Natalia’s reefbowl: 8 years old!

[natalia_la_loca]

Wow, I'm jealous! This tankkkk... Bowl I mean is really awesome! Color game = strong

 

haha thanks I'm going for a candy-jar look

[YaBoyLaj]

Mission accomplished

[teenyreef]

I'm gonna nominate you for Candy Jar of the Month

[natalia_la_loca]

Reefbowl continues to grow well. During last night's waterchange I fragged some pink zippers and some more rastas, and moved the rest of the pink zippers to the frag rack because I suspect they prefer a more shady location. I then moved the large rasta frag away from the bubblegum digitata (the latter was really pressing in on them) and put it in the spot where the zippers had been. Pics to follow when everything is settled down. These photos are from yesterday afternoon before the weekly feeding and water change.

 

 

A month or two ago I put globs of superglue in two places on the bubblegum digitata to smother hydroids. Those areas are almost completely overgrown with coral tissue now.

 

I haven't paid much attention to the meteor shower cyphastrea. It's encrusting but has never had great color. I wonder if it's getting too much light, as it has more color on the sides than it does on the top.

[Deleted User 9]

 

Peace Natalia,

 

I'm posting this message again since something happened with what I previously wrote to you.

 

Great Pics!!! The tank is doing beautiful and the corals are loving this system.

As per the Cyphastrea, it doesn't like the directional focus light, per LED's.

I have one on the bottom of my Vase Reef and she's almost 4.

Used to be a Meteor Shower but throughout the years, it changed to a Red with Orange Polyps Cyphastrea.

 

Kind of like this rarer color morph much better. It appears that your Cyphastrea is getting too much focused light. Try shading a bit.

 

Also, be careful with putting any corals next to her. She will send her filaments all over the coral and kill it, including Zoanthids.

 

Thanks for the update and beautiful pics.

Much Success and Happiness.

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

 

 

 

Thanks Mary, those are great tips. I'll try positioning one of the frag racks above the cyphastrea for now to reduce the light it receives a little. I'll have to give some thought on how to position it long term. Maybe I could put it in the shade of a branching coral.

 

I've already seen a little cyphastrea warfare! Shortly after I got the cyphastrea, a snail bumped it up against the Mountain Dew chalice. The chalice won! Fortunately only a corner of the cyphastrea was affected. Now I have it on its own rock, at a safe distance from other frags.

[natalia_la_loca]

So I tried taking some iphone pics of the reefbowl with a yellow "gel filter" (actually a yellow plastic tab from a file folder I had lying around).

 

The effects are...interesting. It's a little murky because it's not a real gel filter, and it's still not as good as the DSLR images, but it certainly bumps up the yellows and greens. I kinda like it.

 

I also stuck a gessoed painting panel behind the bowl to create a different sort of contrast with the corals. Artist hacks FTW.

 

You can see I've got a lot of frag-rack action happening. Not super thrilled with all that clutter. The pink zippers are not happy with me right now. Hopefully they'll benefit from some time in the shade.

 

Still a lot of blue, but there is more yellow and green to balance it.

 

Nephthea is doing great, as is the little rasta frag I made a couple of weeks ago.

 

I've also been playing with the Prisma app, which turns photos into "paintings." Here is the gouache version of my reefbowl.

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia,

 

Thanks for the update info.

I will invest in the gel filters.

Seems like they will do a nice photo job for Me.

As long as they're presentable to the public and blogs,

I don't mind at all.

 

Nothing beats seeing Maritza The Vase Reef in person,

but it 's important to keep updating those pics for all.

 

That Jar Reef is looking magnificent!!!

The "Bubble Gum" digitata is so colorful and healthy!!

Much Success and Happiness..

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Thanks Mary. Definitely try the gel filters, I can't wait to see your results. Maritza is amazing even in saturated blue. It will be nothing short of spectacular with the right camera treatment.

