Natalia’s reefbowl: 8 years old!

[natalia_la_loca]

Nopers, didn't know that and still don't ?

[markalot]

I think any branching montipora would do well in a vase reef. The zoas are a bit more temperamental. Sometimes they thrive, other times they close for a week. But SPS just seem to grow and grow. The only exception for me has been the sunset (encrusting) montipora. Mine isn't growing at all.

 

A lot of us have issues with the Sunset either not growing or alternating between growing and receding. I gave up on it, to many other pretty montis in the sea.

[teenyreef]

 

A lot of us have issues with the Sunset either not growing or alternating between growing and receding. I gave up on it, to many other pretty montis in the sea.

I have a sunset in my 10g. Like Mark, it did well for a while and started encrusting, but since I got GHA it's been doing less well.

[HammerLover]

When I was new in reefing I was like... ZOMG sps need strong expensive lights, skimmer, dosing, wavemakers, reactors and the list goes on.

 

Then I found THIS, and other vase/jar/bowl reefs that has fairly cheap led lights, no dosing, no reactors and... Only airlines? Lol

[natalia_la_loca]

I have a sunset in my 10g. Like Mark, it did well for a while and started encrusting, but since I got GHA it's been doing less well.

 

I'm thinking of moving mine to a shady location to see if it does any better. I have to move it anyway because the bubblegum monti is closing in fast.

 

When I was new in reefing I was like... ZOMG sps need strong expensive lights, skimmer, dosing, wavemakers, reactors and the list goes on.

 

Then I found THIS, and other vase/jar/bowl reefs that has fairly cheap led lights, no dosing, no reactors and... Only airlines? Lol

 

I know, right? I used to feel the same way. There's more than one way to grow coral!

[teenyreef]

 

I'm thinking of moving mine to a shady location to see if it does any better. I have to move it anyway because the bubblegum monti is closing in fast.

 

 

I know, right? I used to feel the same way. There's more than one way to grow coral!

Mine is shaded. It was spreading well, but admittedly the color was nothing special.

[holy carp]

 

A lot of us have issues with the Sunset either not growing or alternating between growing and receding. I gave up on it, to many other pretty montis in the sea.

 

My sunset monti took off at first, and I was actually afraid that it was growing so quickly that it would take over a whole rock. Then it developed a purple hue on the skin in the center and the polyps stopped coming out. A few months later, patches of necrosis both in the middle and on the edges. I can't figure it what changed, but I agree they can be challenging...

[natalia_la_loca]

Came back from a four-day Thanksgiving trip to find a beautiful reefbowl. Did I mention I love vase reefs?

 

Bubblegum digitata and tricolor acro frags are doing well. The latter is starting to encrust.

 

Finally got a decent pic of the recovering rainbow acan.

 

The new mouth on the Mountain Dew chalice is more fully formed now.

 

The frogspawn always looks pretty good.

 

The bubblegum digitata mother colony is growing like crazy.

 

I have two types of leptoseris. The star of the show is the JF Jack O'Lantern, but the yellow-orange lepto that I got first is beautiful too. I keep it in a fully shaded location, but it's thriving anyway. Finally got a decent pic of it here, and I was glad I did because I hadn't seen that cluster of valonia on the JOL. I hit it with 35% peroxide on Saturday and will give it a follow-up treatment during the next water change.

 

Top-down FBS. The corals seem to approve of the new ABI tuna blue LED.

 

Had some salt creep and a bit more evaporation than usual last week: I must have left a couple of gaps when I put the lid back on after the last water change. The corals were unfazed.

 

By the way, the opae'ula shrimpbowl (to left of reefbowl) is still doing fine. Nothing much has changed besides the fact that the rock has a thick coat of green algae, much like what one sees in the brackish pools where the shrimp live in Hawaii. A few shrimp were carrying eggs a few months ago, but unfortunately none of them hatched. However, in other respects everything looks great. The horned nerite snail is doing well and keeping the glass clean. In keeping with the instructions from the breeder, I haven't fed the opae'ula bowl or done any water changes since I set it up.

[ABC]

The reef vase is looking great.

[teenyreef]

Wow, it looks fantastic as always, and I'm glad the acans are recovering! I'm always surprised by how they can go down hill in just a few days but then make a full recovery from just a scrap of surviving tissue.

 

Those frags look great btw

[Nano sapiens]

 

My sunset monti took off at first, and I was actually afraid that it was growing so quickly that it would take over a whole rock. Then it developed a purple hue on the skin in the center and the polyps stopped coming out. A few months later, patches of necrosis both in the middle and on the edges. I can't figure it what changed, but I agree they can be challenging...

 

Have the same thing with my original mother colony, but with the addition of a puffy-bubbled area in the center. Still grows a bit on the outside, but certainly not like it used to.

 

I had fragged from the healthiest area a few years ago and that piece on a different rock has no odd issues and grows very fast.

 

They can be a bit perplexing, but when healthy and getting just the right amount of light the bright green polyps on the orange base is truly stunning.

Came back from a four-day Thanksgiving trip to find a beautiful reefbowl. Did I mention I love vase reefs?

 

 

Wow, the Reef bowl is looking great!

[Mariaface]

 

My sunset monti took off at first, and I was actually afraid that it was growing so quickly that it would take over a whole rock. Then it developed a purple hue on the skin in the center and the polyps stopped coming out. A few months later, patches of necrosis both in the middle and on the edges. I can't figure it what changed, but I agree they can be challenging...

