My point5 SPS Pico

[Unarce]

I became so intrigued by the numerous Art Deco 3/4 picos and Brandon's Mini75 that I needed to delve into the bonsai art of the sub-gallon genre.

My pico has not been running very long (3 weeks), so it hardly constitutes success. I just hope that it might encourage more to take a stab at this growing trend.

Equipment List

Half gallon acrylic aquarium: $8
Visi-therm 25W mini heater: $11
Red Sea nano filter: $8
Black clip-on lamp: $7
Coralife Mini Compact 10W 50/50: $11

Despite being one of my least expensive endeavors in this hobby, it was fun and rewarding.

The dimensions of the .5 gallon tank is 6X6X4. I decided to go with a single mini bommy display, giving the corals a bit more room to grow. The water, live sand, live rock, hermits, and Montipora Digitata frags were pulled from my main system. The bumblebee snail and yellow clown goby were purchased soon after everything was in place.

Roughly 30% of the water is exchanged between my main tank and pico on a weekly basis. I'm also able to carefully dose drops of Tech CB and DT's Phytoplankton with a tubifex worm syringe.

We still had some 90+ degree weather in September, and it was good to see that the temp still did not rise above 82. On average, about an ounce of RO/DI water is needed for topoff on a daily basis.

 

[Unarce]

Here's a shot of the bulb and the filter. The 10W bulb of course runs very cool and the lamp resembles a MH pendant. The nano filter contains several pieces of coral rubble and foam (which is replaced every 2 weeks).

 

[Unarce]

Here's a shot of the clean-up crew which consists of one scarlet hermit, one blue-legged hermit, and one bumblebee snail. Then there's a shot of the yellow clown goby on his favortie perch.

 

[Unarce]

Last but not least, a shot of the tank with a mouse next to it. Just for kicks. :wink:

 

[hillbilly]

Interesting. I like it!

 

[hail_sniper]

really nice, only if they had nano live rock so you can aqua scape like you would a larger tank :lol:

 

[holry7778]

really nice, only if they had nano live rock so you can aqua scape like you would a larger tank :lol:

You can. Chisel and hammer regular LR into smaller stuff. works great!

Reefnutz
Tank looks good. I only wish they made smaller heaters, than that 25w is huge in the pico tank.

 

[holry7778]

really nice, only if they had nano live rock so you can aqua scape like you would a larger tank :lol:

You can. Chisel and hammer regular LR into smaller stuff. works great!

Reefnutz
Tank looks good. I only wish they made smaller heaters, than that 25w is huge in the pico tank.

 

[Unarce]

Thanks for the comments.

It's possible, as Brandon has shown, to aquascape a pico to look like a larger tank:

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... ght=mini75

For the .5, I wanted to give as much room as possible for the goby and also allow the digitata to grow.

The Visi-therm 25W Stealth heater was less of an eyesore, but is slightly longer than the mini.

 

[holry7778]

Really no matter what it does look good.

 

[Anonymous]

That's awsome. I think I may start one after seeing that!

 

[Mihai]

AWESOME!

Honestly, I like the open aquascaping better than your usual 90gal heap of rock. I was wondering if you could seal the top such that you don't lose the 2oz of water daily... also, I though that a fish in such a small tank was asking for touble - the fact is that I have 0 nano experience, but I'm thinking (seriously) about one.

All the best,
Mihai