my 2.5 pico so far

[ludachris821]

benn set up for 4 days and just got new stuff today

so far i have 1 hairy mushroom 1 ricordia mushroom 4 colored polyps ,colony polyps 5 lbs live rock 5 hermitts and 1 small emerald crab . lights are 2x 50/50 10 watt coralife compact power florecent bulbs at 10,000 kelvin each, a very small heater for cool nights with the dial at 72*f. had to modify the hood with a hole on the left to put the other light in there. the filter is a wisper 10 set on medium flow

[ChloroPhil]

Sounds neat, do you have any photos to share? With your temps so low are you thinking of putting a Catalina Goby in there?

[ludachris821]

72 is the lowest the tank will get and thats at night with the mini fan on it, generally it stays at 76 to 78 in this muggy heat at day. i dont think the tank is big enough to support fish life, i can barley keep the hermitts from nocking stuff over had to rearange this morning. i cant get pics to load off here so ill try to link to a place i already have them. make sure to scroll to the bottom.

[ludachris821]

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread...ad.php?t=167495

[ChloroPhil]

I like it! It seems to me that most folks doing picos are allowing their tanks to have some macros growing in them and they get a very natural look. I think some Gorgonians would look great in that tank.

[reeferboy89]

how do u have corals and 5 hermit crabs when ur tank has been setup for 4 days with out even cycling

[neanderthalman]

There are two possibilities, One is that the rock and water are from a larger established tank. Imagine submerging a 2.5 ga aquarium in another tank and filling it with water and LR from the tank. If you pull it out, you have a cycled tank...sortof. There will be an initial cycle, but it will be very small. This is similar to how a small cycle is started every time you increase your bioload. Since your animals don't die whenever you add a new fish or frag, I doubt he'll have issue if this is indeed how he set up this tank. You also don't really need to submerge the tank for this to work....but it helps explain the concept.

 

The other possible situation is that ludachris started his tank based on either LFS advice, or no advice at all. Judging by the fact that he's been a registered user of the site for over two years, I doubt this is the case.

[ludachris821]

your first assumption is correct, i took water and rock from my 3 year old 30 gallon tank along with some of my hermitts(luv the little boogers)and migrated them to the 2.5. i didnt submerge the tank but cupped the water in . the tank is now thriving and spawning life of its own. pods are all over the glass and i found my turbo had babies in my 30 and 1 or 2 hitch hiked into the 2.5. now that all my corals are used to their new home they are blooming. they are getting new friends this weekend cause of fathers dayB)