1.1 Gallon Oceanbox P1-G Pico Reef

[brandon429]

well done! I am adding this as a link to my last recent post in our skip cycle example thread. that under cabinet work is really good, that truly looks like a handheld full reef tank in scale, really sharp. scaping looks great, corals open and happy really sharp

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Looks really nice so far.

 

[VintageReefer]

Just an average morning in the micro reef. Everything waking up nicely, this is about 30 min after lights on

I like the reefbreeders pico v2 light. It’s 15w and plenty of light for a tank like this, the spectrum looks great in person. I think this is blues on 70% (maybe 80) and whites on 10%. And it has a built in timer, you can choose 8, 10 or 12 hour. I’m using the 10 hour setting, it comes on and off each day by itself, one less thing for me to have to do

 

[VintageReefer]

It doesn’t always photograph accurately, it’s not really this blue in person. I haven’t found the best method to use with this led yet. Coral colors are accurate but there is a heavy wash of blue in some photos that isn’t really there in person

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

There is an app called coral cam. Works pretty well especially if you add orange lens bur still good without.

 

[VintageReefer]

I’m using a physical orange lens. I found two things that affect things for this pico

1) pictures for this tank are very sensitive to ambient room lighting.

2) the awesome reactive orange trimmed acrylic lid, completely messes with tank photos. Taking the lid off yields dramatic differences. Maybe the bright day glow orange is throwing off my camera?

 

[VintageReefer]

My yellow tip torch is hitting surface. That’s a good thing. It’s opening and growing

Might need to do some rearranging though






The yellow tip torch is a rescue from another tank. I’ve had this torch about two years but my nano became severely neglected and the torch’s flesh band completely receded. I thought it was dead and a ball of hair algae on a stalk. To my surprise, one day I cleaned up the nano and removed the algae from this torch and saw, it’s alive! But it stopped opening even after cleaning it up.



I moved it to my healthy 75g reef and it started to improve but there really wasn’t a good spot with low flow (needed for recovery) and good light. Then I looked at my pico and realized it’s an ideal environment for recovery and decided to try it in here as a last ditch effort to save it. And it looks very very happy! I am hoping I can reverse the damage with stability and the right flow/light conditions. So far so good!

Purple torch I realized was harassed and picked on the sexy shrimp, which have been removed. It’s starting to open more and more as it gains trust that nobody is trying to eat it.

 

[Captain-Barnacle]

Truly Fantastic! Its own Backup Power Supply would be nice add-on.

The next level of awesome would be full sensor-control IO and multiple video streams for AI-automation, to eventually almost need to do nothing, even travel and just look-in online for pleasure.

This is where the hobby is headed, so more can enjoy. However, the 75G tank is the hidden secret.

 

[VintageReefer]

Truly Fantastic! Its own Backup Power Supply would be nice add-on.

The next level of awesome would be full sensor-control IO and multiple video streams for AI-automation, to eventually almost need to do nothing, even travel and just look-in online for pleasure.

This is where the hobby is headed, so more can enjoy. However, the 75G tank is the hidden secret.

I haven’t posted everything about this build and I do have a secret…I’ve been running this tank for the last 24 hours without it plugged into any outlet in my house. It’s running 100% on battery power.

I have a UPS with a internal, big lithium (LiFePO4 24,000 mAH) backup battery, inverter and automatic transfer switch. So the device plugs into the wall, and the tank plugs into the device. It passes through AC power and keeps the batteries charged. And in event of a power outage, it switches to battery power in less than 10ms, and powers the inverter and tank from battery power. When power comes back, it switches back to AC power and powers the tank and recharges the battery. I have a digital screen that tells me wattage draw and how much time I have left until the batteries are empty.

By my calculations it can run the tank off battery power for at least 48 hours

 

[Naekuh]

Man id be worried if i accidentally sneezed into it, id get a bacteria bloom.
Its one small tank tho...

Very nice.

 

[VintageReefer]

Man id be worried if i accidentally sneezed into it, id get a bacteria bloom.
Its one small tank tho...

Very nice.

The entire surface of the tank and filter compartment are covered, and even the fan has a sponge pre-filter

 

[VintageReefer]

TL,DR - 2.5 days of power from battery during an outage

So during daytime hours with the LED on, I’m getting 44 hours of battery supplies run time, and the tank is consuming 13 watts


However almost all these watts are the lights, which are only on 10 hours a day. The rest of the day/night is just the return pump, which is consuming less than 1 watt and is essentially no load on this massive battery.


Sooo…I can support tank for 44 hours of time with the tank lit

Total capacity = 44 hours of LED lit run time

44 (total run time hours) - 10 hours of run time with the lights (1 day) = 34 hours of power remaining.

Factor 14 hours of unlit time per day at .5w / hour = 7 watts of unlit time per day
34 - 7 = 27 hours remaining

Each day consumes 17 watt hours of battery life

44 (watt hour total) / 17 watt hours per day = 2.5 days of power

 

[VintageReefer]

Photo Bomb!

 

[VintageReefer]

Day 62 - full autopilot since conception. Refilled ato a few times. Added few drops of aminos few random times. Fed torch couple pellets a few times. No water changes or glass scraping. Removed sexy shrimp - coral eating pests imo. Everything doing great and filling in nicely. In event of power outage, the backup system is enabled in 10 milliseconds and converts to battery power. I get over 50 hours of runtime with no electricity

Angled view looking in

Tank left side

Tank right side

End view

Top straight down

 

[kanders87]

Stunning little reef you got! Love the simplicity.

 

[Katrina71]

It's really beautiful! I'm still just shocked you had tonga hidden in your sump. This is a much better way to display it!

 

[VintageReefer]

Stunning little reef you got! Love the simplicity.

Thank you!

Main strategies for success in keeping this pico low maintenance:

1) minimal to no feeding. Eliminate phosphate sources. Everything lives off the light. I feed the torches occasionally because they are rescues from another tank and they need a little extra boost to regrow their flesh bands

2) 8 hour lighting schedule. Reduce light = reduce algae

3) tank is sealed - reduce evaporation = more stability = less work overall

4) minimal size clean up crew - I added two scarlets and waited. Saw algae just starting to develop and added 2 smaller snails, waited then added one more. I needed to see what the minimum number was in order to keep the tank clean but not create excess waste, or risk starvation.

5) ato - crucial on tiny tanks. One turkey baster can change this tank from 1.026 to 1.20. Small fluctuations have big impacts. My gravity ato isn’t instant, I keep the tank at 1.025, and as water evaporates over the course of a week it slowly gets up to 1.027, then the ato dumps in a few glugs of water and brings it back to 1.025

6) leave it alone! Don’t overstock. Leave some space and allow corals to grow in

 

[VintageReefer]

It's really beautiful! I'm still just shocked you had tonga hidden in your sump. This is a much better way to display it!

If you’re surprised I keep OG tonga from 15 years ago in my sump, you should see what I keep in my garbage

 

[VintageReefer]

Around 100lbs of true OG rock

I got some caribsea rock and was so disappointed. Almost no nooks or channels or spots for bacteria and critters. its not like this stuff at all

I’m going to power wash it and use it on my new tank

 

[VintageReefer]

I’ve been storing this wet in sw for 8 years lol