Reefbowl with assembly steps and -Video-

[brandon4291]

For the first time-video of my reefs in action. I have video of pretty much every reef I've written about on here, this was the first I converted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3lhEeOCpao


The sealed systems are handy for evaporation restriction, but they don't allow much space to work in due to size and the field of view gets crowded with competing coral space. This clean approach on the rounded bowl conveys more openness and is easier to work with and stock. This is a 1 gallon reef after rock displacement and sand.

I will replace the sandbed about a year from now. I've always liked the way they look but I recommend simply a replacement of them yearly to address any nutrient storage issues. I transplanted my acro crab and only one s. shrimp from my other reef to this one. The tank will be fed with cyclopeeze and reef eggs lightly to preserve nutrient storage time.

Here are the pics in order of build, remember this is a $7 Large vase (not small one for lilies, the large) and $5 of sand and $35 rock. The light is 6 years old but last forever, it's a 9 watt x2 and 13x setup that get new bulbs occasionally, about $100 in all. I use c-balance for the dosers.

THe most critical feature of this system is again evaporation control in a very simple and reliable manner. You use plastic underpots from a garden store inverted as a lid, that sits on the --inner diameter-- of the vase so that all airstone drips are routed back into the tank. It goes a long time in between topoffs, very stable. I inserted a 6 inch heater behind the rockwork, an airstone is by far the best driver for this system, the bubbles are beautiful and cause no harm or accumulation issues.

 

[brandon4291]

You can see with the airstone picture the incredible magnifying effects of a sphere of glass. It works in your favor with small frags, they appear 5X lifesize, that's the best effect of all. Frags on the bottom look small and are large.

an upclose of the rock face before corals. This was only 2.8 lbs of live rock, looks massive and crammed, it is not. That's the optical effects of using a glass sphere!

here's how the lid fits inner diameter and slows evap greatly:


I replaced lids with a shorter one to allow closer light penetrance.

 

[brandon4291]

stack it in front of a 6 inch heater, cover that with rock. it's visible from the rear.

 

[brandon4291]

Here it is at 10 inches tall with light, makes a nice centerpiece on the display runner


Also, here is the original reefbowl thread, one of the oldest pico references you will find with stony coral loading and growth. It was my first post on reefs dot org. The experience has changed the knowledge and predictions along the way as experiments do, I always like coming to this site most.

This old thread below had some people who hated the idea of small packed reefs, who could blame them. Now nobody gets mad, but back then there were stauch opponents to anything under 10 gallons because they were sure it would waste the corals eventually. Mine did, but their tanks crashed too along the way! We both shared hardware failures so I'll predict this current reefbowl will do 4 years + barring air conditioner fails in the summers. The switched sandbed should be the recharge needed to kick it back into gear as it ages. Occasional sandblasting of rock with baster prevents detritus accumulation.

**One of the most significant life forms in the reef bowl on '01 was a -giant- eunicid worm that reached a little over 9 inches long. The top of the sandbed was a 4 inch radius, so he stayed coiled for 3+ years and I don't know how he did it. ABout the diameter of a pencil, at any given time you could see some of his lateral spikes poking out of the rock. It was a frag stealer, food taker, and guaranteed disposal unit for any dead animals. In that way it helped greatly, but the frag breaking was terrible. Even when the bowl died and became ridden after the heatspike killed the bed fauna, I let it sit motionless for 8 days in my garage until it died and I fished it out. I should have photographed his carcass for proof but it looked like a giant centepede and I almost hurled.

p.s, I would not currently advocate keeping maxima clams in these anymore that was just testing the bounds, too little light and suspension matter for long term growth in most cases
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... 95&start=0

 

[Anonymous]

Really cool! I like the magnifying affect.

 

[brandon4291]

Thanks for stopping by cvp to see our reefs in this forum!

Here's an updated pic where the coral loading is almost finished, from here on out I let it age and grow coralline eventually.

 

[bleedingthought]

Wow! 8) Very nice!

 

[brandon4291]

Here's my first video of this reef.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3lhEeOCpao

When you see the sealed one with the miniature canopy, that's this one:

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

 

[bleedingthought]

Very cool! If only you could scrape the coralline out of the reefbowl.

 

[icenine]

Very nice!

Thanks for sharing this!

 

[IslandCrow]

Now, that's one of the coolest tanks I've ever seen, I love it! Nice plane too.