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Natalia's Reefbowlocalypse: all good


natalia_la_loca

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Cool paintings Natalia. It was nice to see some more of your work. And yes, like you and stella I have sipped paint water on occasion, (accidently of course).

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natalia_la_loca

Cool paintings Natalia. It was nice to see some more of your work. And yes, like you and stella I have sipped paint water on occasion, (accidently of course).

Thank you :) drinking paint water is an occupational hazard for sure.

 

Another is cats walking in the paint! We had to clean up a couple dozen bright orange footprints last night.

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Thank you :) drinking paint water is an occupational hazard for sure.

 

Another is cats walking in the paint! We had to clean up a couple dozen bright orange footprints last night.

 

:lol: Been there as well. And Franklin, one of our standard poodles, somehow got bright aqua colored paint on one of his ears. I finally had to cut it out :)

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natalia_la_loca

Neat idea :)

 

I know Stella has a thread for her paintings, but I'm not aware of a general thread for reef related art (or art by nano-reefers).

 

Most of my work isn't overtly reef related, although it will become more so this year. Two pieces I'm working on now have marine fauna playing starring or supporting roles :ninja:

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Oh I love your artwork! Surrealism is one of my favorite "styles"

I'm excited to see your future works!

 

And of course I'm excited to see how the scape is going to turn out! Do you have a certain idea or shape in mind or are you just going at it until you get something you like?

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natalia_la_loca

Oh I love your artwork! Surrealism is one of my favorite "styles"

I'm excited to see your future works!

 

And of course I'm excited to see how the scape is going to turn out! Do you have a certain idea or shape in mind or are you just going at it until you get something you like?

 

Thank you yoshi, I'm glad you like it :flower:

 

Unlike my shrimp bowl, where I built an elaborate rockscape because there will be no coral or charismatic plant life, the scape in the reef bowl will be pretty simple. There will be a primary stone, hopefully with an asymmetrical sloping shape and tabled surfaces to accommodate frags, and possibly a secondary stone. Anything I do will be distorted and magnified by the shape of the bowl, but I'm going to try to create a foreground, middle ground and background to establish some sense of depth.

 

I'm looking very carefully at Maritza the Vase Reef and other (relatively) simple pico systems as I make stocking decisions. At this point I'm considering some combination of:

 

pulsing xenia

euphyllia

monti digitata

stylophora

sinularia

caulastrea

acans

ricordea

sympodium

leptoseris

...and lots of zoas.

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Thank you :)

Another is cats walking in the paint! We had to clean up a couple dozen bright orange footprints last night.

Ha ha, I painted a mud room we have and I also did the threshold to match. Of course Elmo, our nosey kitty at the time walked through it. I painted his footprints a contrasting color thus memoralizing him. He has since passed so I am glad I did that as it warms my heart when I remember and think of him.
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natalia_la_loca

Ha ha, I painted a mud room we have and I also did the threshold to match. Of course Elmo, our nosey kitty at the time walked through it. I painted his footprints a contrasting color thus memoralizing him. He has since passed so I am glad I did that as it warms my heart when I remember and think of him.

 

:wub:

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Thank you yoshi, I'm glad you like it :flower:

 

Unlike my shrimp bowl, where I built an elaborate rockscape because there will be no coral or charismatic plant life, the scape in the reef bowl will be pretty simple. There will be a primary stone, hopefully with an asymmetrical sloping shape and tabled surfaces to accommodate frags, and possibly a secondary stone. Anything I do will be distorted and magnified by the shape of the bowl, but I'm going to try to create a foreground, middle ground and background to establish some sense of depth.

 

I'm looking very carefully at Maritza the Vase Reef and other (relatively) simple pico systems as I make stocking decisions. At this point I'm considering some combination of:

 

pulsing xenia

euphyllia

monti digitata

stylophora

sinularia

caulastrea

acans

ricordea

sympodium

leptoseris

...and lots of zoas.

I don't think this will all fit in 1 gallon...

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Neat idea :)

 

I know Stella has a thread for her paintings, but I'm not aware of a general thread for reef related art (or art by nano-reefers).

 

Most of my work isn't overtly reef related, although it will become more so this year. Two pieces I'm working on now have marine fauna playing starring or supporting roles :ninja:

 

Okay, I did it:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/371235-reefer-artists-unite/

 

We can stop hijacking this awesome pico bowl thread now.... :P

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natalia_la_loca

I don't think this will all fit in 1 gallon...

