiple times a day- they're animals that normally feed constantly. 

 

In other words, I'd suggest getting really small ones. I think some places sell those pretty little red ones with the white tubes, sometimes, in clusters. 

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Really cute tank! I think you need a micro decorator crab and a group of green porcelain crabs (they like groups) to go with the sexies!

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thanks all

 

I also read feather dusters prefer substrate.my tank is bare bottom and they won' tbe a good fit anyway.

 

I think I will do softies, maybe take corals from my existing tank and put them in there

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You might like snake polyps. They're a coral somewhat similar in appearance to feather dusters, though with less elegance in the feeding apparatus.

 

If you get good live rock, you'll probably get a bunch of small dusters on it. The tiny ones do great in aquaria, when the water isn't kept overly clean. A little puff of phyto or other tiny food in their direction won't go amiss, regardless.

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i love those tiny feather dusters. I have a lot in my overflow of my 75g tank.

 

Of course, whatever outgrows or doesn't work in my pico tank can go into one of my other reef tanks if it needs to be moved. my 75g is approaching 5 years

 

Snake polyps are def different, I've never seen those for sale anywhere except online. That's an option.

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I started to get green algae now. Did a water change and threw in two snails from my other tank. Will let it sit a while longer still before doing anything else to it. I will be away for a week (pet sitting) and can't do anything anyway!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I come back from just over a week from pet sitting, and was pleasantly surprised to see how clean and crystal clear the water is in the tank (Though low as I asked my neighbor who was watching my cats not to touch it). The two snails I have in there must've done a good job keeping the algae at bay!

 

Tomorrow I am going to give it a quick water change, and look into ordering a trimma goby or two for the tank. Maybe I'll splurge on a panda clown goby instead. Something different than a yellow clown goby. I am still debating on what corals to do, there's been so many suggestions!

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