GEX Perco: ~1 gallon Pico Bowl

xiaoxiy

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Hi All!

I thought I would share a new Pico bowl that I set up about 6 weeks ago. When I was vacationing in Japan, I found a neat little pico bowl made by GEX. It's a GEX Perco, and has a neat design in which the filter compartment is contained within a back tower. I knew that I had to have it, loaded it up in my checked baggage and brought it to the U.S.

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I'm so glad that I brought this little tank back, as it's been an absolute delight. It was surprisingly easy to modify for a reef: all I had to do was modify it to take an ATO and also upgraded the existing pump from 25gph to 50gph pump. Since set up, it takes a few minutes each week of maintenance. I just do a quick weekly 1 gallon water change. My ATO reservoir, which is only 1 gallon in size, has lasted me over 1 month.

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xiaoxiy

xiaoxiy

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Wow, how much you have in there is pretty crazy! It looks a lot bigger than 1g!
Right?! The curved glass of the bowl definitely makes the corals/tank look bigger than it truly is. There are only 7 different types of coral (4 euphyllia, 1 gorgonian, and 2 zoas) in the tank. I ended up swapping out the WWC OG Bounce out for another euphyllia as the hammer was stretching towards it and I was worried about the bounce getting stung.

Oh man that is cool. Wonder if you get those in the states?
I've been searching but haven't found any. I wish they were available state side.. I'd probably would set up a couple more cause they're so cool.
 

mch1984

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Right?! The curved glass of the bowl definitely makes the corals/tank look bigger than it truly is. There are only 7 different types of coral (4 euphyllia, 1 gorgonian, and 2 zoas) in the tank. I ended up swapping out the WWC OG Bounce out for another euphyllia as the hammer was stretching towards it and I was worried about the bounce getting stung.


I've been searching but haven't found any. I wish they were available state side.. I'd probably would set up a couple more cause they're so cool.
Here you go, did some google image searches and found them on Ebay.

 
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xiaoxiy

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Here you go, did some google image searches and found them on Ebay.

Ooo great find. I think I ended up paying equivalent of $130-140 for it in Japan.

Mine's the wood one, so round bowl, but the white taller bowl would be a cool column-aquascape.
 

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Hi All!

I thought I would share a new Pico bowl that I set up about 6 weeks ago. When I was vacationing in Japan, I found a neat little pico bowl made by GEX. It's a GEX Perco, and has a neat design in which the filter compartment is contained within a back tower. I knew that I had to have it, loaded it up in my checked baggage and brought it to the U.S.

1732297086333.png

I'm so glad that I brought this little tank back, as it's been an absolute delight. It was surprisingly easy to modify for a reef: all I had to do was modify it to take an ATO and also upgraded the existing pump from 25gph to 50gph pump. Since set up, it takes a few minutes each week of maintenance. I just do a quick weekly 1 gallon water change. My ATO reservoir, which is only 1 gallon in size, has lasted me over 1 month.

DSC02499.jpg


DSC02500.jpg


DSC02503.jpg
that is GORGEOUS! would be awesome for the desk at work!
 
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xiaoxiy

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that is GORGEOUS! would be awesome for the desk at work!
Thanks! I agree that would be an amazing desktop reef. I have it on my nightstand, so I get to wake up and go to sleep looking at it.

I've got a bigger reef next to my home-office desk.
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xiaoxiy

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Things continue to plug away. This has been the lowest-maintenance tank I've ever owned. 1 gallon water change weekly. ATO gets refilled about once every 2-3 months.

I ended up swapping the OG Bounce for another euphyllia, as the frogspawns were sweeping it.
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how do you do the water change? doesn't the temp and chemistry change affect the corals? clearly not since they look so happy, but I'd be very curious to hear the full process in detail
 
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xiaoxiy

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how do you do the water change? doesn't the temp and chemistry change affect the corals? clearly not since they look so happy, but I'd be very curious to hear the full process in detail
I just pull 1 gallon of water from my main system and put it into this tank :grinning-face-with-sweat: . Takes about 2-3 minutes.

A lot of jar reefers will do 100% water changes without issue.
 

Gumbies R Us

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Things continue to plug away. This has been the lowest-maintenance tank I've ever owned. 1 gallon water change weekly. ATO gets refilled about once every 2-3 months.

I ended up swapping the OG Bounce for another euphyllia, as the frogspawns were sweeping it.
DSC02714.jpg

DSC02721.jpg
Glad to see the pico is still going strong! How are you keeping the tank so clean looking?
 
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xiaoxiy

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Did you upgrade the lighting? Or is that original?
Stock lighting + 2 more of the manufacturers actinic strips.

Looks amazing! How do you keep the glass so clean?
Bleh. A little algae magnet. Downside of bowl shape is that the outside collects dust like no other, so lots of microfiber dusting on a weekly basis.

Glad to see the pico is still going strong! How are you keeping the tank so clean looking?
The tank just doesn’t get algae due to lack of bioload besides microfauna. The only thing I feed is Coral food once a week, a day before the massive wc.
 

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