3L pico vase updates

[brandon429]

The ecosystem has hit five years old and is the longest continually running pico reef, just keeping the updates coming nice to see you all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuIIPFeUd2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3onG2SvzKc

[brandon429]

this update is one year on a plug of montipora staghorn

first montiplug reefbowl2009.jpg (22.63 KiB) Katsottu 2898 kertaa

Opentopmacroside.SM.jpg (52.09 KiB) Katsottu 2898 kertaa

[Aqualung]

Nice to see this bowl still going strong. Did you take down the other pico with macro compartment behind the false wall?

And what is your stock list consisting of? Coralwise I mean. And have they all been in the vase from the day one?
I see you have duncans, hydnopora(?), montipora, sun coral, zoanthids, blastomussa... The makings of any great reef tank.

[brandon429]

hi thanks for stopping in!

the little sealed tank with a false wall was sold at a show in 2005. I still have the vase though, and the last coral stocking was about 4 mos ago with some pipe organ coral.

the oldest corals that have been in the whole time are some zoanthids and candy cane in the lower front display.

blastomussa merletti has been in 4 years and added double the original polyps
alveopora at three years
lobo at two years and hydnophora
acans have been in one year and stocking is done now, I just make frags and sell them off or trade them in for store credit now.

Part of the benefit in stopping the additions to a stabilized reef system is no more imports of nuisance growths so Im glad its time to stop adding corals and importing all those nasty alga and diatoms from the local fish store lol...

[brandon429]

here is an algae growth outbreak that is common in pico tanks:

PreburnRedAlgae.sm.jpg (41.7 KiB) Katsottu 2647 kertaa

this is the tool used to blast the growth with fire in short pulses:

FLexFlame.jpg (4.95 KiB) Katsottu 2647 kertaa

then you wipe away the algae, and this is left, its the total cleaning system for pest removal and is the best out of any method Ive tried, have you seen anything that can remove red brush algae in 4 minutes>

PostBurn.sm.jpg (37.66 KiB) Katsottu 2647 kertaa

[brandon429]

ten months between shots

Opentop1update.sm.jpg (46.13 KiB) Katsottu 2589 kertaa

Opentop5update.sm.jpg (43.19 KiB) Katsottu 2589 kertaa

[Haidi_hou]

Wow, that looks interesting. Is it hard to keep it in balance? Nice to see that tank doesn't have to bee square or big to create different kinds of areas in it.

[brandon429]

thank you for stopping in!

these are actually very stable after I describe the exact regimen you'll see...they are dependent on a consistent electrical supply and consistent temps around them no more than 79 degrees as the lack of volume leaves no room for error, but within those specs Ive carved the biology down to more controllable than a 100 gallon tank heres why.

the pico reef does not have to have individual water parameters measured and tweaked, because each week a 100% water change resets the water table measures to fresh change water levels. ion dosing each week (two part solutions) handles the extra demands from as much coralline and stony coral growth.

A large tank runs great when new but when aged can be really tricky to run because the goal is to prevent water change work and we try to balance ions that are removed/fixed at different rates. the 100% water change is refreshing and incredibly consistent, requires no machinery like filters of any kind to operate a captive reef tank, its the simplest most bare bones way to grow coral outside of natural sunlight in the tropics... if you have to miss a water change due to being busy and go two weeks occasionally no big deal, just do not feed in the interim. its flexible of anthing but ambient temp issues and power outages.

feel free to post pics of your tank anytime nice to meet you
B

[-Alix-]

Since your earlier post last spring I set up a simple 20 litre nano with a fairly tight (not airtight) lid. And I was amazed at how well it wotked. Brut, sadly, as air conditioning is not the norm in our seldom hot country, the few weeks of heat we had made the system crash even though I opened it and cooled it with a fan. I have long now been a fan of the no-skmmer-but-weekly-water-chages -kinda reef and I think I'll set up a 2-3 litre vase pico that I can dismantle into the big tank during the summer. Keep the updates coming, it's vety refreshing to have someone visit our little salty pond in the north

[Frye]

Very interesting indeed. What kind of pump you have in the vase for water circulation? I had a 14l nano for approx 6 months before I poured the corals & rock into bigger one. I'm kind of tempted to rebuild the nano.

[brandon429]

hello! if you can believe it there is no water pump, its only an airstone. the reason I can use one without salt creep is because the lid sits on the inner diameter of the vase neck, so all the splatter is directed right back down into the bowl, the rate at which the air is delivered also controls the evaporation but I still run my airstone on nearly full power, and its meant for a 100 gallon tank. I blow the water around pretty hard for having just an airstone...

if you would like to see detailed build steps for this bowl, google the article
"the history of pico reef biology" and its all there! thank you
B

[brandon429]

this is a one year picture breakdown of alveopora bizarrely contorting its skeleton outside of the natural domed form in order to conform to the walls of the vase, I do not believe there is a picture of alveopora grown up the side of glass anywhere on the internet in any tank, how about that for a vase lol

alveopora1growMORNING.sm.jpg (35.31 KiB) Katsottu 2378 kertaa

alveopora1grow.1.sm.jpg (23.87 KiB) Katsottu 2378 kertaa

GlassAlveopora.grow.2.sm.jpg (33.88 KiB) Katsottu 2378 kertaa