Natalia’s reefbowl: 8 years old!

[holy carp]

Nice! Put a tang in dere!

[natalia_la_loca]

Peace Natalia.

 

Happy 2 Months!!

 

Thanks for the Video! Your Jar Reef looks AWESOME!!!

Love hearing the bubbles.

Nicely done and arranged.

Much Success and Happiness!

Any questions, you can always ask Me.

I need some Rasta Zoanthids!!

 

Blessings All.

 

Thank you It really does seem to be coming along nicely! The rastas are great, I'm planning to frag some of them after they grow and spread out a little more.

[natalia_la_loca]

Nice! Put a tang in dere!

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Everything is doing fine. The green slimer acro, montis and leptoseris have colored up beautifully and are all encrusting. The bubblegum digitata has incredible polyp extension, turned an intense orange and is starting to get some green in its growth tips. The rastas and rings of fire closed for several days for reasons unknown, but they all opened again after a water change. 100% water changes FTW.

 

I got a used DSLR ages ago, but I only just now started using it after I got an Eyefi Mobi card that allows me to transfer the photos to my phone So here are some pictures. I really don't know how to use the thing, and it may always be a challenge to get a good focus because the camera wants to pick up the irregularities in the glass rather than the details of the corals. But it's nice to have a camera that does a better job with white balance.

 

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia.

 

Thanks for the great update!!

This Jar Reef is for sure, looking GREAT!!!

What are you feeding the Corals?

How high is your light from the water line?

Are you still using the same bulb?

 

Corals look FANTASTIC!!!

Continue in your Happiness and Success!!

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Thanks Mary It really is doing well!

 

For feeding, I mix Rods Food Coral Blend, Reef Roids and Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast (very small amounts of each) and target feed to the corals once a week. I let it settle for 10 minutes or so, then turn on the pump to let it circulate for a few hours before doing the water change. I'm still doing 150% water changes as they don't seem to be having any negative effect on the corals.

 

The light is 12" above the water line. I am still using the ABI 50/50 white-blue par38 with four white LEDs covered. The new par38 with 8 blues and 4 whites has arrived from Hong Kong, but I haven't installed it yet. I want to wait until the rastas are fully open again before introducing another big change in the system.

 

Again, many thanks for all your advice and encouragement! I absolutely love the simplicity of this reefbowl.

[Deleted User 9]

Thanks Mary It really is doing well!

 

For feeding, I mix Rods Food Coral Blend, Reef Roids and Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast (very small amounts of each) and target feed to the corals once a week. I let it settle for 10 minutes or so, then turn on the pump to let it circulate for a few hours before doing the water change. I'm still doing 150% water changes as they don't seem to be having any negative effect on the corals.

 

The light is 12" above the water line. I am still using the ABI 50/50 white-blue par38 with four white LEDs covered. The new par38 with 8 blues and 4 whites has arrived from Hong Kong, but I haven't installed it yet. I want to wait until the rastas are fully open again before introducing another big change in the system.

 

Again, many thanks for all your advice and encouragement! I absolutely love the simplicity of this reefbowl.

Peace Natalia.

I'm excited to see this New Par38. I've recommended this bulb to ReefJar but I've yet to see it on his Jar Reef. So when you get it installed, please let Me know. He told me that after receiving the bulb, he still covered 2 of the white diodes. Haven't seen those result yet. Really looking AWESOME!!!

 

Have a look at my FB page. It's full of pics, info, MARI-The Fish Bowl Reef, and MIKA-The Cube Reef.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009012515486

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Peace Natalia.

I'm excited to see this New Par38. I've recommended this bulb to ReefJar but I've yet to see it on his Jar Reef. So when you get it installed, please let Me know. He told me that after receiving the bulb, he still covered 2 of the white diodes. Haven't seen those result yet. Really looking AWESOME!!!

Blessings All.

 

I am excited to try it out too Will definitely let you know and post pics!

