# Reginald2's Picotope (56k)



## mithrius (Apr 28, 2009)

i love that tank.. it looks so nice and clean 
if u are planning on putting any critters in there... im not so sure abou that dirt! but i could be wrong
but if its been fertilized... >.<


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

mithrius said:


> i love that tank.. it looks so nice and clean
> if u are planning on putting any critters in there... im not so sure abou that dirt! but i could be wrong
> but if its been fertilized... >.<


Mirthrius- Thanks, I am hoping that it will grow in a little more eventually. I've never tried potting soil before, so it is a little bit of an experiment. So far I think I will keep the critters out, just in case. I've heard there is a breaking in period with soil tanks and I wouldn't want to kill any fish. Plus this thing is small, I don't know what fish would fit. 

In other news, I decided the little filter was too weedy and put an old aquaclear mini that I had laying around. I really like the flow better. The stock filter dumped water straight down and seemed like it wanted to bore through the bottom of the tank. The aquaclear moves the water across the aquarium better. I am pretty happy with the change. I've been changing 90 some odd percent of the water every day or two b/c the driftwood is putting off some sort of horrid snot-fungi.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

There is nothing really all that different. Here are a couple of pictures. There is a little bit of growth but nothing really amazing. I had hoped for a little more. I wonder if I am not leaving the light on long enough. Any suggestions?


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Well, I am trying to keep this fairly regularly updated. I feel like it hasn't grown any, but when I look through this I guess it has a little. I initially wanted to update this once a week, but life has been happening at an extremely rapid pace for the last couple of weeks.

I've only changed the water a couple of times. The water is pretty yellow; I am not sure if it is the dirt or the wood. I think it is the wood. I have some microsword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) in there and some microsword? (_Echinodorus tenellus_). Therre is some Wisteria (it is like a weed in my other tank) and some pennywort (also weed) there to help avoid some sort of algae outbreak, which hasn't happened yet.:icon_wink

some pictures:


----------



## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Looking good!


----------



## herefisheefishee (Apr 29, 2009)

If the water is yellowing, it's most likely the tannins leaching from the wood.
Generally it's a good idea to boil the wood before putting it in the tank to get most of that out, but with water changes it will eventually stop.

I like how the tank is looking so far. I'm actually debating picking up the same tank for myself to put on my work desk with some red cherry shrimp in it.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Phoenix-cry said:


> Looking good!


Thanks.



herefisheefishee said:


> If the water is yellowing, it's most likely the tannins leaching from the wood.
> Generally it's a good idea to boil the wood before putting it in the tank to get most of that out, but with water changes it will eventually stop.
> 
> I like how the tank is looking so far. I'm actually debating picking up the same tank for myself to put on my work desk with some red cherry shrimp in it.


I really should have boiled the wood. I had a horrible experience with some "grapewood" once. I think I was just trying to do everything different this time. 

If your thinking of buying this tank, think about a filter and a different light. I changed both of those and am happy that I did. I've never had a little tank like this and I am really enjoying it.

I think that because it is so small I feel like there is a lot going on with it. A little bit of growth is really easy to detect and highly rewarding. It doesn't have the build quality of the nicer ADA's, but a few minutes with a razor will help a lot. I have to say that it is quickly becoming my favorite tank. I love the scale. Actually I think I like the dimensions of this better than the ADA's, it is as deep as it is tall. Almost like it is less fishtank shaped and more fishbowl shaped with all the benifits of each.

I think Cherrys would look great in it too.:thumbsup:


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

So I learned something today. If you pull up a plant in a tank with soil and a layer of sand over the top...a small soil explosion happens. It was really messy, for a second it looked like I had struck oil or something. 

I hope that this isn't the beginning of the end. 

Does anyone know how one should go about removing a plant from a tank with a sand covered soil substrate?


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

The tank is looking a little gross. I've got some white stringy stuff growing and the pristine sand...well it doesn't look too pristine. I have had a month of being a little too busy to take care of my tanks and I may just be feeling the consequences of that.

of course, it could have been the dirt plume that erupted when I was redecorating. Who knows?



















This is the gross growing thing. Yhere is more and this picture isn't all that great.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

It's been a month. I let the CO2 die down pretty much completely. I have been a little dejected since the first great dirt geyser incident of '09. I don't think I got much of that dirt to ever go away. I have also been having problems with water changes. 

