I'm starting another pico! It is a 2.5 gallon anchor hocking jar. Right now it doesn't have a light, it is just getting ambient from my 1.5 gal and the window it's sitting under. In went a small amount of sand I had around. I bought ~6 lbs of rock at a LFS as well. I broke up one rock into smaller pieces but ended up not using it. I think I'm satisfied with this scape. I wanted something simple and to be able to remove the rocks from the jar if needed. I also didn't want the rock to touch the glass at all. Not sure it was really worth my 50 bucks though, since this rock is not very "alive," frankly. Pretty sure some of it is ceramic painted purple with questionable amounts of coralline. I guess I get bacteria anyway.
Alas, the LFS had lots of blue clove in two of their tanks (why I went there), but there wasn't any except on giant rocks so I wasn't able to get any yesterday. I started this with a couple cups of water from my established tank so hopefully won't have much of a cycle with that + rock. The lid is very tight with the two cords. I might see how this jar does without a heater to have one less cord. Not sure what I'll do about the tight lid.
I still haven't decided what else I'm putting in this tank. I'm feeling like maybe a stylophora or seriatopora (or an encrusting sps?), and/or Palythoa grandis. I was also considering a chalice. I'm planning for something somewhat aggressive/fast growing. I really like P. grandis (and maybe some typical large invasive button palys) for this jar since it's quite large, if slow growing. There are a couple varieties of larger paly's in the LFS tanks with all the Sarcothelia over the rock and glass that seemed to be fine, even a large colony.
Equipment:
Anchor Hocking "montana" jar; roughly 9"W x 12"H
no filter
50 gph water pump (~1.5X1.5")
Aqueon 50W preset heater
The day after setup, 03/20/21:
It looks huge next to my cube! The plan for this jar is to just let blue clove polyps go wild and cover everything. I really like Sarcothelia but didn't want it in my cube. I didn't appreciate how much water would magnify things in the jar. But because they're so tiny, maybe that will let me appreciate them more. I do want at least one other coral in here for some visual interest and color. I do not have plans for livestock as of yet. Thanks for looking!
Alas, the LFS had lots of blue clove in two of their tanks (why I went there), but there wasn't any except on giant rocks so I wasn't able to get any yesterday. I started this with a couple cups of water from my established tank so hopefully won't have much of a cycle with that + rock. The lid is very tight with the two cords. I might see how this jar does without a heater to have one less cord. Not sure what I'll do about the tight lid.
I still haven't decided what else I'm putting in this tank. I'm feeling like maybe a stylophora or seriatopora (or an encrusting sps?), and/or Palythoa grandis. I was also considering a chalice. I'm planning for something somewhat aggressive/fast growing. I really like P. grandis (and maybe some typical large invasive button palys) for this jar since it's quite large, if slow growing. There are a couple varieties of larger paly's in the LFS tanks with all the Sarcothelia over the rock and glass that seemed to be fine, even a large colony.
Equipment:
Anchor Hocking "montana" jar; roughly 9"W x 12"H
no filter
50 gph water pump (~1.5X1.5")
Aqueon 50W preset heater
The day after setup, 03/20/21:
It looks huge next to my cube! The plan for this jar is to just let blue clove polyps go wild and cover everything. I really like Sarcothelia but didn't want it in my cube. I didn't appreciate how much water would magnify things in the jar. But because they're so tiny, maybe that will let me appreciate them more. I do want at least one other coral in here for some visual interest and color. I do not have plans for livestock as of yet. Thanks for looking!