![]() I actually learned in the last month or so that in normal room temperature the return pump alone in this tank generates enough heat in the 1G of water to keep the tank sat at 25☌ - which is nuts, and explains why my heater hardly turns on! A good fitting sheet of glass or perspex (with a couple holes in it for gas exchange) is excellent at salinity control, and limits fresh water top offs to twice a week, but when it's warm it's essential for it to come off to let heat out. Up until recently I enjoyed keeping a few Asterina star fish in the tank but just the other week I caught one munching on a zoa polyp, so they all came out! Likewise the tank also has vermetid snails but it's no biggy, as the "one piece" scape can be pulled out the tank during maintenance and these guys are easily blatted.įor me it's temperature control that's the pico nemesis. ![]() There's been a few ups and downs but mostly "ups", and thankfully not too many annoyances such as pest algae and aiptasia. Then there's also the comedy value of a silly undersized tank… And the fact that "big tank people" don't quite believe it!Īll in all the tank has been a bit of a slow burner, but the beauty of something so small is it fills in quickly and it doesn't cost a bomb to start it off with a few nice pieces. I really like the idea that you have to get up close to it to properly look at it, and when you do there's so much to see. I think I ended up being drawn to a pico because of that magic that miniature things tend to have. The intention with this pico was that after a big house move I'd set it up in my office at work and it'd just be a bit of fun until I set up a larger more complex system at home, but after a) we moved house and b) I got a new job, the pandemic happened, and the pico never made it to the office! I first dipped my toes in the salty waters with a couple of nano tanks, namely a small HOB filter tank and then a small AIO system… But as tends to happen, I quickly fell down the rabbit hole and realised there's so many more gubbins needed than just the box of water on the shelf! ![]() I only got into the salty part of 'the hobby' in the last three years or so, but when I was a teenager I kept all sorts of freshwater fish and beasties - from koi, to kribensis, to turtles. Likewise, the glass is scraped when I get around to it, but certainly not more than once every couple of weeks!Īn indestructible Nassarius snail (Nassarius vibex) These days when I do change the water I'm a real zealot with the turkey baster, and take an odd joy in blasting the rockwork to smithereens and sucking up all visible detritus from the bottom and rear chamber.Ĭarbon and GFO are changed monthly - three teaspoons of carbon, and a pinch of GFO - and the little piece of sponge which performs the job of filter floss is rinsed every couple of weeks when dirty. ![]() For the first couple of months I was doing 100% water changes once every two weeks, but over time this has tailed off to once every three weeks and even as little as once a month. The maintenance routine on this tank has shifted over time but I'm now at the (enjoyable) stage where I'm not overly precious about it - if the corals look off then I'll do a water change. Temperature Controller: Inkbird ITC-306A WiFi Lighting: TMC iLumenAir Nano+ Multi Spectrum 3w LED (rebranded ZetLight ZN1030)Ĭirculation: Tunze Universal Mini 5024.04 return pumpįiltration: A thin piece of sponge, carbon, and sometimes GFO Display: 15x15x15cm cube with a total volume 3.375L or 0.9 US gallons (in 4mm opti-white glass)
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