JBJ Pico Journal

[elwaine]

Greetings,

I hadn't intended to start a journal when I decided to try my hand at a small planted aquarium, but I've enjoyed following the progress of several wonderful aquaria on this forum and I decided to share project with those of you who might enjoy seeing how this one develops. I have a very specific aqua scape in mind, which is inspired by the natural fresh water bogs that are so common here in southern Florida. They are quiet bodies of water, slowly flowing among countless tree roots and grasses, and contain lots of wild guppies, a few turtles, and an occasional alligator. Sorry, but the last two critters will not be part of my 3 gallon aquarium.

I chose a JBJ Picotope because 1) it's the right size, 2) I prefer glass to acrylic, 3) it was in my budget. However, while I like the tank itself, I have upgraded the OEM's filter and light. The filter that comes with the Picotope is probably fine for a 3 Gal. setup, but I've always had such good luck the AquaClear filters that I bought their smallest model. I also wanted more than a 9 watt lamp so I am awaiting the delivery of a 12" 18 Watt Power Compact Fixture made by Current.

So here we go...

The top two images show the front view, before and after attaching a black background (cut from a plastic sheet folder I got at Office Max for less than $2). I obtained the driftwood from a garden center. The main tree-like piece was rather large and ungainly, so I chose the small section that I wanted and cut off the rest. There are 2 pieces of lava rock beneath the tree and a small white garden stone on the far right. Eventually, HC will carpet the floor and grow up the lava rock resulting (I hope) in a natural looking elevated mound beneath the tree.

A second area of elevation (to add to the "3-D" effect) is walled off by another piece of driftwood in the back-left.

The picture at the bottom left shows a side view; and the one at the bottom right, a top view. If you look closely at the picture at the top right, you'll notice that I've used a bit of silicone adhesive to keep a structures in place. I do not intend to re-scape this project (at least for a long time to come), and the silicone will help keep everything tidy as I muck around in there... after all, if you can't muck around in your own aquarium, what's the point of having one?

My substrate (ADA Aqua soil - Amazonia) arrives tomorrow... the plants, the day after. HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides) will carpet the floor (if I get lucky); dwarf hair grass (Eleocharis acicularis) is going in the small triangular area to the right and in back of the tree; and micro swords (Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae) will grow in the elevated plane in the back-left. Finally, needle leaf Ludwigia (Ludwigia arcuata) will occupy a small area in the baack left corner. [BTW - the wood and the rocks were boiled for 10 minutes to kill off anything that might have lived there. The wood was thend soaked for several days to allow some of the tannins to leach out.]

Hope some of you will enjoy this.
Best Regards - L

 

[Zagz]

Looking really good so far, I can't wait to see how it develops.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Wow looks awesome. Love that peice of drift wood. Looks just like a tree

 

[elwaine]

Thanks for the feed back. Much appreciated.

The Aqua Soil came late this afternoon. Odd looking stuff... easy to crush with bare fingers.

I forgot to mention that I'm going to try to rapid cycle the tank with SAFESTART. Never tried that before, but I'll be documenting the ammonia levels daily and will post pics of the results. I bought a little device that supposedly shows ammonia levels on a continuous basis. Hope it photographs well.

BTW, glad I bought a replacement for the 9 W light that comes with the Picotope. The OEM light will probably work in a marine pico with shrooms and zoas but I'm not sure it produces enough light to grow algae in a fresh water tank. Besides, it's very blue (actinic).

-L

 

[Zagz]

I've never heard of safestart. Does it have to be kept refrigerated? If it does it will probably have live bacteria. If you can borrow a friend's filter media, it will speed up your cycle by quite a bit.

 

[elwaine]

I've never heard of safestart. Does it have to be kept refrigerated? If it does it will probably have live bacteria.

Hi Zags. Maybe you've heard of Bio-Spira once made by Marineland before Tetra bought them out. It had live Nitrosomonas bacteria (to break down Ammonia to Nitrites) and live Nitrobacter bacteria (to break down Nitrites to Nitrates). The product worked well, but was expensive and had to be kept refrigerated... and it was for Marine aquaria.