 

 

Stock list:

1-Hollywood Stunner2-Montipora Malampaya (rare)3-Pachyseris Unchain Green4-Branching Green Psammocora (rare)5-Purple Tip Montipora Digitata6-True Purple Montipora Digitata 7-Blue Ridge Coral Branching8-Nuclear Green Trumpet Coral9-Candy Cane Coral10-Rainbow Acans (bottom)11-Nuclear Green Acan Bowerbanki (rare)12-Nuclear Green Scolymia13-Pink Stylophora14-Green Stylophora15-Purple Blastomussa Wellsi16-Purple Photo Sponge (rare)17-Colony Pink Pulsating Xenia (on Glass)18-Purple Torch Coral19-Calderon Blue's Zoanthids20-Orange Zoanthids21-African Metal Zoanthids22-Deep Water Blue Zoanthids23-Purple Zoanthids24-Captain America Palythoa25-Nuclear Green Palythoa26-Radio Active Eagle Eyes Zoanthids27-Nuclear Radio Active Zoanthids28-Pumpkin Orange Acan29-Pink Rainbow Palythoa30-Xmas Favia31-Mean Greens Zoanthids32-Red Green Cyphastrea (bottom)33-Watermelon Zoanthids (bottom)34-Myan Favia 35-Orange Encrusting Psammocora 2 heads (rare)35-Gold Dust Palythoa

 

Mary's 3-year-old vase reef is 1.25 gallons. My reefbowl is 1.75 gallons. So I'll theoretically be able to fit all of the above, with room to spare for a couple of tiger sharks and a narwhal ;)

 

Okay, I did it:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/371235-reefer-artists-unite/

 

We can stop hijacking this awesome pico bowl thread now.... :P

 

YES!!!! [EDIT: Here there be trolls]

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Ha ha, I painted a mud room we have and I also did the threshold to match. Of course Elmo, our nosey kitty at the time walked through it. I painted his footprints a contrasting color thus memoralizing him. He has since passed so I am glad I did that as it warms my heart when I remember and think of him.

 

I love this, Dawn.

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Stock list:

1-Hollywood Stunner2-Montipora Malampaya (rare)3-Pachyseris Unchain Green4-Branching Green Psammocora (rare)5-Purple Tip Montipora Digitata6-True Purple Montipora Digitata 7-Blue Ridge Coral Branching8-Nuclear Green Trumpet Coral9-Candy Cane Coral10-Rainbow Acans (bottom)11-Nuclear Green Acan Bowerbanki (rare)12-Nuclear Green Scolymia13-Pink Stylophora14-Green Stylophora15-Purple Blastomussa Wellsi16-Purple Photo Sponge (rare)17-Colony Pink Pulsating Xenia (on Glass)18-Purple Torch Coral19-Calderon Blue's Zoanthids20-Orange Zoanthids21-African Metal Zoanthids22-Deep Water Blue Zoanthids23-Purple Zoanthids24-Captain America Palythoa25-Nuclear Green Palythoa26-Radio Active Eagle Eyes Zoanthids27-Nuclear Radio Active Zoanthids28-Pumpkin Orange Acan29-Pink Rainbow Palythoa30-Xmas Favia31-Mean Greens Zoanthids32-Red Green Cyphastrea (bottom)33-Watermelon Zoanthids (bottom)34-Myan Favia 35-Orange Encrusting Psammocora 2 heads (rare)35-Gold Dust Palythoa

 

Mary's 3-year-old vase reef is 1.25 gallons. My reefbowl is 1.75 gallons. So I'll theoretically be able to fit all of the above, with room to spare for a couple of tiger sharks and a narwhal ;)

 

 

YES!!!!

Crazy! Go for it!
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Stock list:

1-Hollywood Stunner2-Montipora Malampaya (rare)3-Pachyseris Unchain Green4-Branching Green Psammocora (rare)5-Purple Tip Montipora Digitata6-True Purple Montipora Digitata 7-Blue Ridge Coral Branching8-Nuclear Green Trumpet Coral9-Candy Cane Coral10-Rainbow Acans (bottom)11-Nuclear Green Acan Bowerbanki (rare)12-Nuclear Green Scolymia13-Pink Stylophora14-Green Stylophora15-Purple Blastomussa Wellsi16-Purple Photo Sponge (rare)17-Colony Pink Pulsating Xenia (on Glass)18-Purple Torch Coral19-Calderon Blue's Zoanthids20-Orange Zoanthids21-African Metal Zoanthids22-Deep Water Blue Zoanthids23-Purple Zoanthids24-Captain America Palythoa25-Nuclear Green Palythoa26-Radio Active Eagle Eyes Zoanthids27-Nuclear Radio Active Zoanthids28-Pumpkin Orange Acan29-Pink Rainbow Palythoa30-Xmas Favia31-Mean Greens Zoanthids32-Red Green Cyphastrea (bottom)33-Watermelon Zoanthids (bottom)34-Myan Favia 35-Orange Encrusting Psammocora 2 heads (rare)35-Gold Dust Palythoa

 

Mary's 3-year-old vase reef is 1.25 gallons. My reefbowl is 1.75 gallons. So I'll theoretically be able to fit all of the above, with room to spare for a couple of tiger sharks and a narwhal ;)

I really think keeping pico tanks is a lot like doing Bonsai trees. They can look just like big tanks, only really really small :)

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the picotigershark :D

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natalia_la_loca

The reefbowl is wet :happydance:

 

25175016510_6af067a261_z_d.jpg

 

I added two drops each of Zeobak and ammonia to get the cycle going.

