Pico Pico: The 3 gallon experiment

[Narideth]

SO.

Some of you may know from previous posts and comments that I have a desktop freshwater betta tank that housed a betta, shrimp and plants. It was a gift to myself when I started working from home, and it's been a lovely little tank. I've had it for threeish years now, and have done a few upgrades and changes throughout that time.

For those of you unfamiliar with this tank, here are the general specs. It's the Marineland contour 3.



It was originally a 3 gallon AIO glass tank with a pretty pitiful filter pump and poorly handled filtering. The three gallons of course includes the portion in the back, and as 3 gallons is already pushing it for an adequate size for a betta, it took me about six months before I tore down the tank, ripped out the back and then set it back up with a sponge filter to utilize the full space. That's how it's been running ever since, more than two years. I replaced the light on it almost immediately, and as you can see, the tank served double duty for a while as a place to house my jumping spider as well. (Ignore the dust! Shhh, what dust?)



Well, I told myself that when my betta passed, I would repurpose it into a tiny pico tank and try my hand there. It is thus that a week ago, he went to fishy heaven, and now the sad times come with interesting times - planning stages are in progress.

I'm looking for input before I settle down into this build. Stocking plans are minimal at the moment, but ideally I'm thinking soft corals, a single spectacular rock flower anemone and some sexy shrimp, so the lighting requirements will be minimal.

I want to go with the black sand look and see how it does - part of the experiment. I will very likely use the sand that is already in this tank after much cleansing, and pull in rocks from my existing tanks to help seed and cycle. I've dumped extra rocks in a back portion of one tank with the intention of letting it mature while I go through the planning stages so I can pull more live rock when we come to that part.

My indecision comes with the filtration. LIKE A FOOL I got rid of the acrylic that I pulled out of this tank because I didn't think I'd use it. Meanwhile I look at my half dozen pumps and lights and just sigh at my lack of foresight. I want to avoid using an airstone alone, so I'm wanting to put some kind of small filtration in. I am considering building a 3"x4" filtration chamber in the back corner and DIYing a small basket for media and the heater to give me some options. I already have the loc-line connections to create a Y split to provide some varied flow patterns if I go with this option though I have yet to look at what pumps would be small enough. (Suggestions would be welcome!)

I do however already have this -
Surface Skimmer Filter


This is a Sunsun surface skimmer for small tanks and is very small indeed at about 2 x 1.5 inches. The link is to the Amazon listing. I have no idea what the GPH it pushes is, there's zero information from where I got it, and it's just one of those random spare filters I happen to have. It's certainly the smallest and it works just fine for what it is, and the venturi portion (The part that draws air to make bubbles for aeration) is removable.

While I know the AIO build is by far the -better- option, since people manage these pico tanks and jars with only an airstone, I'd appreciate opinions on using the skimmer instead. I want to keep all filtration inside the tank one way or the other.

I am quite excited!

 

[SPS2020]

Following the fun!

 

[Narideth]

Small steps in progress are being made.

I posted this thread, the AIO planning stages and got some great feedback and suggestions which broadened my ideas on how to get suitable filtration set up in this tiny tank.

Now, I've encountered a hitch, as I ordered the acrylic pieces cut and the hole I set up for the return is far too small. Luckily I have a husband with -power tools- so we'll see if we can make the hole larger without cracking the acrylic. I did order two, so we have two chances!

I have put more rock into the back chamber of my evo in the meantime to culture and mature, so while the sand I'm going to cleanse to within an inch of its life will be completely neutral, the stone should give me a leg up on an easy cycle.

Nothing terribly exciting to note picture wise, but I'll throw up the design image for the AIO chamber.

 

[MikeCRK]

Small steps in progress are being made.

I posted this thread, the AIO planning stages and got some great feedback and suggestions which broadened my ideas on how to get suitable filtration set up in this tiny tank.

Now, I've encountered a hitch, as I ordered the acrylic pieces cut and the hole I set up for the return is far too small. Luckily I have a husband with -power tools- so we'll see if we can make the hole larger without cracking the acrylic. I did order two, so we have two chances!

