A geek who builds micro marine ecosystems, stop by for a unique vid

Hello all, Im Brandon and I build micro coral reef ecosystems. I post these in many forums and since Im a geek, a biogeek not a computer geek, it seemed appropriate here as well. I like to post around because it gets ideas out to new boards who may not spend time in the aquarium forums. So, if you like aquariums, reefs specifically or tiny ecosystems this is a cool vid of my living room for you. Musicians welcome too lol :cool

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

 

stopping back by to see if anyone keeps aquariums of any type and enjoys that type of biology, itd be neat if we could get an aquatics discussion going. if anyone is interested Id love to hang around and chat about unique aquariums you have or know of, post pics of yours if you have them.

 

Welcome to MG brandon. Cool stuff!

How long does it take to make one of these?

 

hey cool thanks for stopping in. the planted bog is a passive terrarium. its not heated or cooled or even circulated, it relies on humidic distribution of nutrients from the water pool and capillary action to pull water and suspended nutrients up into the canopy area where the plants grow. There is a waterfall feature, i just never turn it on because it stirs up the tank. it has been alive for about seven years to grow into the planted monstrosity we see today lol

now the vase reef is easy to replicate. they can be set up pretty much instantly, with no tank cycling, because established live rock and sand is used.

you just get a vase from wal mart, a lid from the garden center that happens to fit the vase when inverted, some water and live rock/sand, a reef light and a beginner coral. there is a special timing of calcium dosing that makes it work. it will work immediately, the one in my vid and pics has been alive for 4+ years and these are the first micro pico reef designs you can find on the internet, no one did successful gallon reefs in 2000 they still thought it was impossible so this is neat biology to me, thanks for stopping by

the square/sealed tanks are very technical, those are to be done after mastering a vase reef first in my opinion, they are harder to balance. the vase reef is just a fishbowl with a lid, it's the simplest marine aquarium around

 

would you ever set one up>?

 

Welcome to MG brandon4 :wave

# ? Do your goldfish call out for bob all the time, mine do ! :-D

 

I just recently got rid of my tanks do to me always moving at this moment and I hate moving huge tanks. Anyways I use to have 75 gal 55 gal 29 gal 29 gal

My 75 gal and 29 gals were full of cichlids for Freshwater tanks.
The other tanks were community tanks.. many tiger barbs, cherry barbs, neon tetras and just many many more small fishies. Also I was opeing to save up for new tank for some Discuss fish they can be very pretty IMO.

 

Hey there brandon4, why don't you see about doing this on a bigger scale, and do it in a part of the ocean nearby where you live, or would your local council or whatever not let you do this, would you have to apply for permission !

 

Hey cool glad to see some fellow aquarists thanks for stopping by. I like freshwater tanks too, mainly because they are so hands off compared to marine. The terrarium globe hasn't had a water change in seven years, I just top off what's pulled out to feed the plants. it's all messy on the bottom from degraded leaves, but it looks natural and snails work to degrade it all.

My fish call out for bob commonly, scream out , especially when I am pelting the living room with my rendition of bonham's hour long drum solo lol.
there's 4 15 inch pas beside the fireplace it can get a lil loud

 

Welcome to MG, perhaps you could share more on where to buy the coral, and what to do to treat the water. This could be a great addition to my desk at work and seems less than $25, correct that if I am wrong.

 

Hey cool glad you would consider. It's way more than 25, but 25 will get you the tank/lid/airpump maybe and that's 80% of the cost. the corals are about 25 apiece, Ive paid 100 for several of them but Im driving this bowl to the absolute max to test the biology. You could easily have a vase/lid/single light (i use two on hyper mode) and a stand of pulsing xenia that is the coolest coral in the world for about 100-150 bucks. It is not possible to set up a viable reef aquarium and cheaper currently, so if you are looking to get into salt this is the way.

Normally people don't recommend picos as a first reef but that's outdated advice. It was my first reef and I became an expert solely of keeping and tweaking these since 2002. because they employ the same parameters as larger tanks, only with some special approaches, they are easy.

I would ask though if you are willing to do the weekly water changes and if you can keep, or buy, pre balanced saltwater and keep it in your office handy??