[Deleted User 9]

 

I am excited to try it out too Will definitely let you know and post pics!

Peace.

 

Have a look at my FB Page.

 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009012515486

 

It's full of info, pics, videos, and my other set ups.

 

Mari-The Fish Bowl Reef

Mika-The Cube Reef

Maritza The Vase Reef

 

and other other tanks I have.

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Here are a few detail pics of some of the reefbowl corals that I took with the DSLR. Still not the greatest, but they look very close to the colors as I see them.

 

Rainbow acan with vamps in drag zoas, pink zippers zoas, mountain dew chalice and red/green blasto

 

It's hard to capture the beautiful array of colors on this other acan; they are more subtle than the ones on the acan above. I finally got them with this top-down shot. Like the other rainbow acan, this one was an absolute steal at $20.

 

I got a tiny chip of JF jack o'lantern at a frag swap, it's growing very slowly. I may move it into the shade under the big rock outcrop, as the orange lepto is there and is growing much more quickly. Unfortunately that location also would make it very hard to photograph.

 

The digitatas are doing great. The bubblegum digitata (left) came in with an aiptasia and several hydroids, which were eradicated with superglue. Hopefully over time the growth tips will show more of the green coloration for which this beautiful monti is known.

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia.

 

Great Pics and Beautiful Corals!!

 

Can't imagine why you would want to change the bulb if they're doing great.

I know you want more "blue", but sometimes, when you start to fine that balance with your Reef,

it's better to just let it take it's course.

Some of the Corals will get caught into a "Bonsai" like state, where they just remain small but vibrant.

Not every Coral in your Jar Reef is going to show immediate growth.

But one thing for sure, they will let you know immediately when they're not doing well,

like RTN and STN.

 

Looking AWESOME!!

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Can't imagine why you would want to change the bulb if they're doing great.

I know you want more "blue", but sometimes, when you start to fine that balance with your Reef,

it's better to just let it take it's course.

Some of the Corals will get caught into a "Bonsai" like state, where they just remain small but vibrant.

Not every Coral in your Jar Reef is going to show immediate growth.

But one thing for sure, they will let you know immediately when they're not doing well,

like RTN and STN.

 

Thanks Mary. Your advice and example from Maritza the Vase Reef (and of course Brandon's vase reef which inspired us both) are really working out well So far, my only loss has been the stylophora, which RTN'd completely. All the other corals are either thriving or holding steady.

 

I tend to agree about changing the lights. I don't want to fix what isn't broken!

[teenyreef]

Holy cow your corals are looking fantastic! It's just amazing how well they are doing in a simple bowl

[natalia_la_loca]

Holy cow your corals are looking fantastic! It's just amazing how well they are doing in a simple bowl

 

Thanks Teeny Honestly if I'd had any idea how well the corals would respond and how easy and economical it would be to care for, I would have traded in my other systems for a reefbowl pico a long time ago.

 

I've been watching the Unique Corals website to see when they would have some stock frags of ORA tricolor acropora valida available. They finally got some in last week, so I ordered one and acclimated it over the weekend. So far, so good! Polyp extension is great and it's starting to color up. I'll get a picture or two shortly.

 

The only other news is I found two new vermetid snails, so they are still not completely eradicated. But they are appearing as isolated individuals rather than popping up everywhere, and I hadn't seen a new one in weeks. Fast intervention (i.e. sealing off their tubes with superglue when they are exposed to air during water changes) is definitely paying off.

 

Here's an evening pic of some zoas, with frogspawn tentacles in the foreground. These are the snitches, rings of fire and ultra rastas from my old Nuvo 8. So I've had these little guys for nearly 2 1/2 years

 

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia.

 

Great Zoanthids!!! When they grow, I want some.

 

Much Success and Happiness..

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Peace Natalia.

 

Great Zoanthids!!! When they grow, I want some.

 

Much Success and Happiness..

 

Blessings All.

