Fish bowl Jaubert plenum 8.8g

[besskurz]

Hello everybody,

I finally moved the tank last tuesday. I decided to do it as the very last thing in the move.

Here are a couple photos of the process, which - if you are not into reading much - was quite successful.

I could not find proper bags but these jumbo ziplock bags were good enough. Basically, all rocks in the bag with water drained from the tank. I started around 5:30pm

I left the tank with some water in. Shrimp was there inside running desperated. The emerald crab died somehow a couple of days ago. It was weighting close to 30lb. Lid was sealed with tape.

Large heavy duty box of home depot, wife's Yoga mat, bowl wrapped in a moving blanket and God's bless to nothing go wrong. Carried to my car and drove 10 miles like a granny to the new place.

Put already in the new place, it's gonna be in my office. Looking like muddy water still with a lot of stuff In suspension. Luckily only the top layer with fine sand moved during transport. The bottom layer and plenum remained in place.

Rocks, lights, pump, heater all back in place. I tried to reproduce same hardscape but it will never look exactly like before. I poured a mix of old water from the bags and 100% new water that I bought. I found a couple of amphipods in the transport bags which I was able to capture with a spoon and throw them back to the tank - every life matters. Corals were already opening and looking fine.

And I finally made the "surgery" @brandon429. Not exactly as the technique explained by you but I was able to remove then fairly easily with a knife. My guess is that after staying in the bag for few hours both aiptasia were a bit stressed and I could literally peel off the larger out of the rock like a regular bbt nem. The small aiptasia I had to make a little cut in the flesh of gsp which was not a big deal. Surely several bristleworms came out, I started to thought about getting an arrow crab.

Wrapping up the move at 11:30pm.

Today ( 2 days after moving) everybody seems to be still fine, water is now very clear.

I still need to make an additional clean up because the crab was chopping down a lot of macro algaes. I have small particles all over, I thought about putting the canister to suck all those particles out... but im a bit lazy to setup it here.

In summary, I believe that the result of this move was pretty good. I still have an aquarium.

I will head to Miami this weekend for a few days of vacations. See you guys!

 

[brandon429]

Well done that was a nice transfer and no recycle well done

 

[besskurz]

Hey everybody,

Miami beach was a cool trip. I liked the sea, but not much the city actually. That's a good reason to visit other regions of Florida until I find a place that I enjoy.

I was walking down mid beach, and i found a fishing spot with some big rocks. I found some crabs and cuc doing their job.

Next day I found a big mass of macroalgaes floating with a lot of codium and mangroves.
Don't ask me - but they end up at my tank.

I'm going to make an experience with those mangroves. I will plant them in a fresh water substrate as explained by reef builders.com.

After the move, I stated to notice big spots of what I believe to be algae. I tried to stirr the substrate a bit, in an attempt to dissipate it if this would be trapped gas but it seems to blend with substrate as an extremely fine algae... but anyway, I'm still unsure. All corals are fine.

Any suggestions?

 

[besskurz]

As times goes by the big dark areas are growing. Still can't figure out what it is that but... tank is doing fine.

Nitrite and nitrates both very low.

I'm still dosing 1 drop of chaeto grow and iron and a small eye ball dose of phytoplankton.
Corals are doing fine.

I found a big sponge growing. I discussed in other threads and it was deemed to be safe.

I noticed that algae has grew a bit more these days, including in the sps and the other pink coral on the bottom. I think this happened after the move. Probably system was unstable.

Weeks ago I went to the aquatic expo in Charlotte NC. First time in such events with my wife. We had a great time.

I bought some corals from @RiptideAquaculture. Thanks for having us! We do like deals too lol.
I transport the corals in a lunch box with a cold bottle of water inside which I was replacing from time to time. 2 days later they arrived fine.

I did a good clean up in the glass and a little water change as a lot of organic matter was floating. I did a couple photos as the bowl was looking awesome again.

If you want to check it out closer, here is a video.


In this video you'll see the favia growing back after being burn to death because of his owner being too much excited about how strong his new led lights can be.

