Zeke's Mixed Reef Pico Bowl

[ZekesReef]

On 3/14/2021 at 10:51 PM, aclman88 said:

Looks great. Be careful, it looks like the Xenia is happy in your tank and it won’t take long before it covers everything!

I know its getting a little that way, Ill see how it goes. Personally i like the movement it adds! 

I'm still having a lot of trouble sticking things down to rock. T

 

The frag mate glue i was using I swear wouldn't stick itself down and the cheap super glue seems to runny but definitely better. I'm constantly knocking the larger Zoa colony over when I clean the glass or i find it on the sand bed upside down as my strombus has dislodged it. 

[Cameron6796]

Very cool build. I have a large bowl I want to setup hidden in the stand under my fluval. Just curious what happened to your ATO 

[ZekesReef]

On 3/26/2021 at 3:31 PM, Cameron6796 said:

Very cool build. I have a large bowl I want to setup hidden in the stand under my fluval. Just curious what happened to your ATO 

Oh yeah! That could definitely work! The benefit of a little bowl like this is it really is quite simple in terms of equipment! I look forward to seeing someone else's take on the reef bowl!

I don't know if i got around to explaining that one!  I took it off around the end off January. The bubbles from the air pump would force water underneath it at it would slowly seep onto the outside of the tank. I actually found I wasn't loosing a lot of water to evaporation as I have the lid set up not so there's only a small gap for air :) (The lid also looks janky so i take it off for photos)
 

[ZekesReef]

The Recovery:

Long time no post.... So good news is the project is still up and running! Bad news or more so terrible news.... is the tank was terribly neglected through the middle of last year as I was away from home for 6-7 months when covid was bad.... Short of topping up the water to maintain some stability to the salinity levels no water changes or maintenance was undertaken.

So coming home after 6 months i was greeted with this:
Before:

After a clean up and water change:



Unfortunately 6 months of neglect resulted in a  few losses. The SPS and LPS corals that were in the tank are gone however most of the softies appear pretty happy after a water change. Incredible how hardy they are.

The good news is I'll be home permanently so no more neglect and a time to start building up the coral load.

These photo's were taken just after Christmas. I should have an update shortly now that everything has settled and yes theres a new light.... ;)

[ZekesReef]

So a couple of updated photo's!

We've moved (again) permanently so no more disruptions!

Its cleared up pretty well now short of some stubborn coralline algae. Somehow the tube worms and the bivalve are still alive! (I've been meaning to get a decent photo but my phone sucks...)

Anyways this is the aftermath. I've also removed some xenia and donated it to the LFS to free up some room at the top of the scape.


Full tank shot

Left side

Top down

Sorry for the awful picture quality, New phone camera is not as good as the last. I'll see if i can steal my better halfs phone... 

So i guess its time to start rebuilding again and trying to get a few more corals jammed into this time build :)

Still considering a small canister filter/inline heater with lily pipes/dual return to clean up the build a bit and add a bit of variation to the flow.