 

Thanks Mary I'll let you know as soon as they grow out some more.

[teenyreef]

I have a small pair of curved forceps that exist almost solely for the purpose of crushing vermetid snails.

 

Once they gain a foothold in a tank they grow all over the inaccessible portions of rocks. You've got the right idea to take care of them the second you see them.

 

Can't wait to see the new acro!

[Nano sapiens]

This is coming along nicely!

[natalia_la_loca]

This is coming along nicely!

 

Thanks So far I can't complain at all!

 

Here's the new ORA tricolor valida. Right now it's more bicolor than tricolor, although it doesn't look bad at all considering it was shipped last Friday, got a Bayer dip and was cut from its plug and reglued to a fresh plug before adding to the reefbowl. I love how big it is. Unique Corals does not skimp on their frags.

 

In this shot you can see the sunset monti slowly encrusting over the dead stylophora that RTN'd on me a few weeks ago.

 

Top-down FTS.

[Deleted User 9]

Peace Natalia.

 

Looks awesome!!

Those down shot pics are beautiful.

FYI...If you should ever have a problem with the ABI bulb you're using now,

just write to them, they'll send you an email with instructions on sending it back to them,

and they will either repair it, if it can be repaired, or replace with a new bulb.

You have to paid the shipping to them and it should arrive with 10 days.

Warranty for 3 years!! Not bad for a $25.00 bulb.

 

Thanks for the great pics and updates!!

Much Success and Happiness.

 

Blessings All.

[natalia_la_loca]

Peace Natalia.

 

Looks awesome!!

Those down shot pics are beautiful.

FYI...If you should ever have a problem with the ABI bulb you're using now,

just write to them, they'll send you an email with instructions on sending it back to them,

and they will either repair it, if it can be repaired, or replace with a new bulb.

You have to paid the shipping to them and it should arrive with 10 days.

Warranty for 3 years!! Not bad for a $25.00 bulb.

 

Thanks for the great pics and updates!!

Much Success and Happiness.

 

Blessings All.

 

Wow, thank you for the tip I didn't realize the ABI bulbs had a 3 year warranty! I'll be sure to take advantage of it if I have a problem. Have you had any trouble with yours?

[Deleted User 9]

 

Wow, thank you for the tip I didn't realize the ABI bulbs had a 3 year warranty! I'll be sure to take advantage of it if I have a problem. Have you had any trouble with yours?

Peace Natalia.

 

I have 2 of them. One on my Fish Bowl Reef, and other on Maritza The Vase Reef. The one on the Fish Bowl Reef was blinking every minute. This bulb is over 2 years old and was misused in the beginning because i had it in a housing for over a year, trapping heat. So i'm sure that contributed to the problem. I guess it's a capacitor issue. So I contacted them and they fix the problem. In the meantime, I was using Maritza's bulb to light up the Fish Bowl Reef. Now all is normal again. It's a good idea, if you really like this bulb, to have a back up bulb. I'm sure you'll get at least the 3 years of use.

 

As long as the bulb has space to vent properly and not trapped in some lamp fixture housing with very little air movement, it won't over heat and cause any issues. As per your Rasta Zoanthids, that's great! Your Jar Reef is doing well and soon, it will be on "Automatic Mode"!

 

We're going forward and strong, and it's been a wonderful experience and journey.

Love your Jar Reef!!! Give her a name. She deserves it.

 

Blessings All.

[NathanC]

well I'm excited I was casually reading the thread w/o looking at post dates and i assumed it was dead, but no. I am definitely going to be following this! great looking bowls!

[natalia_la_loca]

well I'm excited I was casually reading the thread w/o looking at post dates and i assumed it was dead, but no. I am definitely going to be following this! great looking bowls!

Nope, the bowls are very much alive and doing great I've been busy with other projects but will post some update pics soon.

[NathanC]

Nope, the bowls are very much alive and doing great I've been busy with other projects but will post some update pics soon.

Glad to hear it!