Pico tank questions

[Justin....#JAMAS]

I'm excited to see what you do with it. We have a pico planned for after Christmas. Please post your successes and failures. Lots of pics!

That also sounds exciting! I beleive i will def start a pico build thread when i get it up and going soon and will post the link to the build back in this thread!

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Hey guys, since ill be breaking up some very very porous rock and will be using very small pieces to glue together, you guys think alot of this glue would suffice? I use this glue to glue down new frags or just attaching any coral to my rocks in my 75g....think it will hold alright? Kind of on a budget lol

 

[Ruben's Reef]

That will be an interesting build. As soon you make the build thread don't forget to post a link here... Following>>>

 

[Katrina71]

I have used Coral glue for small rocks.

 

[JumboShrimp]

These are small slant-front 7 gallon tanks from Lifeguard. With the small ‘sump’ area in the back, and after the rock and sand, they hold about 5 gallons. The one that’s getting too much natural morning light has some green hair algae now, but each tank is a work-in-progress with potential. Mostly I wanted to show that each has a Coral Banded Shrimp... each of which had molted several times, so they must be happy

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Pico tanks are fun. I had one at my office that has now been taken down. Not due to anything going wrong, boss just approved a larger tank with my promotion. It had some palys, kenya tree, and some macro algae. I did put some GSP in there and then changed my mind about that one. The only inhabitant was a Pom Pom Crap and a snail that is now in my larger tank. The tank is going to get setup again, but I will use it for zoas only this time. When I set it up, all was planned out and rock was placed in my 110's sump for 2 months. I then used that rock and some sand from the DT of the 110 to start the tank. There was no cycle and the pod population was nuts. It was funny to watch the Pom Pom catch pods with his anemones and eat them.

Tank was 1 gallon tanks with a all in one filter/powerhead with the sponge and carbon removed. I used a a fluval sponge with a hole cut in it and then purigen in a small mesh bag in that hole. It had a small heater and a diy cob led light.

Pic from when it was first set up at the office. When taken down, the filter/pump and back glass was purple and pink with coralline, and it had a few more palys/zoas. The macro algae was also great for keeping things straight. It filled in the hole where it was at quite nicely. I think the whole setup cost me 40 bucks, minus the livestock. Water change was 1 cup of water a day and it left the tank with great params for things that like the water just slightly dirty.

 

[brandon429]

Regarding top shelf Sps in a pico

https://www.facebook.com/people/Ma-Rit-Za/100009012515486

Square tank pico= tricky due to topoff. Salinity is a challenge

Vase or fishbowl...due to inner fitting lid vs sits on top or open topped, top off is once a week using no support machinery and beats the salinity stability of any sized tank on this site, irony in many ways. The shape of the vessel controls your salinity in amazing ways

 

[JumboShrimp]

Never thought of that; learned a new and valuable point.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Soooooooooooo, tonight i got extremely bored and figured you know, why not go ahead and get one of my huge dry rocks, go out back, bust it into a trillion cool pieces and start my aquascape! lol the higher end , nice, wonderfully bright zoas and palys will be in next week so i need to get ready!! first time aquascaping a pico and you cant really get the real feel of it bc theres no sand or water or backdrop but youll see more, better detailed pics when i get it up and running! i broke up a huge rock and believe it or not used the strongest coral super glue i could find and man i couldnt of asked for such a better hold if i do say so myself, haha.....enjoy and thanks for all your info and input and look forward to more pointers from you all on this soon to be freaking sweet pico!!!!!!

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

you know just first noticing this sitting back looking at these pics.....i see a face and almost like a man falling over lol......tried my best to make it look natural and i taped the front with a tic tac toe board to comply with the rule of thirds....but hilarious

 

[WV Reefer]

Soooooooooooo, tonight i got extremely bored and figured you know, why not go ahead and get one of my huge dry rocks, go out back, bust it into a trillion cool pieces and start my aquascape! lol the higher end , nice, wonderfully bright zoas and palys will be in next week so i need to get ready!! first time aquascaping a pico and you cant really get the real feel of it bc theres no sand or water or backdrop but youll see more, better detailed pics when i get it up and running! i broke up a huge rock and believe it or not used the strongest coral super glue i could find and man i couldnt of asked for such a better hold if i do say so myself, haha.....enjoy and thanks for all your info and input and look forward to more pointers from you all on this soon to be freaking sweet pico!!!!!!

