Pico 2 Gallon Reef in a Jar Build by XxZILLAxX

[XxZILLAxX]

Hello everybody tuning in on my build thread!​

I am new to the reef2reef forums, and I am going to be building a 2 Gallon pico reef in a Jar. Follow along as I slowly but surely bring this ordinary Jar to life!

Why?

There are a few reasons on why I am looking to build a reef in a 2 Gallon Jar from Walmart. The first reason is to keep cost down. Second reason is because I've always found small thriving ecosystems to just be super interesting. Third because I like a good challenge. Final reason is because I live in super small studio apartment, and I just simply do not have enough space for anything besides a pico or nano tank.

My Goals

My main goal with this build is to have a reef ecosystem that can thrive for years to come. And not only that but also to accomplish this while on a budget!

The Tank

The Jar that I am using is a 2 Gallon all glass Jar purchased from my local Walmart. The Jar itself cost me about $14! I also picked up a rubber mat that is actually a door mat to place the glass Jar on. This is to keep it from sliding around and to keep my two crazy cats from knocking it over. The rubber door mat cost me about $5. I went with this Jar in particular mostly because of it's simple design and shape. The glass is fairly thick which will help with temperature stability. So that's a plus. Also I wanted something that had a good fitting lid so my cats could not mess with what's inside. (Picture of Jar below)

More updates will be coming soon! My future posts will most likely all be broken down like this one so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!!! ​

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Can't wait to see the jar beaming with life!

 

[BanZI29]

Welcome to our little piece of the reef.
I will say, you have taken on quite the challenge to start with. I speak from experience that starting that small will be more challenging then starting with a tank that is 40 Gallons in size. However, it IS possible to do.
As for keeping costs down....yea not as much as you would hope. in this particular case, your biggest expenses ( besides the cost of the corals) are going to be the light, ( $150 at the lowest) and water changes. Make sure you do ALOT of research online from those who have done this same thing and were successful. I REALLY hope things go good, I want to see this filled up.

Welcome!!!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

This is just my thing. Welcome to reef to reef.

If you click on my build thread you will see I have the 1 gallon version. I also had a year ago a 2.7 gallon reef pitcher with working spout lol. Air pump is going to be your friend. Provides circulation and air/gas exchange. You can carefully drill a couple holes for airline or use think tubing along edge to create gap and allow hose not to kink.

the glass is distorted a bit in these containers so pictures can be hard if there is alot of it. But these are great containers for pico tanks.

If you do use small circulation pump you may need to monitor temp at least at first make sure it doesnt get warm. Will still need to ensure some kind of air flow and/or gap for exchange.

you can also look up Maritza reef vase and tgere are a few other tanks that have set up for years.

I can give alot of info on setup or ideas if you have questions. But wanted to give you a heads up on some possible issues ahead of time to avoid what I have done. But every tank is different and you may not have those issues.

Going to follow along.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

Welcome to our little piece of the reef.
I will say, you have taken on quite the challenge to start with. I speak from experience that starting that small will be more challenging then starting with a tank that is 40 Gallons in size. However, it IS possible to do.
As for keeping costs down....yea not as much as you would hope. in this particular case, your biggest expenses ( besides the cost of the corals) are going to be the light, ( $150 at the lowest) and water changes. Make sure you do ALOT of research online from those who have done this same thing and were successful. I REALLY hope things go good, I want to see this filled up.

Welcome!!!

Thank you! I do have some experience. My first reef tank was a 10 gallon. I'm just getting back into the hobby years later.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Welcome to our little piece of the reef.
I will say, you have taken on quite the challenge to start with. I speak from experience that starting that small will be more challenging then starting with a tank that is 40 Gallons in size. However, it IS possible to do.
As for keeping costs down....yea not as much as you would hope. in this particular case, your biggest expenses ( besides the cost of the corals) are going to be the light, ( $150 at the lowest) and water changes. Make sure you do ALOT of research online from those who have done this same thing and were successful. I REALLY hope things go good, I want to see this filled up.

