Starting a freshwater pico tank...? Help.

[Fluffeh]

So I'm interested in starting up a freshwater pico tank, as I had originally planned this pico to be another reef tank but I simply do not have the time nor do I want to invest as much effort into this pico. So I decided to go for a freshwater because I heard it is easier.

 

The tank is an all-in-one (made by picoaquariums) 7 gallon tank. It has a media basket in the rear chamber. As I have never set up a freshwater tank before, what exactly do I need to do? Specific questions are below..

 

(1) What are some good freshwater fish (that are fun to look at) for a 7 gallon pico? and how many can I have in there?

 

(2) What kind of water do I use? Tap water? RO water? RO/DI water?

 

(3) Should I put anything into the media basket in the back chamber? filter floss? carbon?

 

(4) Do I need to have a light for the freshwater tank? I have a PAR LED light on it right now that has a combo of blue/white in it. Would this harm the freshwater tank?

 

(5) Besides water and fish, is there anything else that I am forgetting?

 

 

Thanks for any information!!!

[Acielot]

A 7 gallon is practically standard for a freshwater tank, not necessarily what I call a pico in the freshwater world.

 

 

(1) What are some good freshwater fish (that are fun to look at) for a 7 gallon pico? and how many can I have in there?

I like endlers guppies, specially the cobra endlers. Neon tetras or glowlight tetras are decent if you can get them to shoal.

(2) What kind of water do I use? Tap water? RO water? RO/DI water?

Tap is fine if you treat it. RO water is preferable.

(3) Should I put anything into the media basket in the back chamber? filter floss? carbon?

Filter Floss and carbon if you want perfectly clear water.

(4) Do I need to have a light for the freshwater tank? I have a PAR LED light on it right now that has a combo of blue/white in it. Would this harm the freshwater tank?

What would be harmed? Plants would probably have decent growth and the fish wouldn't mind.

(5) Besides water and fish, is there anything else that I am forgetting?

What kind of substrate? Any live plants? Driftwood or plastic ornaments?

[jadedanime]

Wow never see this on here... Ok here we go

 

1. One inch per gallon, take an inch or two for extra room. So maybe 5-6 inches max. Dwarf gouramis are pretty. A school of three or five neon tetras are pretty. Just go to petco, don't buy fish from there, and find something you like. Watch for schooling fish, tetras, barbs, danios and adjust numbers accordingly. They like odd numbers beginning at 3. Another option is a school of guppies, they will breed like crazy if mixed, so stick to one sex, males are prettier. Or a few female bettas.

 

2. Tap with water conditioner is fine. Just cycle it first.

 

3. I run filter floss alone in mine. But you can run carbon in bags if you like.

 

4. Lighting isn't important unless you want plants, in which case I fuge light will suffice. A par might be a little overkill though.

 

Some things to consider:

What would you like for substrate? Gravel? Sand? Gems? Up to you, just make sure it's freshwater safe.

Plants? Fake or real? You should get plant substrate if you want real.

Need your standard freshwater API master kit. After a few months you will never check anything ever again.

Water changes are standard 20%. Keep conditioned tap water on hand in case of emergencies. Per usual.

 

Ok that's a starter. Let me know if there is anything else.

[MeepNand]

Sweet! I love freshwater tanks.

But do plant it with stuff.

[Bett]

You could also add freshwater inverts, maybe some nice cherry shrimp or fancy snails.

I wouldn't do danios for a tank that size, but maybe a few small tetras or rasboras. Though guppies are cheap and nice looking, I think if you can get a hold of some Endler's livebearers you might have some fun with those. They're close relatives of guppies, but smaller and less commonly found. You could go with a cool water tank as well and get some white cloud mountain minnows. Don't go overboard with the fish, maybe a single school or 4 or 5 of one species, possibly a couple of an other depending on what fish you end up choosing. Add plenty of plants. You can find some nice ones at stores, but you can just as well go to a local pond and collect a few good aquatic plants from near the shore. Make a nice little garden out of it.

Substrate can be had for cheap if you know where to look, no need to bother with pet shop gravel. Figure out what kind of look you want to the tank first and you can work from there.

