# 1 Gallon Pico aquarium



## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

I pulled this old 1 gallon top fin corner tank out of my closet today and will be attempting to make a small pico shrimp tank. I made a DIY light reflector for the puny 7 watt incandescant bulb that the kit comes with. I am convinced it nearly doubles the light output to the aquarium. It's probably not the right color for plant growth, but it makes the petrified driftwood I have set up really pop. 

The picture makes the light look brighter than it actually is, and it is a little less red than it appears in person. 

I hope it is enough light to grow at the very least some kind off moss. I plan to find a tiny piece of spiderwood or small driftwood to put to the left of the rocks to attach some moss too, but I'll have to find some first. 

It's only a one gallon so I know It wont hold much but I wonder what your opinions will be about what I could stock in here. I have an RCS tank next to it, and would like some other relatively easy to care for shrimp for this as well. I have a small corner sponge filter on order. I hope it's not too big. There already isn't much room in here to begin with.

I'll post some more pictures when the filter gets here or if i decide to rescape it again.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

I like it!

You should go for another color neo


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## Beast from the east (Oct 16, 2014)

looks great! You didn't use the under gravel filter that came with it? keep us posted! I have a 0.5 gallon shrimp tank with light only. I was considering getting this top fin product but decided against it because I wanted to give the 0.5 gallon a try.


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Oh definitely not. I used the undergravel filter with this kit once. My betta does as a result. It's pathetic even for ug filter. I've got a jarvin sponge filter in the mail.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DT1XXJW/ref=mlt_base_B00DT1XXJW

I'm not versed in sponge filters though so hopefully this will be enough without taking up too much space.


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## PlantNewbster (Dec 13, 2013)

I have the same tank and have too many Nanos in progress right now for me to set it up so I am going to watch this.


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## krisvalkyrie (Aug 10, 2008)

Would be fun for endlers and neos.


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Updates. I got the sponge filter setup and running and am beginning the fishless cycle. Hopefully this will work alright without a heater. There is barely much room left as it is, and my house can get a little cold during the winter. We shall see. 

Still haven't gotten any plants yet. Will probably go out this weekend to find some, hopefully. I had to rig the filter to accept an airstone (the noise from the regular bubbles made coming out of the top of the lift tube was obnoxiously loud, let along for a bedroom). The filter had two stacking cages that made up the support column in the middle. I had to tear out the central air pipes in each and fit airline tubing and an airstone at the end to make small (quiet) bubbles. We'll see how that works.

Hopefully I will get to post some pictures of the new scape tomorrow. I found a decently sized piece of spiderwood that I can use in my next tank and had enough small branches that I could break some off for this tiny thing. 

On another note, does anyone know if a couple male endlers would be fine in my other shrimp tank to deal with the overflowing copepod population? 

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates.


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

New update. Turns out the light bulb for this tank is so hot that it is making the water temp soar to the middle 80s during the day, but it goes down to about 68 at night. There's not enough room for a heater, and I worry about trying to heat a tank this small, so i'm going to scrap it for the time being and instead go out and get something like a 2.5 gallon. Something still small so that it fits on the shelf, but not too small that I can't fit a heater/filter/decor in it. 










I'll post further updates when that happens. Here is a pick of how it was going to look. I think I will try to get it to look similar, but there should be plenty more space in the new tank.

The only problem with that is, I will need a light. Anyone have any recommendations for good lights for small tanks?


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## Gravistunn (Aug 8, 2014)

I got my 2.5 from world market for 14$. It was in the kitchen accessories area an came with a metal lid.









~Travis


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Just picked this up at feeders supply. Still need to get a heater. And yes I know, it's very cloudy. I blame the sand and the rocks. Hopefully the bubbles will dissipate soon.

I also need to find a light. Does anyone know of any good plant growing lights for a tank this small? its only 12L x 8H x 6W. 

The plants in the background are from my other shrimp tank.


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## mjryan2176 (Nov 11, 2014)

I use a desk lamp with a flexible neck and a GE 13 watt mini spiral cfl bulb that's rated for 6500k. Seems to be working nicely. I learned this from here I believe. Working great so far.