Welcome!!!

This is what is so fascinating about the hobby. You find large tanks easier and i find them harder lol. So many varrying opinions and nobody is wrong. Picos can definetly be challenging if not done right. But yes light will be one of the big things that cost and not something to skimp. This is the biggest purchase and one of the keys.

Water change is defintetly critical. I do 100 percent water changes weekly and create storm in jar and drain and fill up few times. Takes about 15 minutes if that. But highly important to not on clean but replenish.

Great points.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

This is just my thing. Welcome to reef to reef.

If you click on my build thread you will see I have the 1 gallon version. I also had a year ago a 2.7 gallon reef pitcher with working spout lol. Air pump is going to be your friend. Provides circulation and air/gas exchange. You can carefully drill a couple holes for airline or use think tubing along edge to create gap and allow hose not to kink.

the glass is distorted a bit in these containers so pictures can be hard if there is alot of it. But these are great containers for pico tanks.

If you do use small circulation pump you may need to monitor temp at least at first make sure it doesnt get warm. Will still need to ensure some kind of air flow and/or gap for exchange.

you can also look up Maritza reef vase and tgere are a few other tanks that have set up for years.

I can give alot of info on setup or ideas if you have questions. But wanted to give you a heads up on some possible issues ahead of time to avoid what I have done. But every tank is different and you may not have those issues.

Going to follow along.

Good idea on the tubing around the lid. I might just do that. And I'm planning on using an air pump for circulation as well. I checked your build out. Super cool! I can't wait to finally get some water in my tank!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

If you can find live rock that is already cycled and what you want your good to go. While i also add bottle bacteria as well, I find it not necessary. I add for more diversity and insurance. But never hurts to go slow lol.

What Rock type will you be using? As in tonga, marco stacks or rubble or maybe fiji or a pre built structure or custom structure? Going to go for arch or piller look? Lol. Very exciting and this is one of the fun parts.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

If you can find live rock that is already cycled and what you want your good to go. While i also add bottle bacteria as well, I find it not necessary. I add for more diversity and insurance. But never hurts to go slow lol.

What Rock type will you be using? As in tonga, marco stacks or rubble or maybe fiji or a pre built structure or custom structure? Going to go for arch or piller look? Lol. Very exciting and this is one of the fun parts.

I'm most likely going to go with live rock. And Im definitely going to add a bottle of Dr Tim's bacteria and live sand to help things move along faster. As for what the rock structure is going to look like I have no clue lol. Im probably going to just buy a decent sized rock and break it down and piece it together to my liking. I would love for it to have some sort of little cave or pass through.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Dont expect to have a cycle. You can still test to make sure nothing goes funky but I have not experienced a cycle with how you are doing it.

im excited to see what you create.

 

[kevgib67]

These pico tanks always amaze me, following.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

Update!
​

Lighting

Today I received my lighting setup I decided to go with. My lighting setup consists of a architect clamp adjustable dome lamp, and a 18w reef e26 light bulb. Both of those was purchased through Amazon. After setting everything up. I am super happy with both of the products. The adjustable lamp was $20, and the bulb was almost $30. The bulb is the perfect brightness and color for me. The lamp could be a bit more sturdier and heavier duty but it will get the job done for sure.
(Picture of lamp and bulb setup below)

If you have any questions or suggestions about my setup so far feel free to comment. Otherwise stay tuned for the next update!​

 

[Duzzy]

Hello everybody tuning in on my build thread!​

I am new to the reef2reef forums, and I am going to be building a 2 Gallon pico reef in a Jar. Follow along as I slowly but surely bring this ordinary Jar to life!

Why?

There are a few reasons on why I am looking to build a reef in a 2 Gallon Jar from Walmart. The first reason is to keep cost down. Second reason is because I've always found small thriving ecosystems to just be super interesting. Third because I like a good challenge. Final reason is because I live in super small studio apartment, and I just simply do not have enough space for anything besides a pico or nano tank.

