REEF VASE BUILD FOR MY 10 YEAR OLD GRANDSON

[Brad Miller]

I was inspired by the simplicity of reef jars and vases a short while ago when I was reading some threads from our very own @brandon429 here on R2R and other forums.

Then I remembered an article I read last year in Coral Magazine by a Brandon Mason, on Pico Reefing....so I blew off the dust and found the issue from Jan / Feb 2018, titled “Micro Reefing Master Class” and re read it.

I guess I put two and two together and thought I would message OUR Brandon and ask him if he was the author of that article and low and behold, I now know another famous person

Which now leads me to start this build thread on a reef vase for my 10 year old Grandson, Joey.
Last week he came over to visit Grandpas newly remodeled fish room and when he walked in, his mouth dropped to his knees and his eyes got really big !
(He’s always loved my tanks but the fish room ? ..with the phyto culturing, the auto dose set up....whew...he’s hooked !)
Needless to say...he now wants to get involved with reefing, so I gave him that copy of the Coral Magazine issue and told my daughter our plans for him to start getting his flippers wet in the reefing hobby with a reef vase.

I started looking around for items and put them on my Amazon wish list for now, but I had to find the perfect thing to house the new reef.
I messaged Brandon and had him look over the list and I think he must have said to himself, ” Dang !, another guy that wants to use a cookie jar for a reef ”;Facepalm
So.....after he said the only problem seems to be the vessel, I spent most of last night and tonight scouring the internet for what I thought he would approve of.
He doesn’t know it yet, but I found one, below is Joey’s newly acquired reef vase ! (@brandon429 , I hope I did good by you)

I’m keeping the build size small since I don’t want Joey to be too overwhelmed, and I also wanted to keep the size small, so he doesn’t have to get more than a gallon jug of salt water from me at a time to do the weekly water changes.

To pay for the project, he is coming over to the house once a week and cutting the grass for me.
Once it’s paid for, he can save money to finance his new hobby.
Maybe Grandpa will pitch in some of his coral too

 

[Billldg]

Another reefer in the making, I love it. Maybe a future marine biologist in the making.

 

[Crustaceon]

That’ll be a fun project especially considering how steep the difficulty curve can be depending on what’s placed in such a small system.

 

[brandon429]

Brad that’s a perfect vase guaranteed to work first pass and the way you’ve arranged the buildup, earning for it, anticipation, it will cement his love of fish and marine life forever
you really positioned the pico ideally as a strong reinforcer + he can shock his science teacher/fact/it works on college profs too yep

When you slap a lid on that rascal and bubble it at .023 and it doesn’t change much in three days you’ll know you have an ace in the pocket~ At day five it only rises a little in salt density if the bubbles are low, then you might be checking your refractometer for accuracy but it w be~

Irony- that mere container will make salinity control that will beat any tank here, or on the whole internet, just because you mated a vase with an inverted lid that rests on the inner diameter. WalMart has the supplies to change reefing and you arranged a symphony to embolden your grandson I’m smiling here at 449 am early reefing
B

 

[samnaz]

If there was a grandpa of the year award you’ve got that in the bag no contest! Looking forward to updates on this spectacular little pico vase. I’ve always been a fan of Brandon’s reef/methods.

 

[Jeight]

following this one for the setup and the feels as a fellow Grandpa way to go Pops

 

[Brad Miller]

Thanks guys and gals...this might be more fun for me than him

 

[Brad Miller]

The vase arrived today.
I cleaned it out and left it stand for a while full of tap water, to check for any leaks....all good there;Happy
My wife and I will take the empty vase over to meet with Joey and his parents, so we all can determine a permanent, suitable home, to place it.

Once that is determined and we know how the par38 bulb fixture will be mounted, we can order that.
Then when Joey comes over soon, he and I can break up some reefsaver rock, and he can plan out the aquascape (with a bit of advice) and get the vase cycling.

