Possible Pico Tank?

[sputnick]

hey all, after some debby downers im left with an empty 2 us gal Aqueon Evolve 2. ive wanted a reef for some time now but heading off to college wont allow it. so ive been looking into nanos and picos but decided three tanks was enough. well now that i have an empty tank id like tostart a pico tank! hopefully with some corals a hermit and maybe a shrimp of some sort. i know that this is extremely hard for a beginner marine fish keeper but ive done a lot of reading and studying and belive with some patients i can pull it off. but my first question is, is the lighting good enough to keep aoft corals or any corals at all? again i have the aqueon evolve 2. if its not good enough is there a small, relatively cheap light out there that would work? thanks for you help on this guys! im really looking forward to having a pico!

 

[techen]

What kind of lighting does it have?

The only issue you face with is do you have access to a ready supply of RO water?

 

[sputnick]

I belive i am one of the lucky one's and have very very soft water but im not sure if that matters.. if i have to have an RO unit then my lfs carries RO water so i can stock it for emergencies. Also it has very bright LED lighting, with two blue LED's. Ive done some more research and it seems like quite a few people have had success with the stock lighting and softies.

 

[DrRob]

If you can fit a jerrycan of water anywhere then you could stock several water changes in one can with a tank that size.

 

[sputnick]

Yup that was my plan, My lfs sells large jugs of RO water so if i bought a few of them and store them that would last me a while.

 

[DrRob]

Remember that you'll need some mixed water and some top off plain RO for evaporation, unless you go for the daily change method.

 

[sputnick]

i have quite a bit of room to store things in my closet so i can store a few 5 gallon buckets with room to spare

 

[Donya]

unless you go for the daily change method.

You still need a source of plain RO even with really frequent partial WCs, unless the new water for the WC is kept at a lower sg than the tank's maximum before the WC and you compensate in the mix for changes in tank evaporation rate over time. Although that's a legitimate strategy and can save on salt mix, it's not something I would ever recommend for a first saltwater system, particularly one this small.

 

[sputnick]

Well thats what i ment, I can keep one bucket full of mixed saltwater and another full of just plain RO water. My lfs is a source of RO water as i dont want to spend the money for an RO unit

 

[sputnick]

Well i was going to make another topic for this one questions but i firgure i could ask here. Everything that I read about the reasons behind using RO water is that there are nasty chemicals and medications ECT. well i don't live in the city and we have our own well where we get our own water. (not jack and jill style with a bucket, but the modern way that requires way less work.. and pain..) Could i use our well water? I just want to make sure before i go and spend money on Ro water when i really don't need to.

 

[Donya]

The short answer is that RO is more reliable and less hassle regardless of where your water comes from.

The longer answer is that some of the big problems for city water also exist for well water: carbonates, metals, and phosphates. Get your tap water tested for those things. Low metal amounts can be treated away as they would in freshwater but if you have old pipes and it tastes like putting a coin in your mouth then you can rule it out. Carbonates are often a lot worse on well water than city water. You need a near-zero KH reading (<2dKH) or you will have problems long term with pH and KH stability.

"Nasty chemicals" is not a valid reason for why city water is bad; remember the same stuff gets used successfully for freshwater animals, including some pretty sensitive ones that are fairly comparable to marine organisms in the types of environmental contaminants they're sensitive to.

 

[sputnick]

ok, thank you much! i will test my water when the time comes to see if it would possibly be useable, but i will also check online for a cheap possibly used ro unit. being such a small tank i wont need a high gpd at all so that should help cost.

 

[techen]

I'd suggest doing RO as there's only so much tests you can do on tap water that may still hide nasty things.

 

[mini_matt]

Not sure if you had made any progress on this but thought I would weigh in, first off running a poco reef as a beginner isn't as hard as people make it sound!
The main thing you want to make sure you get is good quality live rock!
And definatly go with RO! Get one barrel salted at the LFS