Why its easier to grow sps in a fishbowl than in a normal reef tank

Jakepen

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Okay. I think for now what I will try is drill a hole for my airline. I put tubing along the edge, and the heater cord is flat enough that it will sit under the lid as it rests on tubing.

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brandon429

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why did you put a reef in that
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how are you planning to feed that bad boy

we think feeding is what w drive good sps growth in bowls, whats your feeding approach and waste control approach. this bowl looks a lot like Nat's clearly strong potential!
 

Jakepen

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how are you planning to feed that bad boy

we think feeding is what w drive good sps growth in bowls, whats your feeding approach and waste control approach. this bowl looks a lot like Nat's clearly strong potential!
Thank you. I will feed with reef roids and lps pellets, once maybe twice a week. As for waste control I will do weekly water changes, I'll take a turkey Baster and blow up detritus and snail poop, than siphon out most of the water. Or possibly siphon into a filtersock, and back into the water. How I planned to do a water change was mix up a fresh gallon, and set it next to the jar. I would use a turkey baster and take out a full squeeze from my jar, and empty into a waste bucket. Than full squeeze from fresh mix, emptied into the jar. And continue this until the fresh mix is gone. So it may not be a 100% water change, howvever I thought this would be best for stability. Yay or nay?
 
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brandon429

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why did you put a reef in that
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sounds good, as long as they get something they should work. these picos can stand even the dreaded light daily feedings not paired with a water change (what large tanks do) its just that these small rascals have algae issues fast w no skimming, lights good enough to run sps, and then internal decay of unfed wastes. if your plan is to provide diverse proteins and then get out wastes before they decay, you'll work less on algae but not be free from it for a while. algae has to be guided out in pico reefs, I haven't worked on algae in my tank since 2012~ but before then, yep my videos show. burning algae with fire, taking my tank into 5 x 100% water changes in a row, it was quite busy before someone showed me 35% peroxide :)

that stuff is as mean as it gets, it can blind a person in one drop, care is needed, its horribly caustic. the irony is, its the best kept secret in pico reefing and our reefs tolerate it well when its applied right. it will kill algae with no concern as to nutrient levels.


the single most important reefing trick I have ever been shown in my life is the external spot application of 35% food grade peroxide to any algae I don't want in a given spot. its the thor hammer of forced tank control. others prefer a more natural way, I wish them the luck to have that option. due to my non quarantine approach, I did not have that option. so I cheated my tank back into compliance, now its too full to add frags so im good on the evil imports lol.
 
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brandon429

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why did you put a reef in that
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Here's my sps growth specs, ie coral produced on plastic trash strips lol. I know red monti isn't the most demanding coral, but it's sps and per the title it's easy to grow. Middle colony is mom colony, the flanking colonies are grow-outs only from breaking off the wings.

The middle one has extra plastic glued on top, for a xenia-on-trash technique.


Every few months this middle colony makes enough mass to frag a new set. They are all magnets and plastic strips from a water bottle/trash. When coated in red sps nobody cares about the trash core it cannot even be seen.

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for my tank, the reason its easier to grow sps in a bowl than in a 40 breeder for example is simply full and instant control over the whole water column. pico reefs don't practice parameter chasing, we just change out all the water. feeding right before that event allows my sps to eat as well as they do in larger reefs, im actually neglecting feeding quite harshly in my bowl the last year (away a lot)

blast feeding a pico reef means to put so much cyclopeeze the water turns red, an overdose, all polyps eating till engorged. then change all the water couple times, rinse out the ecosystem of uneaten food, polyps dangle full not a prob. refill with clean water

its high energy reef zone simulation with great feed, great water quality, though its not the hands off approach this adaptability is directly in the dna of most SPS we care about and can afford to be growing in bowls.
 
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Daniel@R2R

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Cool discussion!
 

reefwiser

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The PJ unit is ok would want something that would have say a drain to remove the water for a water change say and a predrilled hole for the airline bubbler.
 
