4 litres of 13 degrees celsius

Hello everyone from Canada,

I wanted to share what I am attempting to do with a new Micro-Reefs pico tank I have taken possession of a couple of months ago. Mike at Micro-Reefs did a great job on this tank! I live in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada, about a 1.5 hour drive to the ocean.

I have been keeping tropical SW tanks for 30 years and dove for 25 years but no longer dive at all. I am familiar with the oceans around this area and wanted to create a small memory of what lies beneath to enjoy every day.

The tank is an AIO, ½" acrylic chilled with a Nova-Tec IceProbe. I have made a DIY stand and led light as well as a backdrop. It is controlled with a Digital Aquatics RKL. This is a small tank, roughly 1 gallon of net water, so space is tight for livestock.

So a few pictures to show the progress thus far with the tank. I am always open to suggestions and comments so feel free to do so.



MY PLAN







THE TANK







THE ICEPROBE





THE BACKGROUND









THE STAND





DIY LED LIGHTING











So where I am at now...

After cycling for 1 month with bacteria I have recently added some temporary livestock from the local shores to aid in establishing the cycle. 3 shore crabs, some bivalves, barnacle rock, snails, pods, seaweed, etc. 

I plan on removing most of the larger stuff to be replaced with some different species collected from Vancouver Island tidal pools as I no longer dive and there are no venders selling livestock in Canada. I hope to make a trip out in January 2014 for some collecting.

Everything seems fine for now, I am feeding phytoplankton and frozen clam meat along with some pellets (for the crabs). There is no mechanical filtration for this tank and I have removed the filter floss for now to keep the phytoplankton in suspension longer. I am performing 75-80% water changes for now until things establish biologically. Water is a pretty stable 13-14 degrees celsius.









Thanks for looking, your comments and suggestions are more than welcome