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Cultivated Reef

A Vase-Reef named Poquito


cessnabird

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Hello all, I thought I would share my new Vase Reef with everyone. Although tiny pico reefs aren't necessarily uncommon these days, it is always really fun to stare at others mini-reefs, and follow along in their progress. This Vase Reef, which I named Poquito, is ultra tiny. Holding a mere 1/2 gallon of saltwater once filled with live sand, and live rock, this baby truly is Poquito. I can fit my hand in the vase easily enough, but I rely on a pair of Seachem curved forceps to aid in the meticulous inner bowl work for me. Moving frags around is much easier with tools in such a small vessel. It has been running for three weeks now, and the corals will have been in the vase for a week tomorrow. The goal is not to fill it up with a wall of corals, but to keep an open scape and utilize a few magnets to hold frags on the glass walls. So far, Candy Canes are the sole residents, but I have plans for Acans and a few pieces of SPS as I go. A few zoas would look nice as well. There are no plans for many softies or anything that gets crazy like GSP or mushrooms.

 

 

Specifications:

 

3/4 gallon vase

 

Collar APump maxi silent air pump, diffused via airstone

 

Tetra 50 watt heater (Overkill? Yes. But it holds steady and true. I do need to pick up a temp controller soon though.)

 

ABI 12 watt bulb, mounted 20" above the water line, 15 chips.

6-450-460nm, 5-10000-15000k, 2-460-470nm, 2-425-430nm

 

Coralife salt, DI water

 

 

 

Water parameters:

 

Temperature- 78 degrees

 

Salinity- 1.025 SG

 

pH- 7.90- 8.0

 

No dosing

 

100% weekly water changes, with plans to feed Reef Roids or something similar a few hours prior to each water change.

 

Thank you to Brandon429 and Mary (Maritza) for the motivation and education. Mary has been especially helpful in answering any questions I have had so far.

 

I hope you all enjoy my humble vase, and I'll do my best to keep you updated as it comes along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ha yes!!! Well done well done it's ironic how the smaller vases are more stable than larger tanks biologically through large water changes and physically by evaporation control but you just can't elbow one or it's done for.

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Brandon, what are your thoughts on sealing the vase/yet allowing O2 transfer and pressure release? The plastic planter I am using for a lid right now it just "okay", it won't stay down easily, and allows for enough evaporation to force top off every 3 days or so. I am going to Hobby Lobby today to seek out a better plexi, or glass option that will seal better. Most likely a glass lid that sits within the inner diameter and I plan to seal it with vinyl tubing. Question is, if I only leave enough gap in the tubing to run the heater cord and airline tubing, will there be enough room for proper oxygenation? Maybe I should leave a few small gaps around the enges. What are your thoughts? Keep in mind my pH with this salt mix is always around 7.9 so I cannot afford it to drop any lower.

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excellent points. id never test for ph ever unless you have a gas home and not much air turnover, then its ok to detail. given a normal setup the only testing needed to run a reefbowl ten years is salinity and temp and not a single other param, ever. its that hands off. the weekly change work intercepts poor params before they can manifest.

 

the access time is when you scrape off early algae, expect to guide it out moreso early on and not much ever as it matures, signified by purple everywhere (coralline)

 

the sealing is ok, that incoming air is making a boil at the surface of the water, which increases surface area, and allows gas exchange independent of the lid fit.

 

Your new lid will simply have to allow the same outflow that the inflow is giving since this glass cant expand but in the end 3 days is what I get too, and you can turn that down to less bubbles when you are on vacation and get an easy week going from .023 to .0245 and this is not bad for any nano reef given a 5 day shift.

 

I don't think a new lid will change your evaps up, 3 is the average even with my perfect fitting lid. your new lid may make look improvements etc.

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The best way to tell if you should be caring about pH in your home is to extract a cup of water from your reef, measure pH, bubble it -outside- with a spare pump and stone setup for 30 mins and test pH there. If no change, then your home isn't retaining co2 and you'll never need to test it again

Pico reefing is built on non testing, to simplify, all revolving around big changes weekly.

 

If it does increase, venting the home better is the fix and that's better for breathers inside, too.

