Lara's 0.75 gallon "Piccolo": pics 5/21

[Amazonfish]

I've seen some nice picos here, so I thought I'd try one myself! I got this 6" cube and just planted it 2 days ago.

6"x6"x6" cube

Flora
UG
HM
fissidens

Fauna
None, but I might consider adding a few baby cherries. I'd swap them out with smaller shrimp every few weeks.

Ferts
Dry ferts (NPK and trace) once/week
Excel every other day

QUESTION: Right now, the tank is just getting direct sunlight for about 3.5 hours per day and indirect sunlight for an extra 5 or 6 hours. I really want to get lighting for this tank, but I don't want anything intrusive. Clip on desk lamps are too large for this--I bought one from Home Depot and it didn't work properly. The light was too large so I couldn't position it directly over the tank. I'm considering the Azoo 7 watt 'Firefly' lamp, but it's $30 shipped! I feel weird paying that for 7 watts.

Photos!

[Heartnet]

Nice pico. It would be interesting to see how the UG responds to such a tiny environment in there.

Out of curiosity, are you planning to maintain this over the long term or is it more of a "fill-in-the-cube" kind of thing right now? I noticed that you don't have any sort of filtration over this and I already spy some surface scum forming in the first picture. I've actually kept a pico like this before, but quickly decommissioned it after a few weeks because I found it was just too much of a daily hassle with the inadequate filtration and its associated consequences.

[Amazonfish]

I'm going to try to maintain this with twice weekly water changes. I've seen someone on here successfully keep a 5" cube long term with no filtration. That's why I thought I'd try this. I'm also curious about the plants making it in there. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

[houseofcards]

Looks good. You could do it without a filter long-term, but you need to keep up with water changes. I would definitely put a light on it. You can use any desk lamp with a daylight bulb. You could also just take water that has already been dosed from a larger tank and use that with clean water from tap if you don't want to dose separately I used to do that with my nano.

[Amazonfish]

I'll probably stop by Target tomorrow and pick up a desk lamp. Does anyone know of a place where I could get a really nice desk lamp? Something on the small side, of course.

Thanks for the suggestion about using water from another tank. It never would've occurred to me! That definitely solves the dosing issue.

[Dr. Acula]

I went to Home Depot for my desk lamp. They've got quite a selection, and plenty of bulbs to fit as well. And looking good. I'm tempted to set one of these up every time I've been in Michael's. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

[LedxZep]

Target has a nice looking mechanical desk lamp that has joints so you can move it many different angles. Im sure it would be just fine over your tank, but beware of the lamps overheating.

[Aidan77]

What about Pier One? Or Id look at some of the office supply stores. Just a thought if your still after a light.

[Amazonfish]

I won't have time to go to Target today, but I found this on Amazon (i think target sells it, too):

http://www.amazon.com/Normande-Light...562433&sr=8-12

The lamp is small, which I like, but I don't know how far that gooseneck bends. Of course, I have to get the light to point straight down. Thoughts?

[shoteh]

That light might be too strong for your tank. You might want to try what Aidann suggested at office max/depot. Or you can try to get a deal with Ott lights at Michaels. They usually have a 40% off coupon in the papers (at least where I live) and you can get one at a decent price.

btw, nice set up you have there, I also have a 6x6x6 cube and I love it.

[Amazonfish]

Here's an update of my pico! It has been running since the February, so that makes it 3 months old. It has:

NO filter
NO light except sunlight coming in through my balcony door
NO fertilization (slight lie..i've fertilized maybe two or three times since I set it up)
NO CO2
NO heater

Essentially, it is a "No tech" tank

I top off often, because my cats think it's their water bowl. I guess that's kind of like doing water changes... I do 'real' water changes once every two weeks or so.

Here it is:

[knm<><]

Very cool. I like what you've done with it. All the plants look like they are doing well too.
I might dabble in the pico world soon. Thanks for the inspiration.

What's your substrate?

[Amazonfish]

As with all my other tanks, sand only! I love it. So cheap, and grows anything. If you don't believe me, check out "Valse" in my sig My Toninas and Syngonanthus love it, too.

[Outlawboss]

Wow that's really cool. I'm pleasantly surprised that the plants are (apparently) free of algae! Looks like they're doing pretty well.

[Amazonfish]

The HM and fissidens have absolutely no algae on them. The UG has a tiny bit of green spot algae, but you can see it only if you look very carefully.

I'm surprised at how well this has done. I've always heard that UG is tough to keep and that it needs pressurized CO2. My UG even PEARLS!!