manni Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 hey all, been busily reading all the posts her for about a year now and have finally decided to try my hand at a pico reef it's gonna be small...a 4x5x4 inch acrylic tank. i've made a tiny powerhead using a pc watercooling pump which will be fed from a hole in the base of the tank and will pump the water out to the top. Should be a pretty strong flow. Lighting will be provided by a bunch of luxeon led's i've got....i'm finking 3 white, one blue? depending on the led configuration i use, i could get up to 12 watts of lighting....is this overkill on such a small tank? i'm building a circuit using a pic microcontroller which will turn the lights on and off at a specified time. the whole thing will hopefully run off 6-9volts. I may even use an old nokia charger lol what do you guys think? also is a refugium worthwhile on such a small tank? I'm guessing a fuge of this size would only hold 100-150ml...is that worth it or will it be pointless? any advice appreciated..especially on the lighting, fuge, and possible inhabitants Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 also is a refugium worthwhile on such a small tank? I'm guessing a fuge of this size would only hold 100-150ml...is that worth it or will it be pointless? any advice appreciated..especially on the lighting, fuge, and possible inhabitants the value of the refugium depends on a couple of issues. first, what are you planning on keeping in the tank and the refugium. if there's probably/possibly going to be conflict between some of the livestock (e.g. peppermint shrimp and zoanthids) then i would get a fuge to separate them but still get their respective benefits (e.g. aesthetics of the zoanthids and the plankton of the shrimp fry). second, how are you going to use the refugium. is it's just for more volume for the overall system? is it for filtration (e.g. algae scrubbing)? is it to balance out water issues (e.g. pH, RDP application)? or maybe just a frag area? i wouldn't say it's pointless but if it's not related to one of the reasons above i wouldn't bother. hth Link to comment
Travis Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 4x5x4? That is awfully small I would go with something that is atleast 2.5 US Gallons. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 could you post pictures of the PC pump and any info? i've seen some but i thought they were made of or had materials inappropriate for reefs, i.e. copper. another thing to keep in mind is the dynamics of water at such small sizes (you're basically making a femto-reef imo, smaller than a typical pico). the surface tension of water really becomes apparent at sub-pico sizes ime. so it sometimes won't "act" like you would normally picture water to act. water motion, diffusion, equilibriums, aren't as easy to maintain as in larger tanks like 1-gallons or 2.5-gallons like travis is suggesting. i would definitely suggest running the tank empty for a while so you can gauge how the water moves around. you can drip-drop fw into sw and see how it flows and mixes (the swirlies). just had my coffee now, so my brain is just starting to kick in. Link to comment
Prowland Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 I second the 2.5gal. Have you ever kept saltwater? Link to comment
manni Posted July 30, 2006 Author Share Posted July 30, 2006 I second the 2.5gal. Have you ever kept saltwater? hi guys, thanks for the feedback...in answer to your q's nope never kept saltwater so kinda learning as i go...i figure if it doesnt work as a sw tank, i can use it to grow out my baby fw cherry shrimps the pump im using is a danger den one, its sealed with a plastic impeller, so should be reefsafe. i may use a polyfilter pad in the output to remove any contamination etc just in case.... i'll be using purigen and maybe a spot of carbon to keep the water as stable as possible. filtration will mainly be by the live rock. the fuge was going to be mainly to add a bit of extra water volume...granted its not much but every little helps i guess at this small a size...the secondary fucntion would have been to provide a safe haven for pods etc, maybe grow some algae for nutrient scrubbing if i lit it... i know its a small water volume, hence why i'm planning a small bioload...maybe one hermit crab and a snail, some corals, eg: gsp or xenia? I guess i'm probably after photosynthetic corals mainly, or ones that dnt require too much feeding the tank will be sealed to minimise evaporation although some will always happen. and yep i'll be running it empty for a couple fo weeks to see if the temp remains stable, check water params, make sure everything works as its meant to.... Link to comment
Travis Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 For anyone new to saltwater, I strongly suggest something larger than 20 US Gallons. so many things can go wrong (and they will, don't kid yourslef) in smaller systems. The greater amount of water, the less amount a change (temp, evaporation, etcetera) will have an effect on the system. Link to comment
irishtexan Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 I say a 2.5G also. Just an idea...it would be really cool looking if you just had all xenia or a tank with xenia being the dominant species. HTH texx Link to comment
schaadrak Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Just keep an eye on the Xenia since they can grow fairly quickly. Link to comment
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