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## Izzy- (Jun 11, 2014)

this is making me want to start a 1 gallon too lol


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Izzy- said:


> this is making me want to start a 1 gallon too lol


You should. This has been quite fun once I binned the cheapo top fin tank. That one is just too small and not really easy to work with. The 2.5 gallon I got is working much better now. I also had to scrap the sand I had in here originally. I held on to air bubbles. I think as the cycled started, with the high heat from the incandescent light, it made it stink like death. I have some black flourite in there now and will start cycling it soon.


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Update.

Got the new gravel in, black flourite. I think it looks much better than the sand, and hopefully it wont trap air bubbles or smell awful like the sand did. Also did a redesign on the 'scape. I think it looks much better now. I've been wanting to play with two tone gravel desings for a while. Thought this would be a nice experiment. I like the look of a little river/walking-path-type-thing going down the middle. What do you guys thing.

I'm planning to get some christmas moss or willow moss to put on the branches, when aquariumplants gets either back in stock. I also plan to put some anubias petite in there near the "river". I would like to put a Crypt Parva in the right back corner and some cyperus helferi in there too. 

I would like to attempt baby tears, but I don't want to do co2 on this tank, and i'm not sure that a desk lamp/cfl will be high enough light for it to flourish. 

The sponge filter will be in the back left for those who are wondering. It's currently cycling in my other shrimp tank.

Thoughts?


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Alright then, first update in a while.

I tried to go cheap on this tank and purchase a desk lamp with daylight cfl bulbs, but the desk lamp I found didn't work very well for the location. It bled light into the other tank next to and made the room very bright in general. I didn't like it. So I decided to stop being so cheap and bought the finnex planted+ clip light. That came in today. 

I was kinda hoping for a medium light tank that wouldn't be a whole lot of work. I even bought the plants for it. They should get here tuesday. I ordered 
1x potted dwarf hair grass
1x weeping moss on a mesh plate (that i will hopefully be able to pull of and superglue to the branches [not in the tank at the moment])
2x stems of ludwigia repens that I can cut and put in the corners.
1x flame moss for in between the rocks
1x potted dwarf baby tears.

I got these from alpha pro breeders for a decent price. 

I think the baby tears might have been a bit of a gamble since I wanted a medium light/low-medium tech tank, but i figued I would give it a shot.

But now that i've got this light set up. It looks really bright. I think the HC would do well, but now i've got the issue of co2. I really didn't want to do co2 in this tank, since I wanted to go low tech, plus I plan to stock it with shrimp and I don't want to cause issues with overdosing the co2.

What are your thoughts? Does this light equate to a high light system? Will I need co2? I don't know the PAR, but if anyone has had the planted+ clip light, is this going to be too much light for a non-co2 system? Any thoughts or opinions will be appreciated.

Also when should I start dosing the fertilizers once I get the plants in? I know I should give them some time to acclimate, but about how long?


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

I got the plants in today. (minus the flame moss for some reason). And the aquascape is complete. Honestly though, I think the flame moss is unnecessary. I am really happy with this scape. Hopefully the hairgrass and the baby tears flourish in here. The ludwigia I got looks really nice. Comments? 

I'll keep this post updated as the plants grow in (hopefully).


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## almost2blank (Oct 10, 2014)

Bump.

Update. The plants seem to be dong well so far. I moved my old diy co2 system to this tank and made another diy paintball setup on my old tank as posted by Jaggedfury. Anyways, It's only been about a week and I am noticing green hair algae growing on the crhistmas moss. I know it's a slow growing plant but I would hope that with the co2 it would outgrow the algae at least. I plan to add some Amano shrimp once it gets cycled. Hopefully they will help take care of that. Another thing i've noticed are thin green filaments coming out of the substrate, but only in the bare areas. I'm not sure if they are rapidly growing roots form the HC or the hairgrass that have grown above the surface of the substrate or what. They don't look like hair algae, they are a bit thicker and more fragile than that. Any thoughts. I don't have a photo of the algae or the green things, but I do have a photo of the plants once I got them in place. I'll add a photo of the algae and the green things tomorrow.


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