the oldest pico>video

[brandon429]

here's a vid of the first pico reefs that were a gallon and below with aged coralline proof. some may have seen it but some haven't and this vid I made recently was a compilation of old footage nice to meet you all your forum has great examples of successful tanks
b

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

[Northernguy]

Thats was a great video!
You have some awesoms tanks.It must be difficult to work in that small of a space.
That planted tank at the end is beautiful!thumbs2:

[MCHRKiller]

Your reefs are amazing, Iam always truely at awe with some of these Picos...how they can be kept stable over the years. Most people fight day and night with their nanos. Proof to if you keep up on your water quality and have a good plan from the start anything is possible. Kudos to great setups :22:

[kaybee]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting.

[labnjab]

Very nice. I like Picos but I don't think I'd attempt one anytime soon

[brandon429]

thank you for watching. you'd be surpised how easy these are to keep. Once something is this small and has been worked out, it's more repeatable than any larger tank because the variables start to increase the larger you get. for example, how many times have you seen someone's saltwater tank and theres tons of tubing, wires, and several hundred bucks in reef dosing bottles and test kits. I don't own anything other than the tanks and the air pumps that run them, and I test the salinity of the change water but none of these tanks are tested or dosed with anything other than a two part supplement and you get to keep the same corals! the only restrictions are internal temp of your house, it can never get above 78 if you want these to work...

[brandon429]

more pics to show various show systems

[Amazon]

i love your tanks! I am a big fan of picos myself. I own 2 saltwater picos. One half the size of a shotglass, and one about a tenth of a gallon. Which I beleive is the same Hobby Lobby container as those square ones you have. i keep asterina stars and a sponge in mine.

[brandon429]

thats great once you employ some type of evaporation management all sizes are possible and I really like your list of animal experience in your signature. nice to meet you all
b

[brandon429]

i personally love asterina stars. i think they get a bad rap and are pinned for other bad reef behavior, all ive ever seen them do is eat detritus harmlessly. I keep about 15 in the bowl reef above and micro stars, you like those guys>?

[brandon429]

here are many more pics of picos

[Amazon]

Thanks:22: Yes I love the starfish, they are a very welcomed detritovore in my tanks. I do 7 milliliter water changes on the shotglass sized tank. To add to filtration I use chaeto in all my saltwater picos. it helps a lot. Unfortunately mine have no corals yet as I only set them up recently. I have had many freshwater ones as well but they never last an interest to me. the pods in the saltwater picos are starting to multiply so thats pretty good news.

[Amazon]

Heres a pic of my tiniest one
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/data/500/thumbs/PB2600011.JPG (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/showphoto.php?photo=15188)

And the other
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/data/500/thumbs/PB260027.JPG (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/showphoto.php?photo=15189)

[Ashley]

I think these are so cool. They are like little pieces of living art, I just love it!!

[brandon429]

Ashley that was nice of you to welcome so many months ago are you still around>

just updating tank, running well and is an example of long term use in a pico that uses complete, not partial water changes and feeding the tank only hours before a water change interval. instead of feeding midweek, you wait and blast feed right before a water change and let all the animals fill up. this is a different feeding mode than sparse and consistent, this way works too but it doesn't pollute the tank like common feeding practice! change 100% of the water weekly+ dose a little two part midweek, feed large amount cyclopeeze 3 hours before the water change. perfect mix for 100% of all pico reefs 3 gallons and below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuIIPFeUd2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3onG2SvzKc

[brandon429]

Amazon did you know I was stunned by the quality of your work just posted on that pic great job we are rare

[Sarkazmo]

I found your videos quite a while back and was (still am) amazed at the stability you've been able to achieve in such tiny volumes of water. I often wondered how to gain stability in small systems and from your work it looks like that stability is achieved via just leaving it alone and staying consistent in the foundations of planning, feeding, and water changes.

Do you have any articles that we could read to get more insight?

I don't have a SW tank right now but I think that you're techniques could maybe work just as well in FW. Is there a plenum system in the vase or was that an early plan?

Sark

[brandon429]

hey thanks for stopping in freshwater planted was my first go round and they are even simpler than the marine, nearly hands off.

Somewhere on the web I'll find again some pics of freshwater planted vases and a terrarium vase, all three (including the reef) were part of a matching set that ran side by side as alternate biomes. What I did for the planted vase was

1. overdrive them with light, more than the stated requirement. I used three 13 watt daylight power compacts over each system so photosynthesis is grabbing as the CO2 and metabolism was fast for each system rather than stale from underlighting.
-used laterite powder in the lower layer of the substrate and then a bunch of flourite then some power sand to top it off. This mixture prevented chlorosis in the plants after heavy growth and rooting was established. Also, when changing the water in the vase I hardly vaccuumed the sand, mulm was a desirable accumulate in the sandbed for longterm fertilizer via breakdown of organics, something that poisons a reef but feeds a planted tank.

When algae showed up on the leaves I immediately rubbed it off and did a water change, or clipped the leaf. eventually algae was in total control and the tank could run very dense for years with a population of snails for internal degredation of leaves and wild type guppies for nitrogen and movement/reproduction

I'll find the pics thanks for reminding me!
B

[brandon429]

found em
this shows the breadown in design

[Fisken-Fetus]

Those are so beautiful! I really enjoyed watching your video. I never even knew these existed before clicking on this thread. Your turtle is super cute.