I like it!

 

[Ranjib]

Love it. It will look very different once corals start growing
Any tentative stocking plan ?

 

[Katrina71]

Soooooooooooo, tonight i got extremely bored and figured you know, why not go ahead and get one of my huge dry rocks, go out back, bust it into a trillion cool pieces and start my aquascape! lol the higher end , nice, wonderfully bright zoas and palys will be in next week so i need to get ready!! first time aquascaping a pico and you cant really get the real feel of it bc theres no sand or water or backdrop but youll see more, better detailed pics when i get it up and running! i broke up a huge rock and believe it or not used the strongest coral super glue i could find and man i couldnt of asked for such a better hold if i do say so myself, haha.....enjoy and thanks for all your info and input and look forward to more pointers from you all on this soon to be freaking sweet pico!!!!!!

That turned out awesome!

 

[Katrina71]

How do ya feel about busting up my rock? Mine never turns out like that!

 

[Preme]

Hey there!
So I’m in the process Of setting up my 6.8 Gallon Pico!
Here’s a few tips I found along the way!
Firstly addressing your question about the HOB filter, I’d say that would be fine on that small of a tank, but your main source of nutrient removement is going to be doing water changes weekly.
Also as far as rock goes I’d try to get 1-2 bigger pieces, and for sand I wouldn’t do a super thick bed.

Fish wise, that’s really the hard party about picos is you have to sacrifice having a lot of cool fish... not saying there isn’t fish that can work in a Pico (various small gobies, small damsels). But your main source of movement is going to be inverts, I’d suggest getting sexy shrimp, various crabs, and Snails

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

when i get things like sand and water and the lighting over it, and also the black background, man the aquascape and corals are going to shine so bright! Im super stoked !!!!!! and as far as inhabitants, well of course i couldnt wait to start my first pico reef build so here ya go! thanks again guys for the kind words and the positive input and information and helping me out!!

Justin's 2 Gallon Pico Reef Build
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/justins-2-gallon-pico-reef-build.464140/


tried to get some different angle shots, but still no justice really....in due time my friends!

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Hey there!
So I’m in the process Of setting up my 6.8 Gallon Pico!
Here’s a few tips I found along the way!
Firstly addressing your question about the HOB filter, I’d say that would be fine on that small of a tank, but your main source of nutrient removement is going to be doing water changes weekly.
Also as far as rock goes I’d try to get 1-2 bigger pieces, and for sand I wouldn’t do a super thick bed.

Fish wise, that’s really the hard party about picos is you have to sacrifice having a lot of cool fish... not saying there isn’t fish that can work in a Pico (various small gobies, small damsels). But your main source of movement is going to be inverts, I’d suggest getting sexy shrimp, various crabs, and Snails

yeah this is strictly going to be a no fish pico....strictly higher end, nice zoas and palys only really....i plan on doing a thin layer of white live sand from my 2 year old 75 gallon, and wanted to plumb it into my return from my sump on my 75 gallon really just for a little flow to be honest lol

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

How do ya feel about busting up my rock? Mine never turns out like that!

katrina, its def an art and my ODD def kicked in hardcore when doing this.....but all i did really was just take a good medium sized pourus rock, a hammer and believe it or not i used one of those long metal kitchen blade sharpeners to put on the rock where i want it to split and pound away accordingly...

 

[JumboShrimp]

Don’t forget to consider some leather corals—very under rated in my opinion. I still want to get around to getting a red cabbage leather for a bit of color, and interesting texture.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Don’t forget to consider some leather corals—very under rated in my opinion. I still want to get around to getting a red cabbage leather for a bit of color, and interesting texture.

You know ive always wanted a awesome toadstool leather in my 75 gallon mixed reef, but cant really afford too much at the moment bc bills never stop! However, since iam feeding this crazy, never ending zoanthid addiction, this 2 gallon is going to be strictly rare, bright, colorful zoas and palys! Id be too afraid of the chemicals that leathers release when they get into coral warfare! Ive def heard alot of stories about leathers killing alot of tank inhabitants lol.....but def a thought for a nice big open space i have in my 75 in the future for sure!!!