My Goals

My main goal with this build is to have a reef ecosystem that can thrive for years to come. And not only that but also to accomplish this while on a budget!

The Tank

The Jar that I am using is a 2 Gallon all glass Jar purchased from my local Walmart. The Jar itself cost me about $14! I also picked up a rubber mat that is actually a door mat to place the glass Jar on. This is to keep it from sliding around and to keep my two crazy cats from knocking it over. The rubber door mat cost me about $5. I went with this Jar in particular mostly because of it's simple design and shape. The glass is fairly thick which will help with temperature stability. So that's a plus. Also I wanted something that had a good fitting lid so my cats could not mess with what's inside. (Picture of Jar below)

More updates will be coming soon! My future posts will most likely all be broken down like this one so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!!! ​

Welcome, I’ll be following.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Looks really nice. Is this the ABI bulb? I have 2 different ones a modded sort of lol, but doesnt seem to work as well from other setup so swapped. Still really good light and may swap out leds eventually but like controlability.

Just my 2 scwnts and recomemdations. There are many other options.

If you havent decided on a pump yet, if using circulation ensure the wires dont split and have a channel. Look for round wire. Had water from vibration and pump actually syphon water out of tank. Putting thin layerof glue through channel to block can help. But not all may do this.

If looking for air pump check out eheim 100. They have a few. The adjustable one I have is one of the quitest pumps I have found. Also purchas an inline knob that you can fine adjust for more flow control.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

Looks really nice. Is this the ABI bulb? I have 2 different ones a modded sort of lol, but doesnt seem to work as well from other setup so swapped. Still really good light and may swap out leds eventually but like controlability.

Just my 2 scwnts and recomemdations. There are many other options.

If you havent decided on a pump yet, if using circulation ensure the wires dont split and have a channel. Look for round wire. Had water from vibration and pump actually syphon water out of tank. Putting thin layerof glue through channel to block can help. But not all may do this.

If looking for air pump check out eheim 100. They have a few. The adjustable one I have is one of the quitest pumps I have found. Also purchas an inline knob that you can fine adjust for more flow control.

I've decided I'm just going to use an air pump for some water circulation. I will definitely check out that pump. The pump definitely needs to be quite because it will be right near my bed as I live in a studio apartment.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Use amazon try see if you dont, send back. Others may have better recomendations as I only tried a few options. There are a couple slightly quiter but wont give the movement you may want/need. I really like the clean look of this setup so far and the rubber matt.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

Use amazon try see if you dont, send back. Others may have better recomendations as I only tried a few options. There are a couple slightly quiter but wont give the movement you may want/need. I really like the clean look of this setup so far and the rubber matt.

Thank you! I'm super OCD so everything has to be neat and clean looking for me to be happy with it lol also this is the bulb I'm using (http://bit.ly/3PFcvQq).

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I ran an air pump for a while, its going to be noticeable. I had the air pump almost wrapped in a towel and still could hear it a room over, the bubbling is going to certainly make noise as well.

Moral of this post, get ready for noise if you are adding air.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Ok I have seen but never used rhat bulb. Might have to look into.

 

[XxZILLAxX]

Small Update
​

Circulation

So for circulation in my pico jar tank I've decided to go with a simple air pump setup. This is because I don't want to worry about any wave makers producing too much heat in such a small volume of water. Another reason is because I want to keep this build as clean and simple looking as possible. So less things sticking out like a sore thumb in the jar the better.

Air Pump

The air pump I've purchased is a generic cheap brand called aqua culture. I bought it at Walmart while I was picking up some groceries. It was about $8 and is rated for up to 15 gallons. I plugged in the air pump and tested it out in a bowl of water and I must say this tiny thing is dang near silent! No buzzing or hum at all. I was super pleased with that. Now the flow isn't the greatest but it should be just enough for slight water movement in the jar. (Picture of air pump below)

That is all for now. Just a small update. I am probably going to be ordering a bag of sand and a medium sized life rock tomorrow so stay tuned for when that arrives. Happy reefing y'all! ​