Pico for the office

[Killerdrgn]

So I?m thinking about starting a 2.5 gallon Pico tank for my desk at the office. I kind of want to have something like a couple of mushrooms and some sexy shrimp. What kind of filtration/powerhead should I get for it?
And would I be able to put enough sand or rock in there to handle the nitrates? Or should I just go for like little to no sand and like 1 large rock or something?
Anything else that might be able to go in the 2.5 gallon comfortably.
Thanks for any help you guys can throw my way.

 

[georgelc86]

Scope it. I am thinking about taking this same approach for my office tank, just as soon as Chief sells me his setup.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pico.html

 

[ZANYMASTER]

They make those mini HOB filters for that.Small water changes weekly and maybe one shrimp or tiny goby.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Wow that thing on melevs reef is pretty packed! hmmm i wonder if i could just make a small clam tank with maybe a couple of sexy shrimp. Like 2 clams and 3 sexy shrimp, maybe the small mushrooms in my current tank. Add in a rock just large enough to fit in the tank and the small filter with heater. and like a refugium light or something.
Would that work?

 

[KathyC]

No, unfortunately if you look at the entire thread..it looks like he upgraded the lighting further down and the clams are gone from the pics with no mention.
Most will tell you that you cannot keep clams unless you have MH lighting.
They won't live very long under the lighting you are considering..
By the time he wrote the final info on the thread the only corals he seemed to be keeping in the tank were zoas, a couple of feather dusters and a ric..the rest were gone.

 

[NYreefNoob]

< has a perfect nano tank ill get pic's been contiplating setting it up it's abut 2.5 gallons and made kinda like a aquapod

 

[georgelc86]

Thats true you really have to read the entire blog because he goes into some great detail and just skimming over it you will miss alot. Me personally I am going to setup a 20 gallon sump for my 5.5 gallon

 

[Killerdrgn]

No, unfortunately if you look at the entire thread..it looks like he upgraded the lighting further down and the clams are gone from the pics with no mention.
Most will tell you that you cannot keep clams unless you have MH lighting.
They won't live very long under the lighting you are considering..
By the time he wrote the final info on the thread the only corals he seemed to be keeping in the tank were zoas, a couple of feather dusters and a ric..the rest were gone.

ahhh ok well how about if i put the mini aqualight coralife fixture on it. Wouldn't that be enough light for such a small tank? But yeah I totally missed the part about him upgrading the lighting and the end where he took out the clams.

 

[autoponicz]

check out nano-reef.com....they have a bunch of people with 2.5g picos...
but the most functional i seen are with a false back on one side of the tank and use a small powerhead for the return...you can do a mini aqualight..that would be pretty cooll...

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Killer,

my humble 2.5 which made me a fortune

The most important thing in pico is the temperature control. Make sure you know there is no spike of temperature when you are off.

My tank almost get cooked during one night when the lowboy(the bar fridge) exhausted extreme heat during the night when the cafe is closed. The tank was on the counter directly on top of the exhaust. I end up making 2 x 12" 80 cfm fan to suck the exhaust to another direction. The babies of the mushrooms are now in at least 5 different tanks and making more babies.

The light was a <15W custom LEDs used in this test post #20 second pic.

If I were to do it again, I would go for a 27W POWER LEDs with 2:1 ratio of 11,000K White and actinic Blue LEDs.

 

[Killerdrgn]

How much would an led light be for the 2.5 gallon tank?
All i need it to do is be able to turn on and off, no real automated controlability, or just manual.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

How much would an led light be for the 2.5 gallon tank?
All i need it to do is be able to turn on and off, no real automated controlability, or just manual.

$150 w/o power supply, since you're a technical person, I guess you can get a power supply cheap or even free from a PC. It will be brighter than or close to a 150MH.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Oh yeah sorry about not getting the light for my 29 gallon tank yet. I had a moving in accident and flooded my neighbors ceiling, which I had to pay for. So I don't have the kind of money to throw around anymore.