The Joys of a Pico Reef Fish Tank

!: The Joys of a Pico Reef Fish Tank

When I first started the hobby of marine aquariums I wanted the biggest, the newest and the best of the fish tanks I could find. The first tank I started was 200 gallons and had over 20 fish in it. It took me months to get it up and running and even then I was never satisfied. I was always cleaning, or adding new corals, or taking care of sick fish. I then decided that this tank was too much for me. I decided to move to something a little smaller. I moved down to a 50 gallon tank and gave a lot of my stuff away to friends. Once this tank was done cycling and I had it full of coral it still was not hitting the spot for me. I decided I wanted a challenge. I moved onto a new type of tank that was all the rage, a Pico reef tank.

A pico reef tank is the same is the big ones, only it's less than 5 gallons. My first one was 3 gallons and it was amazing. The best part about these tanks was that you could put them anywhere. You didn't need to have a giant stand or some extensive system in place; all you needed was a table top or counter.

To start this tiny adventure I found a small all glass aquariums. It was 3 gallons. I then decided on using a small cabinet as the stand. This allowed me to keep most of the filers and pumps hidden from view. I used a second 3 gallon tank as the filter. I used all natural filtration. Once this Pico reef tank was setup I could not stop finding the perfect coral to go along with it. I continued to add coral and shrimp until it was full!

I could not stop with one tank. Now every room of my house has a small reef tanks in it. These tanks range from 1.5 gallons to 5 gallons, but they are all beautiful!