New Youtube video of pico reefs and globe terrariums

[brandon429]

Mike bud that very well may be the case, making the last 1,240 threads I yapped about the tank completely wrong. must have got stuck in my head like that, it's whatever their smallest model is sorry about the goose chase dang I've been saying that for like 8 years lol

[Mike K]

lol thats no prob brandon... sorry for being so bothersome and annoying i jsut want to get all the information that i can... i really like what you did and i want to try and replicate it and try to make it better...my plan is to make one as close as i can to yours... then make a second version that is better than that one....maybe even smaller...just need to get some money..so i am using this time to plan.......and another question... did you have the mini jet blowiing into the back refugium where you kept the chaeto and the crab or was it up farther blowing out towards the center???.....thanks very much for your help and cooperation..

[brandon429]

the real catch for the pump was that after this much coral had grown into place, and I had all that equipment such as the heater/dividing wall lr base corals etc deflecting current, it could be ran on nearly high setting and wouldn't blow over the sides of the sealing, that would create ssaltcreep in time. I just twisted it slightly so about 20% of it's output was clearly shooting inside the refugium part randomly, thanks for asking and working really detailed on one, that's really great as not a single person has wanted to redo the square tank so far im sure you can innovate some great things post up a reply here and we'll build a collection.

 

A meniscus is the natural curve of water up against a straight perpendicular edge.

 

Capillary action is a natural wicking motion through a conduit channel, and in this case you keep the meniscus below the actual lid seal to prevent ssaltcreep, your water line needs to be low enough to account for that natural curve, and not allow a bridge for saltwater to occur between the tank and the seal that's the main trick to micro sealing. If you get ssaltcreep in an evap-restricted pico, just lower the water a little with siphon, it'll stop.

 

first shot taken w my new samsung memoir 8 mp, it does sick macro too finally but you have to adjust the white balance takes some getting used to

[Mike K]

nice pics....is there any way you could get me a couple more pics of the half gallon...specifically from the back, the topand the right side if at all possible...

[brandon429]

this is my only one, of the build. The lid is simply lifted off, but the wall, heater and pump are in place and it's laser detailed

 

Also I wanted to strongly recommend something based on the experimentation of about 5 different types of seal, there are likely better ones out there, but no weatherstripping worked as well as the silicone technique.

 

That is, set a bead of silicone (i did it messy and thick/strong which was ugly but hidden by canopy) around the top line of the aquarium, let it partially set until it won't collapse with light pressure of the lid.

then line the lid the same on the receiving side. let it set however long it takes to firm just a little.

 

Then, run one more thin bead on either partially dried one, and cement them together all thick and ugly as if it would be a permanent junk seal.

 

The whole thing dries overnight 24 hrs

 

then, find a long thin razor of some type. Insert it into the seal clean and straight, then with one slow motion girdle the seal right down the middle.

 

From there on out, every single curve of the cut will have a perfect mate, and the lid is held in place by the weight of the canopy cuz you w be lifting the lid off a lot to do work. weatherstripping sealed leak around the corners in time but there's probably other fine ways too, I just know the silicone glob idea lasted a really long time

[Mike K]

thanks for the heads up... ill be sure to keep that in mind...and thnx for the pics,,,they help a lot

[brandon429]

I can tell you are putting a lot of work into it that is really neat, I will link to yours as well man its a small network going on

wrote a new article on the history of pico reef biology

 

http://www.nanoreefblog.com/features/pico-...co-reef-biology

[brandon429]

hey just an update of montipora plating as mentioned in the top post on this page back in january..it was a tiny one inch frag in Dec 09. it may be brown, but its plating, and color choice is a fad where biomass is a fact lol don't hack too hard

 

this is a 5 month timelapse showing the intermingling of duncanopsammia (where three heads are now about 12) alveopora, hydophora, and brown monitpora and how the duncan now knows to grow down, rather than upwards, as the top-most polyp is a fleshy tabletop and the bottom polyps are displaying the asexual budding.

