JBJ 3 gal pico tank

[aquaticdiver]

Hey well I have had a 10 gallon tank for about a year now and for the past 2 months I have had problem after problem with cyano and hair algae outbreaks, fish dying, and nothing seems to be working for me. I have spent over $300 buying product after product the LFS says will help my tank and fix this and time will fix this and I'm sick of it I guess im an impatient person.

So I don't want to completely quit but I'm sick of spending so much money so I was thinking of just tearing down the 10 gallon and buying a JBJ 3 gal tank just so I can have something to look at. Has anyone had one of these before and are they worth even buying? I was thinking of keeping a shrimp/goby pair and a few mushrooms and such. Is it worth it? Pictures would be greatly appreciated too!

[james3370]

i had 2 of them (one setup for alomost a year) & they are great lil tanks. recently sold them cause i've been selling all my setups cause of a possible move

sorry i don't have any pics :(

i had a trach brain coral that opened up 5-6" under the stock pc light. also had candy cane, xenia, frogspawn & kenya teee that all did well

[james3370]

as far as your 10g problems, have you considered running the bulk reef supply carbon/gfo reactor?? reactor, pump & media for it would run ya about $100

....or you could try the carbon & gfo in a mesh bag in a high flow area. might cure your tank problems w/out having to break it down & goto another tank

[aquaticdiver]

I'm sure I will talk myself out of tearing it down but I think I'm going to get another tank in case or at least thats my excuse ;). But did you have the brain and other corals with the light it comes with or did you get different lighting.?

[james3370]

light it came with...it's a 9w pc 50/50 bulb. the fixture has telescoping arms (just like the pull-up antenna on a portable radio) that articulates so you can set it in almost any front/rear space & also height. i had mine adjusted to center of the tank about 2" off the top of the tank

nanotuners & nanocustoms both have LED kits for that fixture as well....if you are so inclined LOL

[aquaticdiver]

Sorry for the questions but did you modify the tank like add an overflow and was evaporation really bad?

[james3370]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15386142#post15386142 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquaticdiver
Sorry for the questions but did you modify the tank like add an overflow and was evaporation really bad?

it comes w/ a HOB filter. evaporation wasn't bad....maybe 3-4-1 quart a day, but i ran the lights for 12hrs

tank, light & filter shown in this link are what comes w/ it. pretty good deal for $50 :)
http://www.aquacave.com/jbj-picotope-3-gal-brcurved-glass-tank-1865.html

[aquaticdiver]

Thanks so much!! And I like alot of circulation so would it be fine to add a mini-jet pump model 404 that has 20-106 ghp or do you think that would be total overkill?

And would I be able to keep nassarius snails in that small of a tank with say 2 inches of sand?

[james3370]

i think most any powerhead would be too much flow for one of these....maybe add a 2nd HOB for addl flow & you could put cheato in it for addl filtration as well....that way the light would stay between them. 1 bigger one would mean figuring out a different way to attach the light

i had 3 or 4 nas snails in mine, but they were small ones....& my sandbed was only like 1" or maybe 1.5"

[unda_da_see]

lets see if WE can help w/ your 10g. maybe your LFS is giving you wrong info/help? the smaller the water volume the harder it can be to maintain parameters. list your 10g specs and exactly what you've been doing to try and fix.

[zach jay]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15388622#post15388622 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by unda_da_see
lets see if WE can help w/ your 10g. maybe your LFS is giving you wrong info/help? the smaller the water volume the harder it can be to maintain parameters. list your 10g specs and exactly what you've been doing to try and fix.

yeah definitely. just state your parameters (not just they're good, like specifically). when you started your tank, how you started it, what you added, etc. and then what is happening to it.

[sabazerehi]

i agree with the above, the smaller the tank is the harder it is to maintain, however, i had a pretty successful 10g mantis tank for awhile and there were even some damsels in there. it's all about finding a balance and staying on top of water changes and everything i feel. i currently have a 5g that i made into an aio (has a little fuge, and return pump area) and it's doing great, as long as i don't put any fish in there lol (that's when i start to get bad cyano and algae on the sand) so it's just a reef tank and looks great. and the whole tank with the lights and pump cost a little over $100. i love the picotopes too but the evaporation worries me, my 5g has a lid so no evaporation.

[feniin]

I've been running one of these for about 5 months now (feels like a lot longer).

I upgraded the lighting to the Current USA 12" Dual Satellite 2x18w PC fixture.

For filtration, I have an Aquaclear 70 modded into a refugium with the stock light fixture on a reverse photoperiod.

For extra flow, I have a Koralia Nano.

An older picture:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3386/3658416777_01e28929c3_o.jpg