Reef Vase - "Blue Crevice"

[brandon429]

Rogles you rascal that looks just great.

 

NICE job man, nice

[brandon429]

I thought it was dead! it looks matured and in good condition I can't even see the scratches but I know they are bad when the water is drained.

[Belac]

Gah damn!!! This thing is amazing!!! kind of want a vase project now!!! maybe when my one gallon craps out. Hehe

 

It is not allowed to crap out. Now go buy a vase. Here maybe this one.

 

On a related note has any one seen a clear square vase before that is bigger then 4x4x4? Every one I have seen the glass is a bit wavey or rippled. I wan't something clear like this vase. I got looking today on my way home, no luck yet.

[.Newman.]

It is not allowed to crap out. Now go buy a vase. Here maybe this one.

 

On a related note has any one seen a clear square vase before that is bigger then 4x4x4? Every one I have seen the glass is a bit wavey or rippled. I wan't something clear like this vase. I got looking today on my way home, no luck yet.

 

if you want an epic looking cube and a sad looking wallet, your best bet is the ADA Mini S tank.

[Belac]

My wallet is already sad.

15$ is pushing it this month for splurging hobby wise.

 

That Ada tank is nice though I just found it online. Talk about steap price though.

[Rogles]

I thought it was dead! it looks matured and in good condition I can't even see the scratches but I know they are bad when the water is drained.

 

Haha, I didn't say it was dead. It's just gone through some hard times. Notice the missing monti in the middle-top, and other bleached montis. Also, the yellow palys and purple death polyps lost their color as well. They can't seem to recover. That said, the blue snow flake polyps are really starting to take over!

 

water volume is about the same as brandon's vase i'd assume. maybe slightly more because brandon's has more coral. but either way its less than 1 gallon which is sweet. Your vase still looks great

and I'm still going to try this vase concept when I can.

 

Vase picos usually use a single powerhead somewhere in the rockwork or near the neck of the vase where you can't see from the pics.

 

Yeah, the water volume is about a gallon. Maybe slightly over. My vase just uses an ordinary air stone to circulate the water. No powerhead.

[.Newman.]

and the circulation is enough?

 

the whole vase holds more than a gallon? where did you buy the vase?

[Rogles]

I believe the vase is slightly under 2 gallons empty. It's a somewhat common vase that can be found at walmart. It's pretty thin glass which I was worried about at first. It does have an advantage though with less distortion than thicker glass.

 

The airstone works surprisingly well. It's what Brandon used on his.

[.Newman.]

that's cool. I want to learn as much about it as i can for when i attempt it eventually. what do you use as a cover? how is your top setup?

[brandon429]

the airstone is a particular advantage over other circulation options, good ole tried and true bubbles. Heres my breakdown

 

upward laminar/circular currents dissipate CO2 faster than mixed currecnts from powerheads, also owing to the fact the bubbles break up surface tension infinitely better than a powerhead buzzing underneath. So you have circular and consistent for the most part patterns of low to high movement of water, always bringing CO2 up to the top at the end of the circular journey

 

bubble stone systems degas waste better than powerhead systems, pH is better supported.

 

especially when you set up a blast of air in such a small container. The eddies and random currents are made by interactions with the curved glass and the substrate, but the vast majority of the circulation in a reefbowl is round and round vertically. This is huge for long term stability, especially with age and accumulation, where CO2 rises and normal pico reefs are just storing it up, watching cyano eat up this low pH constant.

 

Then you have the splatter that collects at the vase neck. This makes for a hassle cleaning every few days lol but it is literally a functioning skimmer, this is ejecta that would normally be in the water column and is now not in there degrading.

 

Now one of the best non topoff reefbowls was cichlidmania26 on youtube. His is a combo of powerhead and airstone.

 

The lids we use on reefbowls that sit on the inner diameter of the neck is what contains the salt creep from the popping bubbles, and this positive internal pressure under the lid has to be vented and away with that vent goes humidified air that represents the evaporation we have to add FW to offset.

 

In an airstone only reefbowl, we get about three days usually in between topoffs for what any other size reef usually has to do daily.

 

But this combo setup is unique. You have about a 70/30 division where the air is only 30%, powerhead does the rest.

 

This takes up room in the tank Id want and adds another fail point, reefbowls don't run well on 30% circulation if your pump fails while you are away, but if you can mitigate those two variables you get a huge boost over any other reef tank (except a sealed one) regarding required topoff:

 

since only 30% of the air is escaping and taking FW with it, and the powerhead is still bringing water around to the surface interface well enough to remove some CO2 and add o2, you get the benefit of a one gallon, unsealed reef tank that can run a salinity set at .023 on Monday and not need topoff until next monday at a climb of about .024 which is astounding. There is nothing in the entire reefkeeping market or history of the internet that can achieve this, post em if you find em.

