# Any JBJ Pictope 3 Gallons out there? Show us your pics!



## jbrady33 (Jun 7, 2012)

Lots of posts about the various Fluvals, Aqueon Evolves, ect, but don't see much love for the JBJ 3 gallon. If you have one, let's see it!

Here's mine, Finnex Fugeray light, Aquaclear 30 filter, no heater, plants shrimps and snails :smile: Gives me something to stare at during mind numbing conference calls. Cell phone pic, couldn't do the 'moody, all dark in the room except the tank' thing here at the office :smile:


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

That's beautiful!


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## angelsword (May 16, 2009)

Your Picotope looks great!
Here's mine. The substrate is ADA Aqua Soil. I'm running two desk lamps with DIY C02. I think the bulbs are each 13 watts. I know, it'll be an algae farm in no time. I'm kind of enjoying watching the riccia pearl like crazy for right now. I replaced the filter with a Tom's Rapid mini canister just because I had it and it looks a bit better. 

I really wish I'd have painted the back black before I set it up. It would have hidden the filter, lamp base and C02.

The Riccia mat has filled in and I've added some new plants. I'll get a new picture tomorrow.

Is it just me or is the bottom of your tank different than the bottom of mine?


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## jbrady33 (Jun 7, 2012)

Actually the tanks (and bottoms) are the same, but since I need to slide mine out from under that shelf to work on it I have it on a special mat of a high tech material made from recycled wood pulp which reduces the friction with the desktop and cushions the bottom glass. 

Yeah - that's a load of crap, I cut a piece of cardboard from the side of a shipping box, that's what's under the tank so I can slide it :smile:

For the background I went to the dolalr store and got a mirror that was mounted in a cheap 8x10 frame. Trashed the frame, scotch tape around the mirror edges to avoid getting cut, then taped to the back of the tank - now I have a mirrored back! You could always do black vinyl or craft foam on the back.


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## angelsword (May 16, 2009)

Now that you say that it's cardboard I can see cardboard. I thought it looked like an extra glass lip until you pointed it out.

The shrimp might appreciate it if I tape something to the back rather than trying to cover the top and paint it with them in there


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## Knotyoureality (Aug 3, 2012)

Dedicated cherry shrimp tank. Originally set up in a standard 2.5g, the new tank let me position the driftwood better, add more rocks and double the plant mass. Xmass moss is finally starting to grow up onto the driftwood and I'm still working on balancing out the open/planted spaces to best affect.


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## bruinhd (Oct 10, 2011)

YES! I am using a 3 gallon Mr Aqua bowfront tank (almost the same thing), but I am waiting to pick up ADA Amazonia NEW, some HC, and probably a 12" Finnex Fugeray. But otherwise, you can see that I have the tank, CO2, and the regulator already. I plan to call this project something stupid like PICO-OVERKILL...it's going to be the most high tech pico ever hahahaha.


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Pretty nice tanks guys. Your giving me ideas for mine when it gets here. Please give me ideas in my thread in this section.


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## R.sok (Sep 24, 2012)

I think all those tanks look great! KInda tempted to buy one now


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## angelsword (May 16, 2009)

Here's an updated pic of mine. The inhabitants of the tank are 12 Red Cherry Shrimp. I just picked out some nice red ones from my 60P shrimp tank. Oh and some annoying little snails that have gotten out of control in that tank and hitch hiked in on the plants. They're weird little flat things, meaning they're shells are spiraled like a rams horn but lay flat against whatever they're sitting on. They're like an 1/8 inch across. I'm just pulling them out when I see them for now. I'm thinking about using some "no planaria" to kill them before they end up everywhere.

At first when the Blyxa turned a little red I thought it was cool but at this point I'm guessing it's just fried from too much light. Oh well, I'll probably just pull it out and put some more in. I don't know if you can tell from the pics but on my Riccia rock I've got two different sizes of Riccia. I've been pulling out the bigger branches. I didn't realize I had two different kinds. The big stuff is huge - like ten times the size of the smaller Riccia. I'm not sure about the Vals. The height is perfect for this tank but it's spreading fast and ending up in the front of the tank. I'd like to find some HC or something to make a carpet. It'd look cool growing around the Riccia rock. (like there's any chance I won't neglect to trim the Riccia and it's toupee won't lift off any day. lol)

I need to figure out how much light is too much. It would appear that I've already figured that out lol. I brushed the pearling bubbles off the Riccia for the picture. It pearls so much that the Riccia looks like a glass rock in pictures. I've had two desk lamps over it. Each lamp has a Slyvania 6,500K 13 watt spiral cfl bulb. Each bulb says 800 lumens. I should try just one but it doesn't look bright enough. I need to read up on lighting, lumens etc. I had regular light bulbs in them for a few hours. Bad Idea! Anybody for boiled shrimp?

By the way, if anyone is looking to replace the stock bulb due to it being half actinic, you can buy a new bulb at Home Depot. I bought a 9 watt bulb that is 6,500k or maybe it was 5,500K - either way it's better than the half actinic bulb that comes stock. It was like $3 or $4. Just make sure you get the one marked 9 watt "G23 base". I made the mistake of buying a 13 watt at Walmart the first time but it didn't fit the lamp because it had two little notches at the base of the bulb instead of one notch that's on the 9 watt. I'm assuming that's what G23 base means. It's probably to keep people from using a bulb that's too powerful for their fixture.

I'm running DIY C02 from a 24 ounce pop bottle. I'd like to start dosing dry fertilizers but I need to look at the EI dosing charts and try to scale it down somehow. 

