40 ounce PNW Pico reef office tank

[kiswanson]

Next office build! A PNW 40 oz “reef” system! Just running rodi water right now. Thinking of adding a few pieces of cycled rock, a little sand, and, this may be crazy, but a few pocillopora frags. I’ve always had good luck with pocillopora, so I thought it’s my best bet for an sps. SPS in such a tiny tank would be really cool…sort of a bonsai approach. I also would want some other small hardy corals. My other Pico has ricordea and rock flower anemones, so I think I’ll do something different. Haven’t figured it out yet.

I will add a few small snails and maybe a Pom Pom crab or a pocillopora crab once it is cycled. This is definitely too small for fish.

For the sump I have a heater that came with it. I need an ato before I think about adding any life. I was thinking of adding filter floss, a Chemipure blue nano, and a small cycled marine pure block.

I plan on cycling with a tiny amount of Fritz turbo 900 start and nitrocycle

 

[kiswanson]

First issue, overflow doesn’t seem to keep up with the return pump. Water all the way to the top and the sump level is noticeably lower than the fill line I had filled it to. Since there is nothing in here I don’t know why the water flow is not balanced.

 

[kiswanson]

At @PNWCustom recommendation I used the supplied q tip to open up the overflow drain. Probably just a little plastic in the line that was not all the way open. Now everything is flowing well. I ended up filling it a little more than the fill line in the sump as that was what was needed to eliminate any gurgling sound. Flowing nicely now!

 

[kiswanson]

Double checked that with no power the sump won’t overflow…all good

 

[kiswanson]

I just realized this is my first reef tank with an actual sump!

 

[kiswanson]

Added then Chemipure blue nano and the filter floss and changed the water to saltwater. Everything working well, no issues. Maybe this week I’ll be able to add some rock, sand, and bio media and start the cycle.

The InkBird temperature controller and the nano ato should hopefully be here soon.

One thing I noticed is the light always comes on at the lowest setting, which is annoying for having it on a smart outlet to turn it off and on. On weekdays I can just turn it up when I get here, but in the weekend it may just have to be in at the lowest setting. @PNWCustom you may consider on the future a light that separates the on/off button and the intensity selection.

Such a cool set up.

 

[kiswanson]

The PNW 40 ounce micro reef tank has life!

#picoreef #picotank #PNWCustom

 

[kiswanson]

Added sand and pre cycled rock from my LFS Aquatics Unlimited and a nice little green and red discosoma rock from another great LFS Best fish. I also got a few small snails from them to to add to the tank.

Ended up using Dr. Tim’s and nitrocycle to kick start the bacteria population. I also added some pre cycled small marine pure blocks to the sump.

Planning to add a few more corals next week.

Some more pictures for scale

#picoreef #picotank #PNWCustom

 

[kiswanson]

Video of Micro Reef after set up

 

[Pale Morning1]

Wow. Please keep the updates coming on this. I would like to see the long term care and upkeep on a tank this size. Very cool.

 

[kiswanson]

Wow. Please keep the updates coming on this. I would like to see the long term care and upkeep on a tank this size. Very cool.

Yeah, it will be interesting. I think it could be really good, but I think the chance of utter failure is much higher than my other tanks (45 gallon and 3.8 gallon)

 

[Pale Morning1]

All I can think is having 20 of these stacked up on a bookshelf each with a single unique coral for display.

 

[kiswanson]

All I can think is having 20 of these stacked up on a bookshelf each with a single unique coral for display.

That would be cool, but at that point I would think a number of small tanks plumbed into one larger sump would probably work best and would be significantly cheaper

 

[LegalReefer]

Looks awesome! What all are you planning to put in it? I like the shroom rock

 

[dedragon]

very cool, if you also have a main tank you should do a daily 1 cup water change or 100% waterchange even or just use one of the premixed saltwaters from the fish store but add bottled bacteria like fritzyme 9 everytime to keep up.
I wouldnt add more coral to this unless it is hooked up to a bigger tank as fluctuations are bound to occur
Dont add more than 1 or 2 snails or hermits as molts and if one dies it could throw off the whole tank being as small as it is and it already looks great

 

[kiswanson]

Added some WWC pocillopora and stylophora to the Micro reef

#picoreef #picotank

 

[LegalReefer]

Looking great!

 

[Kehy]

Zoas were doing well in mine, and in a 1l jar I have in a windowsill, amber sea fan seems to be quite content

 

[kiswanson]

Polyps open today

 

[kiswanson]

Polyps out on the stylophora and the pocillopora. Green star polyps on their ceramic disc look like a little bush. The other thing in there are red and green discosoma