The Tenecor® Pico DIY Drops March 2nd, 2024

[Tenecor Aquariums]

In such a small tank I'd like to limit evaporation can we pic our lid style?

not at this price point. One lid style. glad you brought it up. the lid will be polycarbonate. strong, heavy duty, slotted/vented. i think you will like. very similar to what @Jim Gomoll sketched up.

 

[Lochekey]

Just stumbled across this now so a little late to the party but I had a lot of fun the last time around when the small 3 gallon frag tank was offered. I ended up painting the bottom and back 2 sides black and it definitely helped the look of it. I also 3d printed a top rim and some return nozzles for it as well. Definitely a quality product and great support from Tenecor last go round.

Some pictures of the finished product from last time.

 

[Aaron75]

First draft of the kit is below. We want to do the caddy but it is a pico and the caddy is small. Options are 1) leave it alone, it's a pico, 2) make chamber one wider. Then you run into interference with the baffle where the light would clip onto the rear wall. 3) make the filter walls, baffles and caddy from 1/8 inch. Harder to set up and weld. And it is not something we would like to put our name on. We are leaning into option 1).

notice the logo will be INSIDE the filter wall, above the return hole. One feature not shown yet will be a cord/tubing passthrough cut out in the pump chamber area at the top of the filter wall.

What kind of spacing/dimensions are we looking at on those rear chambers?

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Just stumbled across this now so a little late to the party but I had a lot of fun the last time around when the small 3 gallon frag tank was offered. I ended up painting the bottom and back 2 sides black and it definitely helped the look of it. I also 3d printed a top rim and some return nozzles for it as well. Definitely a quality product and great support from Tenecor last go round.

Some pictures of the finished product from last time.

Did you solvent or silicone assembly?

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Good morning everyone. We are getting closer to production. Below are the latest images of where we are.

Rear view with media caddy in place.

Rear view with media caddy removed. The two holes up towards the top of the caddy are thumb-pulls ( I think that's a word..)

 

[EasternShoreman]

Looks amazing! great call to add the thumb holes to the media basket. When can we order?

 

[Aaron75]

That looks awesome. What hole size are we using for the return? Any recommended fitting?

Good morning everyone. We are getting closer to production. Below are the latest images of where we are.

Rear view with media caddy in place.

Rear view with media caddy removed. The two holes up towards the top of the caddy are thumb-pulls ( I think that's a word..)

 

[Jim Gomoll]

How wide is the Media Caddy?

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

How wide is the Media Caddy?

The tradeoff on small tanks like this is how small the caddy will be 3.5 (L) x 2.75 (W) external measurements. Internal shelf space will 3 (L) x 2.5 (W).

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Looks amazing! great call to add the thumb holes to the media basket. When can we order?

Well, technically you can order right now. >>> https://www.tenecoraquariums.com/collections/the-best-build-your-own-diy-aquarium-kits

But I would wait for the R2R discount code to go into effect March 2nd.

We had a staff meeting yesterday and these DIY kits are going to be added to our regular product lineup. We will be offering aquarium kits up to 40 (maybe 60) gallons, ATO reservoirs, and of course all sorts of frags. The next drop will be a bigger tank. And of course R2R members will get first crack at them with deep discounts.

 

[Tonycass12]

Good morning everyone. We are getting closer to production. Below are the latest images of where we are.

Rear view with media caddy in place.

Rear view with media caddy removed. The two holes up towards the top of the caddy are thumb-pulls ( I think that's a word..)

I think I'm going to do this without the chambers in the back and drill it for an overflow to plumb into my main system. Would be a cool little tank to keep some little inverts in that I can't have in my bigger tanks. I would love to have it for an office tank but I feel like that's more hassle then I have time for at work.

 

[Jim Gomoll]

The tradeoff on small tanks like this is how small the caddy will be 3.5 (L) x 2.75 (W) external measurements. Internal shelf space will 3 (L) x 2.5 (W).

3.5 wide works and provides more filtration while still having enough room in the center chamber for a skimmer and heater. Caddy comparison - Deskmate is 3", IM Nano 10-20g is 2.7".
Highly recommend removing the tabs on baffle1.
Without tabs both baffles are adjustable. We can not use either at all, but most of all we will not see 2 open slots or visible rectangles from the front.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

That looks awesome. What hole size are we using for the return? Any recommended fitting?

The return hole is .510. I don't have any recommendations for the fittings.

 

[accidental_reefer]

3.5 wide works and provides more filtration while still having enough room in the center chamber for a skimmer and heater. Caddy comparison - Deskmate is 3", IM Nano 10-20g is 2.7".
Highly recommend removing the tabs on baffle1.
Without tabs both baffles are adjustable. We can not use either at all, but most of all we will not see 2 open slots or visible rectangles from the front.

The width of the baffles are adjustable right since it’s DYI? I think the return chamber at 2.25, you can’t upgrade to 0.5 or 1.0 and 0.5 already makes too much noise for my tolerance. The second chamber seems to have room to spare as a lot of media caddies are more narrow than 5.25.

 

[accidental_reefer]

The width of the baffles are adjustable right since it’s DYI? I think the return chamber at 2.25, you can’t upgrade to 0.5 or 1.0 and 0.5 already makes too much noise for my tolerance. The second chamber seems to have room to spare as a lot of media caddies are more narrow than 5.25.

Also, I want one!

 

[Jim Gomoll]

The width of the baffles are adjustable right since it’s DYI? I think the return chamber at 2.25, you can’t upgrade to 0.5 or 1.0 and 0.5 already makes too much noise for my tolerance. The second chamber seems to have room to spare as a lot of media caddies are more narrow than 5.25.

Think you have the chambers mixed up. Left to right... Pump chamber, Middle, Intake/Media Basket.
Pump chamber can be made any size. Any of the small SICCE pumps 80-158GPH are 1.7" wide.
With a 2.25 - 2.5" pump chamber there is at least 5" in the middle for a skimmer and heater leaving room for the proposed 3.5 wide media chamber.

 

[Jim Gomoll]

The return hole is .510. I don't have any recommendations for the fittings.

From last Friday plus changes.

Return hole I originally was going to use the same Duckbill used in Imagitarium tanks that have a .516 hole.
Now leaning to larger 7/8 .875 hole for a Fluval dual nozzle (threads .815) or 1/2 VCA that I do not know the thread size for hole recomendaton. Anyone know the thread size or hole needed for the VCA nozzles?

If you go with a smaller hole for the masses I'll just Dremel out the hole for the dual or VCA nozzle.

 

[accidental_reefer]

I think the dimensions for 0.5 and 1.0 are 3.54"L x 1.89"W x 2.83"H per Amazon? (Or I could find the one I have stored somewhere).

 

[accidental_reefer]

From last Friday plus changes.

Return hole I originally was going to use the same Duckbill used in Imagitarium tanks that have a .516 hole.
Now leaning to larger 7/8 .875 hole for a Fluval dual nozzle (threads .815) or 1/2 VCA that I do not know the thread size for hole recomendaton. Anyone know the thread size or hole needed for the VCA nozzles?

If you go with a smaller hole for the masses I'll just Dremel out the hole for the dual or VCA nozzle.

I think VCA makes several models that fit several lines of tanks.

 

[accidental_reefer]

I think the dimensions for 0.5 and 1.0 are 3.54"L x 1.89"W x 2.83"H per Amazon? (Or I could find the one I have stored somewhere).

Actually I think we are on same page. Depth is 2.5” and bc length is adjustable (which is what I was wondering about) the pumps all fit.