Bonsaii Frag Tank

akabryanhall · Jul 25, 2009

Bonsaii Frag Tank-finished sorta

So I have this group I started in Central Florida called AFAC, basic premis is we pool our money, buy a very expensive frag, grow it out, frag and distribute. I am putting together this frag tank that was donated to the cause by one of the participants. I want to do a bonsaii style tank with base rock and foam.
Here is the tank

And Modified PC light system

Here are some of the materials, think I may substitute base rock for the beach pebbles, cause I'm not sure what they might leach into the water, but I need something heavy to try to keep the foam down.

Cut out basic shapes

Time to trace and cut

Test placement

More to come..

rocko918 · Jul 25, 2009

your using a PC light setup for "a very expensive frag" ?

Might want to rethink that part. Other than that looks like it is going well.

baseballman 25 · Jul 25, 2009

does anyone have pics of a bonsai style tank I have never seen one and am very interested, looks really cool by the way =)

iani · Jul 25, 2009

What are you using for filtration and dosing (alk, calcium, mag)?

roscoe · Jul 25, 2009

Interesting I've never seen a Bonsai tank.

akabryanhall · Jul 25, 2009

rocko918 said:
your using a PC light setup for "a very expensive frag" ?

Might want to rethink that part. Other than that looks like it is going well.

Lol I have quite a few very expensive frags under pcs, they grow fine, just lose a bit of color, so if you want to send me a t5 setup, that would be great.

akabryanhall · Jul 25, 2009

baseballman 25 said:
does anyone have pics of a bonsai style tank I have never seen one and am very interested, looks really cool by the way =)

I will get this done pretty soon hopefully. thanks for the compliment

akabryanhall · Jul 25, 2009

ianiwane said:
What are you using for filtration and dosing (alk, calcium, mag)?

I have two hob filters and will have some live rock. oh and a skimmer. I will 2 part dose with alk and calc and maybe if i need it kent m

subielover · Jul 25, 2009

Nice set-up and very cool idea, I just wouldn't be putting expensive frags under pc's. But good luck to you and keep us updated. What frags do you plan on growing out?

cparka23 · Jul 25, 2009

So what's with the foam?

rocko918 said:
your using a PC light setup for "a very expensive frag" ?

Looks like they're only growing out LPS frags. There's a few pics if you follow the link in the signature.

customcolor · Jul 25, 2009

im going to tag along too just to see what style this thing is

akabryanhall · Jul 26, 2009

subielover said:
Nice set-up and very cool idea, I just wouldn't be putting expensive frags under pc's. But good luck to you and keep us updated. What frags do you plan on growing out?

Since the last time i updated afac.webnode.com, we have bought a rainbow acan, a mummy eye chalice, which was our first casualty, and a tyree superman chalice, which over heated on the shipment, arrived decaying, and is being replaced.

akabryanhall · Jul 26, 2009

cparka23 said:
So what's with the foam?

The foam is to put on the egg crate, and the dowels will be used to put holes in the foam that i can fit frag plugs into securely.

akabryanhall · Jul 26, 2009

customcolor said:
im going to tag along too just to see what style this thing is

Glad to have you on board:smile:

akabryanhall · Jul 28, 2009

Soo spent another $85 bucks and got some more stuff, water, live rock and base rock, oh and new filters for our filters.
Here is one of the pieces of base rock

both ready to get smashed

After

This is kinda what I wanted as far as design

Time to Place rock

And apply foam

Finished! (got to let harden for a couple days before putting into tank.)

BTW, the wooden dowels ended up being useless as this stuff is Super sticky when soft, nothing gets inserted without getting stuck ( kinda like some situations I've been in before....) Will just end up using a drill to drill holes for plugs

JR's Reef · Jul 28, 2009

Looking good but you might end up adding alot more rock on the foam. It floats and takes alot of weight to keep it down.

helfrichgolby · Jul 28, 2009

rocko918 said:
your using a PC light setup for "a very expensive frag" ?

Might want to rethink that part. Other than that looks like it is going well.

I have a decent chalice collection which includes:

Vivid enchino aka Pink *******
Bryans Baby aka ECC
Pumpkin patch aka Miami hurricane
Emerald mummy eye
Bubble Gum

Pending purchases hopefully:

Flame thrower
Bazooka Joe

And my color with my existing is just as good as my buddiess under mh 14k

Working with a JBJ nano cube, and all chalices except lava flow ]which began to whiten are on top 1/2 of tank

helfrichgolby · Jul 28, 2009

True bonsai can be completed with rods: glass, pvc, as well as others. And epoxy.

I was also inspired to go bonsai.

Click or copy this link to c an exellent job at bonsai.

Reef Central Online Community - Bonsai Tree inspired Aquascape

akabryanhall · Jul 28, 2009

Joey08 said:
Looking good but you might end up adding alot more rock on the foam. It floats and takes alot of weight to keep it down.

The racks are going to attached to the pieces of live rock with aquamend and glue, along with the base rock rubble, hopefully this will be enough to keep everything down.

akabryanhall · Jul 28, 2009

helfrichgolby said:
I have a decent chalice collection which includes:

Vivid enchino aka Pink *******
Bryans Baby aka ECC
Pumpkin patch aka Miami hurricane
Emerald mummy eye
Bubble Gum

Pending purchases hopefully:

Flame thrower
Bazooka Joe

And my color with my existing is just as good as my buddiess under mh 14k

Working with a JBJ nano cube, and all chalices except lava flow ]which began to whiten are on top 1/2 of tank

That is one heck of a list! Glad they are doing well, I would love to get t-5's eventually though. good luck getting the flame thrower and Bazooka joe, i think I want a My Miami chalice, but they are at obscene prices, like 400 an eye.