Safesart supposedly contains the same bacteria as above, but in a stabilized solution that requires no refrigeration. Reports on the net claim that it works well and that it doesn't work at all. In other words: a typical web search report. So I want to try it myself.

If you can borrow a friend's filter media, it will speed up your cycle by quite a bit.

Excellent point. You are correct, of course. No doubt that works well, but then you run the risk of introducing unwanted bacteria and algae and who knows what else from the old filter (and maybe from your friend as well). But I have no friends - none with aquaria, that is. Besides, it normally takes several weeks to cycle a tank that way and Safestart claims to have this cut down to a week. Anyway, I thought I'd try it and see what happens. We'll see....

- L

 

[elwaine]

Comparing JBJ and AquaClear filters

When I went internet shopping for my JBJ Picotope, I couldn't find a good description of the little filter that comes with the aquarium. I thought I'd show ya'll the differences between the original filter and the AquaClear 20 (formerly the "Mini") that I purchased.

I think most will agree that the "cute" little JBJ filter on the left is the perfect esthetic size for the Picotope aquarium. In that regard, JBJ did it just right. The JBJ's output is 40 gph and is whisper quiet. The AquaClear 20 seems to over power this little tank. However, IMHO if the flow rate can be adjusted so that is not too powerful (i.e., it does not blow the occupants of the tank through the glass), it's almost impossible to have too large a filter. I've often thought that having a filter larger that the show tank would actually be an ideal filter to tank ratio... but that's an opinion only and is not backed up by personal experience.

The good news is that on the AquaClear, the flow rate can be adjusted from 100 gph to 50 gph. The size of the filter box on the JBJ unit is approx. 180 cc in volume and the box on the AquaClear is approx. 624 cc. That's a 3.5 times increase in volume! Slowing the flow rate in a larger filter has a beneficial effect of keeping flowing water in contact with the beneficial bacteria and carbon for a longer period of time, thus improving efficiency of both - at least, theoretically.

Will the JBJ filter work well for this small aquarium? I suspect it will do just fine - but I won't know for sure as I'm going to use the Aquaclear - especially since I plan to add a few small fish to the aquarium. I'll save the JBJ for a smaller project.

Plants come tomorrow.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Lookin' great so far!

 

[elwaine]

-BOMB,

Re: your queries about drift wood: I'm sorry I did not take a photo of the piece I purchased at a local garden store before I cut it up with a hacksaw. In it's original state, it wasn't much to look at except for the one small section I wanted for my current project. If I sought to obtain one piece that was "perfect" in size and appearance from the get go, I'd still be looking... Most of what I bought is in the trash.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

-BOMB,

Re: your queries about drift wood: I'm sorry I did not take a photo of the piece I purchased at a local garden store before I cut it up with a hacksaw. In it's original state, it wasn't much to look at except for the one small section I wanted for my current project. If I sought to obtain one piece that was "perfect" in size and appearance from the get go, I'd still be looking... Most of what I bought is in the trash.

Oh!!!!! Ok because i've gotten all my drift wood/sand out of my local river because we had a flood this summer so it's still everywhere.

Wow I should get some at the gardening store.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Awesome job so far. I can't wait to see the tank progress. Your plan for the aquascape is definitely something I look forward to seeing.

 

[elwaine]

Thanks, Kristin.
____________

Plants arrived today and came with a new lesson in humility... at no extra charge. If there is a Plant Deity that punishes those who abuse plants, I'm in big trouble.

I wanted to try Aquasoil because I read a lot of good things about it... and it may yet turn out to be excellent; however, it is so loose that it is very difficult to get new plants to stay put. In fairness, I may not have used enough. In most places there is only an inch of substrate. But even in spots with 2 inches, it's really tough to get plants to stay in place.

I bought a lot of HC... some in pots and some already growing on small pieces of lava rock. The latter was a breeze to work with... just throw it in and it's good to go. But the potted HC plants were a PIA - but that could have been my fault. I wanted to get rid of as much of the fibrous batting as possible so I spent hours tweezing most of it out, trying my best not to tear out all the roots. Then I tried planting clumps of HC.

