3gal. Pico. What's in yours? Filtration/stock

[surfnsalt]

This is my 3 gal. Jbj that sits on my night stand next to my bed. Been running for well over a year now but was empty except for a tiny clown and a small cuc. For 6 months. I had some corals when it was new but they were moved to my main dt because I knew I was doing the best maintenance. For awhile now I'm paying attention to the tank and restocking it. I'm only using a heater, the sponge bio filter, filter floss, and weekly 25% water changes. So my question is what do you pros do or don't do. And let me see your picos. Thanks

 

[surfnsalt]

Cuc for this 3 gal.?



Cuc for this 3 gal? I'm down to one hermit and two snails.

 

[Huy]

I have a small ocellaris clown, 1 emerald, and 1 scarlet cleaner shrimp for stocking in my picotope. As for filtration I just use a aquaclear 70 HOB with chemipure, purigen and a DIY skimmer.

 

[sc8kv123]

I built a 2 gallon AIO about a month ago. I'm not sure how the return is setup on your tank but I ditched the little return pump I was using before and replaced it with a little cascade internal filter. It cleared up 2 chambers in the back so I have more space. I was still able to hook up my ATO system in the return chamber also.

 

[Huy]

I have an hob aquaclear 70 running Chemipure and purigen. Also fitted a diy skimmer.

 

[Chrisfish]

Just curious, don't you find the return flow to much? I bought one for my 8 gallon nano reef for a HOB refugium and OMG what a disaster! So I got on you tube and got the idea to switch out the impeller and it worked great for 29 minutes and then nothing, took everything out cleaned the motor , started again and then the same thing. It's going back to amazon. Would love to know about yours, thanks.

 

[Huy]

You're right it is quite powerful even on the lowest setting. That's why most of my sand is sucked out or sloped to the back. It actually makes it look more nice and natural so I stuck it it. Now that my pico is so density packed with corals I actually added another Power head for even more flow.

 

[sc8kv123]

This is how I added a refugium to my 3 gal. It's an air tight container that is gravity fed back to the filter. It seems to work great and is growing chaeto like a boss. (At least for a nano)

 

[mr fixit]

5 gallon diy marineland bio wheel

 

[mr fixit]

And used a tetra in tank filter pump with line lock glued to the outlet for a powerhead for flow

 

[mr fixit]

Its 5 months old

 

[surfnsalt]

Its 5 months old

Nice stuff. Looks like some good growth.

 

[mr fixit]

I used new live sand but live rock corals water from my 14 month old 30 gallon coulmn and cut down a 24inch power compact n comverted it to use u bend single end bulbs n blue led strips from autozone for aesthetics

 

[mr fixit]

That frogspawn is a bailout I stuck him in a crater in my rock he bailed in july in my 30 so I put it in the pico it inflates every day its doing good I was surprised it lived

 

[mr fixit]

Kent marine part a n b and a lil mira tip does the trick

 

[Huy]

This is how I added a refugium to my 3 gal. It's an air tight container that is gravity fed back to the filter. It seems to work great and is growing chaeto like a boss. (At least for a nano)

I tried having chaeto in the back but it didnt grow enough for me so I replaced it with a skimmer instead.

 

[surfnsalt]

I tried having chaeto in the back but it didnt grow enough for me so I replaced it with a skimmer instead.

Are you guys trying to cut down or eliminate water changes? Because I thought with weekly or maybe even bi monthly wcs a skimmer is unnecessary and a refugium is great for ph and water volume but would take up valuable space for me. So far my parameters have been great with weekly 25% water changes and all I have is a heater, bag of purgen, filter floss, and a bb sponge.

 

[Huy]

Are you guys trying to cut down or eliminate water changes? Because I thought with weekly or maybe even bi monthly wcs a skimmer is unnecessary and a refugium is great for ph and water volume but would take up valuable space for me. So far my parameters have been great with weekly 25% water changes and all I have is a heater, bag of purgen, filter floss, and a bb sponge.

I still had hair algae even with weekly water changes. The problem went away when I added a skimmer and an emerald crab. I haven't had any kind of algae problems all year long.

 

[surfnsalt]

I still had hair algae even with weekly water changes. The problem went away when I added a skimmer and an emerald crab. I haven't had any kind of algae problems all year long.

Got ya. I did have some small algae here and there but I bulked up my cuc and they have been doing a great job so far.

 

[sc8kv123]

I've yet to have hair algae in my tank so far. Everything in the tank came from another tank that hasn't had hair algae in about a year. I'm not sure if that made a difference but I know it didn't hurt. I think a strong refugium can really make all the difference in a system though. My 3 gal has no skimmer and I change out my carbon bags once a week.