Jar of Rocks

Tokash23

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Taking a stab at a pico reef. After about 2 year out of the hobby because of a broken 40 gallon tank i saw this jar and couldnt resist giving it a shot. The idea is to keep it cheap and simple. Have a light coming sometime next week a simple nano heater and a small 50 gph pump and thatll be it. I just put water in it today so i have awhile before i can put anything in it. It only holds about a gallon of water with the rocks and sand in it. I plan for weekly water changes mostly 100% if i can depending on livestock.

The rock is dead rock from my old tank i gave it a bleach bath and cleaned it up soaked it for about a week. Still has some coraline algae spots on it. I added some bacteria too it hopefully it doesnt take long to cycle im pumped to put some stuff in it.

20200529_194450.jpg
 
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Tokash23

Tokash23

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Nah pulled the ring off it and its propped up by the cords from the pump n heater. Thanks for the headsup though. I thought about an air stone.
 

ahiggins

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:) I wouldn’t do an airstone in something that tiny, evaporation is going to suck as it is lol
 

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Looks good, they're surprisingly easy to maintain - best of luck with it. I'd consider using an airpump instead of the submersible standard pump - more just because of the heat generated by the pump. If you can make the seal of the lid around the heater cord and airline good enough the evaporation will be near zero
 
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Tokash23

Tokash23

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Looks good, they're surprisingly easy to maintain - best of luck with it. I'd consider using an airpump instead of the submersible standard pump - more just because of the heat generated by the pump. If you can make the seal of the lid around the heater cord and airline good enough the evaporation will be near zero
That never really occurred to me about the heat. I did see a pico on youtube i think she had something like that along with an airstone and it worked kind of like a protein skimmer. The bubbles pulled a fair bit of gunk up to the surface and collected at the lid.

Im definitely shooting for no evaporation i dont have a seal on the lid at the moment its just resting on the cords ill see how it goes if it becomes and issue ill have to figure how how to seal it. Im not interested in setting up a top off and doubt id be able to keep up with it by hand to keep salinity stable enough.
 

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Yeah agreed, an ato just doesn't make sense with such a small volume of water. Check out my thread - you can see the lid I have is really makeshift - a polystyrene hoop with a notch cut out for the cables and a glass disk sitting on top
 
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Tokash23

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Yeah agreed, an ato just doesn't make sense with such a small volume of water. Check out my thread - you can see the lid I have is really makeshift - a polystyrene hoop with a notch cut out for the cables and a glass disk sitting on top
Yours looks great! So you are using an external air pump with an air stone?
 
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Tokash23

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Nothing huge to update tank is cycled ill be looking to add a small CUC this weekend and possible a small fish. Looking for fish suggestions for such a small tank. I have seen people put blennys or small gobys in these tanks and be fine with the bio load. Any suggestions? I will likely only do one and possible a shrimp but not at first.
 
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Tokash23

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Also curious as to what i should do for water changes. I was originally going to do 100 percent once a week but if i add critters to it that wont really be possible. I am now thinking of roughly 50 percent per week however i just worry about my levels and if that will replenish enough. Or i could do small increments every day or every other day. I have seen people just use a smallish cup and scoop out a cup and replace it with a fresh cup once a day.
 

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I'd drain more less frequently than lots of little cups I think. When you say critters what are we talking? I've got loads of pods etc and just do 100% anyway
 

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Sorry just realised I missed a post. I really wouldn't bother with a fish if it was me, but others will have more experience and can advise better. I change 100% of the water every time I feed my corals, granted I feed way too much but still, I'd want to change out every time I fed a fish. Part of the pros to a small tank is that you can focus on things that would get lost in a bigger tank
 
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Tokash23

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I'd drain more less frequently than lots of little cups I think. When you say critters what are we talking? I've got loads of pods etc and just do 100% anyway
I mean how many tangs can i keep lol. I was going to make a trip to the closest LFS this weekend. Hoping for maybe a clown goby or a blenny would be cool cuz they just perch up. And maybe later on a shrimp of some sort i havent decided on that yet. Always thought the shrimps were cool but i dont want to over do it.
 

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Do you actively feed the sexy shrimp put of interest? In my mind they can't be much more bioload than a big bristleworm
 

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They eat meaty foods. It would have to be fed just very small bits so the water doesn’t foul quickly.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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