New youtube video of my reef vases and globe ecosystems

[brandon429]

Hey just stopping in to promote a new video I made last nite of my man-cave and how I incorporate pico/nano ecosystems into the design layout. Watch for the part where I zoom in on the bobbit worm, eunicea genus I believe, a rarity in pico reef tanks and its another rarity to grow one long enough to coil around your rockwork 5x over. He's a frag stealer, shrimp killin dude and his face will give you nightmares, enjoy!

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


B429

[jungliztkruger]

you certainly get a well deserved round of applause from me

[brandon429]

Hey thanks for stopping in I appreciate it. Have you seen one of those bobbits before in any of your systems? They are common live rock hitch-hikers and there is just no way to get them out of a system that I can see, they are too long for common worm traps meant for bristleworms. They are smart too, this guy would break off newly-glued frags and transport them deep into the rockwork to make cave covers. Little jerk! I lost about $200 in frags to this dude over time...


Also, if anyone wants bristleworm predation get a boxer crab. He has killed about 15 bristleworms that used to roam the tank. It's neat because he forces them out of live rock holes and keeps them on his underbelly for about a week while he slowly eats them, now there are zero bristleworms in my tank thanks to this guy who is painted like eddie van halen's guitar lol

[hebygb]

That was a wonderful view of the pico world, innovation, and husbandry.

Thanks

[MyMonkey]

Hey thanks for stopping in I appreciate it. Have you seen one of those bobbits before in any of your systems? They are common live rock hitch-hikers and there is just no way to get them out of a system that I can see, they are too long for common worm traps meant for bristleworms. They are smart too, this guy would break off newly-glued frags and transport them deep into the rockwork to make cave covers. Little jerk! I lost about $200 in frags to this dude over time...


Also, if anyone wants bristleworm predation get a boxer crab. He has killed about 15 bristleworms that used to roam the tank. It's neat because he forces them out of live rock holes and keeps them on his underbelly for about a week while he slowly eats them, now there are zero bristleworms in my tank thanks to this guy who is painted like eddie van halen's guitar lol

Amazing video. What sort of husbandry do you practice. Water changes etc? Also, great to know about the boxer crab. :bounce2:

[Sugar Magnolia]

Absolutely beautiful Brandon! It's great to see your little 1/2 gallon tank is still thriving after all these years.

Thanks for the update!!

[cody6766]

Do you have a build thread? I'd be curious to see how this came together

[brandon429]

thanks for stopping in for sure!

I choose to change the bowl water frequently, in the order of 3x weekly simply because I am there and in feeding the system heavily it's supporting all that benthic and macro life so it's addicted to water changes now... its right behind my sink so all I do is siphon out the water through that cork hole into the sink and fill up the tank through that same hole without moving anything. At one minute and one gallon I can do em while making a shake...

The terrarium bowl is the best husbandry example of them all because it is truly stand alone in terms of nitrogen and carbon fixing and I don't export anything. One time in 7 years I siphoned out some of the snail and guppie waste because it was going on display and I thought red flourite sand would look better, but since then all plants that die stay in the system and are degraded by snails and these are kept in check with the guppies who seem to eat them during some life cycle to keep them in check. its all balanced...and that's why I like the hassle-free approach. I only squirt in Fe fertilizer from time to time, guppy feed and waste does the rest. The planted tank was the usual hassle but it was fun keeping it algae free and quite a balance.

