# 0.9 pico tank planted (tank #3)



## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

My wife picked me up one of the little cubus 6"x6"x6" tanks for xmas (yay) as I wanted a little shrimp tank on my side table. I have a little elite filter for it which if this really keeps me happy may end up getting some diy 1/4" acrylic lily-ish replacements hooked into a Toms Canister. Heat will be from a Hydor mini heater under the sand. Substrate will be Flourite Black Sand.

I love the size, but the ball was really dropped for lighting although I'm sure that it wasn't designed with live plants in mind, more like a torture device for poor unsuspecting bettas. The 3 LEDs are definitely inadequate for anything other than plastic plants.

Image with the included lighting:









I will use stones in this tank vs driftwood, I found a decent selection at a local Bonsai shop:









To address the lighting issue I found a clip on 9 watt at the same store my wife sourced the tank. Looking at the box its from china and definately not a name brand. Closest thing I could find on the box was a website address, after going there and digging around I found it ... sort of, the clip is a little different but the rest of the light is the same. I have no idea what the colour temperature is, but I'll probably go online and try and order a 6000-6700k for it, I can tell that its outside that temp for sure, it has a bit of a green hue to it.

You can also see in the pics I'm playing with stone layouts. I may have to break up some of these stones as some are still a bit big. I already cut one of the rocks to get the larger peice in the back, I like that one, but all the others fill the tank quickly when used. I would like to try terracing with the one in front but it may be a bit big. I'll be able to tell more once I get some sand in there ... most likely in a slow going from the lower right to wards the back left to allow enough clearance for the filter.

The planting plan as it stands is anubias petite nana along the terracing behind the curved stone in front of the stone "mountain" (I'll call this midground). Unsure what I'll put behind the mountain or as a foreground plant. If anyone has any suggestions for the background that would survive lowish light and dosing only please feel free to chime in.

Forground will be either dwarf hairgrass, UG or glosso (if I can source the glosso or UG, I know I can get my hands on the DHG), I dont think HC would survive with the lower light and no CO2 being bubbled in.

*Light out to show the full fixture as attached:*









*Light on:*


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Quick correction to my light details above. Its the 5 watt, not 9 watt variety and it is in fact a 6500, it just seems to be a cooler light that the 6700 I have on my 12gallon but that could be because there is no backing on this tank yet and its reflected light off my green walls.


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## Maxxxboost (Jun 29, 2010)

looks cool!
This will be a cute little tank


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

Awesome! Can't wait to see this on the go ... and it's very inspiring, so small, I could do one, hardly takes any space at all!! lol


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

definately going to keep an eye on this thread, pico's always intrigued me


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The new light is infinitely better, but yes, you should go with the Tom Thumb as that filter really detracts from the look of the tank.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> The new light is infinitely better, but yes, you should go with the Tom Thumb as that filter really detracts from the look of the tank.


I came across something a few weeks ago where someone was using a water pump about the size of an airpump as a filter (little foam canister inline of the uptake) ... if i can find that I may consider going that route.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Today saw the application of the same frosted glass film I applied to the 15g I'm putting together. I also spent an hour over the sink rinsing sand for the tank .. this one. I am SOOOOO not looking forward to rinsing enough of this sand for the 15g!

This is my 1st layout attempt, the bottom rock may have to go for some smaller ones. I'm not sold on the appearance.


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## Emily (May 4, 2010)

Looks great! I can't wait to see how this turns out, I am such a sucker for tiny planted tanks


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

What kind of sand is that? Is it just quartz sand? If it is, I would just consider using Estes quartz sand. Took me 10 minutes to rinse 20 lbs and put it in the tank.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> What kind of sand is that? Is it just quartz sand? If it is, I would just consider using Estes quartz sand. Took me 10 minutes to rinse 20 lbs and put it in the tank.


Its flourite black sand. I can only liken it to ground coffee.

I've decided to rinse and add more later today as I think the sand up front is a little shallow (only about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch). I also want try a more pronounced terrace in the the midground.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Ah....now I understand. Yes, I've stayed away from Flourite for that reason. I heard that it was a bear to rinse it. But good choice for planting though.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

round 2 in the scaping.

I added more sand up front and did a more pronounced terracing in the mid. This is a little closer to what I was looking for I think. The terrace sits about an inch higher than the foreground now with a more defined border (unburied the curved terracing rock and just set it on top).

Here is a question for those of you who have gone to picos, should I pop in a couple of root tabs, not knowing exactly what I'm going to plant yet other than anubias nana? I was thinking 1 in each range (fore/mid and back) or would this be overkill?

