Jump to content
ReefCleaners.org

Starting at the deep end - 0.75G Reef Vase


Tatius

Recommended Posts

Been keeping planted tanks for a few years now before I stumbled snorted some strange coral dust peddled by a kind gentleman named brandon429 :P . This thing inexplicably appeared on my aquarium stand over the course of a few weeks.

 

It's just full of live rock for now. Going to go back to grab some sacrificial Zoas from the shop tomorrow. Only hitchikers of note are some purple sponges. The shop kept the LR stewing in 1.030 SW so I think everything else is pretty much RIP.

 

Main vase:

220815VaseMain.jpg

 

Full assembly with DIY LED fixture on top.

220815VaseFull.jpg

 

Assembling my LEDs - Thanks to LEDBloke for the advice and great deal on parts!

LEDAssembly1.jpg

LEDAssembly2.jpg
LEDAssembly3.jpg
LEDAssembly4.jpg

 

Specs (as they are) :D

Tank: 4L Hurricane vase from eBay, cover is a styrene bowl

Hardscape: 1kg live rock and 1 handful sand

Lighting: DIY 12W (2x6W CREE arrays - 2CW, 2RB, 1UV, 1PR)

Heater: 50W Superfish Nano Heater

Airpump: Interpet Nano

Water volume: 3L

SG: 1.025 (shop-bought)

Total spent so far: GBP80.00 (excluding the pump which was recycled from another project)

Link to comment

So glad to see your setup!

That amnt of sand is easy easy to clean and still provides extra surface area for bioload management.

 

 

 

I'm very interested to know how long does that bowl go in between topoff of any reasonable range

 

When home, I top mine off every three days a few oz back to the set point dot.

Link to comment

Updates, now with corals

 

Last week, added some "canaries" to the vase to see if everything is working - One blue mushroom, small GSP frag and a couple of Zoas. As they lived for a week, I dropped a 3-headed Duncan in (I only wanted one, but there was a fragging... "accident" :P

 

310815Update.jpg

 

All corals opening up nicely, and feeding well.

 

Edit: Also I found a bristleworm hiding in one of the live rock branches. It's escaped the tweezers, for now.

Link to comment

I bet there are a few bug pods hiding too, these guys are proof indicators your tank is skip cycle instant start pico reef number 4230 :)

 

these micro inverts are the first to die when true free ammonia hits .25 to .5

 

guess which ideal reef pico creature will hunt down bristle worms, pull them out of the rock, pummel and eat them

 

find a boxer crab score a good contributor for the pico

 

the Duncan is an ideal coral for your tank they tend to change their shape and look mad sometimes even extended for 2 weeks and nothing is really wrong so don't fret when that occurs judge the tank off the other corals

Link to comment

Weekly update - my mushroom uprooted itself and vanished into the depths of the jar. After I fished it out during the water change, it uprooted itself again and disappeared. <_<

 

Starting to get annoying by the damned thing. Maybe it likes to stay curled up and closed under a bunch of rockwork!

 

Edit -

 

Didn't have to top off the vase the entire week! The system is effectively sealed.

 

Getting some fine fibres popping up on the glass - wonder if this is algae, or worse.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Right, weekly update, with photos!

 

Added more corals - 1 Torch and a whole bunch of zoas. Despite suffering the worst of Royal Mail, everything opened up after 24hours in the vase. :D

 

Things are doing well, quite an achievement considering I have no way of measuring any parameters in this vase! All I have is a jerry can of ready mixed saltwater and in an emergency, everything gets changed.

 

The GSPs are starting to reproduce now. They'll probably become a headache in the near future.

 

170915Update1.jpg

170915Update2.jpg
170915Update3.jpg

Link to comment

You have just broken the 23rd and 14th rule of contemporary reefkeeping and for that I applaud you

 

:)

 

Merely owning a pico reef with stony corals as first go broke rule 1 so your trend is ok for this crew and clearly working

 

Setting new rules is funner than following old ones

 

 

If the lighting you used can be located in a thread where frags were grown under them, then no more variables exist to prevent those corals living twenty years in that vase.

