# 1/2 Gallon Planted Pico



## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*The moss grew quickly in a week, so I filled it up, cut the moss up more and distributed it. I also added some Giant Duckweed.* 


















*Here is the back of the tank, I am using an idler valve to control the flow rate then above that I have a check valve. I am using a bent glass tube to wrap over the top lip of the tank, it also keeps the filter where I want it...no need for a suction cup! The glass tube keeps the back of the lid from sitting flush on the rim so I need to notch this a bit more.*


















*I had to run the filter with no cap on it for a while until I came up with a solution, worked fine!* 









*
5 days later I started planting it, I used Hair Grass in the back since Vals are too large. A nice Crypt Parva in the center was all I could think of, I think I will try Elodea in the back right corner. I also think I will wrap the filter body in Riccia. I added a Horned Nerite snail already because I can see algae growing on the glass, he cleaned that problem up right away. This will be the last time you see the tank clear since I can not run Purigen I decided to add tannins to the water via Almond leaves.* 


























*Here is what I came up with for a cap design that works flawlessly, one large hole low on the cap allows water only to exit...one large hole on the top of the cap allows air to escape and the entire thing minimizes splashing so I have no spatter to clean on my lid. I can see water being pushed out of the cap along with tiny tiny air bubbles so I know the flow and aeration is good!*


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

This is awesome! I love tiny tanks. I never filter any of mine under 1 gal. Even with shrimp, just an airstone, plenty of plants, and lots of water changes. Interesting work with the 3i mod, so tiny it's totally unobtrusive.


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

This is pretty cool. I like DIY filter solutions. No heater? I'll assume you're running room temperatures? Shrimp can tolerate 68 degrees from my researches.

I have some Nonny's Biscotti cookie containers that are about 1.3 gallons. I need to find a low toxic way to remove the stickers on them, I think they would make a neat nano tank also.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*Thanks! I feel a filter is crucial to longevity. As for a heater I can not find any retail sold heater that is small enough so I was going to try to roll with room temp...however this room can get down to 60F during the days when I am not home. I could potentially make a heater small enough. I have to keep pushing the moss down because the snail gets under it and fluffs it up, but its doing a great job cleaning the tank. I am glad to see the Crypt Parva reaching for the light, and I added an indian almond leaf in the back behind the hairgrass.* 










*I planted a few Bacopa/Moneywort along the back between the hairgrass, as well as Elodea in the back right corner!*

















*
Regarding the filter it is still working wonderfully, perfectly suited for this tank but I have more mods I want to make to it. The way it is configured the oxygen never makes contact with the sponge where the beneficial bacteria would thrive, so I may add a mechanical filter material to the cap where all the aeration is occurring. The thing is without designing it intentionally the cap is acting as a micro protein skimmer the way it bubbles inside...see the buildup around the air vent hole? I may have to throw the filter material in the cap away weekly but at least I will know I am physically removing waste every week. I have not seen an oil slick on the surface so this unintentional skimmer is working!*


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

Teebo said:


> *Thanks! I feel a filter is crucial to longevity. As for a heater I can not find any retail sold heater that is small enough so I was going to try to roll with room temp...however this room can get down to 60F during the days when I am not home. I could potentially make a heater small enough. *


*



Have you considered a terrarium heating mat?*


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## Agent69 (Oct 9, 2013)

This Nano tank is so cool!!


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

Thanks

No I have not considered a terrarium mat, not a bad idea but it would have to be tiny this is like a 6" cube.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*I think I may only keep shrimp in it temporarily during the summer months, however snails prefer cooler temperatures so I will leave the horned Nerite in it. 

I wanted to diffuse the bubbles more inside that cap, as well as provide more surface area for bacteria where the oxygen is (sponges below are before the air intake). I also started using filter floss in the bottle so I cut out some rounds.*


























*I tied Riccia to the front side of it to help make it even less intrusive...I will tie Java Moss to the dark side soon.* 










*I am liking the Indian Almond leaves as a background! *


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## geisterwald (Jul 18, 2016)

Heater idea: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Rept...&sr=8-1&keywords=hermit+crab+heating+mat&th=1 

I believe the mini version is suitable for plastic, if that's what the tank is made of.

Edit: There is also this, but not sure if that is too big for your tank: https://www.amazon.com/Marina-Betta...76612420&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+aquarium+heater


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

geisterwald said:


> Heater idea: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Rept...&sr=8-1&keywords=hermit+crab+heating+mat&th=1
> 
> I believe the mini version is suitable for plastic, if that's what the tank is made of.
> 
> Edit: There is also this, but not sure if that is too big for your tank: https://www.amazon.com/Marina-Betta...76612420&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+aquarium+heater


Unfortunately, all those products are too large. You really need it in front of you for perspective.