Now, I love water change day and gleefully bound around the house performing fish tank maintenance as a happy unwinding. Because of this, I don't miss it unless I have to...or I'm afraid. This tank is a serious pain to change water in

1. The sand provides only the most delicate of protection from dirtanic eruptions.
2. The tank is so small, even the back flow from the gravel vac tubing (or the python) wrecks total havoc.
3. If I utilize airline tubing, it takes so long (time wise) that I occasionally (only when I've tried it) overflow the tank.

Some of this is just me being whiny, but it can cause me to overlook this tank.

I love how the dirt makes everything grow, but everything being so light makes the tank kind of...dirty. 
Does anybody know how much Aquasoil 3 liters is? I'm also really open to other suggestions.

This is the E. Tenellus that is growing quite rapidly









The FTS









My shame









I really like these guys









I really like this wood, but I feel like it is not getting showed off really well


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I got tired of little black specs on top of my pristine white sand, so I removed most of the sand and capped it all off with Flourite. Flourite is very dusty. It is still cloudy after a couple of days. 

I thought that I was going to remove the soil and just do Flourite, but when I saw the amazing root system that had developed I decided to keep some soil. I mixed it in with some sand and I think that I will like the eventual de-stratification and mixing of the substrates. I was also able to put all the plants where I wanted them. I planted my tiny bit o' microsword by the blade and hope that I haven't killed it all. The tank is so cloudy I worry that I have made a boo-boo.

Time will tell.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

The substrate was changed, some plants were separated. The water finally cleared; that flourite really made the water cloudy. Other than that, not too much. I really had hoped for a little more growth by this point. When I changed the substrate I couldn't help thinking that my plants were growing more down than up.

Any words of wisdom?
Guesstimations?
Shots in the dark?

Oh and yes that is a plant that I just threw in there.


----------



## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Looking real nice! I love those picotope tanks
A nice trick I do is I use my lil breeder separator thingi for water changes on my small tanks.

You just float the breeder then aim the python in it with little to no disruption.


----------



## chrispar0323 (Aug 4, 2009)

mott that is an awesome idea, finally something to with my breeder trap since i gave up on trying to catch livebearers before they pop filling my 3 gallon with my floramax substrate is muder that stuff is so porous and lightweight


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

@mott I might have to try that, I've actually got one of those cups. For now, I am still a little too afraid to approach this thing with anything bigger than an airline. I have wreaked a lot of chaos in there.

@Chrispar I know what you mean. Those little things will seem all super fat for so long it is hard to tell when to separate them. I have one of those breeder cups too, but haven't even had a clue when to pull the fish out. I don't think my breeder cup has even been in the water before.

I am really happy with the flourite, I even like the color. I started dropping some nitrogen and trace ferts in there and I think I am seeing a difference. I also put some snails so that there would be something producing plant food in there. It seems like the water stays too cool and fluctuates too much to put any fish in there.


----------



## dooboogoo (Apr 19, 2007)

Yeah, I had the same experience in my first tank with flourite. No one told me that it would help to rinse it REALLY well before adding it to the tank. Nice tank so far, I love that driftwood!


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

dooboogoo said:


> Yeah, I had the same experience in my first tank with flourite. No one told me that it would help to rinse it REALLY well before adding it to the tank. Nice tank so far, I love that driftwood!



Yeah, I didn't rinse it at all. I heard that it was cloudy, but I figured that since I didn't have any fish I could just let it be a little cloudy for a couple of days. It didn't work out like that at all, there is no telling how many times I changed the water. I even tried some of that clear-the-water chemical. It didn't seem to do anything.:hihi:

I like the driftwood too, but I don't feel like I am using it to its full potential.


----------



## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

I really like the new look in the tank, and the wood is beautiful.. Keep us updated! I am so tempted to have a go at a nano too..


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Miss Jinkx said:


> I really like the new look in the tank, and the wood is beautiful.. Keep us updated! I am so tempted to have a go at a nano too..


You won't be tempted anymore if you go ahead and get one :icon_mrgr


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

It has been a while... I've moved, gotten mononucleosis, and started my last semester in college. 

The tank moved really easily. I lost a lot of plants in my larger tank, but as this tank only took a few minutes to move...

I've discovered that E. Tenellus hates being replanted, but Lilaeopsis brasiliensis loves to be dug up, seperated, and replanted. 

The tanks new spot recieves a couple of hours of sunny southern exposure. I think I will be removing the little jave fern fairly quickly. Does anyone know how long the hampton bay cf's bulbs last? 



















