The Three Cup Reef

GraniteReefer

Non-member
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Started: October 6th 2019
Display: 24 fluid ounce Glass bowl slumped onto driftwood
Lighting: AI Prime HD
Heating: Aqueon Mini Heater 5w controlled by an Azoo Micro Temp Controller
Air Pump: Cobalt Aquatics Phantom 8GPH
UGF: Lee’s Undergravel Filter for a 1g bowl cut to size
Rock: Pukani bleached and acid washed
Sand: Caribsea Florida Crushed Coral

Background: I started this tank to celebrate the success of my 1.75g reefbowl since it just turned 2 years old this month. This time I wanted to push the limits further by being sub 1g, since I ordered the bowl on EBay I had no idea it would only be three cups of water without equipment!
Plans: Blastos have been super reliable in my other reefbowl so I am going to make a species tank of blastos. Keeping the tank pest free and watching it mature to the point where corals cover most of the tank.
Goals: System Longevity, Healthy Corals, Simplicity, Aesthetics
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So far I have added a few Blastos that were fragged from my other reefbowl with the help of @jsak1976 and his bandsaw
Standard Merlettis
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Cornbred Arctic Blast Merlettis
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Cornbred PPE Merlettis
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WWC Rainbow blasto
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Topdown for better view of the PPEs
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It’s nice that micro frags seem normal in such a small bowl! If anyone has some different variants of blasto merlettis let me know I would love to consider them as future residents for the bowl!
 
That's awesome. Cool driftwood "stand" as well. It's like a little tide pool, just hanging out on the wood.
 
Few [emoji28] I’m glad the Cornbred’s and the WWC’s made it. Tank or bowl looks awesome!


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I picked up some cool blastos this weekend but I’m not sure they would fit in your bowl [emoji23] should be easier to frag these though.
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I picked up some cool blastos this weekend
Those are wicked cool! Maybe if you end up with a single headed small frag it would fit in the bowl! Although other than the WWC I have stuck to only merlettis which would be cool to continue to showcase the diversity of merlettis. I also picked up some new blasto frags this weekend
Cornbred Blue eyed Blasto merlettis
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Cornbred Cabernet Merlettis
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Did my first WC last night, in order to accurately measure how much each WC would be I started the siphon by mouth rather than precharging the siphon tube with RO. I drained into a 4 cup measuring cup.
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16oz or 2 cups is all it took to hit the sandbed! I’ll be doing “100%” water changes like this weekly if not more often. Just starting to see the GHA from my plug spread and getting a nice film algae to build up on the glass. I’m going to let them help me process waste throughout the beginning of the tanks life as they are easy to get rid of down the line
 
Did my first WC last night, in order to accurately measure how much each WC would be I started the siphon by mouth rather than precharging the siphon tube with RO. I drained into a 4 cup measuring cup. View attachment 129756
16oz or 2 cups is all it took to hit the sandbed! I’ll be doing “100%” water changes like this weekly if not more often. Just starting to see the GHA from my plug spread and getting a nice film algae to build up on the glass. I’m going to let them help me process waste throughout the beginning of the tanks life as they are easy to get rid of down the line

[emoji23]two cup water change. If your changing 100% of the water weekly are you able to maintain any nitrate or phosphate levels? Very cool build, do you you any links to any of the others you’ve done on R2R or other forums?


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I picked up some cool blastos this weekend
Those are wicked cool! Maybe if you end up with a single headed small frag it would fit in the bowl! Although other than the WWC I have stuck to only merlettis which would be cool to continue to showcase the diversity of merlettis. I also picked up some new blasto frags this weekend
Cornbred Blue eyed Blasto merlettis View attachment 129742Cornbred Cabernet Merlettis View attachment 129743

Yes I’ll let you know when I get some fragged got some other new blastos also. These look pretty cool.
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I picked up some cool blastos this weekend
Those are wicked cool! Maybe if you end up with a single headed small frag it would fit in the bowl! Although other than the WWC I have stuck to only merlettis which would be cool to continue to showcase the diversity of merlettis. I also picked up some new blasto frags this weekend
Cornbred Blue eyed Blasto merlettis View attachment 129742Cornbred Cabernet Merlettis View attachment 129743

I like the Cabernet’s


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Forgot to update here but did for nanoreef
My wife got me a cool cutting board from a Christmas fair to act as a pedestal of sorts for the driftwood.
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Putting the AI Prime on a goose neck looked like junk. And so did a Kessil a80 on a gooseneck. So I built a wooden post into the cutting board and used the 90 bracket that comes with the Kessil to suspend the light
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Tank has been running smoothly for awhile now, the biggest hurdles have been evaporation and lighting intensity. To combat evaporation I am reaching out to an acrylic worker from nanoreef and am thinking of getting a small disk made with acrylic hinges attached that have magnets on the swinging part so I can place magnets on the outside of the tank to keep tension on the lid as the weight of the current tiny acrylic lid isn’t sufficient to push down power cords and the airline. To combat the lighting intensity which even at a kessil a80’s lowest setting is too high I have been using the backing from a sticker to soften/disperse the light. When the acrylic lid with hinges is made it will be with a frosted piece so it will kill two birds with one stone. Beyond that the WWC blasto has added three heads, the cornbred PPE’s reacted the worst to the lighting intensity but now that it is more subdued they have settled in. The arctic Blast have been the most steady in the tank and show great PE. The newest cornbred blue eyed, and Cabernet have been great too but may have introduced some algae. The standard blasto merletti is also doing ok but no growth and lost color during the break in of the tank. No losses yet though has me confident this will be a successful tank in time.
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thanks for reading sorry for the lack of updates!
 
Wow that’s cool I figured that would be hard to do so hats off to u I guess with only a couple things in there and no fish it sounds great good job I like it
 
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