NatureGuy Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 I’m getting into saltwater for the first time with a pico. I have a very limited budget, so imma try an spend as little as possible. Following the guidance of other people on here I’m gonna use bare airline tubing for flow. I’m also gonna have a bare bottom to make it easy to clean. I’ll record the cost here as I go. I’m pretty excited! Gonna go for all softies, to start with at least and maybe some macro. For water changes I’m gonna use a siphon I have laying around with premixed salt from my LFS. To save money I’m also gonna test water at my LFS which offers water tests for free. I am going to go for all aquaculture corals, most of which will probably be brought from my local reef club. This is all I can afford at the moment, but maybe I’ll upgrade to a 5 or ten gallon sometime in the future if it goes well. I love tiny tanks either way though! Any advise is appreciated! Equipment: Display: One gallon cookie jar form Walmart (I already had it sitting around, I believe it was about 15 dollars) Air pump: Terra whisper (left over form a precious tank, I believe it’s rated for 40 gallons. I think it was about 30 dollars) Light: Asta 20 (50 dollars) Heater: Kulife 10w heater rated for 1 gallon (16 dollars) Cost so far: 75 dollars Cost including stuff I already had: about 120$ 3 Quote Link to comment
Amnemonemomne Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 what do you plan on stocking the tank with that small amount of water? Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 1 minute ago, Amnemonemomne said: what do you plan on stocking the tank with that small amount of water? I’m not gonna add anything other coral and macro except maybe a small species of snail if I have algae problems 1 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted September 12, 2022 Author Share Posted September 12, 2022 It would be cool to put the jar on a lazy Susan and have an aqua scape that curved upwards from all sides of the jar, thus allowing it to be spun around and viewed form all angles. Not sure how to make the cords work with that though… 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted September 12, 2022 Author Share Posted September 12, 2022 Light just came in! Looks complicated though… I gotta admit I didn’t do very much research on lights… Should it look like this, is it light from the different channels not blending together at the edges? Edit: I set up the bowl where I think I’ll probably have it long term to see how the light looks (filled it with tap bc I don’t have any salt yet). 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted September 18, 2022 Author Share Posted September 18, 2022 I’ve now set up the air pump and heater, temperature is surprisingly stable. I checked it at random intervals theogony the day and it was consistently 78 F. Two guys from my local reef club offered to hook me up with some life rock, but it looks like there flaking on me lol. I’ll wait a few more days and see if they respond. Edit: they weren’t flaking I’m just inpatient lol 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 I just got around to setting it up. What’d you think of the hard scape, I’m open for advice 4 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 I like it! I really love these tiny (<3g) jarscape reefs 1 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Rock on the left looks great, on the right looks algae covered? Think you could glue it all together to form an irregular cylinder covered in softies all the way around, or do you want one side of the jar covered to hide lines? Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 1 hour ago, growsomething said: Rock on the left looks great, on the right looks algae covered? Think you could glue it all together to form an irregular cylinder covered in softies all the way around, or do you want one side of the jar covered to hide lines? The jar is backed against a wall as is, so I think I’m gonna leave the rocks leaning against the back side. Idk though, maybe I’ll change it later Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 Is this enough flow? 2 Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Could very well be. Might be good to move the outlet a bit lower in the water to generate a bit more stir. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Nanofreak79 Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Very nice! Here’s a light I found while trying to piece mine together. They are discontinued but you can find them used for roughly half the price.https://premiumaquatics.com/products/picopro-black.html 1 Quote Link to comment
PeterU Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 On 1/6/2023 at 8:18 AM, Nanofreak79 said: Very nice! Here’s a light I found while trying to piece mine together. They are discontinued but you can find them used for roughly half the price.https://premiumaquatics.com/products/picopro-black.html They appear to still be available here https://www.reefsmart.com/shop 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 8 Author Share Posted January 8 Can powder coral food be frozen? Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 11 Author Share Posted January 11 (edited) Okay so I just checked the bowl and it was down to 70 F. The heater came on with a lil tap, but I dont really trust it anymore. There's still nothing but liverock in the tank, I dont think the heat was out for more then 24 hours probably less. Will this have harmed the bacteria? I think I'm gonna get a temerature controller now, what brands are good? Edit: it already bliped out again, I just ordered an inkbird controller and a secondary heater Edited January 11 by NatureGuy Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 That will have done nothing to the bacteria except maybe, maybe slowed down its reproduction a little. I've had my pico briefly get into the 60s (massive cold front + power outage) with no lasting issues. 1 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 I kept live rock in a basement in winter without a heater (just flow) and it didn’t even harm the asternia stars let alone the bacteria. 🙂 1 2 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 2 hours ago, Tamberav said: I kept live rock in a basement in winter without a heater (just flow) and it didn’t even harm the asternia stars let alone the bacteria. 🙂 asterinas could survive a nuclear winter to be fair 😂 1 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 11 Author Share Posted January 11 Thanks guys I guess it’s not as sensitive as I thought Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 That bacteria is stubborn stuff. It's a lot harder to break a cycle than you'd think- you practically have to try. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 The inside of the broken heater spears and smells brunt, I wonder if I could’ve burned my house down Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 I am confused.. that looks like a USB? It has a USB connection? Quote Link to comment
NatureGuy Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 32 minutes ago, Tamberav said: I am confused.. that looks like a USB? It has a USB connection? Yea it is, a lot of the 5 watt heaters seem to be Quote Link to comment
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