Your Reef Is Ajar

[Mushroom Boy]

After seeing several reef jar threads I could no longer withstand the need, yes need , to set one of these up in the hopes that I could have some success at this pico level.

I'm starting with a 2 gallon anchor hocking cookie jar, a small piece of recently muriatic acid bathed live rock, Tetra 50 watt HT10 heater, air pump and stone. I ordered and am currently waiting for delivery of an ABI Tuna 12 watt bulb and am using about an inch of special grade aragonite sand.

Jar was setup October 22, and so far, so good, one day in

I'm thinking about replacing the airstone setup with a Hydor pico evolution pump to keep salt creep and noise down. The jar will eventually go to work with me and I'd like to make it as work acceptable as possible.

I would love some opinions of the setup. Too much, or not enough rock? Too much sand? Anything you'd change or add?

One day in with a temporary light...

 

[helen ann]

I have always wanted to do a pico tank for the bar in my kitchen. Am chicken being such a small water volume and maintaining parameters !

Nice start! For me a little to much sand but that is just me, I like tanks with less sand.

Following along!

 

[brandon429]

The jar will grow sps. Mine gets frozen rods fish eggs, frozen cyclopeeze weekly then water change

With that light you have coming, it w grow sps, independent of age of tank, solely that light alone and basic conditions will do it, the feed quality sets the speed of growth not just the lighting.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Thanks for the encouragement!

I agree Helen Ann, I've been thinking of removing about half of the sand. Maximize all the real estate I can!

Thank you Brandon, I was planning on feeding it primarily PE Calanus and then changing nearly all of the water on a weekly basis. I'll check out Rod's fish eggs too. I'm excited for that light to get here. Going to have it located about 15" above the water's surface, 8 hour photo period. Sound about right?

 

[brandon429]

Yes that's perfect setup with nice easy acclimation to the led starting with higher up/lower photoperiod

The slicks and oils feed the sps and frags as they bathe in higher than normal feed concentrations than they'd be getting in many larger tanks the trick as you mentioned is to rip it all back to clean before it rots into algae food, then they cruise on full guts for most of a week easily in clean water you don't have to mess with, and still grow.

 

[justingraham]

Ok following as I am going to do one soon and love to see how urs comes out first

 

[brandon429]

In my opinion the only action needed to keep these alive is the full water change

For any mistake, change out the water, the system is refreshed not harmed by them

to be extra nice + encourage coral growth the action is the feed+ water change...I was doing two a week to fatten up some shots for threads or for making frags. Feeding sustained for two mos w produce growth under that light

They can be stocked with ten typical frags anytime you want, it's not particularly different now vs ten more weeks if that rock was already cycled. The frags aren't much load, and the water chng exports uneaten food so it doesn't rot in the tank, or in the sandbed ideally. the heater is ideal above those that just follow the room temp. It will always be a perfect 78 ish given any normal room settings I don't personally like over 75 in the house anyway.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Well, my rock is not cured. I'm adding a small piece of rubble from my main reef to get things rolling. The light is due to arrive later this week and I'm planning on a full water change next weekend followed with the addition of some frags. Excited to see where this goes!

 

[brandon429]

Agreed one rubble added will run the waste from a few frags easily

these are so easy to work can't wait to see your results.

 

[Rick.45cal]

After seeing several reef jar threads I could no longer withstand the need, yes need , to set one of these up in the hopes that I could have some success at this pico level.

I'm starting with a 2 gallon anchor hocking cookie jar, a small piece of recently muriatic acid bathed live rock, Tetra 50 watt HT10 heater, air pump and stone. I ordered and am currently waiting for delivery of an ABI Tuna 12 watt bulb and am using about an inch of special grade aragonite sand.

Jar was setup October 22, and so far, so good, one day in

I'm thinking about replacing the airstone setup with a Hydor pico evolution pump to keep salt creep and noise down. The jar will eventually go to work with me and I'd like to make it as work acceptable as possible.

I would love some opinions of the setup. Too much, or not enough rock? Too much sand? Anything you'd change or add?

One day in with a temporary light...

I've got two of those jars empty, I used to keep bettas in them.... I think I will join your pico adventure!

 

[mmw64]

Following.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Well, up here in chillier Seattle, my house goes between 62 and 68 between October and May, so a heater is definitely a must. Unless I decide to set up a Puget Sound biotope. Hmmm...

This afternoon, I replaced the stock jar glass top with a plastic potted plant holder. I trimmed the edge to match the circumference of the jar, so that it fits with a relatively tight seal. I also notched out a spot for the wires and hoses that go into the jar. I left a tab on the hood so that I could easily remove it when it comes time to do water change or maintenance.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Rick, you should go for it!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[Mushroom Boy]

So, for other jar keepers, do you keep a small CUC?

 

[Brent925]

I might add Purple Cactus Gorgonian Photosynthetic Macro Algae to keep phosphates and nitrates down, plus they look awesome.

 

[Debramb]

Following, went to Libby outlet looking....ended up getting 2.5 gallon Aqueon tank. Have everything to assemble, trying to decide what rock to take from 100 gal. I really like old school undergravel filter. Still "deciding". Good Luck with yours, glad you took the plunge! I just found Tropic Marin makes little packets and collapseable water bottles for pico water changes-just add water and shake!

 

[brandon429]

Clean up crews in the pico reef, case study:
http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/360436-a-danish-pico/page-1

that's a legit 5 pages of reading/ fully relevant to your jar thread, its prediction pathway reading. the reef had good points in reflection of the cuc, and in the end they were the ammonia cascade trigger apparently and ironically were its demise.

that reef was tank of the month quality for much of its time, you can see the setting for algae and the CUC. to be algae free, he didn't use hand guiding... the CUC was required like traditional setups use, so it puts the onus on the flimsy animals to control a scape worth a few hundred in grown out frags. its reactive reefing/see algae, then add something and wait (vs see algae, kill algae, done)


these 2 gal setups are typically able to take some loss in the tank and still nitrify out the free ammonia, however other variables such as dirty/vs clean sandbed *directly* impact the biological oxygen demand in a small system and as such can amplify a loss event easily.

The direct answer to cuc in the pico reef is they are optional and not always helpful/

Some people like snails and crabs for diversity, algae eating etc, but they aren't tied to being algae free at all. many problem algae tanks had CUC that didn't eat, so dont let them be a swing vote.

the #1 rule is kill all algae by hand outside the tank with cheats, because we can in such small systems.

CUC members are incidental to that... get 5 if you want, or have none. I have zero. occasionally every few yrs I toss in a few ceriths for fun so their shell clicking wakes me up at night lol but as they die I don't replace. if they prevent algae that's fine, if not, we can step in to help.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

MORE PICS!!!!!!!!!

Great looking little project

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Perfect, thank you again Brandon! I will go CUC-less.

I swapped out the bubbles for an adjustable Hydor 100 gph pico pump today. I like the reduction in sound and the bubbles. Good flow! It will definitely make it more work friendly.

Thanks Squirrel! Nothing really new in terms of looks. When the new bulb gets here Friday, I'll post some before and after shots.