Reef Jars... fill me in.

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

I was really going to leave the hobby entirely, but someone mentioned Reef jars to me. Can anyone with a reef jar fill me in? Is it easy? What do you do to keep up with your reef jar? Pictures? Set-ups? All feedback is appreciated.

Fatjim · Aug 16, 2020

I think jars have the potential to very infuriating if not maintained properly (baby sitting almost daily) however there is a product at Petco called the imaginarium 3.7g for Bettas that I have had very good success with. All that I did was upgrade the pump and added an appropriate sized light.

I like it a lot as it's the size of a jar but it's also an all In one filter so you can hide your pump and heater

Fatjim · Aug 16, 2020

This was the tank before I upgraded to the nuvo 20

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

Fatjim said:
I think jars have the potential to very infuriating if not maintained properly (baby sitting almost daily) however there is a product at Petco called the imaginarium 3.7g for Bettas that I have had very good success with. All that I did was upgrade the pump and added an appropriate sized light.

I like it a lot as it's the size of a jar but it's also an all In one filter so you can hide your pump and heater

What kind of light do you use and what corals do you have? I’d like to grow Montipora and Stylophora in mine alongside Gorgonians, mushrooms, Zoanthids, et cetera

Fatjim · Aug 16, 2020

I was running the fluval marine nano which I like a lot, I'm still in my 1st year of reefing so I haven't tried my hand at sps yet but in that tank I had zoas, palys, gsp, pulsing xenia, hammers, leathers, and acans. so softies and Lps is definitely a win, I think sps might be difficult to do in that tank (even harder in a jar) as flow and lighting must be perfect

Fatjim · Aug 16, 2020

Regular shrooms did well but my ricordias were never happy

Fatjim · Aug 16, 2020

If your interested this was my journey on that tank (my 1st)

Help me do this pico right

I'm new to reef scene and I know I probably shouldnt start with a pico bit giving my current living situation its the most I can do. I currently have a 3.7g cycling I'm planning on doing a coral themed setup with maybe a goby and pistol shrimp I'm 1 week in My current parameters are: 78.6°...

www.reef2reef.com

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

Fatjim said:
If your interested this was my journey on that tank (my 1st)

Help me do this pico right

I'm new to reef scene and I know I probably shouldnt start with a pico bit giving my current living situation its the most I can do. I currently have a 3.7g cycling I'm planning on doing a coral themed setup with maybe a goby and pistol shrimp I'm 1 week in My current parameters are: 78.6°...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks! I’ll check it out

ichthyogeek · Aug 16, 2020

Don’t have a pico reef (yet), but I’ve also heard of them being called reef vases. Seems like they’re heavy on rock, medium on corals, light on inverts, and nonexistent to extremely light on fish (maybe a trimma goby here, or a neon goby there but no hippo tangs or anything).

@brandon429 ? I seem to recall something about rinsing sand in the vase/jar?

DSEKULA · Aug 16, 2020

Here's my jar/pico it's obviously still in begining stages. It's a super simple setup tech wise the center rock is fake and holds the heater, a single bioball that aged for about three years in my sump, an air stone and sponge. The air pump offers flow and air. Above in the "hood" there is an led fixture with six diodes a feeding port and tiny gravity ato. The tank gets a 50%ish one gallon wc weekly to remove detritus from the shrimp etc. That's it, I feed keep the ato full and do a weekly wc. It's going well so far.

Tamberav · Aug 16, 2020

Not a jar but close in size... a 5g and all I do is change 3g once a week. Never tested anything or dosed anything. Has a glass lid so no ATO either.

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

TJDSEKULA said:
Here's my jar/pico it's obviously still in begining stages. It's a super simple setup tech wise the center rock is fake and holds the heater, a single bioball that aged for about three years in my sump, an air stone and sponge. The air pump offers flow and air. Above in the "hood" there is an led fixture with six diodes a feeding port and tiny gravity ato. The tank gets a 50%ish one gallon wc weekly to remove detritus from the shrimp etc. That's it, I feed keep the ato full and do a weekly wc. It's going well so far.

I love it! How’d you make the ATO?

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

Tamberav said:
Not a jar but close in size...but a 5g and all I do is change 3g once a week. Never tested anything or dosed anything. Has a glass lid so no ATO either.

I love it! That’s a lot of sps lol What kind of light do you use?

Tamberav · Aug 16, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
I love it! That’s a lot of sps lol What kind of light do you use?

A nanobox tide but with a tank this size there are a lot of options...even a 30 dollar tuna blue bulb probably get the job done.

Basic SPS are cheap, colorful, and readily available

So in they went!

I just picked up some acros yesterday but not sure where to put them

DSEKULA · Aug 16, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
I love it! How’d you make the ATO?

It's a cheap ato from amazon that I modified a little here's the link

Amazon.com : WuyouChy Aquarium ATO System Fish Tank Water Level Controller Automatic Top Off Water Filler with Adapter : Pet Supplies

www.amazon.com

The only issue I had was that it takes liter evian water bottles and I don't need a liter bottle for a tank that size. So, I cut the threads off and used some weldon 42 to attach the threads to the container of my choice.

TriggerFinger · Aug 16, 2020

Do you have a thread for this 5g @Tamberav? Very nice job!

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

TJDSEKULA said:
It's a cheap ato from amazon that I modified a little here's the link

Amazon.com : WuyouChy Aquarium ATO System Fish Tank Water Level Controller Automatic Top Off Water Filler with Adapter : Pet Supplies

Amazon.com : WuyouChy Aquarium ATO System Fish Tank Water Level Controller Automatic Top Off Water Filler with Adapter : Pet Supplies

www.amazon.com

The only issue I had was that it takes liter evian water bottles and I don't need a liter bottle for a tank that size. So, I cut the threads off and used some weldon 42 to attach the threads to the container of my choice.

Smart! I’m definitely gonna see about that!

hart24601 · Aug 16, 2020

They are quite easy and can have quite a few coral types. Brandon is the master so will wait for him to post, but I do suggest no fish, just some inverts which are entertaining enough! It just makes it easier.

When running my jar I just bought two jars since they are so cheap, once you figure out how much rock you have can make the 2nd jar weekly with fresh salt mix and just pick up the whole rockwork and put in the other jar. Boom instant 100% change! I would do a once a week feeding a few hours before the w/c then it’s easy to export the remaining food. Just what worked for me.

Tamberav · Aug 16, 2020

TriggerFinger said:
Do you have a thread for this 5g @Tamberav? Very nice job!

Not on this forum

But the idea is simple...tank just runs on food and water changes. It is a marineland 5g...the back chambers are meh they hide the heater. I added a tiny powerhead.

This is how much water I change... Enough left so the fish can swim. Jars and pico's can run on 100 percent water changes...corals love that crap

Casket_Case · Aug 16, 2020

hart24601 said:
They are quite easy and can have quite a few coral types. Brandon is the master so will wait for him to post, but I do suggest no fish, just some inverts which are entertaining enough! It just makes it easier.

When running my jar I just bought two jars since they are so cheap, once you figure out how much rock you have can make the 2nd jar weekly with fresh salt mix and just pick up the whole rockwork and put in the other jar. Boom instant 100% change! I would do a once a week feeding a few hours before the w/c then it’s easy to export the remaining food. Just what worked for me.

That is absolutely beautiful!