*Left Side*









*Right Side*









*Front*









*Top*


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm really enjoying this thread and can't wait to see how you plant it. I've looked at that Marina cube a bunch of times, thinking of my desk and a couple of shrimp, but couldn't figure out how to make it work with lights and filter. But, you've come up with a terrific setup.

Sorry, I don't know anything about root tabs. I think your plants will be fine with just the Flourite, though.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

TIAD! (today is acronym day)

I stopped off at the LFS on my way home today to buy some DHG, they had nice pads of roughly 4" x 5". Its now in my QT with my ANP.

This tank has turned into a staging/holding ground as you can see for a few different plants. I have some ebay star moss thats kinda sorta growing (not really sure I'll ever see anything positive out of those pads. I also have some (what I think is) christmas moss also on a pad trying to grow bigger, its staying green but not really expanding. There is also a bit of floating moss here and there as I hope it grows out ... but if it is, its immeasurable.

So as it stands, I have enough of a DHG pad to do the all the planting in this pico I want I think, and more than enough ANP .... now I just have to decide what I want to put in the back corner.

DHG (Dwarf hairgrass)








ANP (Anubias Nana Petite)








QT (Quarantine Tank)


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Deanorama, your thread persuaded me to pick up one of these tiny tanks and plant it. I set it up today with a piece of driftwood, some moss and Fluval shrimp substrate with a bit of Eco Complete. 

So far, the water is black. Looks like I've put coal dust on display. But I am hoping that it will settle out. My goal is to have 3 or 4 shrimp living in it, on my desk. This will finally, I hope, solve my problem of constantly abandoning my work so that I can take a peek at my tanks in the basement...

How is your plant doing?


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Morainy said:


> Deanorama, your thread persuaded me to pick up one of these tiny tanks and plant it. I set it up today with a piece of driftwood, some moss and Fluval shrimp substrate with a bit of Eco Complete.
> 
> So far, the water is black. Looks like I've put coal dust on display. But I am hoping that it will settle out. My goal is to have 3 or 4 shrimp living in it, on my desk. This will finally, I hope, solve my problem of constantly abandoning my work so that I can take a peek at my tanks in the basement...
> 
> How is your plant doing?


I've used eco complete and never had the coal dust effect, wonder if thats from the shrimp substrate. EC is what I have in my 12g. If I didn't rinse the sand I'm using now I would definitely get a black dust. Love the sand, hate the rinse 

I took a quick look around and I don't see any pics up of your new cubus. Are you going to journal it? If not, share some details here, heater, filter, lighting ect.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Well, instead of planting the tank today, I decided to redo the terrace (again). I went back and picked up some smaller okho stones (read tiny) and reterraced. I don't think this conforms in any way to "Iwagumi" though but it does look a little more interesting.

Version 3:

*Front:*









*Left:*









*Right:*


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh, I really like your new rocks! I liked the old rock, too, but your new setup does look like an Iwagumi tank, to me.

I haven't been keeping a journal, but already I know that I'm going to take the substrate out and try something new. The water is still dusty (it is definitely the shrimp substrate and not the Eco-Complete that is raising the dust), but the main problem is that the tank is just too dark, maybe because I've made the substrate too deep. The dust has settled over the driftwood and ferns and it looks a bit like a mining disaster.

I found the little 3 LED Marina light to be too dim to enjoy the murky little mining disaster, so I've ordered a Dymax IQ3 light from BigAlsOnline. It has roughly 30 LEDs and will be perfect for this tank, if it fits. (I have had this light before, when I had a nano Dymax IQ3). 

I think I'll put some natural gravel in my tank. Hopefully, that will work well with the driftwood's colour. (Sunken ship brown)

I'm not very artistic and so I wouldn't even dream of trying an Iwagumi setup. I am just going for a substrate-plant-and-driftwood kind of thing that a few shrimp would be happy in, and that I can enjoy next to my computer. I'd probably switch the shrimp out with shrimp that are already in my much bigger tanks from time to time, so that no shrimp had to spend too long in the .9gallon tank. I know that shrimp are good swimmers and can enjoy a large tank, too.

I've found that my 10 watt Marina heater fits very well in the tank and is keeping it at 25 degrees F. It's also invisible in the current mining disaster setup. I'm very pleased with this heater, which is an old one that I'd put away because it wasn't able to keep my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank warm. Turns out, it's not broken. It's just perfect for this tank.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Morainy said:


> Oh, I really like your new rocks! I liked the old rock, too, but your new setup does look like an Iwagumi tank, to me.
> 
> I haven't been keeping a journal, but already I know that I'm going to take the substrate out and try something new. The water is still dusty (it is definitely the shrimp substrate and not the Eco-Complete that is raising the dust), but the main problem is that the tank is just too dark, maybe because I've made the substrate too deep. The dust has settled over the driftwood and ferns and it looks a bit like a mining disaster.
> 
> ...


