# Update 12 year old planted bog sphere



## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

The glass is a little dirty but this tank runs mainly untouched.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Shrimp


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Video of the system from 2009 w way more plants lol 






How would you guys guess a green tree frog would do in the emersed part? I figure it w make a mess sometimes that has to be wiped out and cleaned. 

Thought about a baby garter snake. Wanted something that would eat on the wild type guppies from the water line I wonder how a six inch garter would do.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Emersed plants, fern and bamboo and some driftwood vines come out the top

Co2 comes from high organic loading and the resulting bacterial and resident fauna respiration it is a pure balance, it can live fifty years no doubt. Feed the tank, dose liquid fert drops whenever, it is a long term system by design.

There is a LOT of roots packed and knurled in the substrate. I'm considering setting a sphere up to grow a single stalk of corn in my living room as a hydro setup.


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## Zorfox (Jun 24, 2012)

Impressive setups you have. As nice as the planted sphere is, that pico reef out shadows everything. What a heretic! Where is all the expensive equipment to pull that off lol. Very nice!


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Thanks for stopping in Z 
Its being slowly taken over by sps coral on the glass I think the next step is buying a laser to etch the sps dead at the growth edges

Reefbowl approaching 8yrs before too long it is designed for long term growth but it is packed. That aesthetic isnt for everyone but the point is a hands off system with just water changes and feeding

The rear of the system has very old Duncan colonies and acans, its packed 360 and the corals typically get along. At least its cool to see growth rings in all the acro growth.

I estimate there to be two hundred micro starfish and pods you can see in the bowl at feeding time


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Wow! Both tanks are pretty cool.


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## Jack Gilvey (Jun 16, 2008)

I remember these, awesome.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Wow! Where did you get that globe?


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## danielt (Dec 19, 2012)

I'm mesmerized and sad at the same time. I gave it a shot at to keep a reef aquarium and failed miserably. Your tank shows what you can do in so little space. Mine is 10 times larger and it's a mess.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Amazing!


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

These are the best! I had a 6 gallon jug with giant vals and guppies in it for about 8yrs. Probably the most rewarding tank I've ever owned. I'm also curious where you got that huge glass globe.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

that bowl is pretty slick ive wanted one full up with a nice goldfish in it like an oranda...they magnify the insides bigtime (the sides of the glass)

ill be glad to give away my trade secret, the only place I know of to get a giant beachball sized acrylic sphere  (there may be others but I never saw any)

here we go:

fantasy bowl

www.naturesocean.com 

http://www.fantasybowls.com/

enjoy making globes all over your house. heck they make good hamster cages even lol

now the little pico reef thats all packed up, Ill be the first to admit its a peroxide addict. I dont think anyone could keep a pico this long without it, Im sure someone will come along differently just not in this decade 

those things are so hard to keep algae free (as are big reefs) and I just had to rely on cheating to win, no apologies- heres my rationale

-if I go to a big tank and unplug the skimmer, and come back in a month, you got problems, ergo addicted to skimming.

-if I come along and remove your water changes and calcium/alk supplementation and come back in 3 mos, probs w be everywhere, so I see that as addicted to supplements. thats my rationale. since we arent the ocean, all of us are cheating to keep scleractinian corals and pretty much any other marine organism alive. 

its simply what I use to get past the 5 year mark without having tons of algae problems, and, it frees me from tedious nutrient testing or filtration. there is only an airstone in this reef, and a heater, thats all.
it is fed and dosed in careful ways, but in the end I just wanted a long term stable system. 



for good reading or for a self inflicted headache, check out this big peroxide thread of sixty pages with hundreds of tank cures using our cheat (for reef tanks)
pico reef pest algae challenge thread, goog it

submit your tanks if you have probs lets test the method further~

peroxide has been used in my planted bowl as well, just to zap some hair algae which now that I changed my MH bulb isnt a prob anymore. i did three years in a row with a 20k lol think it had changed spectrum much!

a lot is lacking in todays algae management in marine aquariums. If the authors from 20 yrs ago had it right, nobody would be still using their methods and failing. nutrient control is second or third in line behind actual direct removal when it comes to any invader in marine tanks. others get lucky with common methods, many dont, thats why our thread is so huge.


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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

What I'd like to know is where did you get that sphere from?


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## danielt (Dec 19, 2012)

Well, I for one I'm sold. Onwards! To the huge thread!

Many thanks!


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Video update taken with note 3 phone


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Reef bowl update 8 yrs
Active nitrogen reducing sandbed see bubbles of n2 gas


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## Anya (Oct 26, 2013)

Hey Brandon! Inspired by you, I made my own reef vase.... I just wanted to show you. ^_^ You're my hero!

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...n/88411-lets-get-started-pico-vase-build.html


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Hi Anya! That is a great build thread it will work great

We gotta get ya a lid to contain that salt creep

Do you have access to a home Depot or Lowes or home improvement store? We can find the perfect lid that fits on the inside of the rim of the vase neck and you won't get any salt creep!

