Cycling pico jar

[E5710]

Hi folks, more or less a new guy here. I've done a few larger reef tanks 20ish years ago and been thinking about doing a pico jar. I had picked up some sand, salt,, test kits and all a few months ago..

Well, as it turns out a few weeks ago I found out the lfs was getting rid of their saltwater stuff. They had some live rock and dry rock left for next to nothing so I scrambled and got a jar, bought some rock while headed back to the housewashed and put sand in it, started filling with RO water and couldn't find my salt..... 

It was too late in the evening to get any salt here so I put my LR in a bag so the moisture wouldn't evaporate and got the salt next morning. Got my rock placed inside and started testing. 

First few days had very little ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. After around a week all three were reading higher than my cards. Yesterday, at 16 days, my ammonia is still a little more than 2ppm, nitrites down to about .1, and nitrates around 30. I'm guessing maybe its getting closer to cycled, although if there's still ammonia, not sure why nitrites would have gone down so much.

I'm also getting one of the rocks turning black on one side. I tried seeing if I could blow it off with a baster and it seems stuck on there pretty good. Touched it and it doesnt seem slimy. Its one of the live rocks thats got coralline. I haven't gotten a dedicated light yet, so was worried it may be dying. Also have another rock with coralline and that piece turned completely green. Any ideas? The one on the right in the image is the one with the black spots. Im going to take a few small pieces out to make some room later on, I know its pretty packed in there!

[Clown79]

The parameters look normal for cycling. There may have been die off on the liverock and if you added dry rock that will also explain the ammonia.

 

It's all completely normal

[E5710]

Awesome, thanks! I was thinking I was ok, little bit of confirmation makes me feel a lot better.

My wife's wanting fish. I was planning on a few corals and maybe a couple of inverts. Do you think adding a goby of some kind is too much for 2 gallons?

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, E5710 said:

Awesome, thanks! I was thinking I was ok, little bit of confirmation makes me feel a lot better.

My wife's wanting fish. I was planning on a few corals and maybe a couple of inverts. Do you think adding a goby of some kind is too much for 2 gallons?

You may get away with a very tiny goby in a jar but not much else.

 

There isn't a lot of room in a jar for fish when you consider rocks and corals.

 

Check out the pico jar contest that we did, there is a lot of great info provided by all the contestants

[Tired]

I wouldn't suggest a goby in a 2gal, or any fish. Some of them would be fine with the amount of space to move, but that's a lot of bioload for such a tiny tank, and little tanks like that are particularly unstable. 

 

For a jar, you want tiny inverts. A pom-pom crab is a good candidate, or some sexy shrimp, though those can nip corals. A porcelain crab can work if you're especially sure to target-feed it. A Venus anemone shrimp is about the smallest cleaner shrimp you can get, and one of those could work as well. Not all at once, mind you.

[Ratvan]

Maybe a Trimma Cana Goby (my Avatar), I ran one in my 2.5G Pico. Loved hiding in ledges and scooting around after Pods when it wasn't perching. Dont live very long and nor will many of the Nano and Pico livestock. 

 

As above a Small Crab would be good 

[Clown79]

 

These are about the only 2 tiny gobies that might work but more room needs to be made in the jar.

 

 

 

https://m.liveaquaria.com/product/7266/yellow-trimma-goby-captive-bred-biota?pcatid=7266&c=15+31+7266

 

 

https://m.liveaquaria.com/product/7262/white-spotted-dwarf-goby-biota?pcatid=7262&c=15+31+7262

[Glauber Carvalho]

On 7/7/2020 at 8:03 AM, E5710 said:

Awesome, thanks! I was thinking I was ok, little bit of confirmation makes me feel a lot better.

My wife's wanting fish. I was planning on a few corals and maybe a couple of inverts. Do you think adding a goby of some kind is too much for 2 gallons?

Welcome back, @E5710! I love Pico jars! I had a 2g pico reef once. And I had a small goby too. 2g looked fine for him, but my pico was wider. A jar has less swimming area.

 

About that rock getting black on the side, maybe it can be low or none circulartion in that place. Have you already saw that? You can do changes in the aquascape to see this. And, for many reasons, you can try to use macroalgae too! I used Cryptonemia crenulata in mine, but many Caulerpa sp are beautifull too. Good luck!

[E5710]

Thanks for the help guys. Yea, I'm planning on moving most of that lr out into another tank I have. With the lfs selling out, I just bought a bit more than I intended. I appreciate the suggestions on fish. I'll do without to start and just see how things go. I was wondering about the black spots and circulatiin like you suggested Glauber. I've got air bubbles going, but was thinking about removing that for a small pump instead, see if i can direct the flow a bit. Thanks guys!

[E5710]

Just thought I'd update you guys on howmy cookie jar is doing. Had a guy give me a frogspawn frag and came across a blood shrimp about 4 weeks ago. They're doing great. Parameters are doing great. Removed some of the excess liverock and opened up the tank a good bit. Got a hitchhiker thats been hiding out under the frogspawn, guessing bristleworm. He's close to 2 inches long. Im seeing mixed opinions about them, think i should take him out?

Looks like I'm also getting a few odd spots of looks like coraline popping up on the big piece. So far looking good I think. Will probably do zoas on the larger piece. Let me know what you guys think!

[Tired]

Bristleworms are useful detritivores. They'll eat dying or dead corals, which gets them blamed for killing the coral.