Questions about pico tanks

[NewR33FER]

Still researching what type of tank I want. I’m leaning towards 120 gallon peninsula as my first tank. I’ve learned a decent amount so far about aquariums. I was wondering, so I’ve heard so many people say it’s super hard to keep a 5 gallon tank, as parameters can swing very quickly. But why wouldn’t somebody just do a 25% water change every single day, and you can have a super stable tank? Probably won’t harm beneficial bacteria. If anybody knows why, then thanks.

 

[JumboShrimp]

A lot depends. I bought a friend a 'first tank' as a gift-- only 8 gallons (all-in-one). About 7 months running, and it's doing fantastic; not even really an ugly phase. BUT I have mentored him, step by step. So can you find a local mentor? If so, a very small tank could be possible.

 

[brittlestar]

I used to have a pico that thrived for about a year until I took it down in an effort to reduce my number of tanks. I found that it actually did a lot better when I limited water changes to every couple months. Changing water will always cause a swing in something so I think doing it daily actually guarantees instability. I was dosing phyto for a feather duster and adding the tiniest pinch of flake every other day for the microfauna. No other feeding. Filtration was purely biological - rock, algae, soft corals, diverse microfauna, and a DSB did plenty to keep everything stable and in the right ranges. The only equipment was a light, a heater, a bubbler, and a dosing pump for phyto since the duster seemed to suffer without continuous feeding in such a small water volume. I do think the only reason I was able to pull it off is because I had no fish. Their bioload is many times greater than most invertebrates. I have no doubt that sexy shrimp, pom pom crabs, and other really really tiny inverts would have fit in perfectly but I just never got any. It held about 2 gallons of water accounting for displacement by rocks and sand. I've been keeping nano and pico tanks for a long time and I think if you allow the ecosystem to balance itself they're no more difficult than a larger one. You do run into problems when you start fighting against its natural tendencies with aggressive filtration, cleaning, feeding, water changes, etc. That's when small tanks become unstable.

 

[dedragon]

But why wouldn’t somebody just do a 25% water change every single day, and you can have a super stable tank?

a lot of bacteria is in the water column plus doing so will give you extremely low nitrates and phosphates which isnt great if you arent on top of dosing aminos or running a system like zeovit (which i think also requires amino dosing)

 

[dedragon]

also being on top of salinity swings as you still need to compensate for the evaporation

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What would you want to keep if you need "a super stable tank"? I mean, stability is preferred but some corals are very forgiving, it doesn't need to be "super stable". i've kept corals in 5 gallon tanks before, again I think it depends what your goal is.

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

My 1 liter pico tank was easy to care for and thrived with basically no maintenance. Just occasional top-offs.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Still researching what type of tank I want. I’m leaning towards 120 gallon peninsula as my first tank. I’ve learned a decent amount so far about aquariums. I was wondering, so I’ve heard so many people say it’s super hard to keep a 5 gallon tank, as parameters can swing very quickly. But why wouldn’t somebody just do a 25% water change every single day, and you can have a super stable tank? Probably won’t harm beneficial bacteria. If anybody knows why, then thanks.

We never had issues with our pico tank. They can be hard to keep because one small overcorrection on dosing or changing your lights by just a small amount can throw everything off. With a bigger tank, you have more room for error. The smaller you go in size, the less room you have for error.