 

 

Todays shot shows actual physical intertwining of duncanopsammia fronds among montipora and hydnophora and alveopora depending on the currents and extension. The hydnophora gets tips regularly broken off for micro aquaculture frags, its prolific. It not chooses not to mesentery the surrounding corals. If you put in a storebought piece right now it would kill everything, this is proof of coral training unique to pico reefs in my opinion...

note again the cessation of physical and chemical warring among these corals, the most important contribution of all our pico reefs to marine science as a whole. I have found that no other form of actual coral study is as unique as concentrated niche habitat studies and allelopathic training, something many professionals would still disagree is possible. The builds in our forum show the science is literally exploding

 

the plastic square thing right in the lower portion of the open top shot is a light blocker, fully covered in pink coralline, shading a deep red acan frag that would otherwise bleach in this brightest spot. when I do my year 5 update video on sept 29th you will see the blastomussa merletti adding on over 30 new polyps with none of the aquascaping changing for a year straight...

 

 

also notice in the shot 5 months ago the little coral banded shrimp was in the top right, he's doing the same thing in today's shot! that's his ledge. when I remove the cap he comes to get food! he is classically conditioned, via circuitous nerve networks among the crustaceans, to expect cyclopeeze when the lid comes off. pavlov would salivate if he knew inverts do the trick too

 

Im guessing the shrimp and the crab have been in here almost two years now.

he does not run, he poses, and locomotes around the bowl as needed. He has molted 3 more times since the last globe ecosystem vid, yet his size does not increase. This bowl is a f'n rpod symphony man but she's picky lol

B

[Lawnman]

Hey Brandon did you pull your old vase video off youtube? I was looking for the one that had the white coral in it. You feed it mysis and said this vase is scratched from years of scraping coralline and I couldn't find it.

[brandon429]

Hey man I did take it down sorry its lost

cool you mentioned that white coral man thats the exact duncanopsammia from above, the exact same polyp. it was whitish in the video because of 8mm conversion and codec'ing, my having not much video processing skills. I can tell you this though, in the 'pico reef dynamics' video its of the exact same footage just not at feeding time, the white duncan is still prominent at the middle of the aquascape and the dendros were at the very bottom.

 

now that you mentioned it pinkish hues did become more prominent upon moving it to the high light area thanks for reminder

[c_k_kuehne]

Hey Brandon pics are looking good.

 

We need to get you onto a picture hosting service so you can have full size pictures loading into your threads. Your setup's/tanks deserve this at the least.

 

Pm or e-mail me -- I can help with this -- unlimited space --- free

[brandon429]

hey man thanks its hard to believe more access is even out there, nr already hosts the largest files of any place I go on the web!

 

lawnman I w go try to find it on my backup drive thanks man

 

taken just now 5/23/2010

 

 

the montipora is fully plated onto the glass and cannot be removed without actually breaking the reefbowl's side! Took five months prediction pretty close lol

 

the other day when I was using hemostats to scrape coralline I bumped the monti staghorn really hard, where usually it would break off clean from the sidewall as the base was just a super glue plug. Now that the tissue has grown over the plug and touching in three points in addition to the base, when I bumped it one of the side branches broke off and I saw the vase neck FLEX at that point closest to a break in years lol

 

believe it or not (and those with a vase like warlion will soon see) when you really rub on these vases to clean microalgae/coralline etc the sides of the vase actually flex to a rather scary degree...glass is rubbery its neat and hopefully not a sign of photic degredation cross fingers

 

additionally, zoanthids suck

[Lawnman]

I watched your other videos but that is still my favorite. Post it back up without the music.That video for some reason is just AWESOME.

[c_k_kuehne]

nr already hosts the largest files of any place I go on the web!

 

NR would be good if they didn't reduce the size and post a thumbnail -- thumbnails suck in threads. The hosting site I use hosts pictures in whatever size you upload. It loads the original sized file, makes a thumbnail and a 640 x 480 version for forum uploading.

 

NR is great for the general populous and their uploading needs. Your tanks just deserve a full sized forum picture without having to click anything.

[FlowerMama]

I saw your video previously on YouTube but didn't know I could find it right here. I find that little tank w/ stand more inspiring than anything, the illusion is so perfect and the beauty is stunning. I think if anyone in this hobby were to feel like they were losing interest for whatever reason, watching the video would easily motivate you again.

[brandon429]

Hi!! Thanks for the kick up lol I'd forgot about this thread. I went back years ago and deleted lots of pics from it to make room in my acct for more megabytes

 

I was able to sell the little sealed tank for a decent profit so I went ahead and did that but the reefbowl is still kickin.