Lastly, the terrarium bowl also degrades it's own carcasses just as in nature. I don't prune it, pick out stuff or search for lost fish yet there are no waste pockets of matter to be seen. The snails truly do their work, and the real river driftwood was chock full of various critters. I still find tiny millipedes on the floor after all this time, but they are terrestrial degraders so I keep em! Those are wild-type guppies that have been free-breeding in there for close to a dang decade (a statement to the recessive inheritance tolerance of fish) and they somehow maintain a population of about 50. I truly believe the system has an indefinate lifespan if input is kept up and I have a way to raise my roof eventually lol

There is a water pump mounted in the bottom, shooting water up to the top where it streams down like a rainforest. It's too overgrown now to see so I just shut it off. The reason the substrate can handle no circulation without rotting is because of two primary reasons: root oxygenation from heavy plant loading and convection/micromovement activites from the fish in the water still cycle nutrients in a really slow way. There is never a stink, it smells like a river bank if you put your face close to it. During the first year I had some mold outbreaks which is the common test period for bogs, but little sprays of hand sanitizer mist took care of that and as the populations equalized a steady-state has emerged.

Thanks for visiting
B

[Ellie2103]

That's is awsome. First time that see a small tang with a lot of life.

[6-line]

just too impressive...love how all the corals in the pico display intermix and intertwine once their space is established...

[brandon429]

thanks man I didn't see your reply last year ! gracias

just an update about some coral growth in the bowl after a few months now from the start of this thread, soon I will make an updated video as well but these picture sequences show the growth especially in zoanthids overtaking everything and alveopora which is now completely attached to and growing off the side of my vase just like xenia...all of it is a nuisance but watching how they decide to allocate vital space...who takes it, and who gives, who shares, is far neater than in a boring old 3o0 gallon tank lol. wanted to update rc along with my other forum posts I have enjoyed reading about nanos here for like 8 years now.

this reefbowl has produced probably 15 grow out frags for trade as the pictures show with my micro aquaculture setup. I take shears of plastic from battery packages and coat them pink with coralline and growth of some neat little micro acans, super glued to the walls of the tank as little shelves, hydnophoras...zo's... bright little guys. For no particular reason than just to watch it happen and have a reason to dig around in my vase with long giant 14 inch aquascaping tweezers I bought from dallasbonsai.com lol

[brandon429]

the micro planks

[brandon429]

I also want to applaud the posters on the web who have replicated, and made better, the bowls for these reefs. my friend Mark K has drilled the vase, for the lines to run through the side, and this is even better topoff sealing than what I am getting with a gap cut in the lid.

Mark's tank has started out clean and nicely made and now it's purple with coralline, a real testament to the repeatability of the vase design. Im most happy others are finding these to be the easiest marine tanks they'd ever owned in terms of work required...it's almost none if you don't mind a quick zap water change.

here is Mark's build thread it's really detailed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27804644@N03/sets/72157623229539365

here's an article I wrote early this year on the history of pico, not nano reefs just for another perspective. Mark let me use his build techniques in the article and it should be noted that section of the pictures are his~

google:
"The history of pico reef biology" take the first link

[KafudaFish]

Thanks for the links. Some afternoon reading is in order.

[JacobO]

Wow! Truly an inspiration.

[Friday Night]

You beat me i have a 2.5 gallon myself. Awsome vid ;) and killer tank pico nano vase or whatever lol.

[letik]

Hey Brandon. Amazing. I'm sure you learned so much while doing it. Have you ever thought about a completely sealed biosphere similar to what you have. They sell very primitive ones. It would be so cool to make improvements.

Also something came to mind...
I have a transparent glass bowl that sits under my palm tree pot. They sell them in Ikea; different sizes/diameters. It would be so cool if you ever decided to create an extra shallow reef or a micro pond. I know it will be so beautiful if you can hide tubing underneath and go with some simple nice canister filter setup. You can always decrease the flow by cutting the impeller blades.

