Freshwater Pico- Oxymoron?

llamalord305 · Oct 1, 2009

I am really interested in doing a pico with a 5.5 USG, but is it the same in salt as it is in fresh?

Mr._Fishy · Oct 1, 2009

Uh, I'm confused, what exactly are you asking?

saz326 · Oct 2, 2009

I guess there would be different equipment required - e. g. fresh water wouldnt need a protein skimmer but salt water would.

llamalord305 · Oct 2, 2009

Could I use the same equipment in a saltwater tank in a fw? Just without the protein skimmer. But I'm pretty limited as to what I can put in there... A Betta would die of stress if I used a powerhead....

Assaye · Oct 2, 2009

So you have the SW stuff and want to use the same equipment to try a small FW tank? Well, you wouldn't need a powerhead, and you'd need a filter that had been properly cycled for FW (as most marine tanks use LR, right?). The heater would be fine. You wouldn't need a protien skimmer (obviously).

kelly528 · Oct 2, 2009

Keep the heater. Maybe the filter will work too if you clean it out and put some new media in. If you want to plant it, just switch the light bulb (no need to do away with the whole fixture as far as I know) because I don't think plants are affected by actinic bulbs (thats what you use on coral, I think). You should go for a nano planted tank! And just because I love nanos, here are some stocking options:

-Betta (but you already know that)
-Endlers livebearers and dwarf cories
-Clown killies or some other type of killie
-A Sparkling gourami, a small school of microrasboras and a few bottom feeders (possibly a few Dwarf Chain Loaches?)
-Dwarf puffers and some ottos

There is a really good nanofish list floating around some forums, but I'm probably not allowed to link to it

Sidenote: Your SW Pico translates a FW Nano (b/c a FW Micro would just be ridiculously small!!!). What is with all these terms anyways lol.

Honeythorn · Oct 2, 2009

What IS a pico tank out of interest? What does the word mean? Isn't a 5.5 gal tank just...well a 5.5 gal tank? I mean what makes it a Pico is what I'm saying.

Dorkhedeos · Oct 3, 2009

llamalord305 said:
I am really interested in doing a pico with a 5.5 USG, but is it the same in salt as it is in fresh?

Honeythorn said:
What IS a pico tank out of interest? What does the word mean? Isn't a 5.5 gal tank just...well a 5.5 gal tank? I mean what makes it a Pico is what I'm saying.

Pico and nano are usually associated with SW tanks. The reason is that small SW tanks were very rare 10 years back because there was too little volume to keep the parameters stable. Now methods have changed and nano and pico tanks have emerged. If I recall correctly, nano is 20 gallons or less and a pico is 2-3 gallons or less. I guess you can have a pico freshwater with shrimp, but I wouldnt consider a 5.5 gallon a pico tank. A true freshwater pico tank in my eyes is 1g or less.

Heres an example of a true pico, I ended up selling this jar.

Too large of an image and i dont feel like resizing. It was a nice tank while i had it.
http

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