Office 2.5gal Pico... permission?

[Jandree22]

For those of you with Pico’s setup at your office, did you guys ask permission from your boss(es)? I’m considering setting up a 2.5gal AGA pico at my desk. I’m thinking it’s a stretch that they’ll allow it, even though my immediate supervisor is pretty easy-going. But then I look around other cubes in the office and several people have those betta bowls with a plant in them and this one lady, while she doesn’t have any water or fish on her desk is wacked out… her cube is like a jungle, literally dozens and dozens of plants. FWIW, I'm an IT Technician with PennDOT, state government in Harrisburg, PA. My desk is smack in the middle of your basic everyday cubicle system.

 

I’m thinking maybe they’ll see it as okay since it’s so small, but then I could also see them saying it’s different because the others just have a ‘bowl’, this would be like a ‘system’ aquarium.

 

Anyone have any advise or experiences with this? I have a feeling that it could go either way depending how I present it to them.

[tinyreef]

jand! wtf have you been hiding? there's a wave of '02's all of a sudden returning to nest?!

 

i'd ask permission first. i'd also stick to simple. you may even want to downsize the 2.5g to a 1g. i think there's an acrylic (first class acrylic) cube thread that looks pretty good. i forget who's it is though.

[Jandree22]

heh, I haven't been running a nano for a while... just my 75gal. I'm getting an itch to start one back up, though, whether a pico for my office desk or like a 10gal for home.

 

Only thing with a 1g, is that too small to keep a fish? I wanted to keep either a Firefish or a Citron Goby. If I were to stick with a 2.5gal, is that to small for one of the above fish PLUS a scarlet cleaner shrimp?

[tinyreef]

heh, I haven't been running a nano for a while... just my 75gal. I'm getting an itch to start one back up, though, whether a pico for my office desk or like a 10gal for home.

 

Only thing with a 1g, is that too small to keep a fish? I wanted to keep either a Firefish or a Citron Goby. If I were to stick with a 2.5gal, is that to small for one of the above fish PLUS a scarlet cleaner shrimp?

we don't discriminate based on size. i can't speak for the girl-reefers here though.

 

i'd go citron but you might as well get a plastic fish then. the firefish is pretty but that'd be a wee small for it, don'tcha think? the ubiquitous clown will satisfy the masses.

 

frankly, i'd skip the fish and go shrimp. go sexy, if you want a chick magnet. and the blood/scarlet if you want "hmmm, that's interesting.". goby/shrimp combo is another option.

 

in any other forum, you and i would be flamed raw for this discussion. push the envelope imo. it's what makes our niche unique.

 

larger brittlestars or clams are another good option. show the masses something they don't normally see. i'd skip sps and stuff because they'll just think it's fake (uneducated masses ). softies like xenia will get you the oohhs and aahhs and maybe brownie pts. or sex hopefully. good luck and welcome back!

[Blind Tree Frog]

I asked for permission whe i set up a 10 gallon (later a 20). The managers response was "I didn't hear that".

 

As long as he could pretend he didn't know, he was happy.

[Tony]

I'm just a contractor where I'm at and I did not ask permission when I set up my Pico in the cube accross from me or when I set up the NC6 in my cube. They have no problem with it. There used to be a guy here who had a 20 gallon reef in his cube.

[PaulS]

Jandree22: I would advise getting permission. My division just moved from an old office building where anything went to the corporate campus where they have cube-police. Literally. We were told that we may not have papers out on our desk when we leave work for the day and that we cannot post things on the cube wall. We have to keep decorations (photos, etc) to a minimum. Periodically, the cube-police … I mean … Facilities makes the rounds and will note things that are not within guidelines and then notify that person’s manager. Kind of like being in the movie Office Space (“You forgot your TPS Cover Sheet”). While I think it’s a bit harsh, I do have to agree that 2.5Gs of salt water could be disastrous if it leaked over a weekend and I wasn’t there to catch it.

 

Regards

PaulS

[Tony]

Sounds like a wonderfull place to work.

[p.o.t.u.s]

Jandree22: I would advise getting permission. My division just moved from an old office building where anything went to the corporate campus where they have cube-police. Literally. We were told that we may not have papers out on our desk when we leave work for the day and that we cannot post things on the cube wall. We have to keep decorations (photos, etc) to a minimum. Periodically, the cube-police … I mean … Facilities makes the rounds and will note things that are not within guidelines and then notify that person’s manager. Kind of like being in the movie Office Space (“You forgot your TPS Cover Sheet”). While I think it’s a bit harsh, I do have to agree that 2.5Gs of salt water could be disastrous if it leaked over a weekend and I wasn’t there to catch it.

 

Regards

PaulS

 

 

Wow. That sounds like oodles of fun...

 

Cube-nazis...I've seen everything now.

[adinsxq]

2002!

 

since it's not your electricity, i'd ask

[Carinya]

I'd look around the environment & see what you think the norm is. A lot of times it is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. I had to ask about my 29g at work b/c I wanted to make sure the cabinetry would hold it. But a 2.5...as long as you're not planning to go crazy with auto-top offs, sumps, refugiums...I'd be very tempted just to give it a shot & see what happens. I mean, what's the worst they can say...No? Eh. Then you take it home. But if you ask first, it's much more likely you'll get a negative response from someone who has no clue how cool these tanks can be.