 

The rockscape is as simple as (in fact it is) one rock stacked on another, and actually pretty small too; it reaches less than 2/3 the height of the bowl. But because of the bowl's dimensions, it appears to be crowded with rock. My hope is that with a few frags in there, it will look like it's crowded with coral.

 

A couple issues are obvious now that it's got water inside. The biggest one is heat. The studio is pretty cold, it gets down to about 60F in winter. The little Betta Stik is an awesome size for this bowl, but it's only getting the temp to 74. I think rather than adding something bulky like a Cobalt Neotherm 25W, I'll add a second Betta Stik and see if that gets it to 78.

 

The other issue, as you can see in the photo, is condensation on the lid. Right now I'm using the lid from a disposable paint palette, but the edge extends beyond the bowl opening and will surely lead to condensate drip and salt creep. I found a really nice glass terrarium lid that is the right size, but I need to add a gasket or O-ring so it sits evenly and provides a barrier to moisture.

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To fix your problem the lid needs to fit on the inner diameter of the bowl neck

 

Currently it's overlap, directs drip outward

 

Find lid with o ring yes, but the sizing makes it press firmly on the - inside- of the neck facing outwards, such that if you poke too hard you'll push it through.

 

Then you have to poke a couple vent holes with a pin so pressure won't push salt creep up, those steps will fix the issue

 

To keep it from pushing through:

Some creative stack of cross pin or something is larger than the outer diameter; can't push through and holds the seal exactly in place. Fit the lid to the inner diameter :) nice setup I guarantee it will work either way but one way is less salt creep.

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Its possible to cut your lid down to fit inner diameter, the o ring could be silicone type specifically airline tubing split, and glued into place firmly with silicone. When dried, it presses firmly on the inner diameter of the neck.

 

When wet, it presses nicely just inside that top ring and some arrangement keeps it from falling through, easy. Epoxied nubs of wood etc.

 

You could change the entire permanent physicality of that bowl and make it work by heating each edge section of your lid and aiming it inward, makes it inner diameter fit. Yep that's what I'd do then your exact bowl will work heat that lip of that lid and aim it in, first runs might be ugly folded and such, all dark from you heating to correct lol but such is R and D

 

Make that current lid simply aim it's internal drip back into the tank, it will work certainly. Creative reshaping not cutting of current lid. You can use two small strips of clear tape, I do, to hold a pico lid. Look how mine is on the inner diameter of the vase:

img_20160228_161924776-jpg.321933

 

If it rested on top it would change outcomes drastically

 

Yours can have a V bend that aims all drip in, but still rests and seals decently on the V wall and you use a couple clear strips to press hooks it in place

 

Heat rebend your lid

Precise cooking quality flambé torch heat easy reshape I probably could not pull that off lol but it's the physicality your bowl requires

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natalia_la_loca

Thank you for the advice :) I agree that making it fit the inner diameter is key. I like the idea of reshaping the lid to aim drips into the tank. I'll give that a try tonight.

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It is a true technical challenge to shape that and maintain a round seal. Several planter dish lid options exist at hobby lobby or crafts etc, I get mine there. Your bowl can be made to work in some arrangement for sure, growing coral that used to be claimed impossible to grow in small containers.

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natalia_la_loca

I totally want to start a volcano shrimp jar now :)

 

Do it do it do it do it do it!

 

It is a true technical challenge to shape that and maintain a round seal. Several planter dish lid options exist at hobby lobby or crafts etc, I get mine there. Your bowl can be made to work in some arrangement for sure, growing coral that used to be claimed impossible to grow in small containers.

 

Yup, I may try a different lid. I saw some planter lids at the grocery store. They may look a little janky, but I can always remove them for photos and if they get rid of salt creep, it's worth it.

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Do it do it do it do it do it!

 

 

Yup, I may try a different lid. I saw some planter lids at the grocery store. They may look a little janky, but I can always remove them for photos and if they get rid of salt creep, it's worth it.

 

:) Janky. I like that term!

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  • natalia_la_loca changed the title to Natalia's Reefbowlocalypse: all good

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