Help me do this pico right

[Fatjim]

I'm new to reef scene and I know I probably shouldnt start with a pico bit giving my current living situation its the most I can do.

I currently have a 3.7g cycling I'm planning on doing a coral themed setup with maybe a goby and pistol shrimp

I'm 1 week in
My current parameters are:
78.6°
1.0 ammonia
40 nitrate
5 nitrite
7.5 ph
130 kh

As of yesterday I noticed a white film growing on my heater, I pulled my heater out and the film fell off into the sponge. Does anyone know what this film is?

 

[Fatjim]

I'm planning on upgrading the pump and light but not sure to what yet this is what iv been looking at... Id love to hear any opinions or suggestions

 

[Oropher]

That film could be bacteria bio-film from lack of agitation.
As per light, from your choices, I love that Fluval Sea Nano.
And the pump, is that for agitation (wave maker) or for the filter?

As you know that pico tank is not advisable for newbie,
however my first tank is a 10G pico too... and
I keep a few LPS, and Zoa there along with a pair of ocellaris.
That tank is still running, over 3 years now.

 

[Oropher]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Fatjim]

Thanks for the response! I think I will go with the fluval and as far as the pump I guess it's for agitation and for the filter (its an all in one) as you can tell from the film I'm not getting alot of flow

 

[Fatjim]

This is the tank as of now I do plan on adding more rock. Also should I remove the film or is it beneficial for the cycle?

 

[Vleis]

Keep an eye on your salinity with these small tanks & evaporation

 

[Fatjim]

Will do iv been pretty lucky so far only needing to top off once a week. As of now I have a glass lid but because I want to do corals will I need to go liddless or screen lid?

 

[Smarkow]

White precipitate on heaters can be calcium carbonate crystallization
Good luck with the project tell us more :)
And as always welcome to R2R!!

 

[Fatjim]

Iv added some bio media to the back is there any other upgrades I should make?

 

[Shawn.B]

here is my pump recommendation, EHEIM makes great products https://amzn.to/2Sjfa4K

as for the lighting, the fluval you picked is a good choice but a bit expensive, if you dig around on amazon or the usual places you may be able to find something cheaper with more features

 

[Shawn.B]

Will do iv been pretty lucky so far only needing to top off once a week. As of now I have a glass lid but because I want to do corals will I need to go liddless or screen lid?

for nanos i really like the idea of a glass lid, it helps cut down on evap immensely! aslong as you have some room for airflow and some surface movement you shouldn't need to worry about gas exchange

 

[BranchingHammer]

The Abi par38 grows everything for me in my pico. My acros are thriving.

 

[Ratvan]

I'm using that Hydor Pico Evo pump in my Fluval Spec 3, tight fit but nice flow and fairly easy to reduce/increase the flow. I'm currently using a ASTA 20 LED, it grows most corals well in small tanks (up to 5g Cube), but want to upgrade to the Kessil a80 eventually due to sunrise/sunset feature

 

[Oropher]

This is my Fluval

 

[Fatjim]

Thats super helpful I dont have the best understanding of lighting yet

 

[Oropher]

My light is on from 6am to 8pm (14 hours). However 4 hours ramp up (sunrise) and 4 hours ramp down (sunset), it makes only 6 hours full light. During that 6 hours I give a small break at 1pm to simulate cloud over sun, to give a break for photosynthesis. Analogy is like when you walk during mid day, if sometimes there's a cloud blocking sunlight then you'll get sometime to "rest" and that will make you can walk farther than sunlight all the time (makes you exhausting). So is the coral photosynthesis.
And after 10pm to 4am, there's no light at all, let the reef rest in darkness. Like people when sleeping, they will rest better in dark room compare in bright room.

And since coral are deep under water, they use to blue light because blue light can penetrate deeper in ocean. That's why my blue is at 100%. Along with that actinic: purple color. Then for pleasing our eye: combining cyan, red and white.

 

[Fatjim]

Wow thats awsome iv never heard of that light dip but TOTALLY makes sense

 

[Oropher]

Wow thats awsome iv never heard of that light dip but TOTALLY makes sense

Thanks

What I don't understand is the lightstorm function in expensive light such as Kessil. Is that just to scare inhabitants or has a real benefit. At first the inhabitants were quite scared and went hiding during lightstorm, but after a while they act as nothing happen during simulated lightstorm.

 

[Fatjim]

So when looking for flow in the 3.7 what the gph I should be looking for