CrayolaViolence
New member
I bought a JBJ 3 gallon pico with a florescent light and pump back in December. While I loved the tank I quickly came to HATE both the light and the pump. I don't know why JBJ chose what they did when there are obviously as cheap and better products to use.
First the pump broke. To their credit they sent a new one. They never told me whether or not they were going to but they did. By then I'd repaired the other one. Then the light broke. No the actual light but the flimsy non salt water resistant excuse for arms. The did not replace the light even though the tank was under warranty still.
Either way. It didn't matter. The light SUCKED. I barely put out enough to support a mushroom. Scratch that, it couldn't support a mushroom. So I had the cute little tank with so much potential and couldn't do anything with it cause the water quality sucked due to lack of circulation and filtering and the light wasn't worth squat.
Well I finally decided to do something about it. I bought an inexpensive LED sun sun light, which has a full spectrum and slides over the rim on an arm and the width covers the WHOLE tank making it nice and bright. Then I found a very cheap, very tiny, odessa skimmer filter with an arm not much bigger round than a pencil that sticks out at the top and jets the water back into the tank.
I really didn't think that little filter was gonna do much. I honestly expected it to explode or something. But I put it together, yes, it's cheaply made, but within 20 minutes running the water was sparkling clear and the filter was, well, lets say nasty was too conservative of a word. I washed the top filter (it comes with two)
and it washed easily then I cut a small piece of carbon filter and peeled it into layers and used one thin layer on top of the clean filter.
It's like a huge tank only tiny. The water flow is incredible, the light looks great very nice and clean and modern like the tank, not like the light that they had on it which looked like it belonged on the desk of a 1920's private dick. And it doesn't take some huge *** power box which got pretty hot by the way, to power it.
The down side is that the top skimmer does take up a corner of already very limited space BUT, it's worth it. And since the skimmer is clear, it's not really that noticeable. or at least it wasn't until I cleaned out the tank. LOL.
Anyhow, I plan on doing a tiny zoe and shroom garden now that I have actual flow, actual filtered water, and actual light. The total cost for the upgrade came to about 21.00 I think it was like 15 for the light and 6 or seven bucks for the filter. You cannot convince me that JBJ couldn't have provided something similar in the first place so the tank is usable.
So if anyone out there has a JBJ thee gallon PICO and hates the light and filter, then check out ebay for solutions. I'm glad I did.
First the pump broke. To their credit they sent a new one. They never told me whether or not they were going to but they did. By then I'd repaired the other one. Then the light broke. No the actual light but the flimsy non salt water resistant excuse for arms. The did not replace the light even though the tank was under warranty still.
Either way. It didn't matter. The light SUCKED. I barely put out enough to support a mushroom. Scratch that, it couldn't support a mushroom. So I had the cute little tank with so much potential and couldn't do anything with it cause the water quality sucked due to lack of circulation and filtering and the light wasn't worth squat.
Well I finally decided to do something about it. I bought an inexpensive LED sun sun light, which has a full spectrum and slides over the rim on an arm and the width covers the WHOLE tank making it nice and bright. Then I found a very cheap, very tiny, odessa skimmer filter with an arm not much bigger round than a pencil that sticks out at the top and jets the water back into the tank.
I really didn't think that little filter was gonna do much. I honestly expected it to explode or something. But I put it together, yes, it's cheaply made, but within 20 minutes running the water was sparkling clear and the filter was, well, lets say nasty was too conservative of a word. I washed the top filter (it comes with two)
and it washed easily then I cut a small piece of carbon filter and peeled it into layers and used one thin layer on top of the clean filter.
It's like a huge tank only tiny. The water flow is incredible, the light looks great very nice and clean and modern like the tank, not like the light that they had on it which looked like it belonged on the desk of a 1920's private dick. And it doesn't take some huge *** power box which got pretty hot by the way, to power it.
The down side is that the top skimmer does take up a corner of already very limited space BUT, it's worth it. And since the skimmer is clear, it's not really that noticeable. or at least it wasn't until I cleaned out the tank. LOL.
Anyhow, I plan on doing a tiny zoe and shroom garden now that I have actual flow, actual filtered water, and actual light. The total cost for the upgrade came to about 21.00 I think it was like 15 for the light and 6 or seven bucks for the filter. You cannot convince me that JBJ couldn't have provided something similar in the first place so the tank is usable.
So if anyone out there has a JBJ thee gallon PICO and hates the light and filter, then check out ebay for solutions. I'm glad I did.