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Thanks for the information, Brandon. I did pick up another lid today, and have it mounted now. It looks a tad cleaner but it actually seems to seal worse than the planter base believe it or not. :-( We'll give it a week or so and see if it works okay.

 

I only mention pH because so many say that pH needs to be at ~ 8.1-8.2 for SPS, etc. So far the Candy Canes are doing just fine at ~ 7.8 so I'll keep an eye on them. I have seen the Apex screen of a reputable member of the community showing 7.76 pH running a large mixed reef, so obviously the rule of consistency vs numbers is key with pH, as always. Thoughts?

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I guarantee I'll never own a ph test kit :) it's not required for sps either unless your co2 tests show a difference in the sampled cups

 

 

Our 100% water changes remove all testing needs yes it's forgiving, the alk and magnesium levels are more critical given good proven gas exchange

 

The best thing you can do for the lps and sps is feed them quality frozen feed just before the water change an hour early, then rip it all out aggressively. You can even change salt mixes any time you want because minor params variation doesn't matter.

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It's going to take me a while to get away from testing the water, I get it, that the point is no testing, but it does remove me from my comfort zone. We'll take it week by week and see how things progress! Thanks for the help.

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SantaMonicaHelp

Water testing sounds like a wise idea. Nevertheless, your tank is VERY unique. So unique that I've never seen anyone else make a Vase Reef. Kudos on your creativity.

 

- C. Smith

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I appreciate the kind words, it is indeed a very unique tank. However, I definitely cannot take credit for inventing the Vase Reef, that credit goes to Brandon429. He is the Godfather of Vase Reefing.

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Very cool. I'd love to see how this progresses, especially since I recently set up something similar in a terrarium jar myself.

What kind of magnets are you using/planning for mounting the frags? I'm also looking to try and mount on the walls, and am currently experimenting with some cheap rare earth magnets to see how they hold up in the salt water over time. No idea how the experiment will turn out though.

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SantaMonicaHelp

I appreciate the kind words, it is indeed a very unique tank. However, I definitely cannot take credit for inventing the Vase Reef, that credit goes to Brandon429. He is the Godfather of Vase Reefing.

Well then, thank you Brandon429 for inventing the Vase Reefing :)

 

- C. Smith

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This is awesome! I always like bowls, vases and pico reefs :) people always say that they are vwry hard to do because of the very small water volume though but strategic maintenance and fishless tanks are one of the keys.

 

Great tank! Looking forward for updates

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also, these vases beat any reef tank of any size in terms of salinity control, which is ironic. they don't need auto top off

 

side by side, a 150 gallon reef open topped, no ato, will die a week before a reefbowl will with its controlled evaporation, fun change up there! but the rules say larger tanks are more stable (more machinery dependent)

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Update time!

 

Visually, not much has changed, at least coral wise. I did replace the lid with a plastic one I found at Hobby Lobby. I cut out a notch for the heater cord, and drilled a hole for the airline to keep things cleaner looking. I have clear plastic tubing around the base of the lid to help it seal. I do have to lean the lid back at an angle to get it to seal best, which is fine, but I am not quite in love with it yet.

 

Here is where things get interesting... I was on track to add another coral or two this week, but a Dino outbreak happened!! I have been monitoring a brown/hair like algae on the rocks and base of the glass for a few weeks now, then all of a sudden it got worse and I saw the tell-tale bubble like structure of the Dinos. Fortunately Brandon429 was a huge help in leading me on the correct path for eradicating the little pests.

 

I reset the Vase Reef, which including the following.

 

1."Turbo washed" the sand with tap water.

 

2. Sprayed, and soaked both rocks with 3% h2o2 for 10 minutes, then rinsed well with tap water.

 

3. Both sand and rock were then soaked in saltwater for 5-10 minutes.

 

4. Cleaned and soaked the vase in h202, then rinsed and dried.

 

5. Finally, everything went back together as it was previously.

 

The corals were really pissed off, and I could not figure out why exactly. Their mouths were wide open, i mean wide open all night that night when the lights were on. Same yesterday am when I checked on them. Yesterday morning the water was really cloudy, a white haze to be exact. It hit me... I picked up saltwater from the LFS the day before, and within a few hrs it was in the vase. I am pretty sure the salt wasn't completely mixed/settled yet, which as we know is a rule of thumb. Let the water mix and stabilize for 24 hours minimum prior to using it. I know better and should have heeded that rule!

