I want to keep monti cap and acropora in 1 gallon?
- Thread starter Baianotang
- Start date
Many will tell you no, but I'm currently doing it. Here's the link to my tank at nano-reefs.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthr ... post269653
This is the link to the early days.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthr ... adid=26895
I've only had it up and running for a little over three months. Most of the sps has only been in for about a month, but the color is holding and thy are growing. I still need to do a little more aquascping though. The system is 100% DIY. It's a 1 gallon bowfront with built in fuge. The fuge takes up the rear 1/3 or so of the tank and the remainder is the viewing area. The entire tank is 1 gallon. Because of the shallow depth (water column to the sand is only 5 inches) adn the fact that most of the corals are within 3 inches of the surface I am having no problems using two 13 watt 50/50 pc bulbs. Whether this works out long term still remains to be seen, but so far I'm very pleased with the results. Please note that only of a few of the recent pictures came out even slightly close to the true color because they were taken with a crappy $10 webcam.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthr ... post269653
This is the link to the early days.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthr ... adid=26895
I've only had it up and running for a little over three months. Most of the sps has only been in for about a month, but the color is holding and thy are growing. I still need to do a little more aquascping though. The system is 100% DIY. It's a 1 gallon bowfront with built in fuge. The fuge takes up the rear 1/3 or so of the tank and the remainder is the viewing area. The entire tank is 1 gallon. Because of the shallow depth (water column to the sand is only 5 inches) adn the fact that most of the corals are within 3 inches of the surface I am having no problems using two 13 watt 50/50 pc bulbs. Whether this works out long term still remains to be seen, but so far I'm very pleased with the results. Please note that only of a few of the recent pictures came out even slightly close to the true color because they were taken with a crappy $10 webcam.
Thanks for the referral invert ! 
Littlefish, if you would start a thread over here with your 1g bowfront I would love to get it linked up for a week-or-so focus thread. The quality of the aquarium/canopy build is excellent, and that will be the neatest bowfront I've ever seen. Clearly the corals are doing well and things seem to be running very smooth--let's add another pico reef reference to our new forum here any chance you get to bring over some pics and a write-up about your approach to pico reefing. Really a great setup
Dealing with salinity swings and temperature stability are really the only tough boundaries in pico reef setups IMO, growing sps in them is a simpler matter of bright light, clean water and regular Ca++/Alk support.
Brandon M.
Littlefish, if you would start a thread over here with your 1g bowfront I would love to get it linked up for a week-or-so focus thread. The quality of the aquarium/canopy build is excellent, and that will be the neatest bowfront I've ever seen. Clearly the corals are doing well and things seem to be running very smooth--let's add another pico reef reference to our new forum here any chance you get to bring over some pics and a write-up about your approach to pico reefing. Really a great setup
Dealing with salinity swings and temperature stability are really the only tough boundaries in pico reef setups IMO, growing sps in them is a simpler matter of bright light, clean water and regular Ca++/Alk support.
Brandon M.
Brandon,
I'll work on transferring some pics in the near future and writting up some info. Salinity is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed with these small tanks. I've found that using a float switch hooked up to a battery powered air pump to drive an auto topoff works great. Since the switch is located in the refugium that's about 1/3 of a gallon the salinity doesn't shift too muc. The water in the fuge only drops by about a half centimeter at most before the pump kicks on. I use a 1 L coke bottle. It means that I have to refill more often, but a topoff system failure will be a little less catastrophic.
I also have 1L pico bowfront in the works. The tank has been put together, but I still need to install the refugium portion. It will probably be air driven rather than useing a water pump.
I'll work on transferring some pics in the near future and writting up some info. Salinity is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed with these small tanks. I've found that using a float switch hooked up to a battery powered air pump to drive an auto topoff works great. Since the switch is located in the refugium that's about 1/3 of a gallon the salinity doesn't shift too muc. The water in the fuge only drops by about a half centimeter at most before the pump kicks on. I use a 1 L coke bottle. It means that I have to refill more often, but a topoff system failure will be a little less catastrophic.
I also have 1L pico bowfront in the works. The tank has been put together, but I still need to install the refugium portion. It will probably be air driven rather than useing a water pump.
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