I can't forget to mention that, I finally meet PNW customs and I bought a new little 4gal tank. I'm still thinking about what I'm going to to next with this tank... but I thought something like this. I'm still deciding if I make my own rocks because I want to make like a staircase... from the short to the deeps... something like that. Let's see what happens in future.
.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Subsea]

Hey everybody,

Miami beach was a cool trip. I liked the sea, but not much the city actually. That's a good reason to visit other regions of Florida until I find a place that I enjoy.

I was walking down mid beach, and i found a fishing spot with some big rocks. I found some crabs and cuc doing their job.

Next day I found a big mass of macroalgaes floating with a lot of codium and mangroves.
Don't ask me - but they end up at my tank.

I'm going to make an experience with those mangroves. I will plant them in a fresh water substrate as explained by reef builders.com.

After the move, I stated to notice big spots of what I believe to be algae. I tried to stirr the substrate a bit, in an attempt to dissipate it if this would be trapped gas but it seems to blend with substrate as an extremely fine algae... but anyway, I'm still unsure. All corals are fine.

Any suggestions?

Probably a variety of cyno bacteria. typically dark burgundy but I also noticed a black film that migrates up & down. I never had a problem with using a glass scrapper removing this cyno bacteria by exposing to oxygenated water.

 

[besskurz]

Happy 4th

Icp test came back. Keeping in mind these tests are results of a system without water changes and dosing iron, chaetogrow and iodine.

Mg = 1175 / low limit 1200
Sr = 6.9 / optimum 8
Fe = 75 / recommended 20 - high 40
Iodine = 139 / recommended 50 - high 120
Mn = 5.25 / recommended 1.5 - high 4
Vanadium = 5.7 / recommended 1.7 - high 5

Just talking about iodine and Fe, which in dosing i made this wierd Calc.

I took the test result and divide by the number of drops per week I'm adding. This tells me the yield per drop. ( I hope)
I will readjust my dosing to:
Fe =3 drops
Iodine = 4 drops
Goal is to keep between optimum to high.

Mg is fine. I dont have any film built in my tank
Sr is not bad but could be better.
Mg and Vanadium are high but not that high. It should adjust along with dosing.

Nothing is wrong in the tank actually. The new clove polyps is growing like weed.


In parallel I will try some new things.
I'm gonna me some rocks to the new tank. I just can't find white portland cement

 

[besskurz]

Hello everyone,

Here are some updates:

Those big dark spots are receding. I believe to be trapped gas that is going away. I have not interfere or stirred.

After moving in June:

After 3 months

My toadstool seems to be splitting. I saw today this hole in the middle.

Rock consumption still happening.

It took about less than a month.

That white sponge is now gone.
The emerald crab ate it all. They are considerably bigger now. My macroalgaes are all almost gone. Bubble algaes in the other hand are not their first preference.

AIPTASIA! I won the battle against them lol or I think I won. The shrimp is doing his job and ate em all. I'm really happy with that.

Plenum is ready, all 3d printed with exception of the net. im a bit bored to start putting together. Im out of inspiration to think the hardscape and make the diy rocks. I need a new stand too.

I bought this little frag as well. Two heads are fluffy the third is still developing.

Feeding crabs and shrimp almost everyday with crab cuisine, dosing was adjusted, need to redo the acp test someday.
Dosing kh is keeping things steady.

Other than this, just letting nature follow its path and it's been an awesome journey to have built this bowl.

Hope this thread inspire more ppl to do jaubert systems.

 

[besskurz]

Sad day, lots of learning.

woke up today and water was cloudy. All corals were fine except... this lime ultra rock flower anemone which was literally missing. I found this small piece being eaten by a bristleworm behind some rocks.

The suspect of this crime is surely the peppermint shrimp. He has a good reputation of eating all aiptasias and.. started to cross the boarder as it seems.

He's looking very well feed and calm. I guess that he found a good opportunity during the night when the anemone closes.

Honestly... there no much to do now right. I'm just carrying the lesson to avoid this combination in future.

I will move the two frags of zoas to that position and let it take over this rock.