[fretfreak13]

If you're already a reefer, getting fake plants and ornaments will make you hate this tank. Trust me. Freshwater planted tanks can be so beautiful!!! Here's some inspiration for you, please don't do fake crap!!! No neon gravel, no pink silk plants...just no man...

 

[1.0reef]

Look at the AGA aquascaping contest site for inspiration. IMO don't waste time on fish, spend more time on the scape and plants.

[fretfreak13]

Look at the AGA aquascaping contest site for inspiration. IMO don't waste time on fish, spend more time on the scape and plants.

 

Yes what he said!!!

[happyhour99]

bonsai tree with tank??!!! thats awesome!

[MeepNand]

bonsai tree with tank??!!! thats awesome!

My thoughts exactly.

Although, like TOTMs, your tank probably won't look that clean.

[ExSmoker]

My 3gal FW tank is simple but nice...

7 diff real plants, planted in organice potting soil with pepples on top. Floss in filter only with 3 endlers. using fw par bulb. and use rodi water.

[markalot]

So I'm interested in starting up a freshwater pico tank, as I had originally planned this pico to be another reef tank but I simply do not have the time nor do I want to invest as much effort into this pico. So I decided to go for a freshwater because I heard it is easier.

 

The tank is an all-in-one (made by picoaquariums) 7 gallon tank. It has a media basket in the rear chamber. As I have never set up a freshwater tank before, what exactly do I need to do? Specific questions are below..

 

(1) What are some good freshwater fish (that are fun to look at) for a 7 gallon pico? and how many can I have in there?

 

(2) What kind of water do I use? Tap water? RO water? RO/DI water?

 

(3) Should I put anything into the media basket in the back chamber? filter floss? carbon?

 

(4) Do I need to have a light for the freshwater tank? I have a PAR LED light on it right now that has a combo of blue/white in it. Would this harm the freshwater tank?

 

(5) Besides water and fish, is there anything else that I am forgetting?

 

 

Thanks for any information!!!

 

I simply disagree with the idea it's easier, especially if you go with live plants. ExSmoker above has what is probably the easiest of the natural setups, but there is a learning curve to natural planted tanks (using soil with rock on top). You can google Diana Walstad for additional information. When you look at some of those gorgeous planted tanks posted above those are all using CO2 injection with a hard core regime of fert dosing that rivals or exceeds the complexity of a reef aquarium.

 

If I were you I would do more research and really think about how hard it is to maintain a 7 gallon reef tank vs a freshwater.

 

I stayed away from reef tanks for years because I was under the false assumption is was too hard. It cost more money. no doubt.

[nidding]

I would go planted as well. Just remember that algae feed on light. So the more light, the easier it is to get algae. If you run a high light planted tank, you should concider co2. Pressureized if you can afford it. Then adjust the fertilization according to need.

This is my old planted 2.5gallon, run on diy co2 and EI ferts

[bertyboy69]

i would suggest doing only low light live plants, there are many beautiful scapes done with low light plants , you wont require co2 injection and you will not need to dose very often, i dose my planted tank pretty much whenever i remeber like once or twice a week if that, i use a single 23watt cfl with home depot reflector on a 12 gallon aquapod . a nice piece of drift wood or rock scape will be very nice with some low light plants, as for the filter if you do live plants do not use carbon as it will absorb nutrients the plants use to grow, the best part is with a low light heavily planted tank you dont have to do waterchanges often at all, i do water changes once a month if that.

 

there are tons of beautiful shrimp you can put in the tank , along with a few small fish maybe tetras or simmilar, if you go on theplantedtank.net you will find TONS of information , a 7 gallon is actually a good size for a planted shrimp tank

 

pm me if you have any other questions ive been running a panted tank for years

and as i said i suggest staying away from high light plants and co2 or else you will be doing more maintenince on the planted tank than you do on your reef !

[ExSmoker]

I dose excell daily for Co2, on a pico tank its ideal and works well.

[whatisit]

Planted tanks are nice.