I was a Scoutmaster (am also a former Marine) when my boys were growing up.
We taught the young scouts, using our philosophy of a “scout led group”, which meant that the Scout Leaders would be present and could be used by them for council, at any time, but they led their own meetings to plan out all of their outings and things we did, on their own.
We operated like this so the scouts could learn how to make decisions on their own while building self confidence. (Something that is very much lacking in today’s society)
The only time we would step in, is if their decisions could be, or had the potential, of being dangerous in any way.

 

[Brad Miller]

This is what Joey and I came up with.
(used play sand for him to get a feel for how the rock will sit in the vase)
Three pieces of rock cemented together and able to be lifted out as one piece through the top.
(Trying to make it easy for him to take care of once he takes it home)
I’m now going to put this rock in my tank to cycle it for a while.

 

[Hemmdog]

This is what Joey and I came up with.
(used play sand for him to get a feel for how the rock will sit in the vase)
Three pieces of rock cemented together and able to be lifted out as one piece through the top.
(Trying to make it easy for him to take care of once he takes it home)
I’m now going to put this rock in my tank to cycle it for a while.

Nice!

 

[Xam]

Cant wait to see it come together! Definitely following.

 

[Alexreefer]

Can't wait to see him get into reefing full scale!

 

[C-Reefer]

I love this! Way to get him into reefing early

 

[Peach02]

looks great so far

 

[sfin52]

Could be a great science project as well. I love the scape

 

[Brad Miller]

He finished cutting my grass to pay it off now.
The rockwork is in my sump and ready to go.
He called me a couple days ago to ask if we’re ready yet (only the 100th time )
I’ll be putting it together with him soon and will post some pics.
Oh, and he wants my 30 year old 29 gallon with stand now, but I said that can wait a bit for now

 

[sfin52]

He finished cutting my grass to pay it off now.
The rockwork is in my sump and ready to go.
He called me a couple days ago to ask if we’re ready yet (only the 100th time )
I’ll be putting it together with him soon and will post some pics.
Oh, and he wants my 30 year old 29 gallon with stand now, but I said that can wait a bit for now

you created a monster.

 

[brandon429]

How fun can’t wait for updates

 

[Brad Miller]

Build list of chosen equipment included the following;

1-Inkbird ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller 2-Stage Outlet Thermostat Heating and Cooling.
1-Aqueon Mini Heater for Aquariums, 5W, Under 2.5 Gallon.
1-ABI 12W Tuna Blue LED Bulb Coral Reef Optimized Spectrum PAR38.
1-Aquarium Fish Tank Mini Magnetic Brush Double Side Glass（Acrylic) Algae Scrubber.
Pawfly 20-Piece Aquarium Suction Cup Clips Airline Tube Holders/Clamps for Fish Tank, Clear 0.2 Inch.
Small air pump with tubing and flow control valve I had in a drawer.
For lid on vase, I’ll be using a clear ziploc plastic bowl that when sat in top, fits very snug (not inverted)
Sand from my tank
Caribsea life rock cycled in my tank.

Finally Joey and I took some time to put sand from my tank in the bottom of the vase, then the cycled rock work and finally filled the vase with newly made saltwater.

I let him read the instructions and with some help, program the Inkbird controller, then he installed the small heater and the Inkbird temp probe.

Next was the air pump, tubing and needle valve.

We heated some hard tubing for the airline that runs from near the bottom of the outside vase (soft tubing connection) and follows the curves of the vase to terminate near the bottom of the interior vase just above the sand....he thought that was super cool and asked me how I learned how to do these kind of things ....I told him, it comes with the grey beard.

So, now we move on to the lighting...
This went as bad as it could.
I mounted the clamp on the Rapid Led gooseneck, then as I was screwing in the bulb, the plastic base it screws into open up and cracked out !

I didn’t even feel much tension, what a joke !
I emailed BRS and cc’d Rapid Led support about it, seems some other reviews stated the same thing and one on BRS even said that his cracked with the bulb in it and the bulb fell in the tank water.

I’m not going to want to use this gooseneck, so can anyone suggest one that is proven to work and hold up ?

 

[Brad Miller]

I have a temporary fix for the light fixture, a shop light without the shield so the heat is dissipated to the surrounding air as the bulb was intended operate with the heat sinks.

Here’s some pics with the bulb on now...