Jonny’s 1g pico build

[Jonny Walker]

I was hopping around the lfs’s today and came across a 1g lifeguard Aquatics pico tank, Impulsively it had to be mine
I have had a few tanks over the years but nothing this “pico”, my current set up is a waterbox peninsula 25 and I have always regretted not making a build thread for it or any other tank I have had for that matter.
Well if I am going to try my hand i might as well start small (literally) so here is what I have so far.

Tank
Lifeguard Aquatics

5.90" x 5.90" x 7.87",​

Light

Lominie LED Aquarium Light, Nano Asta 20 ( on order)​

Pump
Quiet One 200 (came with)

That’s all I have for equipment so far, I need to do research into some suitable heaters and evaporation control (recommendations welcome)
I will most likely make a plexiglass cover to help with evap and maybe just top up manually.
The over flow chamber is quite small and the pump takes up the majority of the room so a heater would have to be pretty small.

for the scape I have some extra caribsea life rock left over from my current tank, my immediate plan was to try to conserve space with the dimensions I have to work with.
I decided I would use the corner overflow as the focus for the scape and
I wanted to be able to remove it easily if needed, I took an old DVD case and chopped it up smashed a few pieces of rock made some dust to cover the cracks and began gluing it on, a few Jack and cokes later and below is what I came up with. It may be the Jack but I am pretty happy with what I have so far.

 

[blaxsun]

"Oh yes, it will be mine!"

 

[Jonny Walker]

Picked up the smallest heater I could find yesterday and it fits great, we will see how it does.
I made a little media basket out of some extra egg crate I have with a piece of the DVD case and filled it with some broken up MarinePure media balls from my PM25, just waiting on the light to come Tuesday.
I started my PM25 with an inkbird but I added an apex that I bought for another tank I planned to set up when I move a year from now, I had it for about a month before I couldn’t stand it just sitting in the box any longer and had to try it out lol.
I had both temp probes running on the PM 25 so I thought why not use the inkbird probe in the pico since I don’t really need both on the main tank, a bit over kill but it works

 

[bstodds15]

This is awesome - really like the rock wall you made with the rubble.

What do you plan to stock it with?

 

[Jonny Walker]

The light came a day earlier and is built better then I expected, we will see how it performs.
I added 2 of the smallest blue leg hermits I could find in the PM25 just to get some life in there and have been feed pellets to get a small bio load going.

 

[Jonny Walker]

This is awesome - really like the rock wall you made with the rubble.

What do you plan to stock it with?

Thanks, I’m not 100% on stock yet but I’m thinking zoas and mushrooms.
I’ll probably add a margarita snail and I have 2 very small blue leg hermits in it now.
Won’t be any fish but maybe a Pom Pom crab could be cool?

 

[bstodds15]

Pom Pom crab would be cool - i've always wanted to pick one up but next see them in any of my LFS.

Some anemone shrimp would also be a cool idea.

 

[Jonny Walker]

Small update, I decided to add some sand.
I originally wanted to go bare bottom but I just like the look of sand so much better.
I added the light to my apex so it can be on a timer.
The heater seems to be working ok, I’m getting fluctuations between 77 and 78 so I think it may be ok.
I am having to top up every day so far but I’m planning on making a lid this weekend .

sorry for the terrible pic my camera on my phone is crap lol.

 

[bstodds15]

I definitely think adding sand was a good move!
Now you can throw a bumblebee snail or two in there if you wanted some more inverts.

 

[Jonny Walker]

Added a few mushrooms, some zoas, little chunk of birds nest and a small polyp of polkaroo that broke off in the main tank from a frag.
Pics about 4 days old starting to get some diatoms and brown algae on the glass.
The hardest part is getting in to clean the glass looking for a small magnet scraper.

 

[Swbvegas]

I'm really curious how much you've spent and the links to purchase.

 

[bstodds15]

Added a few mushrooms, some zoas, little chunk of birds nest and a small polyp of polkaroo that broke off in the main tank from a frag.
Pics about 4 days old starting to get some diatoms and brown algae on the glass.
The hardest part is getting in to clean the glass looking for a small magnet scraper.

You could give this mini algae scrubber a try

Carefree Fish Mini Algae Scrapers Super Magnetic Cleaner Small Fish Tank Glass and Acrylic Aquarium Magenet Brush（3 Models）

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I'm totally following this build. I'm in the market for a new Pico tank, I currently have a super tiny Cunzo Mini Complete Tank, and it's developed a small crack in the display, but I had so much fun with it that I'm researching a slightly larger tank.

What light did you end up using?

Also I have had that exact magnet cleaner right above and it didn't last long using just in freshwater, so I didn't expect it to last long with saltwater.

I was going to try this one next
Magnet cleaner

 

[bstodds15]

I'm totally following this build. I'm in the market for a new Pico tank, I currently have a super tiny Cunzo Mini Complete Tank, and it's developed a small crack in the display, but I had so much fun with it that I'm researching a slightly larger tank.

What light did you end up using?

Also I have had that exact magnet cleaner right above and it didn't last long using just in freshwater, so I didn't expect it to last long with saltwater.

I was going to try this one next
Magnet cleaner

Yeah, ive seen people using the one I linked but wasn’t sure about the longevity of it.

 

[Jonny Walker]

I'm totally following this build. I'm in the market for a new Pico tank, I currently have a super tiny Cunzo Mini Complete Tank, and it's developed a small crack in the display, but I had so much fun with it that I'm researching a slightly larger tank.

What light did you end up using?

Also I have had that exact magnet cleaner right above and it didn't last long using just in freshwater, so I didn't expect it to last long with saltwater.

I was going to try this one next
Magnet cleaner

This is the light I’m using

Lominie LED Aquarium Light, Nano Asta 20 ​

 

[Blindzy]

Cool little build!

 

[AlgaeBarn]

awesome pico build!

 

[Jonny Walker]

Added a few coral
Some zoas (not sure the name)
A very bright green Mushroom
2 Florida ricordea
A small feather duster
A piece of birds nest that broke off in the main tank as well as a small polyp of polkaroo that fell off the main colony.

 

[Jonny Walker]

Looking Fresh after the water change.
I have been changing about 25% of the water weekly and topping up evap daily.
Still need to make a lid my first attempt didn’t go well lol…back to Home Depot.

also anybody got an ID on these zoas?

 

[bstodds15]

Looking Fresh after the water change.
I have been changing about 25% of the water weekly and topping up evap daily.
Still need to make a lid my first attempt didn’t go well lol…back to Home Depot.

also anybody got an ID on these zoas?

Maybe an Eagle Eye Zoa?