I found the little light would only be adequate I think if there was a small plant in the center of the tank in very little substrate, the lights are very directional which they try to offset by mounting them at slight angles, but they are so close to each other that they get easily blocked by any level of scaping you may do beyond a centrally placed plant. With my current setup there is little to no shadows being thrown.

My sis in law has that same heater and it was what I was going to get it as well until I discovered this little hydor. Being that its under the substrate I'm hoping any swings potential in the temp with be very gradual.

If you pre-rinse your dusty substrate you can probably give the same setup a shot again. All the sand in mine went through a thorough rinse before getting put it as its also extremely dusty otherwise.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi, Deanorama. I took out the shrimp substrate today and put in some fine natural gravel. Plunked the big chunk of driftwood back in, tied some moss and java ferns to it, and it looks pretty good! I left a little Eco-complete under the sand at the back, in case I want to plant anything there.

The new setup isn't dark and murky at all. It was definitely the shrimp substrate that was making the dark cloud. I did rinse it ahead of using it, but I think that it produces a lot of dust. In my Ebi, the cloud settled overnight, but this tank is so tiny that it settled thickly on the ferns, driftwood and glass, turning everything grey. The natural sand is better.

I'm very inspired by your tank, as you can see! Can't wait to see how it develops.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 0]*

Forgive this 1st part as it was all taken with my iphone. Planting dwarf hairgrass can only be likened to inserting hairplugs:

Here are the 1st few plugs going in:









This took a lot longer than I expected. It was about 90 mins to separate and then insert the grass:









From the top, you can see where I'm going to stick my anubias:









And here it is with my 1st length of anubias I tried out (eventually changed it to a different length):









Once the planting was over, I wanted a slow way to introduce the water in such a way as to not make a mess of things, using the tank's lid that has a hole already in it with a single coffee filter holder right over top of the big peice of rock allowed water to trickle in slowing then disperse gently over the stone:









There was a few dusty particles that sat on the surface of the water along with a few bits of dead grass, this was taken care of by hand and when the filter was installed and ran (left side):









Centered shot, as you can see here, the anubias still allows the stone to be seen and acts as the centerpeice plant (probably the 1st time an Anubias Petite Nana could claim that!):









Right side, my viewing angle when seated is somewhere in between the one above and this one this foremost corner is a little swept away now, the tiny elite filter I'm using is still too much for this tank. I think I will use the pump from this and create a tiny cannister filter when I have some time:









This is the final incarnation of the tank, filter installed and running now for a few hours and the smaller/tighter Anubias in place. You can see in the front corner where the current that was generated pushed a bit of the sand around. I have turned the jet upside down on the filter which helps a bit and I also added some floss at both intakes of the bottom peice as well as the stock peice of foam in hopes of slowing down the flow but its STILL too much for this tiny tank (see the surface of the tank at the foremost corner). The little pump on this I think will push water well enough to design a tiny cannister filter. I have it cut off as much as it can be with the little cutoff valve so I think it is very achievable.

Taken from a very close approximation of my viewing angle when seated near it:


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

Looks great!


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

It's stunning, Deanorama! I love the hairgrass. I've never planted hairgrass. Using a Melitta coffee drip was ingenious. How quiet is the little filter? Do you recommend it?


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Morainy said:


> It's stunning, Deanorama! I love the hairgrass. I've never planted hairgrass. Using a Melitta coffee drip was ingenious. How quiet is the little filter? Do you recommend it?


Thanks!  The filter is pretty much silent, its about 2 feet away from where I'm sitting and I don't hear a thing. Its a bit over powered for this tank but with more floss stuffed into I think I can get that slowed down. Its already slowed down a bit from yesterday, not a lot but a tiny bit.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

Niiice! I love the last photo of it. Great job.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[day 2]*

Quicky update:

Despite initial reservations with using the hydor mini heater pad, my tank's temp is maintaining a consistent 80 degrees. What I didn't expect was the level of evaporation I'm getting. I'm loosing about 1/8 of an inch of water a day, not a lot of water considering how little volume is here to begin with but very noticeable at less than a gallon. At this rate, water changes will not be overly necessary - especially since I have no fauna.


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

Nicely done.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Do you have any pics of this tank, Deanorama? How is your tank doing?

My Cubus is still sitting empty, ever since I resealed it with clear silicone. (It leaked around the entire bottom and up one side, right out of the box.) I planted it but had to drain it, which is okay because I think I'll try for a different look. I like what you've done.


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