 

a blended powerhead/blower reefbowl has insane ability to never need an ato

 

a pure airstone driven reef has better chemistry and still beats every other size non sealed reef in existence on topoff requirements. a powerhead only reefbowl, which there are examples of on the web, hasn't been tested out to two years yet which I consider decent long term success. they will be suspect of retaining too much CO2 considering the vase neck is a very restricted air/water interface compared to a normally all open square tank. lastly, if one has co2 problems in their homes (which should never be the case with any reeftank) then that condition will manifest fastest and worst in the airstone only tank, but it would have still brought down the other variations anyway. So, vent your homes well peeps!@

 

I may have already typed all this. didnt even check to see if I typed it before in this thread lol, its fun to restate either way/

[Belac]

Ok you lost me at the blower/powerhead combo not needing an ATO... What is a blower? and why would you not need a top off.

 

I do understand what your saying about needing less top off because its mostly sealed. If I understood that right. Kind of like my fresh water tanks I have glass over to keep me from having to add water daily.

 

My issue with bubbles is they drive me crazy with the noise.

[brandon429]

blower I just meant airstone lol

 

to clarify the no need for ato yes they will need topoff, but its once a week and so it won't have to be automated to keep a careful constant like they do in larger tanks.

 

a shift from .023 to .024 over a week is perfectly fine for all pico reef life fms. I do wish they made a quieter air pump!!

[Belac]

blower I just meant airstone lol

 

to clarify the no need for ato yes they will need topoff, but its once a week and so it won't have to be automated to keep a careful constant like they do in larger tanks.

 

a shift from .023 to .024 over a week is perfectly fine for all pico reef life fms. I do wish they made a quieter air pump!!

 

Yeah that is not a bad evap rate by any means. Thanks for the clearification, and all the information.

 

I have been trying to dream up a quiter one. There has to be a way. I have noticed that suspending it from a bungie/rubber bands cuts the noise in half on most of the ones I own.

[.Newman.]

thanks for the explanation, and that guy's youtube vids were great.

I want to make a reef bowl so bad now! But i don't think i have the room or funds to start one up. It would cost way over $100 just because of the stupid lighting and lamp fixture (assuming i go with a PAR30 lamp).

When I do finally get to do this though, I have two options. I can try to experiment on something that I have been wanting to find out for a long time - running a vase reef only on top offs + glass scraping and no other maintenance.( Ebiken Shou would be the key to this plan.)

Or i could do regular maintenance like i did on my picotope, and try all blue LEDs as the only light source. (I would never want to make this vase as high tech as my picotope was - what an electrical BOTHER that tank was. and it wasn't even nearly as automated as pj86's tank! O_O Mine has 8 outlets...i want my vase to run on 3 cords only. )

 

Rogles's vase is very inspiring lol.

[.Newman.]

btw, rogles and brandon, how tall are your vase setups. from the top of the light fixture to the base of the vase? let me know, thanks!

[brandon429]

mine is about 15 in tall cuz of my old fashioned lights

[.Newman.]

Thank you, let's see where I can fit such a setup. is likely too tall for the perfect spot on my shelf that I wanted to use...

[gabe3366]

thanks for the explanation, and that guy's youtube vids were great.

I want to make a reef bowl so bad now! But i don't think i have the room or funds to start one up. It would cost way over $100 just because of the stupid lighting and lamp fixture (assuming i go with a PAR30 lamp).

When I do finally get to do this though, I have two options. I can try to experiment on something that I have been wanting to find out for a long time - running a vase reef only on top offs + glass scraping and no other maintenance.( Ebiken Shou would be the key to this plan.)

Or i could do regular maintenance like i did on my picotope, and try all blue LEDs as the only light source. (I would never want to make this vase as high tech as my picotope was - what an electrical BOTHER that tank was. and it wasn't even nearly as automated as pj86's tank! O_O Mine has 8 outlets...i want my vase to run on 3 cords only. )

 

Rogles's vase is very inspiring lol.

 

Just thought I'd jump in....

 

I'm also planning a reef vase and mine will be under $50. Look into gu10 leds. I'm going to use 3 3watt gu10's (2b 1w).

[.Newman.]

Just thought I'd jump in....

 

I'm also planning a reef vase and mine will be under $50. Look into gu10 leds. I'm going to use 3 3watt gu10's (2b 1w).

 

How do you even know that those can support coral? I trust Crees. I don't trust leds that i don't see on people's tanks. do you have examples?

 

also what kind of fixture will run 3 LEDs like that? you' have to spend money on a fixture that holds your 3 LEDs...

[gabe3366]

lol there's actually an entire thread on them

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=267432

 

Basically you just need the bulbs and some gu10 sockets (couple bucks). I'm going to make a pvc frame to hold the sockets and then the bulbs go into the sockets. Very simple setup. It will cost me roughly $20 for my lighting.

[.Newman.]

lol there's actually an entire thread on them

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=267432

 

Basically you just need the bulbs and some gu10 sockets (couple bucks). I'm going to make a pvc frame to hold the sockets and then the bulbs go into the sockets. Very simple setup. It will cost me roughly $20 for my lighting.

Thanks for the example, thats what i needed. looks like these will work. Let me know how you build that fixture to hold the sockets. hopefully i can do the same with the lighting and save major money.

[Drift Monkey]

Is this vase still alive?

[Rogles]

Hey guys, just thought I'd stop by and give a small update. The reef vase is still running! It looks about the same as the last pic I posted.

[.Newman.]

WE WANT TO SEE IT