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brandon429

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why did you put a reef in that
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+ more pico reef care options:




at any time one can lift out a whole rock structure, set it on a dinner plate, and rinse the tank just like that above with tap water. final rinse in saltwater...refill everything.... reinstall into uber clean tank. the sandbed will not ever cloud, and you are free to make big water changes without stirring up waste.

bacteria in the sandbed are a tax on the system, they're not a help. Small containers have a huge biological oxygen demand for a given volume of water, bed rinsing is the best BOD reducer one can do on a pico. this makes it impossible for cyano to take over the bowl, or diatoms, or any invader at all because when the rock structure is exposed targeted removals can happen in a flash.

Pico reefers command algae out of their tanks in a given session. large tankers typically add something to the water, and wait.

in the picos section at nano-reef.com, all currently posted threads have no algae issues. picos are easier to keep free of algae than larger tanks.
 

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Very cool!
 

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Great stuff Brandon. I've got one of the little PJ jars from the kick starter campaign that I will setup one day. Things like red caps and other corals (like free floating zoas or mushrooms) that can be added with little chance of pest algae being included seem ideal for a tiny bowl. Not sure how I can add LPS without risking bringing in some pest algae. :confused:
 
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brandon429

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He turned out the first edition of stilled reefing/no circulation~ it was a breakthrough legit :) / respects.
You will do great with it pls post back when you do! Natalia's bowl from earlier posts here is maturing well and she does have some minor battles w algae from time to time. seems like we have to endure that to get the good frags

I have imported valonia with a brain frag I bought and from now on ill use a brush w perox on the exposed skeleton areas as pre treat. Overall due to access in these small bowls and vases we can just take them apart and straight up attack any misbehavers lol.


Maritza the Vase reef is up to 5 years now, her and Richard have gotten their work featured and soon to be released in a very credible reefing source we'll soon see. I could not be any happier for them and for pico reefing in general #bowlsrmainstreamnow

old growth shots when even brown sps was good nuff

g1.jpg


g2.jpg


see that sps monti forming a fringing reef years ago? here was the results, it totally wrapped by vase 100% and then red shrooms killed it all off, what happens in a natural setting was featured in miniature here too, painful to lose but I killed off all the reds now and the reef is growing again, as they do in nature. Im keeping sps off the glass this time though/blotout
fringing.jpg
 
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brandon429

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I would say its not even a challenge to grow some easy sps in a fishbowl, its that starkly different to doing it in a large tank. right now at nano-reef.com, we have a few posters in the picos section on first time reefs w easy sps, fulfilling the claim. Natalia went and made a TOTM out of hers lol

We think evaporation restricted reefs are the easiest reefs to run, to cut teeth on, we don't go off gallonage and dilutions anymore which is an interesting trend development. Our bowls will beat any large tank in terms of salinity stability, just not elbow or nerf-proof physical stability. biologically we do what the big tanks do, easier, regarding typical coral growth. the old rules are simply shattered and there's no way to reassemble them.
 
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brandon429

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A bump specifically because all these picos are still alive they're on YouTube with updates. all of them from page one are producing sps for harvest. None of them have had algae issues the last three years

Zero pico reefs online have dinos taking over, why is that? Pick any reef forum including international link us one current case of Dino challenge in a pico reef

See post #45 example of red monti frag.
that monti has produced fifty + frags for trade it's still producing today.
Broke off two large whorls yesterday from it. Nobody local wants unmounted sps nowadays so I just throw it out mostly. It shields my blasto if I don't trim it.
20191211_222805.jpg


My friend Jason had a coral shop here in Lubbock he did well in selling and making use of the frags while store ran / I got some blueberry monti from him in trade which makes all blue frags now I'm so happy. My blueberry is re fragged I would never throw it out.

We're not trading in novelty. It's a science of stability. # of larger claimed stabler reefs that have had full life arcs since 2016 ending in doom, hundreds. We don't have to use bottle bac, param testing, icp testing, nobody has algae, patterns are available for scrutiny here


Growing sps is a matter of repeating a few very simple steps in a tank where someone is willing to access all surfaces when required and be able (and willing) to change all the water if required.

Problems in growing sps are for large tankers, the inaccessible and the unwilling.

