Pico Reef Jar Startup Questions

[ckl]

I'm working on building a reef jar for my cubicle. So far, I have the 2 gallon jar, an outlet timer, the lid/light combo, Sicce 10W heater, and Finnex Thermometer Controller.

I'm not sure what to do for an air pump or air stones. Should I use something big and powerful, or is that too much airflow? Is there an ideal liters per minute number that works well? Also, what airstones are people using? I think the sand ones supposedly dissolve in saltwater, but I worry about microbubbles from a ceramic or metal airstone (I also don't really want to put metal into saltwater for obvious reasons).

 

[1112-425XL]

I use a small adjustable pump with a ceramic air stone in my 20g. Haven't had any issues. I think the brand was Uniclife. Got it on Amazon cheap.

 

[Jmp998]

I did the same for almost 3 years-adjustable pump is best especially since ayirstone will slowly clog over time. If you use an 'overrated" (larger than necessary) pump and turn down the flow, it will be much quieter than a small pump running at full power, which may or may not be important depending on location.