The camera does this, I thought it was neat...


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

A couple of shots a month later. I still really love this tank and in the new house it sits closer to the computer and gets more love. 

Does anyone know a good was to clean the glass with the plants crowding it? My normal toothbrush seems like it will lead to imminent disaster and profanity. I don't care for the haze though.


My wife takes much better pictures than I do:

obligatory FTS









along the side









I like this one









can you see the snail eggs/don't look at the algae









ye ole banana plant









The circle of leaf









Thanks,


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

a couple of new admirers. They've been with us for 5 weeks now.










"It's great and all...but how do you drink out of it without getting your feet wet?"


----------



## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

SOOOO cute!!!! And nice tank, too :icon_wink


----------



## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Nice pics! roud:


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

@Amazonfish - Thanks, they sure think so.

@Outlawboos - Thanks, I may pass the camera to the Mrs. and utilize my little assistants more often.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I was feeling a little artsy. Please feel free to critic the pictures or the tank. 

This seems like a better shot of the wood.









Snail









This is Nymphoides aquatica reaching for the surface yesterday









And this is the best shot I could get of him breaching the surface today.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

A couple more shots of the banana plant making a grab for the sky.

Day one









Day two
I got really excited to see this one. I was convinced that I would get home and see a happy banana leaf the next day









Day four
Then it didn't quite do what I expected it would.








I think it is going for the wall socket


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

It has been a little while. It actually it seems longer in real life. 

The microsword was thicker, but i robbed a good bit of it for another tank. There was a 5lbs tank on this little guy, and I loved it, but it too was robbed and redistributed to the new tank. There are still some remnants of the glassware. I really want to go back to pressurized, but the 5lbs tank was too big to hide, didn't look that great, and seemed a little excessive. Does anyone know of something a little smaller? Perhaps a paintball regulator they've had a good experience with? I am having trouble justifying another 5lbs tank.

I also replaced the ac20 with an Eheim 2213, yesterday, so I am trying to figure out if that is too much flow or not. There was always detritus on the leaves with the aqua clear. I've got it choked down a little with the ball valve on the quick connect. I am kind of half-thinking the problem lies in the shape of the outflow. I think the ac20 is supposed to have the same output, but I don't really remember too well.The jury is still out on this one. Does any one have any opinions on the subject?

The tank is still fishless (because it is heaterless). I can see the evidence of bba wanting to creep in, I think I am going to try upping the kh and see if that helps. I had to put fertz in when the 5lbs tank was blasting grow gas through my little pico, but I normally don't. There is dirt in the substrate and the plants usually seem to get what they want from there. So there have been some changes to both the water column and the co2 levels. I guess one should expect bba. 

I like these rocks, but they seem a little small. I was thinking I would like them to look swallowed up when I put them in there. Now, I am not too sure about that.

Please excuse the rapid fire rambling of this post. I decided that I needed a two liter bottle so I bought a coke. I normally don't drink coke, and I am feeling a little more peppy than normal. Maybe I'll come back and edit this after my sugar crash nap.




























PS This is some yard-moss that I found and stuck in here as an experiment and it seems to be growing. Does anyone know what it might be?


----------



## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

Hi Reginald2,

I really like what you're doing with this tank and I appreciate the depth of detail you're giving us. I have some larger tanks and am now planning to re-do an Eclipse 6 gallon tank, something along the lines of what you're doing. I'm not familiar with Picotopes -- is that a brand of tank? A shape? How many gallons/litres is it?

I thought that your sand looked very nice at first but the red flourite, though completely different, is even better. There's something about the red that brings out the red/brown undertones in the wood. The tank looks a little bit like one of those lovely marshy areas at the edge of the ocean, where the water rises and falls with the tide and grassy things grow. 

Don't feel too badly about the white slime. I had that problem with a tank recently. The tank had been set up for about a month and, I thought, had finished cycling. It suddenly occurred after a water change. It was a planted aquarium and not related to overfeeding and I still don't know what the white slime was, exactly. I haven't seen that in 30 years of tank-keeping. But it siphoned off nicely and so far has not come back. 