 

I know, the bubblegum digitata is responding extremely well to the reefbowl! The guys at Cherry Corals said bubblegums were slow growers, but that has not been my experience.

[Deleted User 9]

Thanks Mary. Definitely try the gel filters, I can't wait to see your results. Maritza is amazing even in saturated blue. It will be nothing short of spectacular with the right camera treatment.

 

I know, the bubblegum digitata is responding extremely well to the reefbowl! The guys at Cherry Corals said bubblegums were slow growers, but that has not been my experience.

Peace Natalia,

 

I really don't like putting up those bluish pics.

But many want to see the updates so I do it for them.

I personally don't like the bluish pic look.

 

I can't wait either for the gel treatment.

Even if I don't get the "pro" results, it's fine.

As long as Maritza is happy and the Corals are all thriving,

that's all that really matters.

 

The success of Vase Reef keeping and the documenting, archiving,

videos, and of course the "bluish" pics for now, all contributing to the

growth, experiences, and the continuation of Vase, Bowl, Jar Reef keeping.

 

I'm going to try one of those "bubble gum" digitata.

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Look what I saw in the shrimpbowl over the weekend

 

 

yup, one of the opae'ula shrimp is carrying eggs. My rigorous routine of no maintenance whatsoever is paying off!

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia,

 

Congrats!!! Well done! So rewarding to start something with good intentions and get valuable results.

Great surprise indeed.. Much deserving..

Much Success and Happiness...

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

The bubblegum digitata is definitely taking on some green at the growth tips now The spots I glued to kill hydroids are now 100% healed. During this weekend's water change I fragged the rear branch (the one at upper right in this photo). It's recovering nicely on the frag rack.

 

The tricolor valida acro continues to encrust, and the flesh is looking more pink.

 

Jack-o-lantern leptoseris continues to grow slowly in its little nook at the bottom.

 

Not all is well in the reefbowl. Just when I was thinking of taking a frag from the vamps in drag, they closed up. I hope they come back, they're one of my favorites! The pink zippers are still struggling too. And I discovered another vermetid during the water change and smothered it with glue.

 

But on the whole, the reefbowl is growing beautifully.

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia,

 

AWESOME!!!!

 

This Reef is doing extremely well.

Corals are so colorful and so healthy.

How's the Meteor Shower doing ??

 

Are you still feeding the Roids?

 

Great update!!!! Thanks.

 

Much Success and Happiness.

 

Blessings All.

[teenyreef]

Poor zoas It's so hard to figure out what's wrong when they close up. Sending good vibes! The SPS look fantastic, though

[Tamberav]

When I have zoas looking bad, an iodine based dip seems to bring them back usually.

[Nano sapiens]

The bubblegum digitata is definitely taking on some green at the growth tips now The spots I glued to kill hydroids are now 100% healed. During this weekend's water change I fragged the rear branch (the one at upper right in this photo). It's recovering nicely on the frag rack.

 

The tricolor valida acro continues to encrust, and the flesh is looking more pink.

 

Jack-o-lantern leptoseris continues to grow slowly in its little nook at the bottom.

 

Not all is well in the reefbowl. Just when I was thinking of taking a frag from the vamps in drag, they closed up. I hope they come back, they're one of my favorites! The pink zippers are still struggling too. And I discovered another vermetid during the water change and smothered it with glue.

 

But on the whole, the reefbowl is growing beautifully.

 

'Bubblegum' is looking great! I had a frag of the original WetThumbs 'Bubblegum' M. sarmarensis, but it didn't like being fragged at all (the store owner lost all 10 frags he tried to create...and the mother colony, too). I had just 2-3 polyps survive and it's sloooowly growing back.

 

Warmer temps seem to be hard on Zoas. All winter long I had no issues, then had 'Zoa Pox' on my Rastas for a week...which went away again. Hope the Vamps recover.

[metrokat]

[reeferbrownies]

Just read through your thread, amazing bowls! You're making want to make my own! Definitely will continue to follow.

