Review my pico tank design

[slobodan]

Hello!
I want a pico aquarium, but I am in Belgrade, Serbia, and I can't order most of the nice pico tanks I saw online, so I decided to build one.

I already have Red Sea MAX NANO G2 XL. I do not plan to add more fish at the moment, but I plan to add more corals. People (and some LFSs) in this region are not that great with quarantine procedures, so I want to decrease the chance of adding something unwanted with new corals to my display tank. I plan to use this pico tank as a "new coral quarantine" for a few months before I add them to my display tank.

Here's the design for my pico tank. This is the first tank I ever "designed." I have help from someone much more experienced than I am, but I would like to get your comments, too, in case we missed something important. Obviously, I'll not build it and glue it myself.

In short, the idea is:

• Build an approximately 10-gallon tank (not precise, somewhere in 10g range).
• Use 6mm glass (optiwhite).
• Add a return pump, a skimmer, and some filter media (sponges, active carbon, and some other things, such as Sera Siporex).
• The return pump, skimmer, and other things in the images are just current ideas based on what I know I can get here; I might change them.
• I'll add some small ATO outside the tank and put the sensor and a hose in the return pump area.
• I'll add an "organizer" for the filter area to get them out easily.
• I'll add some rock from my display tank, and I still need to decide if I want to add sand.
• I'll do weekly water changes most of the time when I do water changes in my other tank.
• I'll keep only corals in this tank, and I might add some crabs or snails. No fish.
• I'll add another "wave maker" pump, but that does not affect the tank itself.

Is there anything important that would not work or that is missing?

Thanks in advance!

Top-down view:

Side view:

Back filter area view (from back):

 

[tzabor10]

Looks well thought out. Good luck

 

[slobodan]

Thanks!

 

[bubbgee]

Looking great!
I also love the pico designs from Polyp Pros
It's probably going to be my next tank at this rate.

 

[slobodan]

I looked at the Polyp Pros tanks, and they look awesome! But I can’t get them here. Actually, I probably can, but shipping would be too expensive.

 

[krystoph]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but with no fish, and a small tank, I don't really think you need a skimmer. The water changes will do enough.

 

[slobodan]

@krystoph as far as I know, you are correct. But, I decided to add it anyway :)

The tank is finally ready. I’ll start it next week. I must redo the 3D part because I made a mistake with the dimensions.

Here are a few photos:

 

[slobodan]

It's finally time to fill the tank!

Here's the current progress, I am waiting for the new batch of water to be ready :D

I am happy with the 3d part in the back. I messed up the dimensions first, but the second iteration was decent.

 

[Tahoe61]

I am really impressed. Turned beautifully.
Are corals readily available?

 

[slobodan]

I am really impressed. Turned beautifully.
Are corals readily available?

I’ll let it run for a week and then add a few soft corals and a cleanup crew. If that works, I’ll finally pick a few corals waiting for this tank to be ready, including an acropora pc rainbow, montipora sunfire grafted cup, and a few zoas.

Here is the planned cleanup crew:
- 3 blue‑leg hermit crabs
- 2 scarlet hermit crabs
- 1 small emerald crab
- 1 porcelain crab
- 10-15 empty shells

 

[slobodan]

I am really impressed. Turned beautifully.
Are corals readily available?

And thanks! I actually expected it to be a bit better, but this looks decent enough :)

The next project is to design a nice polycarbonate lids for my tanks as shipping and import fees for Kraken lids make them too expensive.

 

[slobodan]

Up and running finally! I need to install ATO a bit later today or tomorrow.

 

[slobodan]

ATO connected, and one small soft coral (Sympodium) added

I need to get a better RO water container, a wave maker, and maybe some simple doser for Red Sea 4-part complete reef care to match the display tank.

I used ChatGPT o3 to calculate the light schedule to match my current Red Sea ReefLed 50 schedule as much as possible. It looks OK so far.

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

I’ll let it run for a week and then add a few soft corals and a cleanup crew. If that works, I’ll finally pick a few corals waiting for this tank to be ready, including an acropora pc rainbow, montipora sunfire grafted cup, and a few zoas.

Here is the planned cleanup crew:
- 3 blue‑leg hermit crabs
- 2 scarlet hermit crabs
- 1 small emerald crab
- 1 porcelain crab
- 10-15 empty shells

I really like you're including empty shells for the hermit crabs.
I often find too many people aren't doing that and then complain about how the hermit crabs kill their snails.
Goodluck with the SPS if you do end up adding it.
May I ask how will you be dosing the tank when you add SPS?

 

[slobodan]

I really like you're including empty shells for the hermit crabs.
I often find too many people aren't doing that and then complain about how the hermit crabs kill their snails.
Goodluck with the SPS if you do end up adding it.
May I ask how will you be dosing the tank when you add SPS?

I am not planning to add snails to this pico at the moment, but empty shells sound like a good idea, anyway. Thanks!

For SPS, this is a coral quarantine tank, so they need to stay there for ~2 months. I am planning to have some soft corals as permanent residents. I am still not sure if this light will be good enough. If not, my backup plan is to upgrade my Red Sea Max Nano G2 XL and add the Red Sea ReefLed 50 to this pico.

I’ll probably buy a dosing pump to automate the Red Sea 4-part Complete Reef Care so I can make the two tanks as similar as possible (I know I can't make them the same, but I want to minimize the differences for coral transfer).

I also plan to use the Red Sea AB+, reef roids, and Coral Curry occasionally (I do that in the display tank, too).

 

[slobodan]

Here are a few new images (I just added a few crabs and the first batch of corals):

 

[slobodan]

Crabs say hi.

 

[slobodan]

An update after a while:
I transferred the first batch of corals (Duncan, 2 acroporas, and zoa) to the display tank, and the pick tank was ready for the new batch.

I got a 24K Gold Torch, Acropora PC Rainbow, Montipora Grafted plate, Alveopora, Anacropora goldenrod, and various zoas. Then, today, a week later, a DJM-bred Mandarin Dragonet and Goniopora Ice and Fire arrived, so the next batch is in the tank, and everything looks happy.

The glass is dirty because I let pods fill the tank to make a nice welcome for a mandarin fish. I also bought more pods so I could breed them. After adding a mandarin fish to the display tank, the goal is to use the Pico tank for pod breeding and transfer the pods to the display tank with corals when I do not have anything new in the quarantine.

I also got a cover net. And I bought a wavemaker (ZKSJ Eco Slim 10000), but it's still not installed. And a dozer (installed and dosing Red Sea 4-part complete reef care).

A few photos

 

[slobodan]

Btw, the Pico tank was not planned as a fish quarantine, but I decided to make an exception for a mandarin fish as I wasn't sure I can run a proper quarantine and make it survive. It's a bit of a risk, but I took a tank-bred one and decided to accept the risk. I’ll keep it in this tank for at least a month, probably 6-8 weeks.

 

[slobodan]

Ah, and of course, I got some aiptasia with some of the frags from the first batch of corals. I used the Red Sea Aiptasia-X because I saw 1-2 new ones, but I also added a peppermint shrimp today.

There are 3 hermit crabs, 1 porcelain crab, 1 peppermint shrimp, mandarin fish, corals, many pods, and some asterina and brittle stars in the Pico tank now. And probably some other hitchhikers.