ReefBowl
- Thread starter brandon4291
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Hi there BRose,
I have to top off every three days. I have made a reather tight fitting lid out of plasitc (still allows light passage) that reduces evap 80%. Some still gets out due to the pressure venting from the airline circulation. The salinity fluxes between .024-.0265 and on the third day at .0265 I top off with a little distilled water and aragamight. Could drip in slowly to minimize maint....
The light is a coralife minimight x 9 watt pc, 1 act/1daylight. about 75 bucks, can be ordered through petsolutions.com
Brandon
I have to top off every three days. I have made a reather tight fitting lid out of plasitc (still allows light passage) that reduces evap 80%. Some still gets out due to the pressure venting from the airline circulation. The salinity fluxes between .024-.0265 and on the third day at .0265 I top off with a little distilled water and aragamight. Could drip in slowly to minimize maint....
The light is a coralife minimight x 9 watt pc, 1 act/1daylight. about 75 bucks, can be ordered through petsolutions.com
Brandon
thanks guys
Temp fluxes to the lower are prevented quickly by a six inch glass heater (submersible 50 watt/1 gallon water column) they are getting popular now tronics makes the best one so far I think. about 20 dollars with magnetic contacts, nicely reliable. If the ambient room temp gets above 78 then you'll need a fan on it. At my house I could not stand to keep it above 74 so its safe from higher temps.
heres a pic of the heating system. also shows the blast of the rising air column. Without a cover on it splatter would remove half the water in one day, literally. pressurization of the air layer in between the lid and water column has some benefits... not a complete seal though because all that air has to escape eventually, but it can be greatly restricted enough that you go three days in between topoffs.
B
Temp fluxes to the lower are prevented quickly by a six inch glass heater (submersible 50 watt/1 gallon water column) they are getting popular now tronics makes the best one so far I think. about 20 dollars with magnetic contacts, nicely reliable. If the ambient room temp gets above 78 then you'll need a fan on it. At my house I could not stand to keep it above 74 so its safe from higher temps.
heres a pic of the heating system. also shows the blast of the rising air column. Without a cover on it splatter would remove half the water in one day, literally. pressurization of the air layer in between the lid and water column has some benefits... not a complete seal though because all that air has to escape eventually, but it can be greatly restricted enough that you go three days in between topoffs.
B
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ever wondered what happens to a dsb (this ones about 4.5 inches in one gallon) in a nano after a year? It gets a wide array of tracks and algaes and life if its not too anaerobic. it has maintained nice biodiversity in its sand and hasn't clogged yet. knock OW. With regular feedings of HBJ newt bites, great protein for copepods... imagine how many there are in there after a year and no predation. picture is kinda off
I was hoping the shape of the DSB would help get a real reduction effect out of this nano, making it deep enough to work. its not.
Perhaps if I made the next one half way up the bowl and gave it time to age. Maybe then one could get true DSB mechanics in a nano reef--theres only one way to see. Build a new reef bowl
I was hoping the shape of the DSB would help get a real reduction effect out of this nano, making it deep enough to work. its not.
Perhaps if I made the next one half way up the bowl and gave it time to age. Maybe then one could get true DSB mechanics in a nano reef--theres only one way to see. Build a new reef bowl
Attachments
Brandon & Darrell, After talking to Julian Sprung @ MACNA I went to Home Depot and checked out a couple 'Spiral' Compact Lights with standard light bulb bases. I'm still testing but at least 1 gives off 6,500K+ light. The bulb consumes 19 Watts of power and puts out as much lumen as 2 - 36" NO Flourescents in a package the size of a 75 watt bulb. I'll post more info when I'm done testing. Cheers, BRose
that is amazing because they are so affordable and heat efficient too. Really, using those kind of lights if that is indeed the kelvin rating is alot better than buying specialty bulb from a LFS. could really use that in some refugium lighting retros... ive seen the in a home before they are bright just think how long they would last!