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

This thing is literally a 4 or 5 inch cube, huh? So sweet.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

6" cube


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

So it's close to a gallon... There are little round betta tank heaters that will forsure work!


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

It is exactly half a gallon. I can not imagine where I can fit it lol. I will try.


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

Teebo said:


> It is exactly half a gallon. I can not imagine where I can fit it lol. I will try.




Maybe under your DIY filter thing? You can bury them.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*I have grown out Riccia on the filter body, and added another almond leaf however I think I am going to remove all leaves because it provides too much extra food for worms and snails...there is an outstanding amount of buildup in the substrate already! Overall I am enjoying this tank, another plant I added was petite Anubias in the front right corner. *









*
I am not going to use a heater, it is simply too late but I did throw a few hulls in to see what happened. I do think it is getting too cold here now because after a few weeks they do start to loose their color and become milky looking therefor I will stop until spring. The snail however I think will be okay, they tolerate colder temperatures. I added a Ludwigia stem for color, it stays red due to the high lighting this tank has and the hairgrass is also spreading fast due to the high lighting (left circle). In the right circle you can see a recently added Dwarf Sagittaria in front of the Elodea.*


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

Very nice! Thanks for the update, I've been very interested in this tank's progress. 
I'm surprised at how little algae there is, especially with high light and slow growers like hairgrass and anubias. Are you doing anything to combat algae it or is it just not growing?
Great work with the nano aesthetic, it appears much larger than 1/2 gallon in photographs!


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

Thank you! 

My Horned Nerite takes care of all the algae for me


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

Wow, the plants too? I have 3 horned nerites in a 10er and they only clean the glass and rocks. I actually originally got them to clean the glass, which was very successful. But that's very interesting that it goes for the algae on the plants! I had to switch 4 Amanos over from an old to tank to clean up my new string algae infested tank and they did the trick in 2 days! It was awesome.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

Yeah I seem to get no plant algae, however I do have at least 1 RCS in there at all times cleaning (I think when the light is off, it does not seem to like the light and hides). The snail I have is a Horned Nerite which can clean where other snails can not due to its extremely small size, it may be possibly forced to clean the plants due to the tanks small footprint. Amanos clean so well it scares me, I feel they require a very large tank or very high feeding...they clean so fast it makes me feel they are always hungry in typical tank setups as well as snails...I can not tell if they eat just because it is there or if they require that much food for a healthy diet as provided in the wild. This tank pearls sometimes, slow trickle of bubbles equally spaced apart that go straight for the surface and I see larger bubbles on the moss all over but it may be gas from the substrate I am not sure.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*Well I made it another month everything seems to be doing fine. My fertilizer method has been topping off with water from my 5 gallon tank which is moderately dosed with many Seachem products. When I feel like it every other week or so I add a few drops of Flourish, Iron, and Potassium. This sometimes leads to string algae but I just hit it with some Excel and do a blackout for a day and I am good, I think the shrimp consume it during the blackout. The only issue I am having is the Riccia is falling apart and I think this may be due to it is heavily dependant on water column nutrients so when that finally thins out I will try wrapping the filter in Java Moss. I forget what the three stocks I planted in the rear are, something in the Bacopa/MoneyWort family but they are turning red under the very high lighting which is something I have never seen before, they are catching up with the red Ludwigia. That Crypt Parva is continuously melting away leaves and I can see a ton of new growth coming up from the center so the melting is soon to be over. I used No-Planaria and made this tank toxic to snails so it may be a long time before I can put a Nerite back in there again.*


































*I finally got around to extending this notch as well as an inner notch so the lid will lay flat, not very happy with the finished product but it is barely noticeable. Here is a photo that helps everyone realize just how small this tank really is!*


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## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

Wow. The perspective shot with the lighter. It's still even smaller than I imagined it!
Lookin' good!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

