A quick background!
I’ve been keeping planted freshwater tanks for years and have always had an interest in a marine system, since I love the ocean and am actually a grad student who works often in the marine sciences, but I’m also one of those people who researches things to death and I’ve never reached a moment in my reading where I felt confident enough to start something up.
Until apparently two weeks ago? While away from home I’ve been missing my fish and cats something awful (they’re safe with my mom). I really need something to cultivate and care for, to keep me sane, and for some reason instead of a normal potted plant I decided to take the plunge with a Pico saltwater tank. This will be dedicated not to coral but to the sorts of amazing critters that tend to hitchhike into our boxes via quality live rock, as my fascination with them knows no bounds.
Eventually I would like to create a “pest” tank containing only oddballs, macro algae, and the sorts of animals that we normally regard as undesirable in the hobby. For now, I’ll probably not be adding any sorts of coral unless it’s hardy enough to survive an overnight journey across the continent in May.
So, here’s my journal for the Oddity Jar. Please pipe up with critique, info, advice, etc whenever you see fit!
Equipment
Anchor Hocking Montana Glass Jar, 1.5 gallons.
Marina floating thermometer (soon to be replaced with a digital one since I don’t think it’s reading correctly).
Bubblefin ATC salinity refractometer.
Instant Ocean sea salt.
Hydor 25W mini heater.
Inkbird temp controller.
Hygger mini air pump.
Kingbo 18W LED (considering switching to ABI 12W tuna blue if/when coral is added).
15” gooseneck lamp with clamp.
Timer for lamp.
Innards
2 lbs of rock given to me from a reputable fish store refugium, very clean/critterless but has purple coralline so that’s cool.
Aragonite sand.
Handful of macro I haven’t identified yet.
Arriving shortly
~2 lbs of uncured live rock and some chaeto from KP Aquatics. Will switch out the existing rock.
Algae magnet.
Need to acquire
A lid better than the plastic wrap I usually stretch over the top.
Params:
Ammonia at 0 within 12 hours as of yesterday. Nitrates around 5 when tested this morning.
Salinity of 1.025
Temp around 78-79, working on figuring out how to lower it a bit. Issue of the light and heater.
Light on 8 hours a day.
Photos (I haven’t tried to scape this yet or clean up the tubes so it looks pretty janky right now)
I’ve been keeping planted freshwater tanks for years and have always had an interest in a marine system, since I love the ocean and am actually a grad student who works often in the marine sciences, but I’m also one of those people who researches things to death and I’ve never reached a moment in my reading where I felt confident enough to start something up.
Until apparently two weeks ago? While away from home I’ve been missing my fish and cats something awful (they’re safe with my mom). I really need something to cultivate and care for, to keep me sane, and for some reason instead of a normal potted plant I decided to take the plunge with a Pico saltwater tank. This will be dedicated not to coral but to the sorts of amazing critters that tend to hitchhike into our boxes via quality live rock, as my fascination with them knows no bounds.
Eventually I would like to create a “pest” tank containing only oddballs, macro algae, and the sorts of animals that we normally regard as undesirable in the hobby. For now, I’ll probably not be adding any sorts of coral unless it’s hardy enough to survive an overnight journey across the continent in May.
So, here’s my journal for the Oddity Jar. Please pipe up with critique, info, advice, etc whenever you see fit!
Equipment
Anchor Hocking Montana Glass Jar, 1.5 gallons.
Marina floating thermometer (soon to be replaced with a digital one since I don’t think it’s reading correctly).
Bubblefin ATC salinity refractometer.
Instant Ocean sea salt.
Hydor 25W mini heater.
Inkbird temp controller.
Hygger mini air pump.
Kingbo 18W LED (considering switching to ABI 12W tuna blue if/when coral is added).
15” gooseneck lamp with clamp.
Timer for lamp.
Innards
2 lbs of rock given to me from a reputable fish store refugium, very clean/critterless but has purple coralline so that’s cool.
Aragonite sand.
Handful of macro I haven’t identified yet.
Arriving shortly
~2 lbs of uncured live rock and some chaeto from KP Aquatics. Will switch out the existing rock.
Algae magnet.
Need to acquire
A lid better than the plastic wrap I usually stretch over the top.
Params:
Ammonia at 0 within 12 hours as of yesterday. Nitrates around 5 when tested this morning.
Salinity of 1.025
Temp around 78-79, working on figuring out how to lower it a bit. Issue of the light and heater.
Light on 8 hours a day.
Photos (I haven’t tried to scape this yet or clean up the tubes so it looks pretty janky right now)