Soon there will be no more stocking room left in the reefbowl. As some of my last additions, my LFS had this awesome 8 inch frag of branching pink montipora and some brown monti with green polyps. They also had a blastomussa fall over in their display tank which broke off a few polyps/calcareous tubes, and they sold me these frags for two dollars. That will be a nice return when they grow out in the reefbowl and can be traded back for a 30 dollar specimen sometime in a few months....thats what I did with a tiny 2 inch fox coral I bought back in april/ these lps and sps won't live in there forever, they'll eventually be fragged again and traded or sold. Hopefully this is kinda like a stay in the hilton for the time being. 
The euphyllia is expanding enough that it is shading and almost touching the brown montipora... someone's got to be moved. the little azoo palm light I added to hit the monti from the side as well is attracting the euphyllia polyps to extend downward. It looks like a little flourescent palm tree in there, the euphyllia is one of my favorite corals to keep.
Strange note: for some reason, none of these corals extend sweeper tentacles at night. The blastomussa has a few very short ones, but the one I was really worried about, the hammer coral, just retracts its polyps and sends them out again each morning. it has not injured any of the near-by corals (caulastrea,montipora,blastomussa,) Surely it would if it were touching them, but there is adequate water flow between the specimens.
As part of the ongoing aquascaping in the reefbowl, today after work Ill have to move that brown montipora frag in the front down a little to get it away from the hammer. Ive turned the palm light off until then so the polyps will aim upwards away from the frag.
The pink montipora is harder to see, its at the top of the bowl near the light. Ill get an up-close soon of it.
Brandon429
The euphyllia is expanding enough that it is shading and almost touching the brown montipora... someone's got to be moved. the little azoo palm light I added to hit the monti from the side as well is attracting the euphyllia polyps to extend downward. It looks like a little flourescent palm tree in there, the euphyllia is one of my favorite corals to keep.
Strange note: for some reason, none of these corals extend sweeper tentacles at night. The blastomussa has a few very short ones, but the one I was really worried about, the hammer coral, just retracts its polyps and sends them out again each morning. it has not injured any of the near-by corals (caulastrea,montipora,blastomussa,) Surely it would if it were touching them, but there is adequate water flow between the specimens.
As part of the ongoing aquascaping in the reefbowl, today after work Ill have to move that brown montipora frag in the front down a little to get it away from the hammer. Ive turned the palm light off until then so the polyps will aim upwards away from the frag.
The pink montipora is harder to see, its at the top of the bowl near the light. Ill get an up-close soon of it.
Brandon429
Attachments
up closer
four more caulastrea heads were added, just under the original growth that started from three heads. Another small frag was super-glued...
caulastrea is a species of LPS that does really well over the long term in the reefbowl. The top portion of the group has been in here a year now without having to prune or move, after I got it glued up on top of that part of the reef wall. There are now nine heads (from three) and two more are right in the middle of telophase bringing 11 total within two more weeks. Somehow it knows not to grow too far straight; its new polyps are curving and are seeming to conform along the sides of the glass wall rather than grow straight into them. Go caulastrea.
four more caulastrea heads were added, just under the original growth that started from three heads. Another small frag was super-glued...
caulastrea is a species of LPS that does really well over the long term in the reefbowl. The top portion of the group has been in here a year now without having to prune or move, after I got it glued up on top of that part of the reef wall. There are now nine heads (from three) and two more are right in the middle of telophase bringing 11 total within two more weeks. Somehow it knows not to grow too far straight; its new polyps are curving and are seeming to conform along the sides of the glass wall rather than grow straight into them. Go caulastrea.
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The brown montipora branch in this picture has been relocated to the uppermost area along with a pink variety. The red LPS in the center has been removed to regain space. he was traded towards a reduction in price of the pink montipora.
One of my favorite soft corals is a certain strain of anthelia. Was lucky enough to find just two polyps 9 months ago that were red with white centers, and there now are about 15. Too bad they are completely blocked from view by the coralline growth. Ill get around to scraping it someday
One of my favorite soft corals is a certain strain of anthelia. Was lucky enough to find just two polyps 9 months ago that were red with white centers, and there now are about 15. Too bad they are completely blocked from view by the coralline growth. Ill get around to scraping it someday
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The recent threads on these nano reefs has me interested in trying a similar set-up. It seems to me the biggest decision is what size & type of a container to use. I have looked at the various aquariums sold by All-GLass, and at the fish bowls you can get in most pet stores (although these are becoming harder to fine now that plastic tanks are so much cheaper to make), but noyhing really grabs me. I have also looked at the glass containers that are sold by craft stores, and that are designed to be used as vases, but these are generally too small or not the right shape.