My first tank was a planted dwarf puffer tank, which i think is the fish you should get, but like what markalot says it was hard to keep plants thriving without co2 dosing, the right substrate, and the right light with the right PAR. Like Corals certain plants like certain light colors.

 

Or a good freshwater idea is a cherry shrimp tank which i think would be very fun. You can breed them and there is different grades of cherry shrimp which determines thier value. Some poeple Will pay good money for a good shrimp believe it or not up to 20$.

[Brooklyngal]

personally I wouldnt use the PAR bulb in a freshwater tank. part of that is my hating blue lighting in a FW tank, I thik actinics over freshwater just look wrong, and par of that is that you will likely run into terrible algae problems with so much light, and so much blue light that is on a spectrum that plants wont be able to use.

 

for the back chambers I'd use biomedia like sponges or fluval ceramic rings and the like. I've been using sponge filters/biofilters only for the past few years on the two FW tanks I have so I'm somewhat out of the loop on what mechanical filtration is used in FW tanks for those who use them.

 

I never recommend keeping plant friendly fish without plants. IMO they look so much better than fake, a lot of species take very little planning to have thrive, and they help immensely with water quality.

 

if you dont want to spend the money for a pico reef, I'm guessing you wont want to spend the money for a high tech planted tank, which IMO is a hassle anyways unless you are looking to dedicate real time to the tank, because pruning plants in such fast growing systems and dosing and such means more hands-on care than in a reef of similar size.

 

I'd do a lower/medium tech tank, personally.

 

I'd get one of these for the light: http://www.amazon.com/Lights-of-America-1127-LIGHT/dp/B0012RVX88/ref=sr_1_11?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1371178282&sr=1-11

 

or alternatively use 1 or 2 13watt CF screw in bulbs in desk lamps or something, though I do really like the color of the CF lamp and its pretty nice looking IMO.

 

hook up a simple DIY 2L soda bottle CO2 setup changed every week or two, diffuse it through a small powerhead. google DIY CO2 to see what to do for that. in terms of how I diffused it: I fed a small tube through the intake grate of a small maxijet powerhead and rigged it so that the gas that came out through the airline tubing got sucked in by the impeller and broken up into small bubble and then spit out through the outtake to diffuse with the tank water. it was placed low in the tank so that bubble had contact with the tank water for as long as possible. it was sort of loud but was cheap, easy to do, and not hard to change CO2. alternatively pay a lot for a professional CO2 system with canisters that need to be regularly changed and a profesional diffusor like something from ADA.

 

for fish there are infinite possibilities. there are a lot of small gourami species- honey gouramis could be kept in a m/f pair of m/2f trio, or you could do sparkling gouramis or a dwarf gourami. bettas would work, though in such a small cube tank the success of a sorority of females would be IMO somewhat questionable. you could get like four of those tiny babies the big chain petstores has been selling as of late and grow them out together, I suppose. Just make sure they're all females. you could do endlers or guppies, though I'd do only males. dont mix males and females of the two species as they will crossbreed and there had been issues with guppies dirtying endler bloodlines with the eventual feaar being that there will no longer be access to any true endlers in captivity. smaller tetras and rasboras would also work. cherry barbs would be a fun fish in there as well. in a densely planted tank you could probably get away with three dwarf puffers on their own. with shrimp safe fish you could keep basically any of the freshwater shrimp species. cherries, ghosts, crystal blacks and red, bumblebees, etc. anything but ghosts will likely start breeding at some point and form a self sustaining colony.

 

if you forgo plants you could do a small colony of smaller shell dwelling cichlid species, which can be saltwater-like in appearance but is much cheaper.

 

remember 7g is not a pico for freshwater, but its still pretty small, so most common fish will get too big and a lot will need more swimming room than it provides. I'd do a centerpiece like a betta or dwarf gourami and like five neons or is its a short finned betta or a gourami 2m and 3f cherry barbs as they sometimes nip longer finned fish. or I'd do dwarf puffers if you'd rather focus on plants. or if you dont want to deal with plants do shell dwelling cichlids and maybe just have some java fern and anubias in there.

