Office Water Cooler, OK for pico?

[DracoKat]

I have a small 2.7 cube tank I want to set up as a pico. I am toying with the idea of bringing it to work. I am just trying to figure out how much more work it'd be having it here at work vs at home.
I plan on keeping kenya, gsp, xenia.. corals no one really wants- all softies with some zoas too. A few cerith snails.. and undecided if I want to add shrimp or pompom crab or something else. No fish.

Would the filtered cooler water be OK for top offs and salt mixing? It is attached to the main water line and filters- it's not one of those replaceable water tops. I'd prefer to do this.. a bag of salt would be easier to store than two buckets of water (one for salt, one for RO/DI).

 

[donnievaz]

You'd have to dechlorinate the water before using it. You're probably asking for trouble with algae, etc. but yes you can use it.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Agree with the post above. However, I think I'd also not be too worried about water changes if you're not planning on having fish. I've seen a few people mention that they went years without doing water changes on their fishless tanks. I'd be even less concerned about water changes with the crop of corals you're thinking about keeping. As far as top-off water, I'd probably just bring a gallon jug of RODI water from home. I'm guessing that, with a tank that small, you'd only need to fill the jug up once every 2-3 weeks.

On another note: how did the idea of keeping a fish tank come up? I'd really like to keep one at the office eventually.

 

[andrewkw]

IMO the easiest way to do this would be install a small ato and have a 1 gallon jug or smaller even under the tank. Once a week (or every other week) bring 1-2 gallons of saltwater with you from home, drain enough water from the pico so you can carry it to the sink and change the 50-100% of the water. For the amount of top offs and water changes you need it would be easier to just bring it ready made from home. The top off you'd have to keep at work but the water change water you only need to bring when you are changing water.

 

[DracoKat]

wow, lots of responses, thank you! it's my first pico (I've had larger tanks, including a presently set up 75g, pico is new to me).

A gallon jug would be a good idea to keep. I'll have salt on hand in case the salinity drops with constant topoffs. I'll see how much the micro ATO is going for.. I don't want to spend too much on this pico at this time.

I have my own cubicle, and it's small enough to "not be a distraction". it will sit on my desk. I did talk to my boss before considering the decision, and I actually think he's more excited about it than I am! He was mainly concerned about what other people may say. We agreed that if it's going to be a distraction to me or anyone, I'll take it home, but I feel it should be OK. I even checked with my neighboring coworkers and they said they won't mind me having one- I just need to make sure the filter won't be too loud (though my coworkers said they find the sound relaxing). This office is very lax..if people can bring lawn chairs to nap on during their lunch in their cubicles, or do beading during their downtime, why can't I have a fish tank!?
If the time to care for the tank will be more than 15/20 minutes, I will stay and tend to it after my normal hours (or before).


Since it's a small tank, I don't think changing water would be too time consuming as one might think. Drain a gallon (or two), replace a gallon. It'd be more work to clean it out of it was a betta tank.. then I'd have to do 100% change, scrub and replace.