My pico reef jars!

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! The last time I posted I was asking about a 10 gallon reef tank...however, it has since become apparent that I will need that tank to raise fry from my freshwater setups. Thus, for now I will be setting up a 1 gallon reef jar...here is it as of right now;

Here are the planned specs, based on what I found online;
LIGHT - Not entirely sure, but likely a custom light from an ebay seller I've purchased reef lighting from before. If that falls through, an ABI 12W tuna blue Par38 bulb.
CIRCULATION - An air pump with an air stone.
SALT - Plain ol' instant ocean, 9.5 tablespoons per gallon of distilled water. Currently waiting for it to arrive in the mail...
LID - The jar came with a lid, but its shape is not conducive to placing a light directly on the reef jar, so unless I go with the Par38 bulb I will simply use a sheet of plastic wrap with a hole poked in it that I will replace weekly.
NUTRIENT EXPORT - 100% or close weekly water change.
CORALS - Unsure of specific genera, but mostly softies with some LPS. NO SPS, zoanthids, or palythoas (the latter two because palytoxin scares me)
OTHER LIFE - Copepods, likely some snails (exact number TBD), maybe a sexy shrimp, maybe some macroalgae. Definitely no fish...far too small for fish (personally I am a firm believer in 5 gallons being the bare minimum for long term housing for any adult fish).
SETUP - Cycle the tank, then add copepods and the light, then begin adding corals.

If any of you have experience setting up jars similar to this I would deeply appreciate your input on my setup as it develops. Thank you

 

[KrisReef]

@brandon429 might have some tips?

 

[danenelsen]

This is going to be incredible! Can’t wait to see it when it gets wet!

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I have an unfortunate update today...I was harvesting brine shrimp for my freshwater fish and the entire hatchery tipped over, spilling about 800ml of salt water all over the place. In addition to making a mess, it struck the power strip I was going to use for the reef jar, causing the power strip to begin smoking. I unplugged the power strip and a nearby one (which fortunately was not struck by the saltwater) before it could catch fire, but now I'm going to need to buy a new power strip...and start harvesting brine shrimp in the bathroom instead of my room.

 

[Jmp998]

Sorry about the spill.

I kept one of those jars in my kitchen for about 3 years. My only suggestion would be to consider the 2 gallon instead of 1 gallon jar. The equipment and maintenance is about the same, but the smaller jar will fill up really quickly. I kept some softies, frogspawn, and Duncan in mine along with sexy shrimp, 1 small hermit, and a couple snails. Everything did fine for about three years until my light broke. I also did about 90% water changes every two weeks or so for ‘filtration’. I always had high phosphate and low nitrate, so after water change I would add 1 drop of lanthanum chloride and a little liquid nitrate, this seemed to help with the LPS.

 

[KrisReef]

I have an unfortunate update today...I was harvesting brine shrimp for my freshwater fish and the entire hatchery tipped over, spilling about 800ml of salt water all over the place. In addition to making a mess, it struck the power strip I was going to use for the reef jar, causing the power strip to begin smoking. I unplugged the power strip and a nearby one (which fortunately was not struck by the saltwater) before it could catch fire, but now I'm going to need to buy a new power strip...and start harvesting brine shrimp in the bathroom instead of my room.

I like smoked bacon for breakfast, smoked power strips are no good. Glad the accident didn't get any worse than it did. When I was a kid I watched a toaster power cord spontaneously ignite in my friends kitchen. Scary stuff when electrical fires start smoking.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Sorry about the spill.

I kept one of those jars in my kitchen for about 3 years. My only suggestion would be to consider the 2 gallon instead of 1 gallon jar. The equipment and maintenance is about the same, but the smaller jar will fill up really quickly. I kept some softies, frogspawn, and Duncan in mine along with sexy shrimp, 1 small hermit, and a couple snails. Everything did fine for about three years until my light broke. I also did about 90% water changes every two weeks or so for ‘filtration’. I always had high phosphate and low nitrate, so after water change I would add 1 drop of lanthanum chloride and a little liquid nitrate, this seemed to help with the LPS.

I'll definitely consider the larger jar.

 

[Jmp998]

One other thing I did-I bought a cheap plastic plate from Target, the kind they have with outdoor summer stuff, that was just slightly larger than the jar and neutral color similar to my kitchen countertops. It was hardly noticeable and caught little salt drips/condensation before they got on the countertops.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Hello again! I decided to take your advice and buy a larger jar;

The setup will otherwise be quite similar. I do not have a firm setup date yet. Thanks for looking!

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! Just a small update...I found a permanent spot for the jars, so I should be able to set them up within a week or two. I have also decided that the smaller jar will serve as a QT jar for new corals.

I still need some supplies for this setup...I need a bucket for mixing saltwater, a pump for mixing saltwater, a power strip for the two jars (I have two aquarium power strips coming in the mail), and a light (which can wait until the end of the cycle). I also need some dry rock for the smaller jar and would like to buy live sand for both jars. I do have heaters for the two jars, but they have VERY short, 3 foot cords, so I might need to replace them if they prove to be too short.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

This is going to be fun to follow. I see where you said the smaller jar will be a QT. What do you plan on adding?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I always love following small builds like this!