 

The reef vase shown is still alive and actually getting better, going on 7 yrs now and in about five months will be 8 years running. Ill get pics when I get home this weekend of the inside neck lined with sps coral as predicted, it has encircled the vase fully.

 

It was a real mistake letting sps ever encrust on the glass its taking over the whole bowl and blocking light. Oh well, lesson learned. On top of being the oldest pico reef it will also be the first one killed by blue acropora invasion lol.

 

Also, dang red mushroom corals they are taking over too.

[brandon429]

Here is the 2013 update vid of the reefbowl

[brandon429]

Things that make a pico reef live longer than a large reef:

 

-no fish means there is nothing to die while I'm on vacation and wipe everything with an ammonia spike

-hardware failure will always be the risk, but, steps have been taken here as well. Home ac is most important reef hardware where one fail can kill the tank, but regarding actual hardware my airstone is on an auto battery backup now I can run circulation in the tank near full speed for 48 or more hours. Occasional power outages used to be a big concern

-I test for no reef chemistry parameter other than salinity and never have in this tank. All nitrate, phosphate etc is handled with full weekly water changes. The tank and all corals in it are left in the air for up to 20 mins as I work on the tank, usually with peroxide (surprise)

The biosystem has been made stronger by simply accommodating the reef to that line of treatment. This tank is not kid gloved its a fringing reef model method with consistent air exposure weekly.

-no algae is allowed to develop, I have no idea what the phosphate measures are.

-the 6inch deep sandbed has nitrogen gas pocketing which is certainly helping to reduce dissolved nutrients

-annually I set the bowl in the sink and power pour ten or so gallons right through the tank, stirring up detritus and exporting it out

 

-years old gallon reefs with sps must be dosed with two part, water changes arent enough. Still awaiting another system to show its not required as many would guess without actually ever attempting the setup. Dosing provides algae control just as much as it does calcification control so i dose daily when I'm home

 

- the evaporation control lid means no auto top off needed. I can leave this tank for a week untouched while on vacation and it will self limit evaporation. This one gallon tank goes longer in between topoffs than any other size reef tank, I don't have salinity issues with it.

 

 

Here is the tank drain and water change vid, I had not linked it to this thread. Its boring to watch but it shows how the water changes aren't done carefully at all. This system expects to be drained and left in the air, its not weak:

[FlowerMama]

I love how the tank seems to break all the rules

1) you can't have a tank as small as this

2) your nano, not even pico, won't last past 2 yrs

3) you can't grow sps, which you can and it took over

4) you can't expose anything to air, corals, invertebrates, etc

5) etc etc etc.

 

Funny, SIZE doesn't matter, it can be done.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Any more pico plans in the future? Craft stores have some unique vases our there!!!! Can macro be grown in these little systems, of course would involve trimming I'm sure.

 

Forgot to ask, did you ever have an update on the mini tank w/ stand after it was sold? Was it successfully maintained?

 

You know, it's like a house, you do wonderful updates to it, landscape it, etc and then you sell it, you go by a yr later and it's all gone to pot.

[brandon429]

No It was an offer from someone who had showed up at the Omni where we were showing small reefs i had given him my email too for updates and none. It ran very warm and had to be fanned, if he ever failed to cool it he got expensive toast the vase is much easier to run as it is equal to room temp

 

Hobbies kind of change over the decades lol even though I keep the vase going, all funds go to developing quad copter drones so no more reefs for the time being. My goal is to literally fill this one up and then see how to extract the glass off it and sell someone just a vase shaped mass of various coral to put in their system

[FlowerMama]

No It was an offer from someone who had showed up at the Omni where we were showing small reefs i had given him my email too for updates and none. It ran very warm and had to be fanned, if he ever failed to cool it he got expensive toast the vase is much easier to run as it is equal to room temp

 

Hobbies kind of change over the decades lol even though I keep the vase going, all funds go to developing quad copter drones so no more reefs for the time being. My goal is to literally fill this one up and then see how to extract the glass off it and sell someone just a vase shaped mass of various coral to put in their system

 

Interesting. So making a mold and creating unique coral formations. Wow, that sounds like it could be a unique business venture. You could create your own live rock, some templates/molds, prepluggged, add frags to their specifications, and send it out.