I enjoy following this thread. Is there a way for me to mark a journal like this so that I can find it again? This is such an active forum that whenever I return, I can't remember which posts are which.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Thanks Morainy. This is a 3 gallon JBJ Picotope. I got it online from the drs and have really enjoyed it. I upgraded the lights and the filter, but the little glass tank is great. The Picotope is slightly squatter than a lot of little tanks. I really like the dimensions of this little guy. Even though I've looked at nicer tanks, I just find myself making comparisons and sticking with this one.

i used eco complete on another tank and I really like the way the black substrate looks. I think I will end up tearing down this tank in a couple of months and I will either go: dirt + eco complete or Aqua Soil. I haven't really decided which. 

I think under "thread tools" near the top of the page there is a way to subscribe to a thread then you can find all of the threads you subscribed to via "user cp". There is also a way to subscribe to all threads that you comment in under "edit options" from the "user cp" page.

thanks for looking


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I suppose that was the last update on this tank. My cat decided to get involved in the aquascaping aspect. Needless to say, we've had some creative differences. Most of our differences revolve around the volume of water the tank should contain versus the volume of water on the floor as an _accent_ of some sort. 

I haven't fully given up hope on this tank yet. It is now an empty glass box. I am not really sure how he got so interested. It may be a kitty see kitty do type of thing. Last time I was cleaning the big tank I thought I saw a twinkle in his eyes that said: that looks fun why can't I do that.

Forgive the laughter. I would have edited it, but youtube's new owners seem to hunt down music copyright with extreme prejudice (a little ironic). Plus I had trouble uploading this video without using Chrome, it hung three times. In took a lot longer than I thought that it would, at least three hours.

I love this little tank, so I may try to set it up again. I may be forced to try something bigger with a sturdier top.

here is a link to the youtube video.


----------



## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

Reginald2, your cat is an adventurous soul. The Jacques Cousteau type. 

Your tank is really amazing, but I guess you can't risk having the cat get electrocuted or muck around in the tank all day while you're out. Is there any way to get a mesh or glass cover for it?





Reginald2 said:


> I suppose that was the last update on this tank. My cat decided to get involved in the aquascaping aspect. Needless to say, we've had some creative differences. Most of our differences revolve around the volume of water the tank should contain versus the volume of water on the floor as an _accent_ of some sort.
> 
> I haven't fully given up hope on this tank yet. It is now an empty glass box. I am not really sure how he got so interested. It may be a kitty see kitty do type of thing. Last time I was cleaning the big tank I thought I saw a twinkle in his eyes that said: that looks fun why can't I do that.
> 
> ...


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Marainy- I am still experimenting around and trying to figure out a way to keep him out. Hopefully it will work out eventually. I may end up getting a bigger tank for that room, one with a hood.


----------



## TheShrimpOtaku (Feb 28, 2010)

does potting soil lower the waters ph?


----------



## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

Nice tank!! The kittens are adorable too haha. that moss is interesting looking!!! I hope it works out let us kno!


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Wow, I just hit the wrong button and lost a post. I've never done that before.

TheShrimpOtaku- I don't think the soil does much with the PH, but I've got pretty soft water and inject CO2 so I can't be sure. It definitely does leach tannins and probably some organics as well for the first little while. (monthish)

AlexXx- I had forgotten about the moss. Unfortunately, it was a casualty of cat. I'll have to head out to the yard again and see if I can grab some more. Whatever it was it lasted for several months and was growing.

I've decided to give it one more go (I really like this little tank). It has been set up for three days or so, without lights or plants. The water is quite tea colored so I am changing water and hoping for the bacterias to grow. I didn't even rinse the soil this time around, mostly because I was pretty sure that I would be taking the tank down an hour later. I plan to plant either today or Saturday and am hoping for the best.

I had a 2213 on this tank and it was a little too much flow (I had to plant in the middle lol). I think the water from the outflow played a part in whatever Marcelo was doing. Plus this tank sits on an oddly painted garage sale treasure that my better half bought one day. I think it may not have been tall enough for the eheim to work right anyway. So I busted out ole' faithful (an aquaclear I bought in high school).

I've got a larger tank downstairs to steal plants from and a little better idea of how to plant it. I dug through the closet for the driftwood that was originally in this tank and fiddled with it a bit the other day. I never really _loved_ the river rocks that were in there. Once the microsword grew in they all but disappeared. I think I need to find a new foreground, maybe some moss or something. I want something either small or wispy looking.