[Reef Fever]

If you're already a reefer, getting fake plants and ornaments will make you hate this tank. Trust me. Freshwater planted tanks can be so beautiful!!! Here's some inspiration for you, please don't do fake crap!!! No neon gravel, no pink silk plants...just no man...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1.0reef]

personally I wouldnt use the PAR bulb in a freshwater tank. part of that is my hating blue lighting in a FW tank, I thik actinics over freshwater just look wrong, and par of that is that you will likely run into terrible algae problems with so much light, and so much blue light that is on a spectrum that plants wont be able to use. There are less powerful- All CW and WW PAR bulbs for planted tanks and freshwater setups

 

for the back chambers I'd use biomedia like sponges or fluval ceramic rings and the like. I've been using sponge filters/biofilters only for the past few years on the two FW tanks I have so I'm somewhat out of the loop on what mechanical filtration is used in FW tanks for those who use them. Pretty much, on my FW planted I'm running a ton of sponges and "biomedia" plus a bit of zeolite and carbon,

 

I never recommend keeping plant friendly fish without plants. IMO they look so much better than fake, a lot of species take very little planning to have thrive, and they help immensely with water quality. This

 

if you dont want to spend the money for a pico reef, I'm guessing you wont want to spend the money for a high tech planted tank, which IMO is a hassle anyways unless you are looking to dedicate real time to the tank, because pruning plants in such fast growing systems and dosing and such means more hands-on care than in a reef of similar size. This again, in fact, there have been a few low tech systems using only java fern plus some mosses and cryps that look insanely good. Another plus is that the plants don't grow incredibly fast so the tank always looks that good and doesn't have to be pruned constantly.

 

I'd do a lower/medium tech tank, personally. In a pico, i'd do this

 

I'd get one of these for the light: http://www.amazon.com/Lights-of-America-1127-LIGHT/dp/B0012RVX88/ref=sr_1_11?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1371178282&sr=1-11 Those look nice but seem to be kinda cheaply made

 

or alternatively use 1 or 2 13watt CF screw in bulbs in desk lamps or something, though I do really like the color of the CF lamp and its pretty nice looking IMO. ​CF bulbs are surprisingly good over planted tanks

 

hook up a simple DIY 2L soda bottle CO2 setup changed every week or two, diffuse it through a small powerhead. google DIY CO2 to see what to do for that. in terms of how I diffused it: I fed a small tube through the intake grate of a small maxijet powerhead and rigged it so that the gas that came out through the airline tubing got sucked in by the impeller and broken up into small bubble and then spit out through the outtake to diffuse with the tank water. it was placed low in the tank so that bubble had contact with the tank water for as long as possible. it was sort of loud but was cheap, easy to do, and not hard to change CO2. alternatively pay a lot for a professional CO2 system with canisters that need to be regularly changed and a profesional diffusor like something from ADA. I know next to nothing about CO2....

 

for fish there are infinite possibilities. there are a lot of small gourami species- honey gouramis could be kept in a m/f pair of m/2f trio, or you could do sparkling gouramis or a dwarf gourami. Dwarves or sparkling would wrok better bettas would work, though in such a small cube tank the success of a sorority of females would be IMO somewhat questionable. I think a singe male woulld be neat, or with 1-2 ottos you could get like four of those tiny babies the big chain petstores has been selling as of late and grow them out together, I suppose. Just make sure they're all females. Yep you could do endlers or guppies, though I'd do only males. dont mix males and females of the two species as they will crossbreed and there had been issues with guppies dirtying endler bloodlines with the eventual feaar being that there will no longer be access to any true endlers in captivity. smaller tetras and rasboras would also work. cherry barbs would be a fun fish in there as well. in a densely planted tank you could probably get away with three dwarf puffers on their own. 3 dwarf puffers in a 7g? I wouldn't do that with shrimp safe fish you could keep basically any of the freshwater shrimp species. cherries, ghosts, crystal blacks and red, bumblebees, etc. anything but ghosts will likely start breeding at some point and form a self sustaining colony.

 

if you forgo plants you could do a small colony of smaller shell dwelling cichlid species, which can be saltwater-like in appearance but is much cheaper.

