What fish coral invertebrates etc. can you keep in a 2 gallon pico tank and how do you set this kind of tank up?
None at all really. To keep the tank stable you would need at
least 6 gallons, and that is pushing it. A Metal Halide lamp would
be too intense for such a small tank, so that limits you to
mushrooms and soft corals such as acropora. I would suggest using
1x 24w T5 14000k White Marine light with 1x24w Blue Actnic.
Keep 2x Turbo snails, 2x Cerith snails and one or two inverts
such as red leg hermits or one or two mysis shrimp.
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While I do not mean to be overly harsh, the answer above is
somewhat inaccurate, in many places. I will try to address the
inaccuracies in a manner that answers the original question.
It is indeed possible to keep a 3 gallon 'reef' tank. It can in
fact be fairly easy if you are dedicated to following a relatively
intensive maintenance schedule. Remember though that when dealing
with Reef tanks, it is best to go bigger- in general, the more
water there is in the system, the more flexible the system is in
terms of ability to absorb and break down organic waste and then
neutralize the resulting byproducts, such as Ammonia, Nitrite, and
Nitrate.
A smaller system will have much less flexibility and will be
unable to handle a large bio-load- too much organic waste will
overwhelm the system. It is therefore especially important with
such small systems to have active filtration and to move the entire
volume of the tank (in this case 3 gallons) through your filtration
10 or more times an hour. It is also vital to perform regular water
changes on a bi-weekly or even weekly basis. Luckily, the size of
the tank makes water changes somewhat less difficult than they
might otherwise be!
The above answer to your question mentioned an inability to keep
MH lighting as a limiting factor in small aquariums- this is really
not the case, as it is usually not difficult to keep a number of
soft corals, inverts, and LPS under compact fluorescent lighting.
You will be unable to keep clams or SPS corals in such a small tank
anyway, so the intense lighting provided by MH lighting systems
would be quite unnecessary and would quite literally boil your
tank. Your coral selection is limited in this case by your tank
size. To maintain your soft corals, fish, and LPS, I would
recommend also going with a small T-5 fixture with two lamps, one
at 10K or above and one actinic. Try to aim for about 30 Watts, but
as is generally the case with Reef tanks, the more light, the
merrier! That holds true of course only so long as you can maintain
the proper temperature.
As stated in the above answer, you will be limited to keeping
soft corals and perhaps a small piece or two of LPS. Be careful
though- the previous answer also listed Acropora as an LPS or soft
coral, while I believe almost every species of Acropora is actually
classified as a 'hard' or SPS coral and as such would not be
suitable for such a small tank. Here are a few corals that could
work in such a small system:
Zoanthids, Mushrooms, Ricordea, Palythoa, any kind of button
polyp, clove polyps, star polyps, Xenia, Yellow polyps,
Featherdusters, and one or two small LPS frags of something like a
Frogspawn or a Hammer coral
As far as fish and inverts go, you have several options even
with such a small tank. You cannot keep more than one fish in this
tank. Period. Even keeping one is borderline, depending on its
size. Remember, responsible animal husbandry comes first- your
desire to keep a fish comes second. That being said, it would be
possible to keep a Nano Trimma or Neon Goby in a 3 gal tank as long
as it is covered.
As far as inverts go, you're pretty limited. A small cleaner or
fire shrimp might be possible for a short time, but they will
outgrow the tank quite quickly, so I would recommend against it. I
would instead recommend one or two types of cool little crabs, like
a Pom-Pom, Anemone, or Porcelain Crab. It might also be possible to
keep a Sexy Shrimp or two.
Insofar as cleanup crews go, please completely disregard the
suggestions made by whoever answered the question previously. Turbo
snails do not belong in a tank smaller than 25+ gallons, as they
both physically travel and grow quickly. I would suggest instead no
more than two small blue-legged hermits, (or one blue leg and one
scarlet leg) three Nerite snails, and three or four Nassarius
snails for filtering the bottom.
Now remember, with small tanks, overfeeding can be deadly.
Roughly 75% of the time customers come into my store with water
quality problems, it is related to organic waste from overfeeding.
If you are going to keep corals that are filterfeeders, you will
need to supplement your tank with some form of Phytoplankton. Also,
remember that just because you'll have no SPS does not mean you can
simply forget about Alkalinity and Hardness, as these are necessary
components of any good water conditions for a reef tank. I suggest
using the Kent two-part dosing system every other day or so to keep
Alkalinity, Hardness, and trace minerals at bay.
So, to sum up, for a three gallon reef tank, you will need to
over-filter your water, perform a rigorous maintenance routine, and
keep your water parameters at the same level you would with a 55,
155, or 55,000 gallon tank:
pH: 8.1-8.3
Temperature: 76-81 degrees Fahrenheit
Salinity: 1.023-1.026 Specific Gravity
Nitrates: As close to zero as possible
Nitrites: Must be at or extremely close to zero
Ammonia: Must literally be zero. Cannot accumulate faster than
it can be nitrified.
Alkalinity: 7-10 dKH
Calcium: 380-450 ppm
