Desktop Pico Tank Suggestions

[Brian1313]

I am looking to start a pico tank at work.  I want something under 3 gallons.  Been looking at the fluval spec III since it is self contained and I could upgrade the light pretty easy.  Any other suggestions.  Really like the AIO as it is clean and sleek to keep the clutter off my desk.  Want to keep a small clown goby and some basic easy corals (zoa, shroom, stuff like that)

[Clown79]

The spec lll is popular 

 

marineland portrait

Jbj 3g

Fluval edge 3g

[Brian1313]

Do you or anyone know if zoa and shrooms could grow with the stock light?  I know those both grow pretty much under anything but I wasn't.  My original idea was to upgrade to wave point blade

[Clown79]

Anything under 10k is not optimal. You'll get very little growth and most will have very poor colouration 

[Brian1313]

Upgrade it is! 

[Clown79]

On a 3g you could get an Abi par38 which screws into a standard light. You could use it in a desk lamp.

 

They work very well and there are 2 options available.

 

Check out the Pico jar contest thread, many use the par38's

[Rene]

I have a marineland contour 3. I upgraded the pump and light but you could get away with just upgrading the light to a PAR38 and be happy with it.  It's got a nice glass cover for the front but the back plastic cover is cheaply made. 

[dawz2]

I setup a Spec III a year ago. It started a very slow leak after 6 months. I can’t recommend this tank. The edge caps are annoying to clean around and the sump section is limiting. I’ve transferred everything to a tank I found from PetCo. It’s a 3.7 g Imagitarium. The sump section is massive at the expense of the display area. The light and pump will need to be upgraded. The overflow filter section took some modifying, too. At $37, the Imagitarium is great. Here’s my thread with videos: 

 

[ajmckay]

I've had a Spec III set up for about a year and a half now and it's been awesome.  I love the dimensions and how easy it is to modify (I like modifying things). 

 

I built a simple acrylic media rack, upgraded the pump to a Hydor pico, and I added an adjustable weir to the overflow slots that I can use to raise/lower the water level.  Works great.

 

The light on the saltwater version is actually sort of decent.  I've had a pair of ricordia in there for about the entire time and they've done okay.  So for mushrooms it's probably an acceptable light though don't expect to see off the chart growth.  It's not powerful enough for zoas unless they're very close to the light.

 

I originally got this tank to use as a work tank but shortly after found out they're not allowed.  So I'm going to use my jar pico instead and sneak it in.