My antique glass pico!

[torfrida]

Been toying with the idea of a pico for ages, but wanted something 'different'. Then, the other day, I found an old glass container in the shed and eureka! I used to keep my Siamese fighting fish in it, with a few plants etc, but when he died, the thing got shoved outside, then hidden away and forgotten about. So, looking just a bit grubby:



Even the old substrate is still in the bottom



It's an old glass dessicator, from a college science laboratory, and probably dates back to the 1950's, judging by the stuff we found it with during a clear-out. Seemed a shame to throw it in the skip with the other junk, so home with me it came. It's quite thick glass, which isn't quite even, so you get a sort of rippled view of what's inside. With some leds for lighting, and a couple of colourful features, I think it could make a nice 'ornament' tank for the living room. Worth a go at any rate

[jleeper]

be an interesting centre piece on the dining table,

[jamespr25]

Should be interesting. Will you be able to clearly see through the side? Will you keep the lid or not due to wires etc.... Also whats the diameter and height roughly? Will be following with interest.

[stooeygee]

look forward to this

[jennybugs]

Oooh *intrigued face*

[nighthaunt]

I would consider some soft of cover - as evaporations going to be your main problem as that has a large surface area compared to volume. Will look amazing though - you could have a couple of feather dusters in there - would look amazing

[torfrida]

It's definitely going to remain covered - when it was freshwater, the evap was a pita. The lid was originally water tight, but to allow heater and filter cables to go in, I modified it with blobs of silicone sealant dotted around the outside of the lid and bowl - also stops it slipping. I'd like to keep the lid if I can, as it makes a nice feature, but that does present some little problems with lighting

Anyway, amazing what vinegar and a good scrub can do - looking better already:



During its spring clean, I worked out that the maximum volume of water that it can hold is around 9 litres. Bags of room! The whole thing is about 14" tall, 10" of which is bowl, and the diameter of the widest part is around 9". The shape though makes it awkward to fit anything to the inside, but because I don't want to add a sump or fuge at this point, it'll have to have a heater and powerhead/filter shoehorned in there somehow.

I didn't particularly want to go splashing out on lots of new gizmos, so had a swift audit of the decrepit/damaged/unused stuff shoved into the cupboard - and I found moonlights. Couple of dead leds, but still good enough to use:



They're stuck onto the lid with a bit of superglue and a blob or two of sealant, so if the worst comes to the worst, I can always scrape them off again. Quite a nice effect though:

[Pablo22]

That is great going m8 will you be doing the same with the white leds you can get on a wire/strip?

will be watching with interest

What are you gonna keep in there just corals or fish and corals?

atb
pablo22

[torfrida]

Probably just a few inverts and corals if I can get sufficient light in there. I'm not convinced it's big enough for a fish, although I have seen some really tiny (and over-priced!) gobies around lately.

[nighthaunt]

depending upon what you keep you may get away with using an airpump for circulation in such a small volume - although will need more for corals etc...

Could you put powerhead at bottom and egg-crate a shelf in middle with the corals/lr on - sort of a tiny closed loop type thing? so got the pump at bottom with solid pipe up and angled output - draws water down over LR to pump below and back up again? Only an idea as pico tanks are well outside my experience.

Hmm heating - if your not using a substrate how about a heating mat underneath cut down on the equipment in the jar?