The perfect lid is the plastic planter dishes you set potted plants in to hold runoff water

The small ones fit perfectly

The growth and coloration in your bowl is amazing that's a planted reef bowl I've never seen one before


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## Anya (Oct 26, 2013)

brandon429 said:


> Hi Anya! That is a great build thread it will work great
> 
> We gotta get ya a lid to contain that salt creep
> 
> ...


Ahhh, thank you for the reply!! Sorry I never saw this! Yes, I do need to go find a lid...pure laziness keeps me using plastic wrap. Just haven't gotten to a Lowes yet!

And thank you for the praise!! I just posted some pictures from last week...the seaweed grows like CRAZY in there, I will have to start trimming soon!


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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

Where did you originally buy the glass orb used here? Was it expensive?


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## Beer (Feb 1, 2012)

Hey Brandon, I've been thinking of setting up a small saltwater vase or tank, but I think heat will be an issue. I don't have air conditioning and my apartment can hit 95 or higher at the worst points of the summer.
How do you handle the heat with that vase, or do you have to?

Thanks,
Beer


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

it's home ac. Mine went out once and killed 90% in 03
if my house gets over 80 I turn the lights off

if build pics would help:
http://www.nanoreefblog.com/features/pico-reefs/the-history-of-pico-reef-biology


has good pics my friend Mark drilled a delicate vase to run wiring through the neck


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## Beer (Feb 1, 2012)

I was afraid of that.
I'm looking into building a peltier chiller. If I can put something together cheap enough, I'll set something up. Otherwise it will have to keep waiting until I get settled in somewhere and can set something a little more substantial up.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

about to perform another full water change and noticed new shrimplet probably a couple weeks old. I bought twenty mixed neos and hardly see them among the plants, that's interesting about them. enough plants can obscure an entire colony at times.

I started running the bowl twice as full, so six gallons total water now, and I also took out fish and cpo making a focused shrimp tank. Some tigers coming soon. 

This system is old and leaks tannins into the water as there is a peat component in the rock wall portion, when it was first set up I wanted it to run as an Amazon non circulated bog system with low ph as it began to mature. 

but I'm changing water assertively to slowly acclimate the shrimp to this bog so they aren't nutrient shocked. The fish were contributing too much bioload for the work I was willing to do for the tank

the goal is to get as long as possible in between water changes and have the growing colony unobstructed

to control the hardness component of the water more dechlorinated tap water is mixed into the ro water

we have very hard water here so a mix of 80% ro 20% tap is a decent balance to offset some of the natural acidification from the wood/fibrous components of the ecosystem.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

I placed crystal reds and blacks in this still bog months back, I know they are delicate but typically there are some of a group that survive habitable conditions.

of 8 added, I see 4 from time to time but they hide amazing, amazing in the giant sphere. You think they are all dead, for sure. .. two months no see...then one night at feeding its back on. strangest thing

planaria were at plague proportions
garfieldncats helped me beat them by shipping me three vials of goat dewormer matched for five gallon water changes. simple

three weeks, 100% kill all worms now the glass is clean and shrimps can eat uncontested

genetically strong crs can thrive in this still bowl, you do not see filterless noncirculated crs setups

I believe the extreme mass of plant per unit of water make this a highly aerobic environment plus I do aggressive water changes now


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

This rascal is old. And it works like clockwork it will not cease to function. This is a multi generational ecosystem, exactly like a bonsai can be passed down hundreds of years. After a decade I may clean out some shrimp detritus it’s six inches thick lol.


hey has anyone seen some red wendtii for sale, I can’t seem to locate any

















lol wendtii


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## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

Wow that is a lot of plant!!!! Nice dedication!!!


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Thank you much for posting PlinkPloop nice to meet you

there’s a reproducing colony of white cloud minnows driving much of the growth, and still about a hundred or so mixed cherry shrimp / estimates. I dont plan on trimming another several years lol even though it’s 100% dense plants the fish and shrimp live between the stems. Perma bog i removed hardly anything since 2014 this is truly my #1 attempt at a long term nearly unassisted system (i topoff, add occasional ferts, feed a few flakes to fish, no heat no circulation no water changes usually its lights only).


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

I truly believe the system could grow corn and other crops for production. There’s a spider plant in the bog part and its been half underwater since 2008 approx, they typically don’t like constant wet submersion but they’re rooting into about six straight inches of wet bog wood and shrimp castings, its pure root fertilizer. This sandbed is not collapsing, after this long the fluorite still holds open channeling between the flecks of clay. Aeration via aerenchyma keeps the system balanced, doesn’t smell, no invert or fish kills.

one more build to add for timelining


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## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

I love it!! I've kept a few walstad vases that were similar using mosquitofish and guppies. I wish I still had some of them... I still have some of the inbred offspring of the guppies lol. Thank you so much for the update and pics!!! Nice to meet you ask well 🙂


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## greenguppy (Dec 31, 2020)

Looks beautiful, really like the background.

Sent from my KFONWI using Tapatalk


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