I have put more rock into the back chamber of my evo in the meantime to culture and mature, so while the sand I'm going to cleanse to within an inch of its life will be completely neutral, the stone should give me a leg up on an easy cycle.

Nothing terribly exciting to note picture wise, but I'll throw up the design image for the AIO chamber.

mate, all you need is an external canister filter from all ponds solutions EF-150 for 30 squid...
this one from AMZN: CLICK

 

[dschuffert]

This looks like an interesting size to try. I look forward to seeing more.

 

[Narideth]

mate, all you need is an external canister filter from all ponds solutions EF-150 for 30 squid...
this one from AMZN: CLICK

1. Currently unavailable.

2. As mentioned above, I want all of the filtration to remain internal to the tank. Half of the fun of this project is the DIY nature of it since I've never gotten quite this involved in a build. I appreciate the suggestion though.

 

[MikeCRK]

1. Currently unavailable.

2. As mentioned above, I want all of the filtration to remain internal to the tank. Half of the fun of this project is the DIY nature of it since I've never gotten quite this involved in a build. I appreciate the suggestion though.

Yeah I get the concept of DIY (I just did one AIO short time ago) but in freshwater shrimp tank it is not (in my opinion) the best idea. Lets start with the actual filtering you will achieve. In AIO of that size there is a little chance to get enough bioload for chemical cleaning, then the mechanical cleaning would be a challenge too (but not that much as chemi). Not to mention, you must have hands of an elf to do anything inside of it
Having AIO means you will have comb. This leads to an issue with shrimps, as you will not be really able to put a prefilter on it, and if you do, it will significantly reduce the flow efficiency. If you don't, all small shrimps will get vanished in it.

I have took a look at the other thread and I get the concept. Instead of panel back, you are going with 'well'. Please consider, the fact, that with adding up return pump to it it will make the filtration unusable (too little surface).

This jar is basically too small for packing it all in (there is a reason no one is using those in fresh water keeping, unless those are hooked up to external filtering).

So do not be mad at me! I know people here want to help and please the readers, but... it has a little chance of success - sorry. I am saying it backed with many years of freshwater fishkeeping. This has little to none chance of success. You will eventually end up with a large motor behind the panel which will do nothing good as the filtering surface is not adequate to the needs. The only good thing would be a skimmer... actually an oversized skimmer working as a main filter.

I suggested the canister from APS. Yeah it is hard to find nowadays (because it is so great for shrimp and pico tanks!), but worth every penny! I had 3 of those myself in my cubes and they did magic

Do your stuff, I am truly interested if my words will turn into rubbish (but I have some strong feelings on it).

 

[Narideth]

Oh boy, updates. So many updates.

So, I'd spent quite some time between the last post and this one, gathering little pieces for plumbing, for the building of a rear chamber etc.

My tiny pump, the connector and a split with one RFG nozzle and one flat nozzle. I had everything ordered and then began to put the puzzle pieces together.

The rear chamber in its first configuration. Do you see the problem? I saw it, but I'm ashamed to admit I didn't see it until later! I woke up thinking about the tank and suddenly realized there's no way to reach the pump.

The space is tiny, so very small, and the pump couldn't be connected like this with the baffle permanently attached. So I made it removable.

The baffle and the media basket are all one piece that slides in. You all don't want to know how many times I adjusted this design. How many pieces of acrylic I had cut. It took a few weeks, which is why the build was so delayed, but it was finally completed and it works,

With the tank built, I could finally get into the rock work. I have a tiny cutting mat that I keep on my desk for small projects and it was almost perfectly sized for the bottom of the tank, so I used it as a building map and made a really cute, tiny arch. My first time using aquarium epoxy and it took a little bit of trial and error to figure out the working time etc.

I ended up using less rock here than I thought I would, but a rescape in a different tank left me with more live rock than I'd initially thought I would have, so the arch is the only fresh rock. The rest comes from two tanks, one 2 years old, one 6 months. They're not really... positioned, I just wanted them in the tank to initiate the bacterial seeding. I also dumped half a bottle of Bio-spira for good luck, but it was... cloudy and a bit chunky so I'm not really sure it was actually a -good- bottle.