Here is the link. The bowl looks very nice in reality.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70124403

[brandon429]

Thanks guys sometimes I wish I had a 2.5 because I might try a small fish...thats an element missing in these setups I often think about especially when everyone's posting new species of nano darters or whatever, all the fun is elsewhere lol

Letik that bowl is amazing! its art first and then reef second although fixing lids onto things is my schtik and that one looks tough lol

how about making a seal in the middle, the inverting one above the other for a perfect fitting lid, with water only in the bottom half! that's your shallow idea and the upper space all misty with evaporation could be for a miniature marine plant to stick up inside. not talking mangrove but those other good ones, turtle grass or thalassemia or something would be neat

I got to see one of those biospheres brother in YOUR city just last week~ i had never seen an ecosystem this big, although I was thinking with an airstone, reef light and bubble so much more could be done to improve (yea right) here I am with it a rare webshot of a rugged indoorsman lol

also below I included pics of my hammerscraper. If you take any standard razor blade and simply cut it right up the middle with any pair of snips it will break off into tiny death shards. You can jb-weld one onto the end of a coat hanger, then bend that all into funny shapes to scrape coralline. it will mow~but I dont like to use it I want the coralline to coat up everything then ill carve a little viewing window out of it, that looks sick to me.

B

[deacon hemp]

Brandon your setups back in 91 got me into nano/pico keeping way back then,cool to see them still thriving. Back then ppl were taught to add livestock so slowly,it really does make for a stable environment like you've shown. I am wishing i had kept around my first pico till now.

Keep em running! Deac

[brandon429]

thanks man I remember you from back in the day bro who has older join dates than us anywhere around lol

okay you 99-01'ers can come out of the rockwork now :)
B

[Sugar Magnolia]

thanks man I remember you from back in the day bro who has older join dates than us anywhere around lol

:wavehand:

Nice to see some of the old-timers pop in from time to time.

[brandon429]

hey thanks that only serves to remind me the countless calories not burned sitting here typing with you fine ladies and gentlemen. See you as well in 2018 watch and see this is my formal prediction :)

[Sugar Magnolia]

that only serves to remind me the countless calories not burned sitting here typing with you fine ladies and gentlemen.

Word. :lol:

[mr9iron]

Thanks for sharing Brandon. Your tanks are amazing to say the least.

[brandon429]

thank you Sir and I see your '01 I knew that would call you guys out. Ok who's got a pre-2000, anyone? anyone!

[KafudaFish]

Sorry, did not sign up till 04 but I started marines in 1995 so does that count?

Just curious about your thoughts on a 2.5 gallon sealed with a single fish.

You mentioned it above and I am sure you have somethings worked out.

[brandon429]

lots of people have done it, its just my opinion that aged pico reefs are so delicate chemically speaking the use of fish just doesn't allow for any mistakes in water care although chemically those little tanks will do fine for the first several months with a tiny fish like a clown goby. I suppose if someone was changing 20% of the water everyday without fail that would help!

And you'd have to research the right fish to stay small some people do it with eviota/trimma species we just dont have any access to those.

Today I had a brainstorm that could really affect my reefbowl. To take it down and transplant the corals into another vase!

It struck me today in thinking about my system what was more important: to teeter on the edge of nutrient sinking after nearly five years now with the same sand or to just spend 8 bucks for a new vase (coralline free) and $15 for a bag of carib sea sand which is what I used in the first place and start with new substrate. originally it was to see how long a self-sustaining ecosystem can run itself including deep sand bed fauna and sinking habits, but now Im thinking a fresh vase with all this thick coral growth and fresh pink sand is an ok startover and it virtually -guarantees- me five more years because its already come that far on one tank...what do you think about that idea, good or bad? In my idea my goals shifted, from the test of the whole system as a community into doing literally whatever it takes to keep $1000 worth of coral alive, still using the rock, corals and shrimp/crab just new sand and a squeaky clean vase. I could build a sick single column structure and glue all these corals on all sides of the rising column...would take about an hour to complete.

so the goal would shift from being the longest continually running pico reef into the longest continually submerged stand of coral kept alive in a pico reef -line- I bet it w go 20 years with pruning and bi-decade swaps ya think

it would be cool in the least because when I take the bowl apart I'll make a video of me chiseling what SPS I can get out of the system to be reglued in the new vase...it will also show no plumbing lines running out the bottom to dispell all those cheating rumors lol

then I'll just set the pink coated vase on a garage shelf and we can chat about it occasionally for the next decade lol but inside will be a pristine full reefvase with a fresh change of bottoms but still real heavy on top lol
B

[KafudaFish]

Woo slow down that there is crazy speak.