[natalia_la_loca]

AWESOME!!!!

 

This Reef is doing extremely well.

Corals are so colorful and so healthy.

How's the Meteor Shower doing ??

 

Are you still feeding the Roids?

 

Thank you Mary Yes, I'm still using Reef Roids along with Rods Food Coral Blend, Phyto Feast, and Fauna Marin Ultra Ricordea & Zoanthus with Ultra Min D. I combine a very small portion of each of these and target feed once a week, a few hours before the water change.

 

The meteor shower is doing fine. I've moved the frag racks around to cover and shade it a little. The color hasn't really changed, but it continues to encrust and grow. Here's a new pic.

 

 

Poor zoas It's so hard to figure out what's wrong when they close up. Sending good vibes! The SPS look fantastic, though

When I have zoas looking bad, an iodine based dip seems to bring them back usually.

 

Thanks you guys I think I did try an iodine dip at one point with the old zoa garden. I feel like I'm shooting in the dark with any zoa remedy. Some zoas recover, some don't, and I'm never certain whether any recovery can be attributed to the treatment.

 

In any case, the pink zippers lost the battle, but the vamps in drag may be clawing back from the abyss. Most of the polyps have melted, but two are holding on and staying constantly open. Here's a pic from Friday. It's sad compared to what I had before, but I'm hopeful about those two heads.

 

 

 

'Bubblegum' is looking great! I had a frag of the original WetThumbs 'Bubblegum' M. sarmarensis, but it didn't like being fragged at all (the store owner lost all 10 frags he tried to create...and the mother colony, too). I had just 2-3 polyps survive and it's sloooowly growing back.

 

Warmer temps seem to be hard on Zoas. All winter long I had no issues, then had 'Zoa Pox' on my Rastas for a week...which went away again. Hope the Vamps recover.

 

Thank you, I'm really pleased with how well the bubblegum is doing I don't know if what I have is different from what you have, but this one has responded really well to fragging. Here's a new frag I took from it about a week and a half ago. It'll need some time to color up and turn green at the tips, but the polyp extension is just fantastic.

 

 

Just read through your thread, amazing bowls! You're making want to make my own! Definitely will continue to follow.

 

Hey, thank you for the visit and the

[tibbsy07]

The reef picosphere is unreal...

[natalia_la_loca]

Photo dump!

 

By the way, the reefbowl is a little over five months old now. Another by the way, I just came back from a 3-day business trip. I came home to a beautiful reefbowl despite having nobody come over to do any maintenance whatsoever. Have I mentioned how much I love this thing? I feel as though I've entered an alternate dimension of reefing where (most) corals grow with minimal equipment or effort.

 

Afternoon in the reefbowl

 

Rastas and rings of fire

 

Happy acan

 

More acans and JF jack-o'-lantern leptoseris

 

Cellphone FBS (full bowl shot lol)

 

The polyps of the ORA tricolor valida acro are becoming a more intense green.

 

Rasta frag looking pretty

 

Candy jar!

[metrokat]

I don't see any wires or anything, how is the powerhead cord hidden?

[natalia_la_loca]

I don't see any wires or anything, how is the powerhead cord hidden?

 

From the front, the distortion of the bowl makes the wires hard to see (another bonus of bowl and vase reefs!). This pic shows the heater cord, temp probe and airline going into the back of the bowl.

[Deleted User 9]

 

From the front, the distortion of the bowl makes the wires hard to see (another bonus of bowl and vase reefs!). This pic shows the heater cord, temp probe and airline going into the back of the bowl.

 

Peace Natalia,

 

Thanks for the update.

Looks Fantastic!!!!

Very Colorful!!

 

I have to agreed Natalia,

We can go for a few days,

And these Pico Systems stay

Pretty much, problem free.

That's been our experience.

 

Much Success and Happiness.

 

Blessings All.