Some of the clumps just wouldn't stay in place. So I did the mature thing: I screamed and hollered and cursed as I repeatedly pressed down on those little clusters from Hades. Finally, I decided to place small lead fishing anchors on top of the clumps that kept popping up. So far, it's working. I'm hoping that the HC will root, but for now, I'm holding my breath. I won't be touching them again for a good two weeks. Then I'll take the weights off.

I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow, if the water clears.

 

[Purrbox]

HC and other foreground plants are an absolute pain to plant. The best way to proceed is using a small pair of pointed tweesers (the kind meant for eyebrows) and then only plant 2-3 stems in a group. This makes it easier to get it to stay put and will allow it to fill in more evenly. Of course it also takes FOREVER to do it this way and most of us do end up cursing at least a little bit (okay A LOT).

 

[elwaine]

Thank you Joy. Your suggestion is undoubtedly the best way to work with HC, and I probably should have gone that route. However, there are a few reasons why I didn't. First, I wasn't sure how to handle the HC, especially with the Aquasoil. Second, I'm the sort of guy who never reads instructions or asks directions But mostly, this project is experimental in several ways, and I'm not sure which parts and techniques will work. If I fall flat on my face, you all will be the second to know about it

BTW, reading your journals on this forum, and having so much fun doing so, is what made me decide to do this one.

Best regards...

 

[elwaine]

Day 4

Here it is, on day 4. Still have a few lead anchors holding down some of the HC.

This is my version of a snapshot of a small Florida backwater, or pond, in which the plants grow over submerged tree roots and rocks in a haphazard manner and impart a complex bottom contour rather than a flat, smooth bottom. There are only a few plant species, as in nature, rather than a beautiful underwater garden of many different and varied species. Waddya think?

Plants: Bottom carpet of dwarf baby tears (HC)
3 clusters of micro swords: 2 in back, 1 up front
2 groupings of needle leaf Ludwigia in back, for height
( A few sprigs of dwarf hair grass in back: mainly to see if it ill grow in this tank)


Not sure either of these angled shots illustrates what I want to show you, but the foreground is higher - as well as visually busier - than the center-background. Up close and personal, this gives the illusion that the water depth increases the farther into the pond one goes.

Finally, the entire aquarium as it appears from a distance, showing the Current 12", 18 Watt lighting fixture (2 lamps - 6700K and 10,000K). The same unit can be purchased in a 36 Watt configuration. I think 18 Watts is perfect for this set up, but if any of you want to use the 3 Gal. Picotope for a marine aquarium, I'd recommend the 36 watt version of this light if you want to have success growing hard corsals.

The only residents – other than the plants – will be pond snails and wild guppies (or more likely some P. Wingei: my one major concession to the realism, as they are – were – native to Venezuela, not Florida). So far, I have just a few snails. CO2 system comes this week...

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Oh my god looks awesome! I'm jealous. Lol.

 

[elwaine]

Day 5 - plant die back; hair algae

As expected (from the way I manhandled the HC), I am experiencing some die back... but most still looks good. I also have a couple of small patches of dark green hair algae (insert - bottom right). I was very careful not to over-dose this start-up aquarium, but the lights were probably on too long. I cut back the lighting from 14 to 10 hrs a day. CO2 added today will hopefully allow plants to out-compete the algae for nutrients.

 

[newfound77951]

Looks fantastic! Can't wait to see how it progresses.

 

[elwaine]

Plant die off continues - day 6

I'm seeing a lot more die off of HC than I anticipated. I tried a shortcut in planting the HC. Sometimes shortcuts simply don't work. Also, I could have planned this better. I should have had a fully operational CO2 system before ordering plants. As it is, I'm having trouble with my CO2 system. Hope to have a new regulator in 2 days. Maybe that will help. I'm still hopeful that enough HC will live to populate the floor of the tank.

(Sorry for the color difference in these two images. I had the white balance set incorrectly on the image at the left.)

 

[Purrbox]

You might want to take a couple of healthier clumps and float them in your aquarium until you get the CO2 up and running. This will help it to survive and multiply in the meantime. It also possible that the HC you received was actually grown emersed, so the die off would be a result of it adjusting to submersed growth.