 

 

Have the same thing with my original mother colony, but with the addition of a puffy-bubbled area in the center. Still grows a bit on the outside, but certainly not like it used to.

 

I had fragged from the healthiest area a few years ago and that piece on a different rock has no odd issues and grows very fast.

 

They can be a bit perplexing, but when healthy and getting just the right amount of light the bright green polyps on the orange base is truly stunning.

 

 

Wow, the Reef bowl is looking great!

Reef bowl is looking great!

 

Is THAT what happened to the frag I got from you, holy carp?! It's still a frag, still polyps-out, but the flesh decided 'no thanks' when I put it in higher light than it was used to. Now it's growing back slowly but surely, and needs to regain its color

[holy carp]

It's hard to say without photos, but it's possible. That one was a rainbow monti, and (at least for me) always had a purple skin. As long as you have polyps out, I think you're OK.

[natalia_la_loca]

Really interesting to hear people's different experiences with sunset montis. I forgot to mention that I've moved mine to a more shady location because the bubblegum digitata was getting too close. We'll see if it does any better there.

[HammerLover]

That chalice is so sexy and pretty

[natalia_la_loca]

Here are some other corals in the reefbowl that I haven't focused on in a while.

 

The two acans that didn't get chalice-burnt are looking super yummy.

 

The tricolor acropora valida mother colony is looking more "bicolor" since I added the new LED. But if it's happy, I'm happy. Those white things are aragonite flakes that got kicked up by the bubbler.

 

The duncan is really beautiful from above.

 

The new Captain America palythoas are in a very hard-to-photograph location, but I finally got a sorta-decent pic. They are doing really well under this light.

 

The blastomussa has several new heads.

 

This is the last little chip of sunset montipora, moved to a shady spot away from the marauding bubblegum digitata. Fingers crossed that it will grow there.

[Polarcollision]

Beautiful vase! Everything looks heathy and bright. Would love to see pics of the other two.

 

I've managed to almost kill my sunset monti so many times. In my tank it doesn't like calcium above 480 or alk above 9.5 and it has to be up on the top with par around 400 to really be happy. Oh, and it needs trace elements and K to stay red. Spongeodes always beats it back, but it can hold it's own against setosa. Anything there overlap/helpful?

[natalia_la_loca]

Thank you Also, thanks for sharing your experiences with your sunset monti. The high PAR needs for your sunset monti are a surprise, as mine seems to be showing better polyp extension in its new spot in the shade. I haven't tested my water in months, but my calcium and alk seem to be good based on SPS growth (the sole exception being the sunset monti). I assume trace elements and K are good too, since I do 100% water changes each week.

 

Here are a couple of pics of the opae'ula bowl. As I noted earlier, it's looking pretty green these days, which is presumably a good thing because that stuff is what the opae'ula eat. Again, I've never fed this bowl or done any water changes. Once every few weeks I open the lid to circulate the air a little. Nothing else. The opae'ula have slowed down as the temp has dropped, but they are looking very red and beautiful, just like miniature, no-maintenance cherry shrimp! I'll get some pics of the mossbowl this week.

[Nano sapiens]

Looks like you have a happy little balanced eco-system going there with the shrimp. Always nice when maintenance is minimal, but I think this takes it to the 'super easy-peasy' level

[Nano sapiens]

This is the last little chip of sunset montipora, moved to a shady spot away from the marauding bubblegum digitata. Fingers crossed that it will grow there.

 

Quite a while back when the Sunset Monti was one of the 'holy grail' corals, there were a few similar variations available. The 'Tyree LE' was the hot one to have. I have a no-name variety which is fine by me. Point is that there may be some variation in what each type prefers in regards to light and flow. The nice deep orange color is typically seen with medium to medium-high light, but too much will often typically turn the orange into a pale creamy-yellow.

[natalia_la_loca]

Looks like you have a happy little balanced eco-system going there with the shrimp. Always nice when maintenance is minimal, but I think this takes it to the 'super easy-peasy' level

 

It really is amazing how little care these shrimp need. Here's a macro pic I took last week.

 

Big news (relatively speaking) in the reefbowl: I picked up this lovely pink goniopora last week. Thus far it's doing really well.

 

I also got another coral on Christmas Eve, not long after taking these photos. Pics soon

[markalot]

Sheesh,

 

every time I look at this bowl I realize how little actual talent I have. Can't wait to see the new coral!

[teenyreef]

The bowl looks amazing! I can't remember, but you don't feed anything, do you? Conventional wisdom is that overly clean water with no coral food or fish poop results in pale sps but clearly that's not the case in your bowl

[natalia_la_loca]

every time I look at this bowl I realize how little actual talent I have. Can't wait to see the new coral!

Haha...I think it's less a matter of talent than of emulating techniques that work from other vase reefers

[natalia_la_loca]

The bowl looks amazing! I can't remember, but you don't feed anything, do you? Conventional wisdom is that overly clean water with no coral food or fish poop results in pale sps but clearly that's not the case in your bowl

Oh, i feed the reefbowl I do one heavy target feeding each week, a few hours before the weekly 100% water change. A variety of particle sizes to suit both SPS and LPS. One of the foods contains fish meal, which may stand in for fish poop.