 

[besskurz]

Hello everyone!
I'm getting ready to stay 25 days out of home and the bowl is still going strong!
No big news other than coral growth.
The macros are pretty much all gone. Both crabs like a lot them trimming a bit more than plan. Lol
Talking abt the crabs I think I saw them mating one day.

Here's a video!

 

[besskurz]

Hello!
Couple of new things happening here after returning from my trip to Brazil of 4 weeks.

Tank remained all the time alone with absolutely no maintenance. I did some espionage during the time I was away with my webcam.

KH
8.4 in 10/18/2023
7.4 in 11/27/2023

Very little reduction of 1pp
All crabs and shrimp are doing well and alive. I dumped lots of food before leaving.
I noticed a reduction in algaes, specially in some that insists to grow in a frag. With my return of reef ab dosing they returned to grow.. but crabs like to eat so.. it's fine.

This frag triplicate In size and took over the rock.

Bought in the black Friday a Duncan and a feather duster.

And a new stand.
My little office after the move was temporarily staying forever like this. So it was time to buy something decent.
I highly recommend these Landen stands. You can find them on amazon. Super sturdy.

Before:

After:

Still need some cable management in my desk. At the side of the bow I'll put the pwn custom 4gal tank.
The only downside is that I cannot centralize the lights, as the stand is intend for a single tank. It will be fine.

- who needs a sump right?

To move the bowl to the new stand was very simple. Both stands were sitting top of broken down carton boxes so it alleviates the weight for dragging around.
I removed most of the water and the wife helped me in the process. Shes now very participative in the tank, when im at work she feeds the crabs, doses kh and reef ab. I'm very glad that reefing is now a hobby of us two.
OK, I betraied the no WC movement
I must assume that I took the chance for a ~80% wc.

That all folks, merry Christmas in advance!

 

[brandon429]

It’s just perfect and perfectly balanced clearly this is a long haul pico

 

[besskurz]

It’s just perfect and perfectly balanced clearly this is a long haul pico

I feel very honored to receive compliments from you @brandon429! Your tanks and videos from 10-15yrs ago were a big inspiration for me!

 

[revhtree]

Very cool and I love the green neon toadstool! They have a special place in my heart!

 

[brandon429]

I thought you guided the substrate really well and truly the soft coral combined scape looks amazing that's article worthy

 

[besskurz]

I thought you guided the substrate really well and truly the soft coral combined scape looks amazing that's article worthy

Thanks once more! I spoke with reef hobbyist magazine months ago about perhaps writing an article for them, but never heard back from them lol.
I think that what I preach with this tank is not very aligned with the sponsored adds they have with high tech gear.
Which is fine.. there is room for everybody in this hobby.

 

[Hot2na]

Hoping more people employ the Jaubert method after seeing this ..............

 

[besskurz]

Hey folks!
Almost 5 months without posting updates!

For who doubt, the bowl is still alive

Let's breakdown some of the past few main events.


The gorgonian is clearly growing strong, but it was already a bit hurt due to lack of realstate to grow. In December I started to think about a good trim.

This zoa as moved to the bottom.

This was probably the last shot of Mr. Crab, he was later found deceased.
This anemone in the bottom was always unhappy and moved by itself under these bambam zoas.I can barely see it now.

Full tank shot Dec 20th 2023

During this time, I noticed that my acan ultra is consistently upset.
Im trying to find out the cause and I did notice that as side effect of the lid- and letting my windows closed for too long - my ph was getting low.
I did follow a test of @Randy Holmes-Farley and I found out that my problem was high Co2.
House is now more ventilated and Kalk is being dosed more consistently.
Ph is now within range.
BUT acan is still moody. Still today's date.
Before:

After:

Next three photos are from January when the toadstool retracted for 1 week, and was looking very bad, shrinking, deflated.
This is a known behavior but it was my first time. I got a bit worried.
After 1 week retracted, it started to "peel" and then it was happy again - and me too.

This photo is shows 1 out of 4 cups full of asterinas. I thought they were bugging the acan, but it was not the case. They never ate any zoas tho.

