biglurr545
Member
im starting a pico tank and i wanna see what some of them look like. get some ideas. i just got a 2 gallon tank with 10 watts pc 50 50 lights over it so i can support alot let me see what you people have done with them
Pico tanks
- Thread starter biglurr545
- Start date
chipmaker
Active Member
Welcome to the world of PICO tanks......Are you planning on having a hob type fuge/filter? 10 watts will be ok for a alot of stuff like shrooms, some leathers and zoos, star polyps and feather dusters. The biggest issue you may have is with water getting too warm. Is the 10 watt PC the screw in type like Coralife puts out? They are ok, but put out a lot more heat than the typical 7/9 or 13 watt PC bulbs with pin contacts do, but they are still sufficient....I would recomend an Aqua Clear AC70 for a hob fuge/ mechanical filter. The aqua clear hob types are great to modify for fuge / mechanical filter use. The 110 is even better but you would probably have issues with its size and flow, although there is a fix for that as well. I'd upload some more pics of my picos but I have a dial up and it would take for ever since my connection speeds are typically in the 14 to 21,000 bps on a great day. Here is one for starters. Its 2 gal wave type tank.....with 2, 13 watt and one 9 watt PC lighting, 3/4 watt lunar, 3" fan for cooling and a 7 watt matt heater. Its been up better than a year now and does fine. It currently has three sexy shrimp and a neon goby in it. LOts of shrooms, polyps etc.
This pic was taken prior to adding additional lights and in these pics it had a 13 watt and 9 watt PC with the 9 watt being full actinic and the 13 watt being 50/50. The hood is made out of acrylic.
This pic was taken prior to adding additional lights and in these pics it had a 13 watt and 9 watt PC with the 9 watt being full actinic and the 13 watt being 50/50. The hood is made out of acrylic.
biglurr545
Member
wow thats really cool. i have some toadstool and some zoos and stars from my 7 gallon that im going to put in it and im thinkin about maybe a few dwarf seahorses. it is the corallife screw in bulb so heat my possibly be a problem and im not sure what to do about flow and filter because seahorses dont like alot but the corals need some. it will have a live sand bed and plenty of live rock for biological i just need a mechanical one i might fashoin some sort of bubble powered filter for it to give some flow and filter
chipmaker
Active Member
Originally Posted by biglurr545
wow thats really cool. i have some toadstool and some zoos and stars from my 7 gallon that im going to put in it and im thinkin about maybe a few dwarf seahorses. it is the corallife screw in bulb so heat my possibly be a problem and im not sure what to do about flow and filter because seahorses dont like alot but the corals need some. it will have a live sand bed and plenty of live rock for biological i just need a mechanical one i might fashoin some sort of bubble powered filter for it to give some flow and filter
YOu will still be way ahead of the game using a Aqua Clear type hob modified into a fuge / mechanical filter. They have an adjustable flow that reduces the flow substantially, and then yu can always modify the pumps impeller to even further the flow. Modifying the impeller is extremely easy to do and only requires a sharp knife and only takes a few minutes. You can even fit a sponge type filter sleeve on the end of ther AC type filters which further restricts flow......I have an AC110 on a 1.8 gal pico, and the AC 110 is suitable for a tank up to 110 gal and has an awfull lot of flow, yet I can adjust it to such a low flow it hardly disrupts any mushrooms and such unless the tank is in need of topping off, and then its even more than suitable for a tank containing seahorses. It was a major mod to fit a 110 model AC on a tank that is much narrower than the filter itself but it works..I hapapened to have an extra 110 laying around and no cash to buy a AC70 at the time. I modded the impeller, the intake, and put a baffle in the outflow portion after cutting the hangon lip to divert the water into a narrower outflow spillway....
wow thats really cool. i have some toadstool and some zoos and stars from my 7 gallon that im going to put in it and im thinkin about maybe a few dwarf seahorses. it is the corallife screw in bulb so heat my possibly be a problem and im not sure what to do about flow and filter because seahorses dont like alot but the corals need some. it will have a live sand bed and plenty of live rock for biological i just need a mechanical one i might fashoin some sort of bubble powered filter for it to give some flow and filter
YOu will still be way ahead of the game using a Aqua Clear type hob modified into a fuge / mechanical filter. They have an adjustable flow that reduces the flow substantially, and then yu can always modify the pumps impeller to even further the flow. Modifying the impeller is extremely easy to do and only requires a sharp knife and only takes a few minutes. You can even fit a sponge type filter sleeve on the end of ther AC type filters which further restricts flow......I have an AC110 on a 1.8 gal pico, and the AC 110 is suitable for a tank up to 110 gal and has an awfull lot of flow, yet I can adjust it to such a low flow it hardly disrupts any mushrooms and such unless the tank is in need of topping off, and then its even more than suitable for a tank containing seahorses. It was a major mod to fit a 110 model AC on a tank that is much narrower than the filter itself but it works..I hapapened to have an extra 110 laying around and no cash to buy a AC70 at the time. I modded the impeller, the intake, and put a baffle in the outflow portion after cutting the hangon lip to divert the water into a narrower outflow spillway....