 

I turned on the heater and powerhead in the salt jug and let it do its thing for an hour or so, then did two consecutive 95% water changes to clear the vase up. Low and behold, as soon as I did that the corals went back to their regular shapes and sizes. Mouths were immediately back to normal.

 

I learned two things with this episode.

 

1. Rinse and clean your live rock and sand before firing up a new tank. The sand I am using came from a very established tank at my LFS. It smelled like sewage and was nasty brown when I rinsed it heavily.

 

2. Always keep pre-mixed saltwater at the ready, that way there are no worries of unmixed salt or off temps irritating the corals. (Duh, I know this and should have done things the right way to begin with.)

 

So far, the Vase Reef is looking much, much better and cleaner. I anticipate a few more resets to rid any ongoing Dinos/algae that might pop up very soon, before knowing I have things settled, and under control. That's what I love about these little Reefs, no matter what happens, you can always move the coral to tupperware with a heater, and completely sanitize and reset the vase with no ill effects. Brandon has done this many times without so much as a mini-cycle. Hopefully I'll have the same experience.

 

i have noticed a brown algae on the frag plugs that popped up since the reset, but no Dinos (yet) and no major hair algae.

 

Stay tuned for more updates soon. Hopefully, they will be positive, with new corals being added to the Reef.

 

 

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I reset the Vase Reef, which including the following.

 

1."Turbo washed" the sand with tap water.

 

2. Sprayed, and soaked both rocks with 3% h2o2 for 10 minutes, then rinsed well with tap water.

 

3. Both sand and rock were then soaked in saltwater for 5-10 minutes.

 

4. Cleaned and soaked the vase in h202, then rinsed and dried.

 

5. Finally, everything went back together as it was previously.

 

 

Very new to this so please excuse the ignorance. On step 2, what if you had frags glued to the rock. How would you have handled this?

 

Is a "reset" a term used meaning break the tank down and do what you did in the 5 steps again?

 

Thanks again

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squirt gun and saltwater, or just pour sw across the corals to keep them hydrated when out of tank is nice option.

 

 

the live rock wasn't washed with tap water above, right?

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Gas pipe, if the frags had been glued to the rock, I probably would have spot treated the rock with h202 out of the water, then rinsed with saltwater very well prior to putting it all back in the vase. I would have avoided getting peroxide on the corals to the best of my ability.

 

I use the word reset, for cleaning and replacing everything back into the vase. I think most people with larger tanks would use the same terminology, however it would be a much bigger event restarting a tank. In a vase, it is a 30-45 minute procedure to completely break down, sanitize, and put back together the entire tank.


Brandon, I did indeed rinse the h202 off the rocks with tap water, then soaked the rocks and sand in saltwater for 10 minutes or so, overdosed with Prime to make me feel better about it all. Do you not rinse your live rock with tap water?

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I figured as much, seeing that the sand can be turbo washed with tap water. Just ran tests this evening to watch out for an ammonia spike, and you were right, 0 across the board and happy, open corals. Still have brown string algae trying to take over the frag plugs still, can diatoms get long and stringy like that? I am tempted to h202 the frag plugs, but don't want to piss off the corals in the process. I just noticed a few tiny dinos popping back up, so another reset and h202 bath will happen in a few days. Hopefully, only a few more treatments will be needed to fully get control over the situation.

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If it's an aggressive invader you are doing right to repeat and guide it out

 

Mainly we don't want to peroxide the coral flesh, only the hard parts of the skeleton so be detailed. The actual coral flesh should only be saltwater rinsed. Our sandbeds can be tap rinsed because there's not much in them other than waste. Perhaps a worm or two, but they're incidental and don't matter if killed because they'd be flushed out during the rinse

 

The live rock we like to rinse w saltwater, because dead worms might remain inside and couldn't be rinsed out, although that same insulation due to the porosity of live rock also houses them from brief insults of freshwater :) or in my case sitting out on the counter in the air for thirty minutes.

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