I meet a "soft guy" in my city, and as he says, "soft guys need to stick together" lol
So we exchanged some corals and he gave me this nice candy cane +
Sarcothelia aka ‘Blue Clove’.
I know it's dangerous and can infest the tank. But there is no much more area available.

he also gave me a kenia three, which was very small, but now it's growing at its own pace.

I had this coral for long time.
This photo is from last February when I found out that, this is a short polyp goniopora.
The wife find it cute, so its cuute.

I bought this Duncan in Nov 2023. Now in March 2024, it's growing 2 new heads.

In the same black Friday I bought this nice feather duster but.. it's no longer alive.
It suddenly dissappeared without no much reason.
I have two theories, either the crab or the shrimp.
Both are now dead so.. it's not nice to put blame on them, since then can't defend themselves. They took with them to the grave what really happened.
I learned my lesson AGAIN about compatibility.

In previous posts you may remember of this second tank from PNW Customs.

So, I finally started in January 2023.
It's a Jaubert + Media rack of siporax cultured in the bowl for ages and full of gunk, worms and all the good and natural stuff.

So, I was able to skip the cycle.
@brandon429, you should be proud
Reading your thread I learned a lot about the dynamics.
No amnonia or nitrates spikes.
I did pour some amnonia, several times, but it was always quickly "digested".

The nitrates are not building up tho as happened in the bowl. So I'm thinking about shutting down the air stone. But.. leaving a couple more months should not harm.

I had the ugly phase anyway, but a little CUC and brightwell microbacter clean was enought. I had this bottle since I stated the bowl sitting here. It helped me a lot that time to overcome an algae outbreak that was caused by cheap frags with algae + instable tank + anxious reefer.

OK you guys can judge me, but it did work very well. Ugly phase didn't last 2 weeks.

Everyone has different opinions.
I respectfully stick to what works for me.
I think im more confident with this hybrid / revamped jaubert method that im putting together for these past 2 yrs.

In my understanding, if you see something happening, you need to think and react.
I can't ignore and just await the nitrates to be fully consumed and expect that someday the algae will go away.
My tanks are nutrient rich. I don't think this mindset would apply for these tanks, with no WC and filters exporting unwanted nutrients.

Why to await the ugly phase go away - eventually- after months, and having the risk of developing hair algae and all other junk that can make you loose control and give up, if you can step in and control?

That was all the philosophy for this post.

Another full tank shot of April 2024.

I was happy to receive several frags from my reefing neighbor - @Acros , all zoas.
Lots of bristle stars, pods and coraline.
Everything under control and doing well.

I did notice that coralline does not grow well in my tanks. Actually, these frags were full of it, and now coralline is very pale and vanishing. I suspect of my lights being too intense / not difuse. Cuz all other parameters are OK.

Remember that gorgonian right?
It time has come.

after 2-3 hrs I made 24 frags. It's not difficult, but requires lots of patience.

Aw, I was going to forget, I had to drill myself all holes in all plugs. Drill and carbide bits / tile bits and you are good to go.

Frags are completely healed in 1 week.

I keep my policy of "coral only" tanks.
But here is a 15inch big mouth bass I caught this month camping at Hartwell lake in Anderson SC. It was thrown back to water.

So back to reefing, my neighbor @Acros bought a dragonet and needs pods.
So my new endeavor is growing pods.
These nice water containers are from Walmart in case you are asking yourself.

Phyto growing process is kinda under control.
But im still not sure about the pods, sometimes I think they are not breeding. Let's await some weeks.

I Did try to put a lid in this new tank, but temperatures went thru the roof - 85F.
So, I bought this kamoer ATO and accept the bizarre amount of evaporation.

Open points:
- Acan is still moody. Maybe lights? Or flow too low flow?
- GSP is eating all zoas in it's way. I need to remove completely from the rock.
- Coralline does not grow.

And that's all for this update!

Hope you guys liked and send me suggestions!

 

[brandon429]

What a shocking ramp up of pico tech I couldn’t be more impressed. I tried growing a small gorg like that and my bowl just won’t grow them, the polyps never emerge.

For your cuttings api thought they wouldn’t open but they sure did, shocking good job, that’s a professional reed bowl guided deftly and the new frag tank was guided through the uglies with true art man, great job wow