I don't know if I have enough thermometers here.... but I guess I'll find a way to make it work.

4 days into cycling now and it's definitely chugging through some ammonia, either from the bad bacterial supplement or some die off from the rocks as they'd recently gone through some light algae control measures and I expected some algae die-off remnants.

Ammonia is coming in at .50ppm, PH 7.8, nitrites at .50ppm, and nitrates at 40ppm. Not bad for 4 days in, I'd say it's 'cycled' but just overloaded with the biologicals breaking down. I'll give it a few more days before I test again, see if it chews through the rest of the ammonia and get some water changes started.

The filter is working great and I've got good flow and surface movement. The Pico experiment is up and running, home to a tiny piece of gracilaria hayi that made its way home randomly as a stow-away from the LFS.

 

[Narideth]

The timing on this tank's completion couldn't have been better. I needed a very temporary home for a juvenile black storm clownfish that almost got killed by the longfinned I was trying to pair it with, so now I have to find the little guy another home. Probably my LFS but the main aquarium guy who would know know how much to give me in store credit broke his ankle... it's a whole thing. He'd have already been safely housed elsewhere otherwise.

Until then, this tank is a welcome substitute for the isolation box he'd been living in. I ran more tests today, Ammonia came back 0, nitrite and nitrates expectedly up as the tank finished clearing out the organics, and a large water change brought everything into alignment to get rid of the excess. I'm seeing diatoms setting up shop on some of the rocks, so we're already entering ugly tank stage. I'll be looking into a CUC in the near future.

Temperature has been steady after I got the new adjustable heater set up, small fluctuation through the day but nothing extreme.

For your viewing pleasure, my rather unhappy black storm, recovering from his battle wounds (She tore his lip and fins) and a little on the thin side. We'll fatten him right up.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Great looking pico!

 

[kevgib67]

I’m going to stick around and I’m looking forward to seeing this to its completion.

 

[Nano_Man]

Theses little tanks can be stunning following along

 

[Narideth]

Look at this little rinky dink plant light putting out cute little PAR numbers.

The tank itself is doing great, this light is more than enough to grow macroalgaes but I'm going to be looking at something stronger for the long term softy/LPS goal.

Any suggestions??

 

[Narideth]

Welp, while I had the PAR meter I just had to get a better light on there, so I got this little Nicrew reef light to test out. Reviews say it'll grow softies and LPS, so let's see what the PAR's coming out at.

Dang, that's not bad - not a picture of the light on the tank btw, just a good pic to notate par readings on. It had two rows of blue LEDS and one row of whites, so the hue is blue-leaning, and it's somehow fully programmable. Wild.

And here we have the first little piece of coral - some very nicely colored long tendril GSP. I gave it it's own little rock for now so I can move it around or take it out later.

Couple of spots of algae, likely from the transferred live rocks. My single hermit and 2 snails are doing a good job keeping things clean. I see spirorbis worms building along the back, fantastic.

I may take those rocks out and soak them in peroxide, those rocks came from my bryopsis-laden tank sooo that's probably what it is.

Flow looks good, and this clown is almost healed up though he's still a little thin. Soon he'll go away to grace someone else's tank. The light doubles as a grow light for my air plant!

 

[Narideth]

Just a quick update, did some algae scrubbin, the clown fish healed up enough for me to sell him to the LFS. The tank is a month and a half in and seeing pods all over the glass as well as some nice algae dusting everything.

The GSP is happy as a clam it seems. I attached the red macroalgae to a rock so it can be put into the flow to keep it cleaner and give it some better light. I'm probably going to get one of those pico flipper scrapers for this tank, the metal one is a bit difficult to get around where I want it to be.

Couple of water changes in, one is due this weekend but I don't want to drain it of nutrients now that there's only a single lonely hermit crab trundling around.

