The Oldest Pico Reef

[brandon429]

just hit 5 ans

same rock, same sandbed, video shows build and techniques for sustaining invertebrates long term in the pico reef. The key is changing out all the water instead of a partial amount, and only doing feeding in a small pico reef just before the large water change. Changing those two things alone can solve almost any problem a pico reef is having.

Brandon

the vid:

coralline removal in the pico reef

Coralline growth in the pico reef is attained by dosing half a capfull of C balance, parts A and B, 25 mins apart, before the lights come on and never after the lights are on, three times per week. I dose monday morning, wed morning, and friday morning, and do a 100% water change on Sat or Sun.

That makes a pico reef beat a large reef a lot of the times in lifespan lol

B

[brandon429]

here are pics to show important stony coral characteristics shaped by living in a circular tank

I believe this is the first time in any size tank where alveopora has been maco photographed growing on the side of glass, like xenia.

not all the corals are five years old, but the zoanthids and caulastreas are. the original rock and 6 inch sandbed are original and have never been disturbed. The goal is to test allelopathy and environmental interactions/ chemical and physical reductions in the pico reef as a separate science from large tank science

Stony corals demonstrate skeletal morphologies that are bizarre yet the polps lay down skeleton, in the aged pico reef vase.

Έγινε επεξεργασία 2 Δεκεμβρίου 2010 - brandon429

[brandon429]

2005:

[saradoulis]

awasome tank brandon!

[chris z3]

This pico is really great!

Thanks for the presentation!

[brandon429]

Thank you all so much for stopping in. Hopefully one helpful part of the reefbowl model is using the dosing system to solve pH and coral growth issues in pico reefs 3 gallons and less. The timing of 3x per week C Balance causes dense coralline growth in all pico reefs I have seen both in person and through online pm exchanges, then coralline indicates ion balance sufficient to grow SPS with the right lighting, the dosing really is the heart of the system.

pico reef1-2.5 gallons 1/2 capfull of each doser 25 mins apart before lights on 3x per week, for 3 and even 5 gallon reefs 3/4 cap works.

Full water changes and heavy feeding right before them can really nourish pico reefs so try it anyone if you are keeping large colonies of lps or nonphotosynthetics like tubastrea and dendrophyllia.

In trying every possible feeding approach this turned out for me to be the only true way of supplying nutrients to challenging corals over a years-long term without polluting the tank....to couple the feeding with a water change is a simple rearrangement of techniques used on larger reefs where we rely on dilution to handle daily additions.

Daily feeding in a pico reef of small amounts is too little for the tank, and too much for long term accumulation~

[brandon429]

fish can have daily nutrient input needs and this is another reason on top of ammonia loading they aren't indicated for use in a pico reef long term...at least common fish like clowns and large gobies or multiple small fish stocking.

Try to find pictures of a pico reef 3 gallons or less with fish that is more than 3 years old. I know of only one on the whole internet, El Fab's. The tank was lost due to an algae crash recently so we can't know how much longer it would have ran, but he was on track for greatness thats for sure. The majority of 3 gallon tanks with fish cannot sustain the inverts nor the fish for much better than a year, try to find older examples and post them pls if you can~

We are seeing an emergence of trimma sp that very well might work in a pico reef if scaled correctly, but fish use changes the metabolism of the tank in such a way I don't use them...

[brandon429]

heres an updated shot taken today

[Apostolis1996]

could you tell what types of lighting and how many watts do you use??

[Andreas kika]

Great work brandon!!!Although i believe that your pico reefs are harder to maintain and require more work than a nano reef....I have a question for you though....How do you clean the coraline algea from the bowl?????

We've been working on pico reefs(2-3 gallons)the last few months(your help would be apreciated)...here is the link on our project http://www.aquazone.gr/forums/index.php?showtopic=50474

I know that everything will seem GREEK to you but you know what they say...1picture=1000words...

[brandon429]

thank you all for stopping by I have enjoyed the links and pictures

in the second video up top it shows a coat hanger straightened out to use as a scraper, it doesn't scratch my bowl much.

the c balance dosing, or any other two part additive is really helpful in attaining a thick coat

it changes the color hue on the whole reef from gray to purple, to have coralline all over the landscape its patina of the reef

since the tank is only 1 gallon, changing all the water with premade reef crystals takes 3 minutes per week, plus midweek dosing so its really less work than other tanks, including the lid on the vase, that makes a huge difference. its topoff interval is longer than that of a 100 gallon saltwater tank

does google translator work with what I type or is it all jumbled

if so I can stick to pictures

Έγινε επεξεργασία 7 Δεκεμβρίου 2010 - brandon429