1.5 gallon pico reef tank?

[FLESHY]

As much as people like to say "Steer Clear" of these...I think they are okay.

The Fluval Spec is a great little tank and I have a complete newb friend that is growing corals and keeping fish in 2g of h2o.

He has some posts on here in an older thread about the spec...but hasnt/isnt on very often.

Chemical filtration such as purigen or chemipure is very helpful.

 

[ibz_rg]

Fleshy has spoken.

 

[studd muffin]

Umm dont. Its hard enough to keep up with my 2g fluval spec reef. Water parameters fluctuates quick and you have to keep up with topping off the water every other day. Go with something bigger. I put more time in this tank than any other tanks I have.

 

[FLESHY]

Fleshy has spoken.

Ha ha, this is by no means definitive. Stud muffin is one of the guys that had one. Thanks for the props though!

Umm dont. Its hard enough to keep up with my 2g fluval spec reef. Water parameters fluctuates quick and you have to keep up with topping off the water every other day. Go with something bigger. I put more time in this tank than any other tanks I have.

Are you really having any issues? H2o top of daily is necessary, but what parameters are you testing and struggling with? Have any corals? What issues are you having?

My buddy isnt testing for anything...all is well. Only coral he has really lost was an SPS...and that was sort of anticipated.

 

[studd muffin]

Ohh I dont have any issues haha. Its just that the tank is so small that its hard to add the right dosage to the water and if you dont keep up with daily maintenance the water parameters will fluctuate.

 

[FLESHY]

I know my buddy doesnt top off everyday and he is still growing corals. Lucky little punk.

 

[TMartinez]

People always go for these tint tanks in hopes of getting into saltwater for cheap. However people don't understand thats it not like freshwater, where its just water contained in a bowl with some fish. Saltwater tanks work when they are an ecosystem. everything working as a purpose. I had a 5g hex that I made into a pico reef. It was a pain in the ass compared to my 30g. It got dirtier faster, the littlest swing upset the whole tank and to get all the equipment to properly run coral it looked crowded. Reef tanks need to be kept warm, so you gotta add a heater. Then they need water movement so you need a nano circulation pump. Plus a light which that cheesy little clipon won't do so you gotta drop some money on decent LEDs to grow coral. What are you really saving in the long run?

Go on craigs, get a tank that's a respectable size and do it right. I think pico reefs are cool but they require more time and maintenance then a larger system and i personally think should be left as a second or third tank, not a first.

 

[malawidave]

Im no expert here by no means, but I would definatly take everyones opinion and follow your own conclusion. IMO a 2.5 too small, someone here noted a slightly larger 10g, and there was reference to craigslist... here's this...

I have a little 10g w/ 1 YT Damsel, and 1 Little Oc. clown, a couple of hermits and some snails with 15lbs of LR with a HOB 30g filter with broken dead coral frags in it for extra bio and buffering, a couple days ago I got a weird urge to try a coral in it... I started with a couple of cheap little mushrooms in it. The lid that came with the tank is an incandescant, if you check around there's a small 50/50 Compact FL. with incandescent screws on it. my lid holds 2 of those, It puts some very nice light in it and so far everything looks good. You can attach a BioCube nano skimmer to it which is my next purchase, for $27, but I am also doing a 4g water change every other day, with this set up.

Everything so far has cost me about $75 bucks not including the fish, and that was the craigslist route... so for a little over $100 bucks you could do that...

Again... thats my trial and error try... hasnt had the time for the error yet though ha ha ha... oh and for equipment... dont forget a hydrometer along with light, corals thrive best with certain salinities

 

[Purevil21]

I love pico reefs, I am about to build a 6 gallon Nano. You could do a lot of things, just be aware that smaller tanks are more difficult to maintain. With the smaller volume you don't have as much of a safety cushion for parameter swings. As far as what you need, it depends on what you want to keep. I would advise a PAR38 LED light. It's inexpensive and you could keep just about any coral under it in that small of a tank. Get some reef cystals, RO water, aragonite sand, and a small piece of rock. Have fun with it!

 

[brandon429]

Hey just came across this thread wish I hadn't missed it! there are special techniques to control 1.5 gallon tanks, thats what I do. you can do some really backwards things to make them work, its nothing like large tanks thats why most are in the dark as to how to make them work

I already posted thread on here about my tanks but its been a while...so if you are still into tiny reefs lets make this work, we can document its progression here.
tip#1, get a boost led light for the tank not the stock light

the article on gallon reefs:
http://www.nanoreefblog.com/features/pico-reefs/the-history-of-pico-reef-biology