Tiny Window Pico

[CAC]

When I set-up my nano/marine tank, I plan to use some things that I allready have, aswell as the things which I will have when I get the marine tank set-up.
This is a tiny, 1.75 litre tank, so its under half a gallon. I plan to use the pieces of ex-living coral which I collected from the beach in Thailand to create some kind of a structure and to use the small eheim mini filter for water movement. I took off the bottom compartment of the filter so its smaller. Otherwise, I could add some more, smaller pieces of dead coral to the compartment, or some live sand or crushed coral from the bigger tank, aswell as either of those for the substrate. I might also at some point add some mushroom or zoa frags, cos the light from the window "could" grow them. I will add a hermit to keep everything clean aswell.
If anyone has any ideas/suggestions then theyre very welcome. Has anyone else done a window pico?
Anyway, heres a pic so you can see what it looks like. Its 4x4x8.5" (LxWxH)

 

[Dorkhedeos]

that seems kinda dangerous with the impellor exposed. keep us updated with this though, it seems interesting

 

[CAC]

Ohh, thats true for then livestock goes in...Allthough, can hermits swim (guess they wouldnt have to if they got sucked up by it). I could either cut down the compartment, or make somehow a modified "grill" for over the impellor. Ill have a good look tomorrow.
Just as a side note:
Im not entirely sure what to do at the moment with regards to which option to choose...I could either:
1. Try and get the tank from ebay (with which I put a link to in the other thread)
2. Use the 18g I have allready and try and buy some seccond hand LR, rock and used MHs
3. Buy a brand new 8-10g tank, stock it with LR from the LFS and get some used MHs and build up the coral stocking gradually.

What are peoples thoughts?

 

[RadaR]

To be honest I think it's going to be vary unstable in water parameters.

 

[dizzied]

I done something similar once, a 0.5g cube using sunlight, some dead coral/base rock and live sand. I used the Elite Mini (same filter you're using), but eventually switched to a Red Sea Nano filter. I never did get around to putting corals in however, so I'm not sure how well they'd do with sunlight. It was stocked with only a blue-leg hermit.

 

[CAC]

Sounds like basically what Im doing...
When I do get the bigger tank up and running, ill just give it a go with some water from the main tank aswell as some sand, and after hearing some advice on dead corals elsewhere, I wont use them because of the risk of them crumbling in the tank. I would use some LR instead.
If the water params arent going well then I wont put any hermits in, and I think they will be unstable, but ceasing as I will have the stuff allready then I might as well give it a go really.

 

[dizzied]

That's basically the reason why I never got around to putting corals in. The temperature was unstable as I didn't bother with a heater, though it never fluxed wildly either. I also wasn't sure how well sunlight would work, the sky could go dark for days or weeks sometimes. None of this really bothered the hermit of course, but something more delicate like corals isn't going to like it.

Even so, I still found the tank pretty interesting. A pico IOWLR.

 

[AndyS]

You will probably have a lot of pest algae from the sunlight, and it may be difficult to keep a tank like that clean for long, thats my only thoughts.

 

[CAC]

Yeah thats true, but if I got some smaller species of algea snail and a hermit or two, I might be able to keep it under control...
Its just an experiment really. I wouldnt spend loads of money on it, just because its likely it wont go too great without modifications and stuff, but if it doesnt, I can either bring it away from the window or dismantle it.

 

[eschaton]

If you don't add any live rock (or live sand), I think you'll be pretty hard pressed to see any actual "results" in that tank.