I'm leaving a lot of sand open for rockflower anemones as well as some sand dwelling corals. I've been thinking button scolys and a couple of snappy acans.

 

[lil sumpin]

very neat system you got going!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Just a quick update, did some algae scrubbin, the clown fish healed up enough for me to sell him to the LFS. The tank is a month and a half in and seeing pods all over the glass as well as some nice algae dusting everything.

The GSP is happy as a clam it seems. I attached the red macroalgae to a rock so it can be put into the flow to keep it cleaner and give it some better light. I'm probably going to get one of those pico flipper scrapers for this tank, the metal one is a bit difficult to get around where I want it to be.

Couple of water changes in, one is due this weekend but I don't want to drain it of nutrients now that there's only a single lonely hermit crab trundling around.

I'm leaving a lot of sand open for rockflower anemones as well as some sand dwelling corals. I've been thinking button scolys and a couple of snappy acans.

Glad to see the tank is still going strong!

 

[Narideth]

The bryopsis infected this tank from the rocks I used.

WELP burn it all down with fire.

Ok kidding, but I am dosing a very low low fluconazole amount to wipe it out before it gets a chance in here. I'm so done with this pest algae.

If I have to nuke the tank and start over, I have more live rock in my evo's rear chambers to reseed it, but I'm optimistic so far. ALL IS NOT LOST.

 

[Narideth]

Several weeks after lightly dosing the tank with fluconazole, I'm calling it a tentative success. The bryopsis was eradicated, my red macroalgae survived and is visibly growing, and I've been bolstering the bacterial colonies in the tank the entire time to try and prevent a crash that would bring on something else.

The coral colonies in the tank are all doing quite well, and I've finally decided I'm going to make an acan bridge out of the arch and all of the acans I brought back from the convention.

Here's a sample of one actively already living in this tank - and has been for 2 weeks now. Flourishing with beautiful colors.

I also put my first sexy shrimp in the tank! Only one for now because that's all the store had, but I'm looking for 3-5 total.

I also finally no longer have any fish in this tank, and I find myself strangely pleased with that. I thought that I would -have- to have something swimming in there to help me enjoy it, but I'm far more relieved to not have to contend with the extra nutrients being created by having to feed and clean after a fish.

This brought on an unexpected side effect though. In not feeding the fish and only feeding the corals about once a week, I'd forgotten that sexy shrimp are nippers if they get hungry. My fault but my poor button scoly suffered for it.

LUCKILY I came back to check on the tank in time to see only a tiny chunk had been taken out with the sexy shrimp actively feeding on the tissue, so I'm hoping it can grow back, and I proceeded to feed the tank. It's still a learning experience, but I'll find the required balance so long as I stay on top of it.

I also rearranged things, and here's the whole tank under some poppy blues.

I'm going to let the GSP grow up the back wall, though I haven't fully decided if I want to do back left or back right. The left one may eventually interfere with the intake... The frag on the far right has some firework cloves that I trimmed to within an inch of its life. That was a nasty, nasty plug but they -are- growing now, so I'm confident I can add it somewhere else in this tank for more colorful flow.

My trio of button scolys, unique and beautiful (even with the chomp taken out)

I also found this frag of Captain America palys with a pair of mystery zoas on the same frag.

I look at this tank all the time even without fish and I love to just watch it. There's pineapple sponges and some other kind of thin tube sponge, the macroalgae, the corals, snails, single hermit and shrimp. The biodiversity just keeps going up with every small addition.

 

[Narideth]

This little coral muncher.... even after being fed daily, I still came back today to my sexy shrimp chowing down on my button scoly. Another sizeable chunk is missing, but the one she already ate is already growing back, so while I'm not concerned, unfortunately this won't stand. She's gotten a taste for flesh that can only be satisfied in one way.

Little sexy is going back to the LFS and the sexy shrimp part of this tank is now nixed. Now I have to consider what other alternatives there are for small showpiece critters. I suppose a skunk cleaner is a possibility, though that seems like an awfully large shrimp for 3 gallons.

Hmmmmm.