How many times did someone's nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alk, tin, aluminum, brand of salt, magnesium, iron factor in producing sps in fishbowls
 
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vetteguy53081

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And that's a No kidding. I say nutrient availability within a small space?
 

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I don’t get it though, won’t you have algae growing over the glass and all, after just hours, with a set up like that? You MUST have significant algae growth WAAAAAY before its time to remove everything for a water change, right? I’m assuming when it’s mentioned about killing any algae growth(a lighter, was mentioned), and eventually eliminating it for good, it must be macro-algae/hair algae, cause I don’t think it’s actually even possible to eliminate regular slimy algae growth. Wiping down algae off the glass and such, releases it into the water, so wouldn’t the water have to be changed after every time you wipe off any algae, which would be every day or 2 at most?
 

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is there a good step by step how to for a 1 to 2 gallon pico? i am intruiged.
 
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brandon429

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Let’s build one here, a vase is actually easier than a fishbowl for finding a lid that fits on the inner diameter opening of the vase and that special fit inside the top lip of the vase stops the evaporation + stops salt creep and the salinity will balance out to needing topoff only once or twice a week. Total salinity stability inherent.

Find a vase any size but match it with a little plastic dish lid from the garden center that people sit small potted plants on so the dish catches runoff water. The lid costs about thirty cents

Invert it, make sure it fits at the top of the vase on the inner diameter portion, it rests there. Buy a preset 78 degree common tetra heater submersible

An air pump and line. Cut notches in the lid so these items can pass down into the vase and stack some of the best quality from a reef tank live rock you can source in the tank. These can be skip cycle setups just source out someone’s coralline purple live rock and use it

Lighting, I use kessil a160 tuna blue, but $25 abi tuna from Amazon is perfect and grows just the same

*regarding the algae growth on the glass it’s not an issue until picos get old, I’m talking years old and if we’ve been keeping the sandbed occasionally cleaned then it’s not pronounced even after a long time, it’s due to how we feed. Agreed it would totally scum out with algae if we did what normal tanks do: input feed daily and it compiles inside the tank for two weeks until a water change. That’s concentrating high organics + reef light and it would grow algae for sure.

We blast feed typically...only feed when we’re ready to do a water change soon after. Weekly, bi weekly, you choose but it’s a paired event.

Feedings are paired with water changes, they’re not fifteen days built up then water changed as that degradation time would indeed produce tons of plants vs coral. These are so small a water change of 100% is easy. The only thing left is fat full polyps and no waste rotting around, so the trick is it’s like just bubbling your corals day by day in a vase without waste lying around, the system runs uber clean because we rip out waste but the corals never starve. It’s a strange mid ground between full fed corals but a pristine system surrounding them with no waste stores. So the sps grows and grows

Nowadays I’m only feeding and doing my water changes monthly, top off once or twice a week, and then every couple years a disassembly cleaning is done
That’s where I tap rinse my sand clear, and do a full water change and put rocks back in

new systems need busier time to build up food and support webs but after 14 years my rocks are coralline, sponges, tons of pods and worms and asterinas and limpets and fanworms it has a full feed network so monthly is all mine needs.

Consider this rip cleaning below of my reef vase, it will show how the heater just dangles in via a hole cut into the plastic dish lid, and two more inputs for bubbler airlines. ****this is a multi use video, the glass was scummy 100% because tank was fed four weeks in a row without water changes, breaking the rules, to purposefully infect it with cyano. I use this vid to show how easy it is to cure a tank of cyano if it’s a small tank.


video is used to demonstrate one cannot cause a recycle by letting live rock be in air a while, or by doing 100% water changes. my system and corals are in the air 33 mins :) and I do back to back flushing water changes.
Drag through the video so you don’t have to be bored for 33 mins you’ll see the corals removed and put on dinner plates and the rock just sitting in the tank but with water drained.
All those bugs and life forms i mentioned, holed up in the rock. Flushing water changes don’t kill off your microfauna as live rock is a shelter and this happens in Fiji for a million years but for eight hours a day.


Next morning open and happy and hungry (turn down music I picked YouTube synth music lol)
 
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