1.5l Pico Diary.....1st Pics

[sianeds]

Today I bought a tiny tank. It is just about 1.5 litres.

I have about 1 inch crushed coral substrate and some live rock. I think I will add some more live rock though as it looks a bit bare.

I am lighting it with a standard desk type spotlight at the moment which I'm hoping will provide plenty of heat. If the water is too cool I can move it slightly as it's currently sitting on top of my 30gal tank. If I move it to sit above my lights it will get much more heat.

I can just about fit a thermometer in it and it's currently at 26 deg C so looking good so far.

I have a small airline to provide some movement and surface agitation. I will be looking into ways to get some more movement though.

I'm just going to upload my pics onto photobucket then I'll post them on here

 

[atmmachine816]

Wow, sounds cool will watch this.

 

[sianeds]

Ok here's the pics

I put an ordinary knife next to it to show the scale

A bit closer...

 

[Danh]

Im going to have to watch this as this looks truly amazing. How much has this set up cost you so far mate?

Dan

 

[atmmachine816]

I'v seen those before. Is this suposed to just be a fun expierement I'm assuming then? Looks good.

 

[rhysiboy]

now thats a small tank lol

 

[adam.crouch]

wow looks alot smaller on here than ur msn avatar looking good

 

[sianeds]

Thanks guys

So far it's cost me £3.99 for the little tank and £2.00 for the live rock. I had lots of substrate lying around. The lamp is nothing special, just a desk lamp I had in the kitchen. The airline is an old cheap spare one which I robbed from my goldfish. I have a more powerful one hanging around somewhere which I'll either put in this tank or I'll give to the goldfish. I have stolen a thermometer off my 55gal tank which wasn't in the pics.

Yes this is just an exxperiment. I want to see if I can do it I'm thinking I'll run it for a month or so minimum, maybe 2 months.

Yes it's a very small tank. It is actually holding 1.4litres. Obviously it would hold a bit more empty...but not much

I have a small ricordea which can go in but other than that I'm open to suggestions as to what will go in there.

I will be adding more live rock, either pinched from my other tanks or I may buy a little more tomorrow.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

The biggest challenge so far is going to be controlling the temp and salinity. Wish me luck!

 

[sianeds]

As anticipated I am starting to have a problem with the temp. I just checked the thermometer and it's nearly at 30 deg C. So....I moved the tank to a new position on top of my bigger tank which is much cooler. This means I can have the lamp further away Will give it a couple of hours and see how it goes.

I am going to pick up another lamp tomorrow and fit it with a red bulb so I can keep the temp stable overnight without making an algae farm.

 

[dixaisy930]

Maybe a stingray or a bamboo sharK?

Would it be big enough for a sexy shrimp?

 

[sianeds]

Not really.....It is very very small. I think anything more than 1 hermit will be pushing it.

 

[sianeds]

I have moved it onto a shelf as it was still to warm and the temp has come down nicely so I'm running at 27deg C now

Just another pic for perspective

 

[atmmachine816]

So for the air line, are you running an air pump I'm assuming.

Looks like somebody's ready for spring

 

[sianeds]

Yeah I have an Airtech 2KO UK airpump. It's giving loads of movement I may have to fiddle with it at some point as it's full on at the moment, maybe I'll choke it down a bit in a day or so

 

[dixaisy930]

Not really.....It is very very small. I think anything more than 1 hermit will be pushing it.

I thought sexy shrimp were really tiny. The ones I've seen in my lfs were no bigger than my pinky fingernail. Do they get quite a bit bigger?