Announcing the 5 gallon pico Live Rock vase

Yesterday I launched my newest project/experiment, a saltwater gallon vase. It is 1/10th the size of my nano tank, and the term for these "micro" nanos in the hobby is pico.

Once the 1 and 3/4 pounds of tonga branch live rock was introduced, as well as the Micro-Jet powerhead, the vase held one gallon of water, the lip being two and a half inches above the waterline, which I've marked with a Sharpie marker.

Lighting: I'm using a desk lamp with a 20 watt 50/50 power compact fluorescent bulb. Unfortunately, the bulb is designed to give off light horizontally as opposed to vertically, which it is set in my lamp ballast. Also the bulb is several inches too long for the lamp hood.

I ghetto'ed up some aluminum foil and velcroed it to the lamp, extending the hood some and also allowing for an open system. This cools it somewhat, which is mega important for tiny bodies of water like this.

The furry green rock is a fragged piece of green starburst polyps. It had a patch or two of hair algae when I won it at a reef raffle, but it just took over in the two weeks I've had it in my ten gallon. I've placed it in the vase in the hope the powerful current will blow most of it off. More on the current in a minute, but the polyps are all extended, and they are looking much better in the pico tank, not so choked by the algae as they were in the nano.

Only other livestock is a dwarf hermit to eat the expended algae and detritus, as well as a mini brittle star that came from the polyps frag.

Ok, the current. The Micro-Jet powerhead can be adjusted to three flows, highest being 117 gph and the lowest 49 gph. I had ordered the smaller model, with the smallest current clocked at 32, but I received the more powerful model instead. Right now it's tuned to the lowest setting, 49 gph. That's about 40x turnover an hour. It's really strong, but the increased movement will eliminate any detritus or bacteria build-up.


Now for heating. Obviously, the problem now is keeping it cool. The tiny body of water heats up rapidly, and during hotter days, the water is going to get hotter too. The light doesn't help keep things cool, either. The powerhead also heats the water, and this is what should keep it stable during the winter months. I keep the room temp at 69 degrees through the winter, and with the powerhead adding a couple more degrees of temp., I think it should be A-ok.

My plans for this vase are to right now just see what happens with the starburst polyps. I'll order a batch of mixed pods from a florida outlet and try to culture them properly. I also may put a shrimp in, don't know yet.

Josh
http://joshday.com