What brought about this train of thought?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Mike, my 2.5 ran for four years as just a pico reef with a couple of sexy shrimp and a snail or two. I added a yasha haze goby to the tank and within a month or two I started having issues with cyano. My thoughts were that because of the excess bioload of having the fish in there, me feeding it an it's waste, it was just too much for that small of a system. I eventually got sick of trying to resolve the issue and ended up taking down my 2.5 and transferring the contents to my 30g.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but the maintenence required to keep the nutient export higher than the nutrient import will be more demanding in a system that size. I got tired of taking care of two tanks. If I ever do set my 2.5 back up, it will be fishless.

Brandon, Calfo spoke at our reef club meeting about something called "old tank syndrome". Obviously it takes a heck of a lot longer to happen in large tanks, so for a small tank, especially a pico, I think it's a good idea to re-do the substrate from time to time. So much gunk get settled into the substrate. I redid mine about two years ago and it was N-A-S-T-Y.

[brandon429]

you got to see AC live wow lucky you thats cool! My original theory is that with my coupled feeding/water change technique it should lessen waste penetration into the bed but now that the bed is completely aged with coralline reds blues greens etc and tons of worm fauna and snail poop I just ponder how long it can go without regurgitating things back into the sytem. It dawned on me that a bed switch out will literally start the countdown over, while all along the same corals that adapted to living and reproducing in a vase can continue.

Yes its totally crazy to consider taking down a perfectly working reef thank you for that I will not jump into that hastily so I checked with you guys! if we think its terrible I will not do such a thing to my crusty purple friend.

Here's my take on pico reef 'crashing'

You have the obvious situation where something dies or a contaminant poisons the water, water changes are lax, and ammonia sets up a domino effect to kill off everything. To me this is the -least- common mode of death. The more common mode by 75% Id think are people who have working reef knowledge and are able to keep the pico alive for several months. The 2.5 listed above is waaaay past the normal lifespan, 90% of all 2.5 picos and below don't live past a year seeing as how the web threads peter out right about that time. The new year-long contest at nano-reef.com will test that statement better than any thread on the web in 11 mos!

The most common mode of death for a pico reef is some sort of algae incursion, profusely, that make them have to give up not because corals are dead the tank just looks so wrecked with either red or gha infestation...then you can get actual chemical poisoning from the cyano that kills off things but tanks are usually torn down before that point.

my 100% water changes are working but I wonder if with a fresh bed I could back off the change work for a while like when a pico reef is new, still have the packed growth look of all the coral grown in there, and no risk of the vines of death ever finding their way into the reefbowl! A purely pre-emptive consideration Sir~

[KafudaFish]

Interesting points and things to ponder especially with the fish issues and the longitivity of pico tanks.

I wonder if longitivity or lack there of is more related to how people get bored with a small system. I think it is human nature and "we need change". It seems that so many get into the hobby and continously upgrade looking for the "perfect size". Even the year long contest will ebb and flow (no pun intended (maybe)) and most people won't make it to a year. Even Tiny's natural pico tanks eventually came down and they were very cool.

I have been thinking of quiting the hobby one week and the next change things etc. Of all the things that I have wanted to do include a pico tank set up for a long time.
I have discussed this with Brandon before and for numerous reasons I never get started.


Back to the redo why not start replacing some of the old sand with new like a few table spoons per month. This could represent disturbance found in natural systems like hurricanes or typhoons. Can you imagine asking someone to destroy their tank in order to maintain a natural system? Maybe that is the missing link to long term success.

Perhaps RC should have a build off etc. and just see what people would be willing to do and the length of the tanks.