Any suggestions or good sources for decent, interestingly shaped glass containers in the 2-6 gallon size? Thanks in advance.
Mike
Any suggestions or good sources for decent, interestingly shaped glass containers in the 2-6 gallon size? Thanks in advance.
Mike
Hopefully we could evolve the next generation of reef tank design by experimenting with sealed or incompletely-sealed designs. Hopefully as progressions are made, we can start to get away from having to make daily top-offs as well as reduce or eliminate other maintenance concerns. It will take a group effort to work out all the kinks so I say why not start building ones to hang on your wall--that will eliminate the need for a reduced-footprint nano.
Then they will rate them in wall-print
Mike,
I have found some pros and cons to using custom containers for reef aquariums. First, certain shapes will influence dynamics in the tank in one way or another. The restricted diameter of the reefbowl vase along with the incompletely-sealed lid greatly reduce evaporation. However, I have increased the circulation to make up for this lack of surface area at the neck of the vase so maybe its more in the lid...
one way the neck design has helped for sure is in fitting the lid. In the earlier pic where another bowl was inverted, this sat on the upper lip of the vase but still allowed for saltcreep between the edges where the seal wasnt perfect. Thats why I had a black headband around the vase, it wasnt to plug nike! I found that making a lid that sits in the inner-diameter of the vase sealed better, and whatever did seep through was kept up on top of the ridge rather than running down the bowl.
A potential con of using glass decorative structures:
Just thought of this last week, hope Im not right. Its possible that the glass is not made to take this amount of very bright light constantly... Im hoping there wont be any weakening of the structure or photo-oxidation of any elements of the glass. Im going to quit transporting it just to be safe. No more trips to schools or anywhere else, they'll have to come hang out with me to see the odd reef vase! Thats where the femtoreef steps in, its plastic made and easily transportable...
The only other place Ive seen a decorative bowl I REALLY want for a reef bowl is a flower shop. They have this absolutely HUGE glass vase for $75 that holds about 15 gallons and its the same shape, only five times as big. Plenty of room for a clown or goby....hmmmm can't wait until payday. Id say the safe side though is going with glass structures made for our reef applications. On the other hand, this cheapo vase has help up for a year and hopefully more--knock on all the wood around me!
brandon429
Then they will rate them in wall-print
Mike,
I have found some pros and cons to using custom containers for reef aquariums. First, certain shapes will influence dynamics in the tank in one way or another. The restricted diameter of the reefbowl vase along with the incompletely-sealed lid greatly reduce evaporation. However, I have increased the circulation to make up for this lack of surface area at the neck of the vase so maybe its more in the lid...
one way the neck design has helped for sure is in fitting the lid. In the earlier pic where another bowl was inverted, this sat on the upper lip of the vase but still allowed for saltcreep between the edges where the seal wasnt perfect. Thats why I had a black headband around the vase, it wasnt to plug nike! I found that making a lid that sits in the inner-diameter of the vase sealed better, and whatever did seep through was kept up on top of the ridge rather than running down the bowl.
A potential con of using glass decorative structures:
Just thought of this last week, hope Im not right. Its possible that the glass is not made to take this amount of very bright light constantly... Im hoping there wont be any weakening of the structure or photo-oxidation of any elements of the glass. Im going to quit transporting it just to be safe. No more trips to schools or anywhere else, they'll have to come hang out with me to see the odd reef vase! Thats where the femtoreef steps in, its plastic made and easily transportable...
The only other place Ive seen a decorative bowl I REALLY want for a reef bowl is a flower shop. They have this absolutely HUGE glass vase for $75 that holds about 15 gallons and its the same shape, only five times as big. Plenty of room for a clown or goby....hmmmm can't wait until payday. Id say the safe side though is going with glass structures made for our reef applications. On the other hand, this cheapo vase has help up for a year and hopefully more--knock on all the wood around me!
brandon429
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