Fickle's 3g Office Picotope

[ficklefins]

Having an office tank has always been a goal of mine and after seeing a coworkers betta tank I got the itch to pull the trigger on getting this thing going. I wanted to do something bigger but after some consideration I decided to do something that would not only be manageable for me, but could be easily taken care of by other coworkers when I am traveling. So I decided to go with a JBJ 3 gallon Picotope. So join me as I go from empty glass box to an office pico.

Fickle's 3g Office Pico Adventure

Setup Plans:
- 3g JBJ Picotope tank (purchased)
- - Tank Dimensions: 11.8†x 8.9†x 8.1â€Capacity: 3 US Gallon
- AquaClear 70 power filter with HOB filter/heater mod (purchased and partially modded)
- 50w heater
- 70w MH Viper Light with 14k bulb (purchased)
- Sand
- Live rock

Stocking Plans:
- Zoas and Palys
- Unique Mushrooms
- Pair of bumble bee shrimp
- - http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+1969&pcatid=1969
- Goby of some sort: (Yet to be determined)

Setup report 8/27/08:
JBJ picotope has been delivered and the background has been painted black using Krylon paint. I am a little bit disappointed in the quality of the silicone used in the tank. I would have thought that such a small tank would have clean silicone lines but I had to do a small bit of cleaning to make it look OK. Perhaps it is just me but I expected more out of something so small. Anyways, I went ahead with it so here is the first pic:

AquaClear filter has been modified to accomodate for chemi pure elite, heater, rock rubble and a small bit of cheato. The light setup that came with the JBJ Picotope (9w CF light) will be used to grow cheato. At the point in time I think that the return from the AC70 will give adequate flow for zoas/palys in my tank.

Yet to do:
I am going to put my dead "live" rock in the tank to determine the best rock for this setup. I will then add a small piece of live rock to seed my dead rock and wait for the cycle to begin. I plan on topping the tank off to maintain a 1.025 SG during the cycle and testing it twice a week during that process. Once the tank is cycled I plan on putting in a test coral to determine the ability for the tank to support life. Everything else is way too far in the future and too early for me to report on.
So I would like some feedback from users reading this. Positives, negatives, experiences and warnings.

Thank you and I plan to check off some of my to do list for this tank this holiday weekend.

Luciano

 

[LorenK]

Very cool. I love my JBJ Picotope. Need to post some pics.

Are you worried the MH light will be to hot for that tiny tank? I'd love to set one up. I'm using a coralife fixture on mine and it's a bit on they ugly side.

 

[revhtree]

COOL! This is making me want one now!

 

[fishes2889]

So cool!

I want one! Ricordea picotope!

 

[ficklefins]

Very cool. I love my JBJ Picotope. Need to post some pics.

Are you worried the MH light will be to hot for that tiny tank? I'd love to set one up. I'm using a coralife fixture on mine and it's a bit on they ugly side.

Good question. A few weeks back I asked them to cool my office and after their adjustments it is almost too cold for my me. But this means nothing in terms of my tank temp so I plan on using the temperature thermometer made by corallife to let me know what are the max and min temps during my acclimation/test period.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3744+12089&pcatid=12089

If I find that my max temps are near 84 then I will ghetto rig a PC fan to blow across the tank surface to cool things according to a timer. The one variable that I can not account for is the needed heating temp during winter temps. I hope the 50w heater can keep up with this, but these lessons are yet to be determined and are far beyond my planning at this point in time.

 

[Nate82]

50w heater in a 3g will more than keep up with any heating demands you need i don't even think you'll need a heater with a halide on that little tank

 

[rocko918]

Awesome. I got some nice zoa/palys that will help fill the tank!

 

[ficklefins]

Awesome. I got some nice zoa/palys that will help fill the tank!

Bob,

You are a generous man. For some reason I thought you had sold them all to fund that monster tank build you have going. :hammer:

 

[diggman08]

i have a 10wtt heater in my jbj,, and prob will take it out.. because my submersable light puts off plenty heat, and the current 36wtt dual pc

 

[normanbates]

very nice, if i had that on my desk not much work would get done! kudos

 

[AlexStinson]

yeah a 50 watt heater was maintaining my 100 gallon (with over 150 in volume) at 80, and it is right beside a vent blowing cold air...

 

[normanbates]

this tank is going to be awsome, cant wait 2 see

 

[Fishhead Junkie]

Where's a pic of the pico all set up and running??

Steve

 

[normanbates]

"___"

 

[Fishhead Junkie]

Still waiting on that pic. Are you waiting for the film to be developed and put on cd??:bigsmile: Just kidding. If I didn't think I'd get fired for having a tank in my office, I would do it. I just know my workload would pile up because I'd be talking to my fish and corals all the time.

Steve