In a drop of water

[Paul B]

Now I know how every one likes to make fun of the bottles in my tank and that is fine. But thinking about bottles I was looking at the tank today and I have this skinny bleeny of sme unknown type that lives in one of these bottles. The bottle has been in there for decades and it looked like there was some dead crabs or snails in the bottle so I decided to check it out. Bottles will kill crabs if the bottle is upright, the crabs will fall in and can't excape. Anyway I chased the bleeny out of the bottle and I dumped the contents of the bottle into a container to check out if the "crabs" were alive or just shells.
Well, there were no crabs or snails in there but instead, a ball of some type of filimental algae. I looked at it closely and could see things swimming so I decided to take a closer look.
I put some of it in a test tube and with a jeweler's loupe I could see hundreds of tiny shrimp and large copepods. The stuff was crawling with life. I put some under the microscope and was amazed at the amount of living animals.
Many of these bottles I have in there are broken but the ones that are intact have openings too small for most of my fish to enter which is the reason for this sanctuary. I know people make rubble piles to breed pods but I think a bottle is better for a big reason. A bottle is glass which lets in light. Light grows algae and a film on the glass which is the perfect food for pods. Just look at places on your glass where you can't clean.
I took this material and placed it back in the bottle and I won't clean it again. There is way more life in these bottles than in my gravel.
OK now all of you can stop laughing at my gravel and bottles.
Oh did I mention that those bottles have been in there longer than most of you guys were alive?

 

[pinklips829]

i would never make fun of the bottles in your tank, i personally like the look! (when i get my bigger tank i may just put a few in there)

 

[michelle9491]

I like your bottles too. I think it is very unique & creative! Now very useful too!

 

[Paul B]

(when i get my bigger tank i may just put a few in there)

It is a good reason to buy Courvassier

 

[ReefLady]

I actually think that looks pretty cool!

 

[Paul B]

Bottles look very cool in tank, if you do it right. This is a Grand Marnier bottle. My favorite.
The bottles need to be "aged" first

 

[michael_cb_125]

I have a question. obviously it is safe to add bottles to a reef tank. but many of the glass bottles are colored. Usually some element is added to achieve the desired color. For example some green glass is colored using a form of copper. Is there any chance that the colorant could leach into the system?
~Michael

 

[Midnight]

I have a question. obviously it is safe to add bottles to a reef tank. but many of the glass bottles are colored. Usually some element is added to achieve the desired color. For example some green glass is colored using a form of copper. Is there any chance that the colorant could leach into the system?
~Michael

yeah I was thinking the same thing.

Can I take any wine bottle and rise it out and use it?? how do you get the bottle ready to be put in the tank so it doesn't harm anything??

 

[Reddog170]

I just think it is really cool the way the bottles give a focal point but you still see the entire tank. I liked it the first time I seen it and now find it quite useful.

 

[Paul B]

If there is any copper incorporated in any bottle I doubt it would leach into your tank. If they put food and wine in the bottle it would not be leaching anything. I have about 10 bottles in my tank and they all have been in there over 20 years some thirty.
See this lower picture? It was taken in the seventees. That bottle on the left is the one I dumped out today.
The top picture is a blue devil over his nest of eggs and it is also from the seventees or maybe eightees because I see a soft coral in there

 

[peepa]

COOL! I wish the tank was larger! Gonna have to go buy someof those little shot bottles.

 

[Paul B]

Actually a large bottle in a small tank would look nice. Just sandpaper the bottle first to get off any shine, put it in a paper bag and hit it with a hammer. Remove the large pieces and glue them together (wearing gloves) with aquarium silicone. Leave a large piece off. Put on goggles and grind down the cut edges on the opening then smear some cement on it. Thats how I treated all of my bottles. Including this one

 

[framerguy]

Who's making fun of your bottles??? Give me names and addresses...I'll have my ninja's take care of it.

 

[sambrinar]

I love the bottle look!! I think it is a great idea, good hiding place for some criters. I was thinking about getting a wide mouth bottle for my tank when I get the bigger one

 

[Jeremy0322]

I think the bottles look awesome, its something I have never seen before and I really like it. Did you say some of these tanks have been up for 30 years! Thats really cool if they have, i dont think i have ever heard of a tank being up and active for that long of a period of time.

 

[motocrosstcw]

i usta have a corona bottle in my fw tank and my goldies loved it if there was some in there they would be drunk everyday they never left its side.... lol bottles i think are a great addition to a tank or like a ceramic vase

 

[goldenmacman]

how do you "age" a bottle?

 

[sheren]

I have a bottle in my tank that was the bottle my brother and his wife took the first drank out of as man and wife it a crown royal bottle

 

[Paul B]

Did you say some of these tanks have been up for 30

Actually those pictures were all taken in one tank which is closer to 40 years old.

how do you "age" a bottle?

Sandpaper it then smear Sakrete Mortor Mix on it. Leave some blobs of the mortor in places ans stick some coral rock on it.

How old does this bottle look?

 

[W Churchill]

Slightly off topic, but related in a way:

My son has a freshwater tank and I find it difficult to get him to carry out regular maintenance, he has been known not to change his water for months. However I have always been surprised by his nitrate levels which are well under 10 and just how healthy his fish are.

Oh and not just that, his tank was what I considered to be overstocked, which is why I recently decided to get him a new bigger aquarium. Now although we had decided to get a bigger tank we hadn't decided when but we quickly made the decision when he cleaned his tank and filter and plugged his filter back into the circuit for the lighting which was controlled by a timer.

Needless to say within a few days his tank was looking particularly cloudy and unwell. So it was a big rush to set up the new tank which we did with new water, new gravel and a cleaned out filter and by heating the water with kettles and pans were able to have the tank at the right temperature as we filled it. The fish were transferred straight away.

I know what you are thinking and I was thinking the same, I have a very good relationship with our retailer and arranged for him to look after all the fish if need be. However I was completely surprised to see no ammonia/nitrite spike at all and now a few months on he is adding even more fish and his nitrate is still well below 10.

One thing I haven't mentioned at this stage were his ornaments. He has a number of plastic tree root type ornaments which are essentially hollow inside with small holes at the bottom to let the water out as you take them out of the tank and larger holes at the top which I always thought were a stupid idea because food is able to get in. When I took these ornaments from his old tank to move to his new the stench was horrendous, but it would appear to me at least that these ornaments have been the reason he gets away without water changes at the proper intervals and why we were able to put a bucket load of fish into an unmatured tank without so much as a trace of a problem.

Just like the bottles (except that in our case light was unable to penetrate) these ornaments were teaming with life and providing an invaluable service.

Unless that is, anyone has any other theories about what occurred here.