The CPH Bonsai Reef - reborn as The Reef Bommie

[JohnnyTabasco]

Well hello and thank you for tuning in!
This thread will be about the reboot of my 5 year old nano reef.
Here is a look at what I’m working on:

I have 3 main reasons for wanting to restart this reef.

1. Algae that I just can’t beat. This is a battle that has been going on for 3 years now.
2. Pests that are out of control. My recent discovery of coral eating worms was actually what started this idea of a complete restart
3. I been wanting a less cramped look for a while and I’m generally a bit tired with the tank.

So here is the plan:
Remove all the rock in the tank and only keep the corals that fit my vision. Getting writ of all the pests and algae

Goals for the restart:

• Replace all the rock with artificial “dead” rock.
• Create a bommie aquascape.
• Make the tank more silent, simple and clean.

Here are some reference photos of what I want to create:

Wish me luck on this journey

 

[tripdad]

Good luck! Sometimes a reboot can re-invigorate the enjoyment of the hobby.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

Ok, first order of business - wire cleanup !!
I don’t have the best looking cabinet for my tank. So I’m gonna do a bit of cleaning while I wait for the artificial rock to arrive.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

So I order a few things in line with making things more simple an silent.

The Nero 5 replaces 2 powerheads and it is dead silent <3
This might be the first time that something has exceeded my expectations in this hobby.
I can't recommend this enough!

I also got some smart plugs to control my return and skimmer.

The new rock for the project will arrive today, so now I can get this started!

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

I'm working on removing the rocks from the old scape. I also want to remove as much stone from the corals as possible to eliminate the risk of passing on algae and especially the pests. I'm obviously gonna dip all the corals 2 times before adding the new rock.
I spend 3 hours today on this task and here is some pictures and a time-lapse video og where I'm at

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

 

[tripdad]

Tough job but looking good. Hope it goes well thru-ought.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

Tough job but looking good. Hope it goes well thru-ought.

Thanks for the support

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

So after a long day of dipping, stressing out, gluing, stressing out and finally stressing out some more, I finally removed all the rock from the tank. Then I re-glued all the corals onto on single piece of "real reef rock".
Here is what it looks like today:

I will make some kind of video when the corals have open up again.

Next step is getting some fish - any suggestions?

 

[Katrina71]

Tailspot Blenny!

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

Tailspot Blenny!

Could be nice for a bit of algae control ..

 

[Katrina71]

Could be nice for a bit of algae control ..

Yes and they have a ton of personality.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

Corals still look bad, but I think that will take some time for them to recover
Rest looks good - super minimalistic!

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

 

[TexAgReefer]

Looking great! I love the look, it's very different than the "traditional".

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

Looking great! I love the look, it's very different than the "traditional".

Hey, thanks!
It means a lot <3

 

[Tahoe61]

Very cool.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

 

[SliceGolfer]

Any updates to this reef?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Any updates?