2.6 Gallon Pico

Fausty1809 · Feb 20, 2020

Hi all!

I wanted to share my 2.6 gallon pico tank with you all. I'm getting back into saltwater aquariums after about 3-4 years away.

Tank is a Fluval 2.6 gallon Spec 3, in white, with about an inch of Carib-Sea black Hawaiian sand, and approximately 3-5 lbs of purple-colored live rocks, with some extra smaller pieces from breaking them up in the back sump area. Currently filtration is the sponge that came with the tank, the bio rings included with the tank, and the rocks in the front and back. Planning to run chemi-pure bags when I can get to the store and grab some, especially to keep on top of the water quality in so small a tank. Water changes are 40-50% weekly.

Livestock in the tank are:
1 red leg hermit
1 blue leg hermit
1 Small Turbo Snail
1 Skunk Stripe Cleaner Shrimp
1 Pygmy Cherub Angelfish (I know, I know, Russian Roulette with nipping corals...he’ll go to a friend’s tank if there’s any issues that come up, including him outgrowing the tank, but I love their color and tiny size, and they aren’t little jerks like the damsels are.)
Looking to add a Halloween hermit crab and maybe a Nassarius Snail, and that’ll be it.
Trying to keep a good scavenger balance since the angel and shrimp require real foods.

Lighting is currently an ABI Tuna Blue 23W bulb sitting about 12" from the top of the tank.

I'm actually very curious about the general opinion on this light is, I bought it for a jar reef three years ago, and it was over that for about 3-4 months before I tore everything down completely for a long break. It is VERY blue, for sure. I didn't realize they had a 12w option at the time of purchase, or maybe I did and was thinking a higher output would be better. The cone of the light covers this tank pretty well, but I'm concerned about it being overwhelmed by light. I have a small bunch of corals coming tomorrow, and most of them are typical med-low flow, med-low light. I am considering adding a montipora capricornis to the upper portion once the tank sits for a bit longer, in hopes that it’ll lend some shade as it basks in the upper half of the aquarium’s light and grows out some. In the meantime I may try to see about getting some dragons breath macro back from one of the local reefers—gave a whole bunch away when I tore down. Not super interested in acros for this tank, plus being an SPS noob and all.

Now to photos. Coral photos are from the seller, AquaSD—they had a huge sale and as much as I love my local fish stores, they don’t often carry unusual colors of corals. So since I was limited in space and I’ve had many of these in the standard colors as starter corals, I figured I’d go ahead and do my first online coral order. Honestly I’m a touch stressed waiting for them to arrive in the morning. I know they’ll probably take a few days to look happy again following shipment, hence the seller photos to look at for now. I am hoping the blue light will make these guys pop.

JoshO · Feb 20, 2020

Excited to see what it's going to look like!

Ratvan · Feb 20, 2020

Following along, I love the Spec 3 Tanks and cant wait what you do with yours

Fausty1809 · Feb 20, 2020

So the corals arrived an hour early.

Never shipped corals before, was surprised how cold the water in shipping was, but I guess considering the cold weather and flying, makes sense. It did ship with a heatpack, and the corals were very well packed for the trip and with plenty of water. They arrived looking well enough, like we all tend to after a long trip...lol. There was an additional hitchhiker along with the six I ordered, I think it's an acan or favia of some type as a freebie. (Huge thanks, Aqua SD!)

I'm super excited to see everyone with the lights on, but I'm being good and letting them chill in the relative shade. Right now they're drip acclimating to the tank.

Here's a teaser pic of them temperature acclimating and some pics of them as they get put into the jug to drop acclimate (in order so I know who's who...lol):

Fausty1809 · Feb 20, 2020

Letting everyone get settled in at the bottom of the tank, besides the Duncans.... I didn't expect the torch to be so big, I thought he'd be half his size, so he's got some extra room to extend as he adjusts to the tank and not sting anyone....which kinda crowded the rest of the group a bit.

Tagalong coral is apparently an Aussie favia of some type, purple with neon green mouths and neon green stripes. Kinda excited since I was really considering a dragon soul favia, but was concerned with placement in such a small tank. Seems like it'll go in the lower left corner now like I had planned since we now have a favia to place....lol.

Torch is opening nicely, taking his time, but getting there. Under the light it's like a purple base with white-green tips.

Duncan pretty happy until the shrimp comes to bother him.

Mushroom, blasto, and acan seem to be doing well, getting puffy and happy. Was concerned about the acan cause it had been a little withdrawn and showing his skeleton points a bit through his flesh, but he's all fluffy now.

Candy Cane is taking it's time, I'm not super familiar with the species, I'm not sure if the edges get puffy when happy and settled or if they chill as more of a stony look. The center mouth area is nice and puffy looking though.

Angelfish was pretty funny when I added the frags to the sand bed right in front of the cave at the bottom of the rock where he has claimed as his spot. I swear he was like "what the heck, get this crap off my lawn!" I'll be keeping a close eye on him for picking, but hopefully keeping him well-fed will deter him, cause he's such a beautiful little fish, I'd hate to have to re-home him too soon.

I also moved the light back nearly behind the tank so that the edge of the cone was the only thing lighting the tank for now so everyone can adjust to the new tank but not get blasted by light. I'll gradually move it back more centered over a week or so, depending on how these LPS handle it. Even if it stays off center a bit, I'm fine with that.