[johnyblackheart]

I’d be more worried about what would happen to tank, then being asked to take it home. The person stopping by in morning to talk, leaning over the tank and oops I spilled my HOT cup of coffee into your Pico “I’m sorry”. Or the weekend folks trying to “do you a favor” and feed your tank. I would really have to hurt someone then….

[PaulS]

I noticed a couple of other folks who had their reef crash when the cleaning crew came by with the Windex and Pledge to clean the desks and monitors Friday night. Nothing left but to take a police report on Monday morning to document the atrocities...

 

And, actually, it's a great place to work. Great people, fun environment. Just a brand new building with new furniture so I can't blame them. Sorry to hijack your thread, Jandree22. I'd just make sure, that's all.

[hendyags]

I'm an Indonesian and I'll try to share my experience regarding Office Tank Permission.

 

Larry who was my expatriate CEO asked me "Are you going to keep lobsters on that tank ?" when I setup a 15 gallon tank on my workdesk back in 2003,

 

 

When the tank turned like this,

 

 

He said, "Your tank is wonderful. Are you using a chiller to keep it cooled", while he stopped by at my desk.

 

Larry resigned in 2004 and replaced by an Indonesian guy. One day this Indonesian guy asked me to come to his room and told me to dismantle the tank and the sooner the better. He said, "What if every person in this 5th floor has the same need as you to have a tank in their desks ?". Well, end of discussion.

My friends on the 5th floor felt so hard to know that my nanoreef had to go once and for all. But what can I do ? The 15G nanoreef...no more.

 

But in November 27 2005 I started this 4G picoreef below my desk,

 

 

I think I'm nerd to do this....

My friends happy.

My Division Head had no problem with this.

Just that CEO minds it.

 

The show must go on....

 

Regards,

Hendy

[robmacy]

put the pico between two bookends and call it a wealth of information.

[TheCheat]

I set up a 2.5MB at work and never asked for permission. I had a feeling they would say, "no" if i asked. I figured, if somebody could have a plant, I could have a box of water. To me, there was no difference: they both need light, and to have fresh water added. See, since I just set it up, and it looked beautiful, my bosses were far too spineless to make me take it down. It never caused any trouble anyway.

Good luck to you!

~B

[calvin415]

Our office hit us from two different angles... It was determined that we were to have nothing living at our desk other than a plant. The second was directed at fish and aquariums because of the power consumption... Our office regularly has power issues do to the number of PC's, Servers, etc running. Even during the winter they won't allow people to have ceramic heaters at their desk for fear of blowing a circuit.

[TTU_reefer]

I'm sure the Army will be super understanding about my need for a pico reef on my desk...as long as its olive drab huh? I already catch crap from other cadets about the one in my dorm.

[shrinky]

I would ask for permission since you'll need to run a filter. If you had a small betta tank that didn't require a filter that would be another story... I mean yeah power is one thing, but with a filter you're going to have noise, splash, salt, all that...

 

And as some have already said, I'd be careful... there are some messed up jerks in this world... my gf used to have a betta in her office, along with a few others... and 'someone' was making them fight after hours... peope were noticing their bettas fins were all torn up... most likely it was the night custodial or some sicko coworkers, but that's just sad.

[PaulS]

And as some have already said, I'd be careful... there are some messed up jerks in this world... my gf used to have a betta in her office, along with a few others... and 'someone' was making them fight after hours... peope were noticing their bettas fins were all torn up... most likely it was the night custodial or some sicko coworkers, but that's just sad.

 

Losers...that is sad. That was probably the same person who was helping themselves to cigars out of my humidor.

 

I also noticed that my cleaning crew polishes our "mahogany" veneer desks and that the windows/glass walls are spotless. *Sniffing* around leads me to believe that they're using a lot of Pledge and Windex. Not sure if I want to bring in a tank ...

[bank_vault]

I'm sure the Army will be super understanding about my need for a pico reef on my desk...as long as its olive drab huh? I already catch crap from other cadets about the one in my dorm.

 

Tell those flaming ### pot wearing cadets to take a hike

 

The ARMY might let yah, and yes you best ask permission, nothing like a ###ed CPT to come in and slam the sucker off your desk to ruin the day. Seriously though some places are relaxed, like say reserve ang guard posts.....

 

What are you hoping to Branch?

[rsaavedra]

Tell those flaming ### pot wearing cadets to take a hike

 

The ARMY might let yah, and yes you best ask permission, nothing like a ###ed CPT to come in and slam the sucker off your desk to ruin the day. Seriously though some places are relaxed, like say reserve ang guard posts.....

 

What are you hoping to Branch?

 

 

Hehehe, I had a 46G Bowfront reef on my Team room (I was the Team SGT - I think that helped!!!) and one day the Group CDR came by Company HQ's, called for me and order me to take it home... I told him in the SPEC-OPS world we needed a little relaxation and distraction given what we did for a living. He said show me this relaxation and distraction you speak off!!! I took him to our Team Room and he stood there amazed for about 20 minutes, then the interrogation began: How does it work? what is that? is that what i think it is? how you feed it? Anyways, a week later he showed up with a request to go to the Group HQ's and set up 70G reef!!! BTW I got an offer to move to the Group HQ's and work there for the maintenance and everything else, of course I loved what i did to much so I declined his offer, but I asked not to deploy for 6 months so I can teach some of the non military permanent employees that worked there on how it was supposed to be taken care off... Long story short, the old man went on to make a few stars and retired, he took a job at the Pentagon and when he found out I lived in the area he invited me to his house to discuss Operation Convince the Wife followed by Operation Reef Freedom... Go figure...