# Planted 3gal Picotope...journal



## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

Hey Ya'll. I decided to set up another nano planted tank for my home. I recently started a new job and decided to take my old 2.5 tank to work...So here it goes. 

I started off by attempting to place a 7gal rimless tank but later realized that it was just a little bit too tall for the shelving unit. I took it back and decided to pick up a 3gal picotope.










picked up the picotope for 49.99..










I decided to paint the back of tank black. I never again will use vinyl backgrounds.










Here are a couple pics of the completed installation... I also decided that I had too many wires on the shelf taking up valuable space so against my wife's wishes I cut a couple holes in the built in shelving unit. My apt complex will never know what happened.. (I hope)...










anyways I think the tank setup is much cleaner now.... and its pretty easy to hide the fluster cluck of a wire cluster that I have going on..



























next..... stocking this beloved tank... I plan on going to my LFS tomorrow to see about getting some petrified rock...or something attractive looking.

I'm debating on setting tank up for another betta or perhaps Cherry Red Shrimps..

I'm going to be looking around for some foreground plants...so if your looking to offload any let me know.


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## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

additional details..

*Light* is a 9w 50/50 bulb which I'll be swapping out for a more appropriate kelvin rating.
*Filtration* is a simple HOB filter
*CO2* will be Excel probably
*Substrate* is currently Sand I may consider using Flourite but hope to find in a smaller bag than 15lbs.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

It looks very nice on that shelf. Good choice of tank! I don't think you'll be able to do too much with those 9w lamps, but it'll be a nice low-light setup. I've always liked those Picotopes.


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

I love these little tanks. I've seen some done really well!


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## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

well after a couple trips I found some rocks I liked.. $18 bucks later I walked out with these. I also purchased a 67k bulb...


















I would like to turn this into an invertebrate tank with some CRS or something similiar. I may pick up a couple tetras to go in the tank..

Ideally I would like to put in some grass like plants but I don't have bright lights. Or perhaps java moss but I'd prefer to have them on the substrate not covering the rocks..

I'm welcoming any ideas


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## leaf (Jun 27, 2009)

Are all the rocks the same color? One looks lighter than the rest. The substrate is too white for my taste but it's just a preference thing. 
I have the same tank, and hairgrass made a good background plant almost coming up near the surface. Moss carpet would look sweet, and you could always tie moss to thin pieces of flat slate to achieve this effect. 

Goodluck!


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## ES4 (Jun 9, 2009)

Very nice... Good start, post up planted pics when they're in.


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## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

I wish I knew exactly what type rock they are but I think they are similar if not the same kind of rock, All three have similar style nooks and crannies. You are correct that it is ligher than the other two. I already have some moss from a different tank attached to slate so I'll use some of that to get started. I'll prob get some netting and more moss pretty soon.

I have some of that iron black sand mixed in already but I'll likely be adding more. I do like contrast.

did you upgrade the lighting or use the 9w fixture it came with?




leaf said:


> Are all the rocks the same color? One looks lighter than the rest. The substrate is too white for my taste but it's just a preference thing.
> I have the same tank, and hairgrass made a good background plant almost coming up near the surface. Moss carpet would look sweet, and you could always tie moss to thin pieces of flat slate to achieve this effect.
> 
> Goodluck!


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## leaf (Jun 27, 2009)

The light might be useful with the new bulb. The 50/50 worked great for growing basil! I think the problem I had was light not getting all over the tank.
I switched to a plane jane 6.5k spiral CF hanging over the pico to get a good blanketing light, grew moss and hc like a charm. Broke it down, now I'm trying to set it up with a 75w MH.  Call it my experimental algae farm. :icon_cool


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## leaf (Jun 27, 2009)

Any updates?


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## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

leaf said:


> Any updates?


yeah I have a few... I added heater cause it was clearly too cold in the tank.. I managed to get a hold of some Java moss but I think it was next to death cause of how brown it turned.. It does appear to be making a comeback.

I attached the java moss to some black slate using fishing line... I may either get some new moss or wait to see if this stuff comes back to life..

I also added some ghost shrimp to the tank to see if I had any success with keeping invertebrates. The goal is to get a hold of some RCS or better. I noticed that I have some baby GS's in the tank. Last time I checked there were 2 or 3 tiny babies in the tank.

here are a couple pics.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Looking awesome dude


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Great start! Looking forward to seeing this tank develop.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

The more I see this tank, the more I like those rocks. I saw them in a LFS recently, they were labeled as pagoda rock, I think. And I instantly started daydreaming about what a scape would look like with them.

Anyway, I like this tank. Looking good!


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## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

here are some updated pics...

last week I picked up some Mondo grass which I found out later was not meant for planted tanks.








a couple days later I found a local guy who was selling off his RCS colony so I picked them up. I paid 20 for about 40+ Red Cherry Shrimp... He also had some Dwarf Sags that he gave me for free. I picked up about 20 individual plants which I separated between my 3 tanks.
















































The tank looks pretty cluttered now but as soon as the javamoss starts to fill in I'll take some of those out.... I made one critical error I think and that was going with regular sand for this tank. I'll blame my wife cause she was the one who suggested that color substrate. I tried to make it better by adding some of black Beauty. If I would have known I was going with invertebrates I would have done all black sand..

anyways what do you think?


here are a few pics


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## dsubaru (Nov 5, 2007)

should I just swap out the sand for flourite black?


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## rasbora (Sep 1, 2006)

If the moss fills in enough it won't matter what color the substrate is underneath it.


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