Kevin's little 5 gallon pico

[nivek]

Starting another chronicle for my newly setup 5 gallon pico. Tore down my freshwater planted tank and will be changing it to a pico reef. Will be trying to keep it simple with just a 2 compartment hob and a little Resun wavemaker (just to push the debris out from the back during water changes). One of the compartment in the hob will house some cheato while the other will have chemi pure. Just started the cycle with the usual shrimp and 1 vial of Prodibio Biodigest. Have about 2.7kg (6lbs) of liverock in there. Still haven't decided what type of LED to use for this Pico and will do the shopping this weekend

Here's a pic of the tank which is still a bit cloudy after setting it up yesterday.

 

[new2reefing]

newbie questions here. what is a pico? what is a nano? what is the difference between them?

 

[nivek]

The general consensus is anything below 5 gallons is considered a Pico.

 

[saltfan]

lookin good kevin, i like the bare bottom. Guess mines a nano and not a pico thanks for clearing that up.

 

[ReefingFun]

Great stuff! I'm gonna follow as I'm thinking off getting one myself, just to have something else to do now these days.
Could you perhaps give the brand names etc of the equipment?

Also what you plan to put in?

 

[nivek]

Thanks saltfan and ReefingFun I got inspired by seeing photos of lots of incredible pico tanks out there hence the sudden urge lol. As for the equipment on hand, the tank is just a normal glass tank (13.5" (L) x 8.5" (W) x 10.5" (H)), 2 compartment made in China HOB, Resun small wavemaker (generates too much heat imho) and my latest addition, the Zetlight Nano Touch LED. I have another royal blue LED that I'll be using as moonlight.

Since I won't be adding any chiller, my corals will be limited to zoas and mushrooms. Will see how everything goes and work from there. Am also looking at a goby (open to suggestions ) for the tank.

Here's the latest pic with the LEDs installed.

 

[SGTSLuGG]

Looks great! can't wait to see the progress that you make.

 

[ReefingFun]

Cheers for the info Kevin! Start next month I'm gonna go to my LS and check what I can get my hands on myself. Love new projects! :bouncer:

Though I don't know about your climate there, but if you're not gonna hook up a chiller, how are you going to control temps? Just thinking in my case the room temp these days in the living room was 38 degrees Celcius (heatwave here now) as I got no ventilation options here :/ You recon a normal fan would be enough to cool that volume of water?

 

[nivek]

Thanks SGTSLuGG

ReefingFun - wow that's really hot. Unfortunately a fan will only really help if the ambient temp is cooler than the tank. Our temp gets to about 33 max around here but my tank temp normally hovers around 28 to 31. Zoas and mushrooms can survive in these temp

 

[mcentire1123]

Nice start!

 

[ReefingFun]

Alright then! Planning on putting some frags in it perhaps, but not sure yet. Zoas and shrooms seem like a nice start as well!

 

[saltfan]

look at a catalina goby.

 

[nivek]

Had some free time this afternoon, so decided to do a bit of rescaping. What do you guys think?

 

[ReefingFun]

I love it! Specially the lil passage way on the bottom right. I think your fish are going to like that.

 

[nivek]

Cool, thanks buddy. Wanted to make sure the wavemaker would push all the detritus to the front with those passageways for easier cleaning

 

[ReefingFun]

If possible, could you take a pic of the inside of the hob please? I got a 1 compartment hob laying around and I'm thinking of making it into a 2 compartment one, so I can add some media etc.

 

[nivek]

Here's a pic of the hob chambers, ReefingFun. Right side contains the phosphate absorbing media while I have yet to decide what to place in the left chamber.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Looking good! Tagging along

 

[ReefingFun]

Here's a pic of the hob chambers, ReefingFun. Right side contains the phosphate absorbing media while I have yet to decide what to place in the left chamber.

Cheers bud!
Just bought my LR now for the 5g. Now I can start changing the HOB tonight!
Only can hope to get a beauty like yours up and running

Are you happy with your lights btw?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[nivek]

Have fun with your project My current lighting will be sufficient for the corals that I'm planning to get, however I'm not happy with the temp and might end up getting the Hailea HC100A chiller.