 

remember 7g is not a pico for freshwater, but its still pretty small, so most common fish will get too big and a lot will need more swimming room than it provides. I'd do a centerpiece like a betta or dwarf gourami and like five neons or is its a short finned betta or a gourami 2m and 3f cherry barbs as they sometimes nip longer finned fish. or I'd do dwarf puffers if you'd rather focus on plants. or if you dont want to deal with plants do shell dwelling cichlids and maybe just have some java fern and anubias in there.

[happyhour99]

Its just like salt water tanks (to a degree). You can make it as expensive or cheap as you want. You might want to look to African frogs. Those little guys are pretty interesting. Especially with a low light tank

[harleychic]

+1 on dwarf african frog. Love them!

[land_lubber]

yuck

[User Deleted 2]

 

Here's my 30+ gallon freshwater planted tank. The truth is, freshwater planted tanks are actually not a cakewalk as most people think. True, reef tanks are more expensive, but planted tanks can be equally challenging, especially if you're a complete newbie. I had to use three layers of different types of soil - fine grain fertilizer, ADA Amazonia and finally coarse gravel topped with the occasional riverstone or pebble to make this setup work.

 

I'm presently not using any CO2 injection, so my plant growth rate is a bit slow. But otherwise, I'm mostly investing in Java ferns and Java moss as well as other soft-stemmed plants that require moderate to low lighting. If you're going for the Bonsai look or natural flowing aquascape in pics, be prepared to get some pressurized CO2 gas as well as fertilizer, diffusers, gauges, valves and the like. It's not going to come cheap. You're better off doing a reef tank if you want that beautiful Bonsai tree look in your tank, trust me on that one.

[Fluffeh]

thanks for all the advice guys.

 

after reading through all of it, it sounds like a planted tank can be pretty time consuming. the whole purpose of making this a freshwater tank is to take away from the time required to start it up and maintain it. thus, what exactly do i need to buy to simply house a school of small freshwater fish (without any of the planted stuff) - i figure i'll start simple and then if i decide to, go into planted stuff later...

 

just a few clarifications --

(1) so basically what i need (if i'm understanding correctly) is some RO water, some carbon, and some fish?

 

(2) what kind of carbon should i get? I always got chemi-pure for my reef tank, but im guessing this is not what i should use for a freshwater tank? is there a simple pre-bagged carbon i should buy? a link would be fantastic

 

(3) i have dry aragonite reef-grade substrate that i used for my tank, could i also use this for the freshwater tank?

 

(4) will using this PAR reef light i used for the satlwater tank at all cause any harm to the freshwater tank? such as algae growth?

 

(5) this might be a stupid question - do i need a heater?

[happyhour99]

Hi

With freshwater, the ability to keep waste down is a lot easier.

• Get purigen (help prevents waste from braking down to nasty stuff)
• check out Nitra-Zorb remove nitrates! and you can regenerate it! With Salt!
• Get Seachem prime or another dechlorinator.
• don't get RO water. With reef tanks we want RODI water because we want pure water with nothing bad in it. Especially with senstive and expensive corals. But we are adding salt back into the water which balances it out. RO water has nothing in it and can cause osmotic shock (one big reason why people should not drink it). Use either filtered water or purified water, not distilled or RO or RODI. Tap is fine for most fish as long as you use a dechlorinator (NEVER USE TAP WITHOUT ONE)
• Carbon- i would get some bulk carbon and a cheap bag, its going to be a lot less expensive. Just fill your own bag. Purigen will reduce the need for carbon
• aragonite-not sure, it might be good by adding some buffering ability, but it might be bad cause it might raise your pH (i'm not sure)
• Reef light: Kind of a toss up for algae, Its stronger than regular tank light so more energy to algae, but it has a lot less red spectrum so that will help keep it down. Other wise i don't see why it would hurt the tank at all. But it will use more power
• heater-for most fish-Yes. unless you get a low temp fish or live in a really hot place, your going to need a heater
• IMO get a couple of low light plants, it will help keep the waste down. Even those moss balls will help. With low light they will not grow fast and with water changes your not going to have to dose anything.