Of course that is all assuming my little furry friend can keep his paws out of the tank. So far so good, except for a floating thermometer incident (which seems understandable). I would cover the tank somehow, but I am positive that would be irresistible to both cats and lead to another set of problems. I guess we'll see how all of this works out.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

The Experiment continues:

After many hours of carefully and repeatedly pulling paws out of the water, I am happy to announce that the lesson stuck. I guess the mixed messages of me laughing hysterically the first time have worn off. For now the only problems we are still experiencing involve water changes and there is a paw-sized depression in the substrate to prove it.

The scape was kind of thrown together, but I am pretty happy with it. Originally I had intentions of putting some cherry shrimp in the tank, but they died out before this thing cycled. Unfortunately I can't just run up to the store and grab some where I live, so for now it is just a pond snail home. 

They HM is growing in a little differently than I thought it would but I really like it. Right now it is wildly jungle-like and in need of a trim. I am pretty sure I will get around to it soon. Now that everything is settled in I will need to be a little more aggressive with my snipping. I keep promising myself that I will.

The Rotala, HM and moss have all entangled in the front and created a strange plant mass. I couldn't quite get any good pictures of it. I've been blasting DiY CO2 into this thing and have been happy with the growth, but I find myself eying the 5 lbs tank on the tank downstairs with no small amount of empathetic envy.

I really enjoy this tank, it's in a prime staring location. As a bonus, if you're a cat it is in a prime drinking location. however if you stick your foot in it a much larger cat will take it out.

I got a little picture happy.

The FTS









...um for some redundancy









Some collected CO2 bubbles









I'm real happy with this moss









I don't think too happy though









I just couldn't get a good picture of this









I did try though


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Everything is pretty much the same. It's funny, the HM grows bushy in this tank and weedy in the big tank and the Rotala grows bushy in the big tank and weedy in this one. 




























I'm thinking about some HC for a change. We'll see.


----------



## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

Your catscaping video is hilarious!! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

lol, thanks he is still hard at work, but seems to understand not to put his hands in this aquarium. He now busies himself removing surface plants from my other tank.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Couple more pics.





































Nothing new, I just trimmed and stared until I took pictures.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

It has really just been a couple of months of absolute neglect. 

Here she is:









I thought I'd drop a quick shot for honesty's sake. Everything has gotten out of control, the xmas moss would be much worse if it weren't for the cat fishing out little bits to use as toys. 

I've learned more from this one, but I'll be looking to rescape once it cools off a little.

I really like the moss and HM, but the rotala looks a little wiped out for some reason.


----------



## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

It's looking pretty good for absolute neglect, Reginald2. I'd be happy with it if it were my tank!

After following your setup and a few others, I tried my hand at a 1 gallon nano tank. I just couldn't make it work for fish, although the plants looked really nice. So now, the smallest of my tanks is 5 gallons, and not very artistically planted, either. I'm still learning!


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Yeah, I haven't put any fish in this one either. It seems kind of small for fish. It has got lots of snails though.

Where is your update by the way?


----------



## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Since you have lots of snails, good hiding/cover for fishes, and you have no fish in your picotope, why not try a dwarf puffer? Those guys looks pretty cool.

Also, any update on the tank?


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

PinoyBoy said:


> Since you have lots of snails, good hiding/cover for fishes, and you have no fish in your picotope, why not try a dwarf puffer? Those guys looks pretty cool.
> 
> Also, any update on the tank?


I like dwarf puffers too. I don't know anything about them though. I may have to look into them a little more. 

I'll try to get some pics up sometime soonish.


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

lol, well that wasn't soonish at all. The tank is still up. I felt bad for neglecting it for so long. It went low tech for several months w/o CO2...um or pruning or anything.

The HM has overtaken the tank, so I'm going to go with it and see how it works out. Despite the neglect, this is still such a fun tank that I get so much enjoyment out of. I was noticing the bettas at the *co this afternoon, two of them floating and was wondering if this would make a better home for them. I feel like it needs some sort of life in there. I don't know that a betta would be too big though. I guess it would be better than dying in a cup on a shelf.


----------



## GhostRider (Jan 17, 2011)

What drop checker is that ive been wanting to put one in my tank, but i think most of them are just to big and gody but that one looks perfect, (they dont have to be big to work.)


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

It's a Cal Aqua nano It's a perfect size for a little tank like this. It is built pretty solid too: thick glass and nice curves. I would highly recommend one.


----------



## bassmjm (Jun 1, 2011)

Fantastic and very entertaining journal! I really like the ideas you have, and of course, your cats.


----------

