How Would You Set Up A PicoTope? (I'm Getting One) ;D

Hey All!

So I'm a complete salt noob. I have tons of experience with advanced freshwater so im not straight up clueless haha. Basically I want your opinions. My heart is set on getting a 3g JBJ PicoTope. It comes with a 9w 50/50 that will support most softies and some other stuff. There are some other threads on this site talking about picos but i want to know what i should do exactly. I understand that water parameters can be dangerous in a small tank and that i have to watch my bio load. How much live rock? how much live sand? Im planning on either one percula clown or possibly a goby. One or the other- 2 fish is just too much for that tank. I want to put a small frag of frogspawn in there because its straight up awesome. Ive talked to others who have the stock lighting and it supports frogspawn. BUT back to the topic. How would you do it? I am open to all opinions.

Thank you very much!

Patrick

 

To be honest i would try something a little larger especially since your a "complete noob"
as you put it.I'm not trying to be rude i just don't think you understand how difficult such a small tank will be to maintain.

 

***Financial Restrictions

 

how much is the pico? you can get a jbj 24 gallon for like 200-300 and it has everything you need to get started.

 

My pico was 39.99
Easy as pie to maintain, if you are around it everyday.

 

The issue with a nano (and even more so a pico) is that the water parameters are difficult to keep stable. For example if a little bit of ammonia or nitrite develops in a larger tank, it is diluted by a lot of water. But in a pico it would be quite toxic. Furthermore, water evaporation would have large effects on salinity levels in a pico. Temperature would be difficult to keep stable. Etc.

That's why most of us are recommending a slightly larger tank. I would start with a 30 gallon, if you can. You can keep a few fish, and some corals if you want. And I think you will find that it will be less expensive in the longrun than a pico (since fewer things will die on you).

Picos can be beautful, but I don't think they are the best choice for someone without prior saltwater experience. Just my 2 cents.

 

I don't think it would be too hard to grasp if you are experienced with freshwater. Just take it slow, and I wouldn't add any fish until you know for sure what you're doing.

 

I'm not sure 3g will support anything but the smallest fish, maybe a clown goby or something in the 1-2" range fully grown, that's even pushing it IMO. A clown will outgrow it eventually. Feeding anything in a tank that small will mean you'll need to do regular water changes to keep the water quality good. If it were me I would skip the fish honestly.

I would look at getting a few smaller pieces of live rock maybe 4-5lbs (although you may not use all of it depending how it all fits in the tank) and a couple pounds of sand for a shallow sand bed.

You will probably want an auto topoff or make sure you're around pretty much every day for topping it off, it won't take much to raise the salinity in a tank that small.

Stock lighting is probably fine since the tank will be very shallow (or I hope it is anyway), frogspawn has low light needs so that's fine, but it will be more sensitive to water parameters than some other soft corals/zoanthids so you will need to keep an eye on that, also frogspawns can grow really big so you will need to frag it eventually or it will take over. I would probably mostly go with zoanthids and maybe some ricordia or something like that, there are some great colorful soft corals and zoos available although in a tank that small most any coral will take over eventually so get your fragging tools ready.

 

I've always had small tanks. First a 12gallon nano cube, then a 5.5gal, then a 20h now a 2.5 PICO.... You need to keep a eye on everything closely and need a auto top off of some sort.. I have a 24w 50/50 bulb over my 2.5 gallon.. and I have a Yellow Clown Goby...

 

I just bought my pico and will start a build feed for those who are interested.