I'm loving this little tank. I think it looks so much better than the other nano kits I saw and it's really cheap. Fosters and Smith has it for $41.99 and I threw in some shrimp food to make it $50 for free shipping. If I hadn't had the desk lamps sitting around the stock light and filter would have been sufficient. I want a few more of them now.


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## angelsword (May 16, 2009)

Nobody else?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Well it's not a planted tank but it is a JBJ picotope lol:


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Looks nice mine is going to be a reef too. What coral you have in yours?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

I had a LOT of stuff in there. Mostly zoas though. they cover all the rocks very well. I had palythoa, green star polyps, and mushrooms too for soft coral. For LPS i had blastomussa and an acan. For SPS i had montiporas, green birdsnest, millepora, and pocillopora. you will be surprised how much life a 3 gal can support. I had some crazy water turnover though. there was an Aquaclear 70 running on that 3 gal plus the K-nano powerhead.


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## Wicket_lfe (Aug 21, 2008)

I am about to pick one up. Anyone use a lid or cover of any kind? I'm thinking I'll have to cut one out of acrylic and find a way to keep it from warping.


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## jbrady33 (Jun 7, 2012)

If you can find thick acrylic it won't warp, but I just cut a thin piece I got at Home Depot cheap, cut nice with q cheap coping saw (see my sig for more info). When it warps one way I flip it over 

Also saw some people on a reef forum that special ordered hinged glass lids from some where, but I think they cost as much as the tank!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

forget acrylic. I used a glass one for that reef i posted before. it didn't cost much to cut out at a glass/mirror shop. just give them the dimension you want. glass is far superior. can handle heat and condensation.


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## manzpants92 (Dec 6, 2012)

the reef just tops all


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## A.D.D.i.c.t. (Dec 9, 2012)

I have one of these empty at the moment. I should set it up... Then I'll get in on the action

the addiction continues...


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

A.D.D.i.c.t. said:


> I have one of these empty at the moment. I should set it up... Then I'll get in on the action
> 
> the addiction continues...


Do a reef too.


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## hhk12 (Oct 29, 2012)

those all look awsome


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## hhk12 (Oct 29, 2012)

*awesome


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Setting mine up this weekend already have ocean water and live sand for it. Maybe I'll get a 2nd one later and do a planted tank too.


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## Wicket_lfe (Aug 21, 2008)

jbrady33 said:


> If you can find thick acrylic it won't warp, but I just cut a thin piece I got at Home Depot cheap, cut nice with q cheap coping saw (see my sig for more info). When it warps one way I flip it over
> 
> Also saw some people on a reef forum that special ordered hinged glass lids from some where, but I think they cost as much as the tank!


 
cool, if i think of something innovative, ill let you know.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

do a reef and right next to it a planted tank haha. it would look great and contrast well.
nanoreef forums are an amazing source of information on building pico reefs, you should check it out Neatfish if you're not part of that community already


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Hey thanks I'm already on there because I wanted info on how to setup my nano reef. Just started it today later on I'll get some soft easy corals. Water is starting to clear up now.


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## ophiophagus (Mar 5, 2012)

I love this. I've been tossing around the idea of starting a nano reef like this. What equipment are you using? light,filter,ect.



Newman said:


> Well it's not a planted tank but it is a JBJ picotope lol:


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

ophiophagus said:


> I love this. I've been tossing around the idea of starting a nano reef like this. What equipment are you using? light,filter,ect.



He said he was using the Aquaclear 70 he probably turned it into a fuge like a bunch of people do with a nano reef and he said a hydro koralia nano pump I'm not sure about the light but it might be a par38 reef light.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Yep, it was a modded Aquaclear 70 HOB (into a fuge) with a fuge light set on reverse photoperiod for growing chaeto macroalgae. i also hid my heater, my thermometer, and my chemical filtration back in that HOB filter to keep them away from the display. That Koralia nano powerhead was in the display (you couldn't see it much because it was overgrown with green star polyps (on purpose). that pump was 240gph.

The light was a 6 LED DIY fixture that I made myself from Cree LEDs. 3 cool whites and 3 royal blues. each color was run with separate drivers and power plugs so that i could turn one color off and view the tank in one color at a time. very useful if you want to see what corals look like just under actinic lighting. the royal blue LEDs are second to none in terms of blue actinics and they make the corals fluorescence extremely well. I mean really NEON coloration. Crazy.

There was also an Auto top off system in there that i built, and the float sensor was in the left top corner of the tank (you can see it behind that birdsnest coral.) Auto top off really makes maintenance much easier. It adds freshwater as water evaporates and keeps the salinity constant instead of you having to do it yourself every day or every few days. You only have to refill the reservoir once a week or two weeks with fresh distilled or RO water.

The heater was a 50W i believe, or maybe 25W. whatever size fit into that HOB filter.

That setup is fairly high tech. it had eight different power cords running into the wall. When I do a small reef tank again, I will try to keep the power cords down to 3-4 total. you don't need to have such a high tech tank to have a nice reef in your house. Research is key


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## ses601 (Dec 28, 2012)

ophiophagus said:


> I love this. I've been tossing around the idea of starting a nano reef like this. What equipment are you using? light,filter,ect.


man i like that little reef, is it weird that sometimes the lack of many different colors looks good to me :icon_ques


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## ophiophagus (Mar 5, 2012)

Thank you very much neatfish and newman


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Hey no problem.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

here are some older pics, but this is what i mean about actinics:








And it may not looks like it from the pic i posted before but that tank had just about every color of animals you can normally find in the ocean haha(bottom pic under normal lighting)


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