 

[LordJoshaeus]

This is going to be fun to follow. I see where you said the smaller jar will be a QT. What do you plan on adding?

The QT jar will likely have a permanent population of macroalgae in addition to the corals that are temporarily quarantined there (side note...how do you fertilize macroalgae? Do you simply use a freshwater planted tank fertilizer?). The larger jar will consist primarily of soft corals, but I may add an LPS coral or two and perhaps a photosynthetic sponge. I do not want to add SPS corals (I'm nervous they would be beyond my abilities to keep them happy), zoanthids, or palythoas (palytoxin is not something I want to play with).

I always love following small builds like this!

Thank you!

 

[PharmrJohn]

This is fascinating! I wanna try! It would give me something to do until winter launch! Maybe a 10G coral only.....

 

[LordJoshaeus]

The jars are up and running! Very humble beginnings, alas...

The gallon jar has cleared up fairly quickly, but I'm having issues with getting the two gallon jar to clear up. Hopefully it will clear up by tonight...I moved the air stone a little higher in the jar in the event it was disturbing the sand bed.

The first batch of saltwater I made left a little bit of calcium carbonate in the bottom of the jar, so I am preparing another batch of saltwater that had its salt added much more gradually. If that still leaves little calcium carbonate pebbles in the bottom of the bucket I may need to invest in a bigger pump.

 

[KrisReef]

The jars are up and running! Very humble beginnings, alas...

The gallon jar has cleared up fairly quickly, but I'm having issues with getting the two gallon jar to clear up. Hopefully it will clear up by tonight...I moved the air stone a little higher in the jar in the event it was disturbing the sand bed.

The first batch of saltwater I made left a little bit of calcium carbonate in the bottom of the jar, so I am preparing another batch of saltwater that had its salt added much more gradually. If that still leaves little calcium carbonate pebbles in the bottom of the bucket I may need to invest in a bigger pump.

Did you rinse the sand out to remove the fines? If not then I would recommend a full fresh washing of the sand to remove the dust clouds from your jars going forward.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Did you rinse the sand out to remove the fines? If not then I would recommend a full fresh washing of the sand to remove the dust clouds from your jars going forward.

Didn't realize I needed to do that with a prepackaged product...whoops. Does that mean I stir the sand vigorously to throw dust into the water column and then do a 100% water change?

 

[KrisReef]

I rinse my sand in a bucket outside with the garden hose, swirling it around and dumping the dust out until the water is crystal clear and there is zero fines. Vigorously agitating and making sure the clouds are gone before putting the sand back in the jars.

Then refill with salt water and you will never see the clouds again. Bacteria on the “live” sand will be ok with the process.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Here's the reef jars as of today, 6/30/2024...little has changed.

I did an almost 100% WC on both jars a few hours before taking these pictures...the 1 gallon jar cleared up quickly, but the 2 gallon jar is still having issues with cloudiness (not quite sure why only one jar is having cloudiness issues...). I am making a point of removing as much dust as I can in both jars during the water changes (I don't really want to tear the jars down outright at this point), but I clearly have a long ways to go with the big jar...

I am dosing an ammonia additive (the plan is twice a week at the recommended dose) and beneficial bacteria daily in an attempt to cycle the jars. (I know I could technically get away with adding corals immediately, but I don't have the money for corals yet and thought it would still be a good idea to cycle the jar for any non-photosynthetic inverts that may eventually go in here). I am planning to add livestock sometime after the beginning of August, depending on how much I am able to save. In addition to photosynthetic sponges (which I am currently somewhat obsessed with), livestock that will likely end up in the larger jar eventually include a photosynthetic gorgonian, a mushroom coral, and clove polyps; I may eventually add a sexy shrimp to this larger jar. I'll use a different photosynthetic sponge in the 1 gallon jar, but as that jar will be used for quarantining corals it will likely have no other sessile animals and will instead have macroalgae in it. I may add a hermit crab to each jar as well.

EDIT; I have been watching more videos about cycling aquariums and in particular the "ugly phase" and I am getting VERY nervous about my idea to stock the tank after just a month or two of cycling...at the same time, if I wait too long to stock my reef jar winter will start and I will not be able to ship in corals. Will soft corals get overrun with algae if I try adding them during the ugly phase? Should I just cycle the tank in the dark as long as possible, adding the shrimp and hermits (and copepods) long before adding corals and the light?

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I got the jar's light today! It is a 19 inch reefbar pro I bought online...I am not turning it on long term while the jars are cycling, but here's a shot of the jars with the reefbar pro on at full blast (I am waiting for some dimmers to arrive in the mail...didn't think to order them with the light. Also, the light is significantly less blue in person);

I also got a refractometer in the mail today. Once I figured out how to calibrate it I used it on the larger jar and discovered that it has a salinity of about 36-37 ppt (the lines are too small for me to pin it down exactly). Clearly I am using a little too much salt...good thing I didn't add any livestock yet