Back to what I want to do it is different than anyone else's (at least I think it is) and it would be interesting to see it bare fruit. I had to drive an hour tonight to meet my wife and guess what I thought of as semis were running me off the road?

I am thinking a 5.5 because I have it already and don't want to buy anything more (part of my thinking if that makes sense).

Enough rambling.

[brandon429]

those are great points man

one thing I will be able to do if I choose to take it down is take macro pictures of the live rock outside the tank, the amount of growth in live tubeworms and sponges will really show what a sand bed does well, which is why I don't want to go bare bottom. I get feed sources and natural planktors that make aged vase live rock like the live rock of a 220 and I can see how seeding the tank with my current sand or slowly exchanging the other could help to smooth me out of the cruded up bed. 5.5 is plenty good thats where some fish make the complete reef look and still really thrive with good care long term

[KafudaFish]

Sugar:
That is pretty cool about the age of your pico. There is a species of shrimp that I may consider adding to my tank. Can you detail your system and do you have any pics? I realize that this was probably before Hey did you see that? Yeah I got a picture! Lets post!

I am interested in how things changed over time as well.

Same thing for you Brandon. What changes did you observe? Issues? How did you solve them? Did you just let things ride themselves out because of the small size?

Probably won't get to see this until Tuesday so have a good weekend everyone.

[brandon429]

I have never had a 2.5 so can't comment there, but have had several half gallon and gallon sized reefs make it past the year mark and the two year mark all documented in various threads here and there...and the one univeral thing I always saw was that somewhere near the end of year two, some kind of invasive algal growth be it red or green would seize upon some slight insult (say, my home ac going out one day allowing a temp spike) and wreck the whole damn tank. 2 years was the going benchmark for total eutrophication in my vases with the deep sand bed.

I tried the approach of letting things even themselves out, they only evened themselves up to the point of total algae wipeout but that was back when I only did a few water changes a month so for the reefbowl 2006 mentioned here and shown in video, I chose to:

A. treat all epiphytic benthic growth of any plant like cancer. If some small brown dictyota shows up on a frag, its either gone or the frag is traded, won't entertain plants any more in my picos. same for valonia, green hair algae, diatom strands, all of it. I either remove the rock they are on and not put it back in the tank for risk, or zap that portion with a blue jet flame lighter. If any red sprout forms in the tank I will univerally remove the substrate (rock) its on and replace it, won't even take a chance with asaparagopsis taxiformis ever again, hate it.

B. do 100% weekly water changes or bi-weekly, even tri-weekly, if I want to feed ULTRA heavy to fatten up these corals for pictorials. And, for this bowl I never fed without doing a full water change hours after. The Coupled Feeding technique for picos...When I went to NYC for a week I just didn't feed before hand and the tank ran fine for one week on steady-state. Since zoanthids were taking over everything (who would have thought we could learn to hate fire reds lol) I only feed weekly now to starve them out. So to get this reefbowl to live as long as it has Ive had to adopt extreme measures but usually I only spend 15 minutes a week on maintenance which is far less still than any other sized reef I feel.

Thats why the crazy talk of transferring it all into a clean system came into play, only crazy stuff has kept it alive this long lol that's a good call though

Lastly, I found total freedom from all water testing params except for salinity and temp at water change time, because the total export is just sooooo much easier than testing for, and adjusting, individual water parameters like magnesium, sR, Ia, phosphate, etc. You can't imagine the work load I lost in comparison to ever keeping a large reef with these vases. I topoff once a week maybe twice, do a full water change on SUndays and use my little micro scraper during the week to fight the microalgae daily work we all do and whatever coralline I can get it to mow off...

[sahin]

Me here. Its always nice to see your tanks and rewatch the videos. :)

[brandon429]

hi there friend from back in the day since I don't have any new vids all you've got the last few rerounds were a total of 6 new pics thanks for being patient lol
b