Pico Jar

brandon429 · Nov 3, 2019

It won't matter either way due to accessibility. I've cleaned my sandbed over a hundred times now over the years, but Maritza the vase reef has never had a full sandbed clean, they only do 50% water change every ten days or so. Clean sandbed functions as well as bare bottom

Flexibility either way is certain

fulltang · Nov 3, 2019

brandon429 said:
It won't matter either way due to accessibility. I've cleaned my sandbed over a hundred times now over the years, but Maritza the vase reef has never had a full sandbed clean, they only do 50% water change every ten days or so. Clean sandbed functions as well as bare bottom

Flexibility either way is certain

Makes total sense!

@ragreefer How did you end up securing everything inside the jar, like the inkbird probe? Very interested in how you cable managed so cleanly in the back.

ragreefer · Nov 4, 2019

fulltang said:
Makes total sense!

@ragreefer How did you end up securing everything inside the jar, like the inkbird probe? Very interested in how you cable managed so cleanly in the back.

I actually dont have much wire management going on. All the cords exit the jar in the same area, then straight down behind the table it sits on. The curvature of the jar does a good job of hiding the equipment at most angles, which is nice.

The inkbird is not secured at all, I try and keep it under the wire for the pump of heater, and sometimes in front of the powerhead outlet to create a bit of random flow, haha. The powerhead is secured with magnets as I didnt trust the supplied suction cups. The heater is also not set mounted as the suction cups failed after about 3 months, so i keep it tucked behind my LR. All 3 of these items are in a slightly different spot after each water change.

crgullet · Nov 4, 2019

@ragreefer, how much of a temperature increase do the lights add to the jar set flush and when you raised it?

ragreefer · Nov 4, 2019

crgullet said:
@ragreefer, how much of a temperature increase do the lights add to the jar set flush and when you raised it?

Just the lights its hard to say. The temp in this small of a water volume has alot to do with the ambient temp in the room as well.

I would guess just the lights, mounted flush and at full power, in a 72° room would get the tank to around 78°. This is without running a pump. With my pump it would get the tank to about 80°-81°.

fulltang · Nov 4, 2019

ragreefer said:
Just the lights its hard to say. The temp in this small of a water volume has alot to do with the ambient temp in the room as well.

I would guess just the lights, mounted flush and at full power, in a 72° room would get the tank to around 78°. This is without running a pump. With my pump it would get the tank to about 80°-81°.

By adding the airtubing to create that gap, you were able to get your temps below 81 with 72 ambient? Hmm I'm definitely going to need to figure out how to keep a lower ambient temp in my place during the summer with my jar, it'll get up in the mid 80s ambient. Obviously an AC window unit would be the starting point, and I'll need to accept that it'll have to run when I'm not at home to enjoy it personally, haha!

ragreefer · Nov 5, 2019

fulltang said:
By adding the airtubing to create that gap, you were able to get your temps below 81 with 72 ambient? Hmm I'm definitely going to need to figure out how to keep a lower ambient temp in my place during the summer with my jar, it'll get up in the mid 80s ambient. Obviously an AC window unit would be the starting point, and I'll need to accept that it'll have to run when I'm not at home to enjoy it personally, haha!

If the room you plan on housing this is going to hit 80° you will definitely not be able to run a pump, I think you might have problems keeping temps down even without a pump. Most people with jars this size just run an air stone for circulation as they take up minimal space and give off no heat, much less flow though.

crgullet · Nov 5, 2019

Room temp is my problem in the summer time also. It will hit 78 degrees, so that is why I have a Tetra Whisper 40 air pump to use. I do like the PicoPro light but it may give off to much heat for me in the summer time. Still trying to decide on the light though. Your jar is looking good!

fulltang · Nov 5, 2019

ragreefer said:
If the room you plan on housing this is going to hit 80° you will definitely not be able to run a pump, I think you might have problems keeping temps down even without a pump. Most people with jars this size just run an air stone for circulation as they take up minimal space and give off no heat, much less flow though.

crgullet said:
Room temp is my problem in the summer time also. It will hit 78 degrees, so that is why I have a Tetra Whisper 40 air pump to use. I do like the PicoPro light but it may give off to much heat for me in the summer time. Still trying to decide on the light though. Your jar is looking good!

I opted for that same pump, the tetra 40. Ended up ordering the light last night so we'll see. One thought I had was actually setting the jar in a larger reservoir, filled so that the water line is about 1/3rd up the outside of the jar with an ice probe installed in it, and the inkbird probe inside the jar.

Nevil · Jan 25, 2020

Any updates on you reef jar? I just got my Pico pro from reefsmart yesterday and got my jar set up. Hoping mine looks as good as yours, yours look great!

ragreefer · Feb 2, 2020

Nevil said:
Any updates on you reef jar? I just got my Pico pro from reefsmart yesterday and got my jar set up. Hoping mine looks as good as yours, yours look great!

It’s going great! Since my last set of pics I have removed the birds nest since it was growing too fast, and also added some other acros that are all doing well. I did lose my forest fire digi due to what I think was a bacterial infection. Here are some pics from about 2 months ago. I will post some more recent ones when my lights come on

spidercrab · Feb 2, 2020

Wow incredible little setup! Thinking about doing a side project now!

spidercrab · Feb 2, 2020

crgullet said:
Room temp is my problem in the summer time also. It will hit 78 degrees, so that is why I have a Tetra Whisper 40 air pump to use. I do like the PicoPro light but it may give off to much heat for me in the summer time. Still trying to decide on the light though. Your jar is looking good!

I think if you dim it down it would be good. Looks like it puts out a lot of PAR that would only be needed at full brightness for a major SPS setup.