Pico tank questions

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Hey everyone, hope all are having a good night, and i was just sitting here looking at my 75 gallon mixed reef, and looked over and forgot that i had just found this 2.5 gallon little tank and was really thinking about doing a pico reef......as i only have experience in the big tank, can someone point me in the right direction to like a page or if someone can go thru the general guidelines artistically how a aquascape in a pico is supposed to work? and im guessing i would cycle like i would any other tank.....and im also guessing a small hob filter would be enough flow and filtration for this little guy? sorry its a little blurry but you get the idea....its 7.5 in by 7.5 in by 7.5 in

 

[WV Reefer]

Hey everyone, hope all are having a good night, and i was just sitting here looking at my 75 gallon mixed reef, and looked over and forgot that i had just found this 2.5 gallon little tank and was really thinking about doing a pico reef......as i only have experience in the big tank, can someone point me in the right direction to like a page or if someone can go thru the general guidelines artistically how a aquascape in a pico is supposed to work? and im guessing i would cycle like i would any other tank.....and im also guessing a small hob filter would be enough flow and filtration for this little guy? sorry its a little blurry but you get the idea....its 7.5 in by 7.5 in by 7.5 in

R2R has some good info but Nano-Reef.com is the go to for small reefs.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

am i going to regret doing this pico tank? are they more difficult? i started my 75 gallon two years ago and have always heard to go big as you can bc if anything breaks out it spreads alot faster in smaller tanks....but i think i may just be making this strictly a zoa pico

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

thanks for the info mate

 

[WV Reefer]

am i going to regret doing this pico tank? are they more difficult? i started my 75 gallon two years ago and have always heard to go big as you can bc if anything breaks out it spreads alot faster in smaller tanks....but i think i may just be making this strictly a zoa pico

that is mostly a myth.

I have a nano reef and a 75 gallon reef......they are basically the same. I think smaller tanks are easier because help is just a water change away.

 

[Ranjib]

I found this in nano reef very helpful when i started: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/180570-el-fabs-simple-guide-to-pico-tanks/
I have two picos, and I think they are much easier to do than my 29G., obviously, you'll be limited in your choice.

 

[Ranjib]

Small HOB filter by itself may not be enough, depending upon your livestock. But they are useful for holding a small pack of chemipure nano. and filter floss. I prefer a rio80 (since i have a backchamber, my picos are fluval spec 3 and imagitarium). Since you dont have that go for a 12V dc return pump that you can stick inside. What about light? Kessil A80 is pretty good. You'll need a heater as well. thats pretty much all you need. Do at least 30% water change weekly and you should be good.

 

[Ranjib]

Some more inputs on keeping them stable in the long run:
- Dont keep fish. Go for snails, sexy shrimp, porcelin crabs etc..
- Feed reef roid or small particle food, only once a week before water change. That will keep the nutrient at low
- Choose non-invasive corals. Most softies (gsp, zoas, palys) , shrooms, ricordias will grow fine. Some lps (blastos, lepto for example) are fine, some other (bubble, torch) are not.. due to size issues. You can keep monitopora, and some other sps (pink digitata, green pociliopora) easily.. you'll need more fine tuning for green slimer or entry level acros.. I am at that stage right now

 

[Ranjib]

am i going to regret doing this pico tank? are they more difficult? i started my 75 gallon two years ago and have always heard to go big as you can bc if anything breaks out it spreads alot faster in smaller tanks....but i think i may just be making this strictly a zoa pico

Not at all. If you do it right, this may be more rewarding, you'll see the corals, pods etc up close, it will require less maintenance. and you can deal with pretty much everything including bubble algae, GHA mechanically.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

wow Great guys! Thanks for all the input and advice!! I can picture this little pico now! I want it to be rare zoanthids and palys only, maybe some rare ricordea at that bottom or something but i want very very little rock to touch the bottom, maybe at just one point in the front and kinda spiral up and around on each side, kinda like a rams horn or something....kinda minimalistic as far as how much rock touches the bottom

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

if i run a line from my sump thats on my 75 gallon to my pico, would that work? and in that case i wouldnt have to cycle anything right?

 

[tiggs]

Some great advice on here. On the difficulty aspect of it, it all comes down to what you want to keep. If you're trying to keep top shelf acros or other things that required strict stability, then yes, it will be MUCH harder to keep than a larger tank. If you're just trying to keep softies, then it won't be bad at all. Water changes are obviously important in a pico, but it's also vital to keep your nutrient import as low as possible. I like the Reef Roid 1x week and no fish suggestions.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Some great advice on here. On the difficulty aspect of it, it all comes down to what you want to keep. If you're trying to keep top shelf acros or other things that required strict stability, then yes, it will be MUCH harder to keep than a larger tank. If you're just trying to keep softies, then it won't be bad at all. Water changes are obviously important in a pico, but it's also vital to keep your nutrient import as low as possible. I like the Reef Roid 1x week and no fish suggestions.

thanks man! yeah there wont be any fish in this pico....strictly zoas and palys!! super bright zoas and palys! a small clean up crew and good to go.....if i plumb this pico into my sump on my 75 gallon, should work dont you think?

 

[Ranjib]

This is my zoa dominated 2.7 g fluval spec . I would actually recommend getting a single live rock piece of possible . It helps stabilizing the whole system and also keeps it easy to clean and base for gluing zoa or shrooms.
I would suggest going bare bottom or minimal sand

 

[Ranjib]

thanks man! yeah there wont be any fish in this pico....strictly zoas and palys!! super bright zoas and palys! a small clean up crew and good to go.....if i plumb this pico into my sump on my 75 gallon, should work dont you think?

Yeah plumbing it to a bigger tank will work as well, but then you don’t really need any filtration on the pico

 

[WV Reefer]

I had a 2.2 Gallon pico that housed my Eunice Worm until he died. The tank had no filtration..... just a light, a heater and a powerhead.

 

[JumboShrimp]

You could put in one Coral Banded Shrimp and let it be ‘master of the tank.’ I throw in one medium sized pellet (and occasional algae wafer) each day and let him scavenge the tank for whatever else.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

You could put in one Coral Banded Shrimp and let it be ‘master of the tank.’ I throw in one medium sized pellet (and occasional algae wafer) each day and let him scavenge the tank for whatever else.

thats awesome! got a pic?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

nice pico tanks everyone! man they all look great!!! im looking forward to this pico

 

[Katrina71]

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!