[SunSchein89]

Thanks for digging up the old thread. I've been tossing around the idea of doing a SW tank and I think a pico may be the way I want to go for now. Very nice tanks/animals if you're still around :22:

[brandon429]

this tank is still going, here's an hd vid of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5wGDrWIbM4

[Fishkeeper]

Those are AMAZING!!! I swear, I thought that half gallon one was something like 20g until you zoomed out! AMAZING AMAZING :19: thumbs2: :1luvu: *runs out of ways to express astonishment*

[brandon429]

thank you! these rascals are very mistake sensitive (dont go off and leave heater unplugged for two days in winter) lol but other than that they are pretty stable and these are supposed to be long term tests of micro ecosystem ecology. I think Im up to six years now on the vase

updates coming in 2013!

[brandon429]

got pics today

[brandon429]

37862three years after last pic, here's what it looked like last nite :)

the reefbowl is the longest lived sub two gallon pico reef in the world, you cant believe how many decades the simple routine of changing all water weekly will last. it lasts as long as the coral fits in the container.

[brandon429]

Here are some details to consider in the aging of a pico reef approaching 10th year

that huge giant blog on the glass is the sps from the pic above two years ago. thats the tips of the sps, grown onto glass and plated out as new colonies that cannot be removed

there is limited space obviously, but this is reef life its cruel and beautiful at the same time. many have said online this is ugly, and sure it is compared to perfectly scaped tanks of the month but that was never the goal.

the number of frags Ive cut glued and shipped out of this bowl is innumerable. friends from all forums have some goods, the lfs has tons of xenia and montipora frags traded back in for more zoanthids, the production justifies the look.

I didnt want to go in and manicure this, i wanted to simple let it run and report the dynamics of a six inch deep sand bed in a gallon reef, the scleractinian corals and microfauna, etc

in time even more dangerous red anemone mushroom corals have taken over, i dont want to pay 120xx for a majano wand to sting them out and theres no other way, should have never put one in.

But, having soft coral dominance until a control is found is also the way of some reefs, Im more interested in the tanks ability to never crash than anything else...a regimen of care that makes this dsb unlimited lifespan among a lifespan limiting group of online dsb's for example.

Also, google this if you want to see 1000 tanks dosed with peroxide developed from methods found in this vase reef:

pico reef pest algae challenge thread

from this vase initially and then the cascading feedback from normal tanks employing the method, a vast online repository of algae battling has been amassed so in this way the pico reef contributes well to the overall balance of aquarium keeping.

I have other hobbies that take away from work Im willing to put into this bowl to eradicate the mushrooms. theyll bloom, take over, some remnants of hard coral will survive, and they'll come back when I find a way to kill off the red mushrooms and thats a battle for the next 10 years. will document every couple years here~
B

[brandon429]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8zMWHAkJtM

here is the recent video

[Baxter]

I keep pressing myself to understand my discomfort. Despite all my curiosity and fascination, I can't break away from the fact that you keep telling me to google certain search terms, that, low and behold, lead back to you.

It's entirely possible you have insights and ideas that others may wish to implement....
Share them,
Speak freely about them,
Be proud of your achievements.

Providing me a search string to blow up your hits, is just, well, cheap at best
and at worst it's horrifyingly narcissistic....
and this is from a guy who is narcissistic enough to think that my reply to this thread will ever mean anything at all.

Bottom line....
I'd be way more interested in what you are doing if you stopped telling me to google you.

[brandon429]

Baxter, you may choose to feel that way but I didn't mislead whatsoever, if you are uncomfortable then feel free to exit. Preciate your negativity on my 5 yr thread for the first time.

I specifically said the link was about how dynamics within this reefbowl were extrapolated to use helpfully on other tanks some of them 300x the size, I said what was in the thread before stating to google it.

The link has my work the same way this thread has my work, you were not mislead in any way. I was showing how much practicality can be attained out of a gallon reef,thats all. Opinions vary.


have two pms right now asking to help on invasive algae off that post I made, so apparently some like seeing the work we compiled for four years.


No help is needed getting hits, thats just your initial negative interpretation. Others appreciate the data, opinions vary.


and this is from a guy who is narcissistic enough to think that my reply to this thread will ever mean anything at all.

If your response means nothing it all then I'll take it at face value, its trolling. You wrote nothing helpful or insightful or in any way boosting to others tanks, with a standard that low its easy just to write any old negativity that comes to mind apparently. This thread is showing a small reef and what became of it.

Most of the negativity comes from looks evaluation of the tank, its old and crowded Ive yet to see someone offended by getting directions to a thread curing algae issues across tanks. I enjoy getting pms and new tank challenges when new readers see that giant thread.

[Cliff]

Let's try too keep this thread on topic and remain respectful to other members.

[brandon429]

definitely taking suggestions on how to kill red mushroom anems if anyone has a trick that works. the majano wand you can see vids of on youtube sure does work I had one...but it broke and 120xx is too much for new weapon what do others use

[Cliff]

There are some Apatasia treatments that should work, but I am not too sure if that could effect you water quality in a smaller setup like yours. You could control them through manual removal, but I think they would keep coming back every few months or so

[philthy]

Great thread!