That has grown in quite nicely. That's an awesome pico setup.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*Well it has been 3 months since my last update. No huge changes, I did remove the Riccia from the filter body because it was growing too fast and when I trimmed it, it would make a mess. I migrated to Java Moss coverage instead. However I had a browning of all the moss in here, apparently the Riccia was consuming too much nitrates and I was not about to put this tank on my weekly dosing schedule with my other tanks. I did dose some though to combat the brown dieback of the moss, and the hair grass has spread which helped green up the burnt moss coverage. I had to trim everything in the foreground back a few weeks ago, I trimmed a horseshoe shape leaving some hair grass as a background plant. The dwarf sword plant in the center has melted back it is all tiny short swords now almost like a carpet, I think because it is under direct extreme light. Boldly you can see the high lightings effect on the Ludwigia turning it a vibrant red, even the stem plants in the background which I think are some sort of wort are turning a slight shade of deep red at the top. I still have a small piece of almond leaf in the rear from 6 months ago, I assume the 2 shrimp in here munch on it continuously....they appear healthy without a heater. I drop in a pellet of high grade shrimp dinner maybe every other week to once a month, when I turn the light on they blast into hiding probably because it blinds them but I run the light probably 12 hours a day. I turn it on in the evening around 8pm and it stays on all night while I sleep and I turn it off in the morning around 8am. It sits very close to a window so it gets indirect sunlight after I turn the lamp off, usually diffused sunlight. *


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

This is possibly the sweetest partially DIY planted micro tank I've seen in this forum, and it's thriving despite some temperature swings. I'd be setting up some complex heating mat with a remote controller, or trying to keep it in a room with a stable temperature year round. But then it would be edging towards to high tech.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*Thanks, here is another shot of it. I view it from my bed at about this height. The Ludwigia grew overnight since it broke the surface, I will have to trim it soon! *


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

Awesome tank, the lighter really puts size into perspective.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*I let things grow as long as I could but they got too tall and bent over or started looking weird. I did a massive clearing and on we go... *

















*
I removed the two shrimps and replaced them with this one, I breed high quality RCS so I hulled a good one which was unusually vibrant in hue. I bred out my racing stripes and I shoot for solid red legs, this one has striped red legs so almost perfect...but if it is a male then it is perfect. The two I removed were extremely shy, this one is very outgoing.*


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*The end*

*This will be my last update. This was a fun experiment in pico tanks, but I am preparing to move long distance so I am giving this tank to a friend. It has been 10 months so far and I could have easily kept this going for years with minimal effort, it really was a low maintenance tank for being pico. It was built right from the start and that tiny air filter has been working excellent the whole time, all I did for the most part was add top off water I took from another larger established tank which I dose a full line up of fertilizers in. I would dose the ferts and wait overnight before extracting water with a turkey baster to add to this tank. The only thing I never added was a heater and it did just fine over the winter, the shrimp seem happy they never faded in color and seemed to stay fed for the most part with it being just 2. I would feed the tank maybe twice a month with Glas Garten Shrimp Dinner and Mosura Brood Care...my theory is mostly the food is naturally generated from the high lighting and nutrients in the top off water, plus the leaf in the back which was only changed every 3-4 months.*


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## TheBaconater (Jul 26, 2017)

Did you use any particular light/bulb for this tank?


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

TheBaconater said:


> Did you use any particular light/bulb for this tank?


People ask me this frequently about the bulbs I have over all my tanks and each tank is different. Unfortunately I do not have a model number for you, I honestly buy tons of cheap LED bulbs off eBay that come directly from China. As a result of this cheap trial and error process I have a box full of LED bulbs I did not like but if I can give you any advice it would be to search for "PAR" style bulbs in the 6,500k "temp" or "color" range. For a tank this size I am not even sure I used a PAR style bulb because a PAR20 or PAR30 would be too large, and PAR10 is an odd/hard size to find but they exist under other descriptive names. I always use directional bulbs though its just the angle of coverage is what changes from bulb to bulb. Goodluck!

EDIT: The bulb looks like one of the 3 you see in the front row of the tank in the background of this photo:


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## TheBaconater (Jul 26, 2017)

Cool, thanks for the info!


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Me want to Pico again.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

OVT said:


> Me want to Pico again.


I have had mostly 5 gallon "nano" tanks, with the largest being 16 gallons. Once I was confident there I tried the "pico" and I have to say they are very low maintenance if you have the knowledge in this hobby. The downside to them is you get board with them quickly due to the limitations in plant choices (never even mind livestock limitations). I have come to the personal conclusion that larger nano tanks such as my 16 gallon increase the maintenance load without much more enjoyment to benefit from so I have begun heading back in the pico direction. I do not really enjoy larger fish species in captivity so I would really need a much larger tank to get Tetra sized fish to exhibit the behavior I would get more enjoyment from. With that being said I am reserving my 16 gallon for a near future reef tank and/or planted marine tank. To keep my toes in the freshwater hobby though I have begun building a pico riparium (link in my signature) which gives me the best of both worlds with terrestrial plants keeping me from getting board with it, and the invertebrate livestock will not require daily attention.

2G Pico Waterfall Riparium


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