biglurr545
Member
i went to ***** today and they had a small submersable filter called the stingray or something. it was small and had a sponge intake with a revolving return it seemed like a good set up and it was only 15 bucks i might have to go back and get it
tinyreef
Member
waterchanges can be done like traditional tanks. prep the volume you want to change, remove that amount in an identical container (16 oz. plastic party cups work well/cheaply), and then introduce the new sw slowly. i usually use even smaller plastic cups (4 oz.).
the heat issues can be addressed with a desk fan or larger fan or even slightly lowering the ambient room temperature.
historically for me, evaporation has been the biggest pita. minute amounts of evaporation can become wide salinity changes for such a small system. if you seal or semi-seal your system, a lot of this issue can be controlled. vigilent maintenance will do the trick but i'm for making it simple and cruise-control, i.e. imalazy.
an auto top-off device is almost mandatory for picos but they also take up valuable tank real estate imo. i wish someone could develop a pico ATO.
this is a pic of my sunlit 2.5g pico.
it's an entry for a pico contest on NR. sorry for the glare, the sun/window controls my lighting.
the heat issues can be addressed with a desk fan or larger fan or even slightly lowering the ambient room temperature.
historically for me, evaporation has been the biggest pita. minute amounts of evaporation can become wide salinity changes for such a small system. if you seal or semi-seal your system, a lot of this issue can be controlled. vigilent maintenance will do the trick but i'm for making it simple and cruise-control, i.e. imalazy.
an auto top-off device is almost mandatory for picos but they also take up valuable tank real estate imo. i wish someone could develop a pico ATO.
this is a pic of my sunlit 2.5g pico.
it's an entry for a pico contest on NR. sorry for the glare, the sun/window controls my lighting.
chipmaker
Active Member
Water changes are water changes size of tank makes no difference. Treat it just like a regular sized tank...(just what size is a regular size anyhow?) Since I tend to run fuges on most of mine and have good current flow, and each has its own home brew skimmer in the HOB Aqua clears, I only do a water change maybe 1 or 2 times at most in a month, or if I happen to have any water left when I do changes on the larger tanks etc.....Its just one thing I do not do on a routine schedule thats etched in stone.
nanomantis
Member
i just take a cup of water out and then pour a new cup in :-D
chipmaker
Active Member
Tank body?????? I assume you mean what tank I use for my display. I use a few different ones. I got a great closeout brother inlaw priceon soe Red Sea wave tanks of 2 gal capacity with nano filters and 13 watt PC lights dirt cheap, and I also got a bunch of 1.8 and 1.5 gal tanks from ***** that they were clearing out......I also make my own with acrylic. No mods are done to these tanks just use em like any reg tank. I have drilled one 1.8 gal tank that I am playing with and intend to put a sump / fuge on it just like a large setup would have, but its not up and running yet.
Attached is a diagram how to modify the typical AC hob filters.....other than size of the AC filters the proceedure is the same.
The other pic is of a modded AC500 / 110. The pic is not one of my filters but its the same exact thing as what the diagram depicts. All parts used to modify the hob is obtained from included parts of the AC hob filters. (Media basket is what is cut apart and used, and everything is secured in place with marine goop)
To slow or reduce flow on these AC units, the most common method is to trim a small amount off each pump impeller blade, and try it, if less flow is desired, trim a small amount again until you get it to where you want. Its only necessary to trim about 1mm at a time off each blade to see a difference. There is also a black collar on the filters inntube that makes a seal around the pump inlet when you adjust flow usuing the AC moveable inlet tube, that can be removed. It just slips on the end of the tube, and once removed reduces overall flow.....Only certain AC hob have this black ring / collar and the smaller ones do not have it.
Attached is a diagram how to modify the typical AC hob filters.....other than size of the AC filters the proceedure is the same.
The other pic is of a modded AC500 / 110. The pic is not one of my filters but its the same exact thing as what the diagram depicts. All parts used to modify the hob is obtained from included parts of the AC hob filters. (Media basket is what is cut apart and used, and everything is secured in place with marine goop)
To slow or reduce flow on these AC units, the most common method is to trim a small amount off each pump impeller blade, and try it, if less flow is desired, trim a small amount again until you get it to where you want. Its only necessary to trim about 1mm at a time off each blade to see a difference. There is also a black collar on the filters inntube that makes a seal around the pump inlet when you adjust flow usuing the AC moveable inlet tube, that can be removed. It just slips on the end of the tube, and once removed reduces overall flow.....Only certain AC hob have this black ring / collar and the smaller ones do not have it.