Lyle's 3 gallon Pico

[lpsouth1978]

I started this project more than 6 months ago and it is finally nearing it's completion. I had an idea to drill a 3 gallon pico and make a system capable of keeping the most demanding SPS. This is what I have come up with.

I obviously started by drilling two holes in the bottom of a JBJ 3 gallon Picotope. Once this was completed, I took the tank into a local plastics shop and had a custom back built for the overflow and return. It is made from a single piece of ABS plastic curved to fit in the back of the tank. I used lock line and a piece of hose to create the return. Here are some pictures of what it looked like at that point.

 

[lpsouth1978]

The next thing that I had to work out was the lights. The light that comes with the Picotope is barely capable of keeping mushrooms and zoas, no way it could keep SPS.

For this I decided to do a custom DIY LED build. I was not happy with any of the pre built fixtures so I decided to make my own. I purchased all of the flat and tube aluminum that I would need and had a friend help me weld the fixture together.

I thought a long time about how many LED's to use on this small tank and finally settled on 24. I know that is a lot, but I like having the ability to control the amount of light and the color. I am using 12 CREE XR-E cool white, and 12 CREE XR-E Royal Blue. I have these connected to 1000mA buck pucks. This allows me to really change the amount of light and customize the color. I also wanted a fairly low profile fixture, so I am not using any optics.

I purchased a heatsink online and cut out two small areas from the fins to put fans in it, and everything works perfectly. Here are pictures of the light fixture and the heatsink before painting and final assembly of the light.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Now that the light was completed it was time to concentrate on the stand. Again I decided to go DIY for this. The stand is made of all steel tube and angle iron. I again had a friend help me weld the whole thing. I then had it powder coated.

The stand has three shelves, all made from aluminum. The top shelf holds the aquarium. This has two holes drilled in it to allow the plumbing to pass through it. The middle shelf holds two 2-1/2 gallon tanks. One tank is the custom sump/refugium, the other is for the Auto top-off reservoir. The bottom shelf will hold the power/surge protector, light timers, control units, etc. Here are some more pictures

 

[lpsouth1978]

Finally it was time to connect all f the plumbing and do a wet test. This worked out well. I am using a ViaAqua pump rated at 296 gph. My first run with the wet test showed that the pump was more efficient that the drain. After a few adjustments to the plumbing (a 45 degree elbow and a 1 inch pipe instead if 1/2 inch) and everything works perfectly.

I still have to take the completed stand down to the plastics shop to have a cover made for the stand and then I will be ready to start cycling the tank. I will not be able to get that done for a couple of weeks, so I decided to put my non-drilled pico on it in the meantime. Here are some pics of the wet test and with the non-drilled pico. More to come once I have the plastic cover done and start stocking it.

 

[lpsouth1978]

more pics

 

[OGGISPORTS21]

All I have to say is WOW

 

[lpsouth1978]

Finally! There is water and sand in the tank. I got all of the plumbing squared away and all of the leaks are fixed. I still need to bend all of the plastic for the stand shroud and finish the DIY ATO. Hopefully that will be done by the end of the night tomorrow. I also hope to have live rock in it by tomorrow night. Here are a couple of pics. They are not very good, it is very difficult to get a good picture with the LED's. Hopefully I will be able to get some better pics later.

 

[Beaun]

I just started on a 3g JBJ myself, this is a fantastic build and is coming along really nicely.

 

[small alien]

Amazing job! If I make a suggestion you might try openin up your rock work a bit and making it more irregular.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Update!

Everything is going GREAT with the pico. As I expected, the light is a little intense, but I love being able to dim it and change colors. I did rearange the rocks a little bit, but not a lot. So far I have added 12 dwarf hermits, a porcelain crab, two small acan colonies, a green birdsnest, and a small watermelon zoa colony. Here are some new pics. These are the best I could get with my iphone, butI think they came out pretty good.

 

[duncantse]

This is an amazing tank! Where did you buy the black separate thing that hides your plumbing?

 

[lpsouth1978]

This is an amazing tank! Where did you buy the black separate thing that hides your plumbing?

Thanks duncan. I made that false back wall. I bought a piece of black ABS plastic from a local plastic shop. I had to cut it, heat it and bend it into shape, cut the slots in it, and silicone it in. I used a length of steel flat bar to make the slots. I simply heated it up with a torch and melted the slots in the plastic. Then I just cleaned them up with a razor blade. Worked well and gave me completely uniform slots.

 

[preef40]

That is one nice nano setup

 

[lpsouth1978]

New Pictures!!

The lights had not been on very long when I took these so not everything has opened up yet. Also, I took these pictures with my Iphone so not the greatest quality.

I have added a few new things and have a couple of sexy shrimp as well. They are hard to get a good pic of using the iphone, but I did include a pic of one of them.

 

[ejanastacio]

Great build.

 

[macktab]

the bowed backpanel matching the bowfront glass is a very cool feature

 

[lpsouth1978]

More new pics. These were taken with my Iphone and do not show the true colors, things are more blue than in reality, but I think they are good pics none the less.

 

[geldof]

Bravo! Can't wait to see your aquarium grow out. Are you running a skimmer?

 

[SBRob]

Wow, this is probably the best build I have seen for a pico! Great job!

 

[lpsouth1978]

Bravo! Can't wait to see your aquarium grow out. Are you running a skimmer?

I'm not running a skimmer. I am relying on weekly water changes right now. I have looked for small protein skimmers, but it is virtually impossible to find one that will fit in the sump.