Chapter One: Adventures in the Biorb

How it all began

Oh what a beautiful thing. I was mesmerized from the first glimpse. The dazzling colors, bubbles, light and the sound of the thing had me stunned in a Zenned out trance. For a few seconds all I could do was wonder at it while I was captured in its alluring magical presence.

This was an experience I had in 2019 while staring at a website featuring a spherical aquarium, an amazing orb of life. I was not even looking for an aquarium, it was one of things where some rabbit hole in morning news reading leads to a tangent and then more, leading to something akin to Doom Scrolling or Glee freshing. I can't recall the situation that led to my discovery, but there I was typing in my order for a 16 Gallon “Classic” aquarium called the Biorb. My imagination had already begun to dig in.

I’m a child of the 80’s and grew up in a time when the future was just starting to become a tangible fantasy. Fluorescent and neon were all the rage and saying “Rad” with a bleached mohawk while riding on something from the Bones Brigade was beyond bitchin. Lol, we actually never said Bitchin. I blame part of the mesmerization I experienced on the period of time I grew up in. I love electronics, gadgets and anything that lights up. My inner child never left the room filled with action figures on a mission under Blacklight skies with Light Bright landscapes and Lava Lamp ambience. The Biorb brought me directly back to that place of infinite possibility. 

The global pandemic was in full effect and this project would be a welcome addition of light, life and beauty to my gloomy Seattle lockdown. The online instructions for care and ease of use looked perfect for my first aquarium. (play dramatic plot twist music) Nothing could have been further from the truth. While I love the aesthetic of the Biorb and its, straight out of a wizard's laboratory look, it turned out to be something very different than a “my first aquarium” setup. I went the extra mile and went a full four weeks before adding any stock. Following the instructions, I was confident that I would have success. My first “starter” fish were typical, 5 Neon Tetras, 3 Ottos and 3 Amano Shrimp. I also purchased some Java Fern, some Sword-leaf and Anubias plants, where they were suction cupped on in little glass spheres of their own, cheerily reflecting the look of the Biorb. Little did I know my new live plants came with secret snails!

I keep sketchbooks as companion workbooks for all of my projects, so naturally I captured the details of my journey into the Biorb, its issues and my experience. Now looking back at my first notes I see there is no wonder I ran into trouble. Early writings are a scramble of frustrating events. Chemical packets, plastic cartridges that need replacing and purchasing (forever) and an environment that felt ultimately utterly artificial. I had a hard time finding my shrimp and Ottos in the harsh Alpha Grog, plastic accessories and artificial moss covered rocks that I purchased along with the Biorb.

Following fish death and the time I call, “The Rise of the Snails” I installed another sponge filter and went to work on fixing the problem. Why was it taking so long to establish a bacterial colony in the Biorbs Alpha Grog? I began to research just what was going on in aquarium filters in general with ceramic or plastic media at the core of each system. It was in this rabbit hole that I discovered the Pond Guru had the exact fix I was looking for in the following video. Pimp My Filter #76 - Biorb / Halo 15, 30, 60 and MORE . I even purchased some Biohome media and replaced the Alpha Grog that came with the Biorb as Richard mentions in his video. 

Somehow during the first three months of my aquarium onboarding madness, I had acquired four more aquariums so I was exposed to several unique filter set ups. I found that each of these little worlds directly drew from the same skill set I had used in my career as a videogame designer. The translation of my focus in environment design into that of miniature dioramas became a natural outlet to unleash my creativity. My new studies in the world of special effects modeling and casting saw me determined to make malleable, this new world of miniature landscape design called aquascaping. I began sculpting and making molds.

Another moment of musal serendipity pointed me at a comforting familiarity with a tool all but forgotten. It was frankly the expense of the Biohome media Pond Guru suggested that irked me onward and into an intersection with my old friend, ceramics. I had purchased a kiln back in the days of LOTR. One of the first projects my former company created was Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings for Xbox. This was before the days of real time lighting and advanced surface shaders, so everything was hand painted. Even the shadows! I found that carving my texture maps in ceramic was a great way to achieve amazing realism and shading from real photography. Now back into the analog world of tactile tools and playing with clay, I went with the passion to bring my 20 years of creative direction to bear to make new worlds of ceramic planted dioramas and Zen contemplation. 

I would turn my Biorb into a globe of ceramic planting beds on a porous ceramic platform that would encompass the entire filter upgrade. After the filter fix I was now looking to have some fun and design a world of plants for my new Honey Fire Gourami to enjoy. By enclosing the exposed media under a ceramic platform also lined with sponge I safely quarantined the media and simultaneously provided a solid surface to place and even stack ceramic planting beds and fish forts. With this in mind a person could fill the entire area under the platform with K1 media or Pot scrubbers. Things are now organized and partitioned. I frankly never saw the point of having unplantable media all over the floor of the Biorb. The layer of sponge under the media was all too wobbly to place anything.

With the new ceramic platform in place, my fish and shrimp responded immediately with new behavior. They began actively “hunting” fallen food particles and eating from the new ceramic arena. They would also interact with the sculpted surface as if it were natural, they would touch it and even stop and rest on it taking naps in the shade. The plants were now integrated into the scene instead of stuck on the outer wall like an afterthought. A deep patina of dark green algae took to the sculptures and months later became richly adorned with the caramels of Biogel and thriving bacterial colonies near flow injection points. The sculptures themselves became biological filters, by extending the colony and diversifying the ammonia payload with a steady source of natural plant decay. There may well be anaerobic activity going on now.

The new potted plants were easy to move, maintain, clean and prune. The terrifying vacuum days of the past were now easy and safe. No more shuffling around with the media as I wondered about just where the shrimp might be. I could see everything. I only needed to remove the ceramic platform for quarterly gunk removal and sponge wringing. The built in trench at the edge designed to capture fallen debris and keep the chaos of underwater physics under control was working!

The Orb Platform is designed with the textural exploration of the current season and is colored with porous masons stain. Grooves and perforations direct water through portals strategically designed to provide the media beneath with ample flow. I hand make each of the Orb platforms from my studio on the Oregon Coast where I design Aqua-sculpture, aquarium planters and accessories for the potted plant aquascaping philosophy I call Tsubo Style. The Orb Platform will give you a great jumping off point to begin your own planted journey into aquascaping.