Link to comment

You have just broken the 23rd and 14th rule of contemporary reefkeeping and for that I applaud you

 

:)

 

Merely owning a pico reef with stony corals as first go broke rule 1 so your trend is ok for this crew and clearly working

 

Setting new rules is funner than following old ones

 

What rules? :)

Link to comment

This whole forum has trounced, disobeyed and disavowed too many reef rules to list heh

We all need to get some kind of commemorative tattoo for having traded in this back alley type of reefkeeping

 

Putting some coral in a fishbowl and making it live longer than someones $5000 full size reef is illegal in practice somewhere, somehow for sure. Things are just not supposed to work like that in a world where larger tanks are by rule better. Per established reef rules, Tatius can't even feed that bowl enough to sustain that coral without poisoning the system with excess waste. Were there not serious reef noncompliance going on here, those corals might indeed starve.

 

 

From one back alley reefer to another, I'd say you are up to 30% max coral capacity there

Link to comment

This whole forum has trounced, disobeyed and disavowed too many reef rules to list heh

We all need to get some kind of commemorative tattoo for having traded in this back alley type of reefkeeping

 

Putting some coral in a fishbowl and making it live longer than someones $5000 full size reef is illegal in practice somewhere, somehow for sure. Things are just not supposed to work like that in a world where larger tanks are by rule better. Per established reef rules, Tatius can't even feed that bowl enough to sustain that coral without poisoning the system with excess waste. Were there not serious reef noncompliance going on here, those corals might indeed starve.

 

 

From one back alley reefer to another, I'd say you are up to 30% max coral capacity there

 

I don't use fishbowls.

 

I use jars and I recently got a food serving bowl from Target... :eek:

 

;)

Link to comment
  • 5 weeks later...

@Tatius - Can you drop some knowledge on UK-based suppliers you're using? I'm currently investigating and there doesn't appear to be much down here in the south.

Link to comment
  • 7 months later...

Quick update 6 months down the line.

 

The vase still lives, and the lovely (not) British summer is doing it wonders. In the past 6 months, I've...

 

1. Finally gotten on top of the horrible algae overgrowth - things now stay under control with a quick wipe of H2O2 during water changes.

2. Killed a small Monti and Hytirix frag

3. Had my Duncan bud 3 times(!!!)

4. Had an overgrowth of GSP <_<

5. Added in some Acro which is now starting to encrust very nicely.

6. Managed to go up to 3 weeks in between water changes with no obvious detriment.

 

All in all, it's amazing that when I first started this 9 months ago I knew absolutely nothing about reefkeeping (and I still don't!). I've run without any testing kits or fancy gear, and all I need to do I change the water every once in a while. The guys at the local reef shop I frequent still can't believe what I have managed to grow.

 

Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words:

 

180616Update1.jpg

 

Current stock list:

 

Acropora

GSP

Duncan (6 heads)

Assorted Zoas on rock

Limpets

Amphipods

2 Asterina

Many bristleworms

 

When it comes to keeping corals, go brandon429 or go home.

 

Edit: Just realised that with experience, my vase is only about 2.5L of water, so closer to 0.5g than 0.75g!. I wonder if I'm in the running for smallest reef ever.

Link to comment

Your pictures=rock and roll

 

A reef vase is all I ever had too :)

 

Once I had a nineteen gallon but it wasn't any good lol, relegated to vasing hasn't hurt a thing and quite possibly was cheaper looking back lol what great updates!

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
Deleted User 9

Peace Tatius,

 

Great to see that you're still keeping up with the Vase Reef.

Looks awesome!! Nice pic.

Proud of you.

You've probed into the "unseen", and now we can see your masterpiece.

 

Much Success and Happiness..

 

Blessings All.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...