Natalia’s reefbowl: 8 years old!

[SeaFurn]

Congratulations on BOTM!!!  I knew back in January when I joined that you had something special going there! And I'm happy to say I'm one of your Reef Bowl groupies!!

[Flexin]

Natalia, in the Bowl of the Month article, you mentioned "introducing ill-behaved predators (I’m looking at you, peppermint shrimp!). ".  Can you share what drove this comment?

[natalia_la_loca]

26 minutes ago, Flexin said:

Natalia, in the Bowl of the Month article, you mentioned "introducing ill-behaved predators (I’m looking at you, peppermint shrimp!). ".  Can you share what drove this comment?

 

I was referring to the tendency of peppermint shrimp to be an annoyance once they consume all the aiptasia. When I had one, he was a great aiptasia eater, but after that I had to feed him loads of mysis to keep him from ripping into my corals when I fed them. They can be really nasty with acans. They're not bad per se, they just need extra food after their "job" is done.

[JoeR]

58 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

I was referring to the tendency of peppermint shrimp to be an annoyance once they consume all the aiptasia. When I had one, he was a great aiptasia eater, but after that I had to feed him loads of mysis to keep him from ripping into my corals when I fed them. They can be really nasty with acans. They're not bad per se, they just need extra food after their "job" is done.

Exactly what mine did. Went to corals, specifically acans, immediately after the aiptasia were gone. I am going to use some aiptasiaX I bought yesterday instead but I'm honestly a little scared to lol

[markalot]

Congrats on BOTM! 

[Flexin]

2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

I was referring to the tendency of peppermint shrimp to be an annoyance once they consume all the aiptasia. When I had one, he was a great aiptasia eater, but after that I had to feed him loads of mysis to keep him from ripping into my corals when I fed them. They can be really nasty with acans. They're not bad per se, they just need extra food after their "job" is done.

Thank you Natalia and Joe.  I'm new to the hobby and this information is helpful.  I will have to present my tank soon so I can get more advise.  I don't have any acans in the tank but I have a number of other corals.  I will organize some tank photos and hopefully post something later this evening as my introduction

[brandon429]

Hundred percent congrats you are making pico reefing shine

 

pro level coral sustenance here

[HowardJ]

22 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

By the way, here's a daytime shot that I took with the iPhone behind a yellow gel filter, then edited in Snapseed to knock back the yellow.

 

 

That is so cool! Good work!

[Flexin]

4 hours ago, Flexin said:

Thank you Natalia and Joe.  I'm new to the hobby and this information is helpful.  I will have to present my tank soon so I can get more advise.  I don't have any acans in the tank but I have a number of other corals.  I will organize some tank photos and hopefully post something later this evening as my introduction

I've added my tank to the journal.  This was just want i needed to get going.  Thanks again Natalia.  Hopfully soon I will give a bowl a try

[natalia_la_loca]

14 hours ago, brandon429 said:

Hundred percent congrats you are making pico reefing shine

 

pro level coral sustenance here

 

Couldn't have done it without you  You showed us all that it could be done!

[natalia_la_loca]

First pic of the pompom crab since adding her to the reefbowl! She's eating well and still hanging out near the front of the bowl. So glad she's in a place where I can see her! The blasto rock has a huge (for her) tunnel in the middle that she likes to hide in. This pic shows her at the tunnel entrance.

 

The new goniopora is really happy. Here is a pic of it taken with iPhone, yellow gel filter, and a macro lens attachment for smartphones.

 

I noticed the other day that the red planet (now green planet) acropora is encrusting very aggressively. It's getting too close to the blondies and morphed melons. Will have to superglue it at the edges during the next water change.

 

Finally, I have discontinued dosing fluconazole after 52 days.  Very small quantities of hair algae continue to grow in isolated spots. I'm glad I kept using peroxide and did not assume flucon would be a panacea. As it is, the GHA is very manageable with peroxide spot treatments during water changes.

[Weetabix7]

That's great that the new Goni is doing so well!! I may let myself get tempted into adding one to the Waterfall at some point, we'll see. 

 

Love that the Pom-pom Crab seems to be working out well for you, as it is with many others. Has it's behaviour been what you expected?

[natalia_la_loca]

I imagine a goni should do well in your waterfall. I don't know exactly why they are doing so well in the reefbowl. Possible factors are the use of Reef Roids, the big water changes, and the random flow (anecdote has it that they do not like laminar flow). Another thing that's notable is that while they show wonderful polyp extension, growth is very slow. Which really is a good thing in such a small space. The only thing that would give me pause in your waterfall is that I would suggest avoiding goniopora varieties that have long/tall polyps. I would worry about them injuring other corals.

 

The pom-pom is behaving as expected, and better. Thus far, she has totally ignored corals and has stayed in view. Both she and the hermit are adding a bit of personality to the reefbowl that wasn't there before. After all, they're the only inhabitants that have faces (unless you count the snails)

[Christopher Marks]

28 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Finally, I have discontinued dosing fluconazole after 52 days

Do you feel it was worth the trouble or made much difference?

[natalia_la_loca]

Just now, Christopher Marks said:

Do you feel it was worth the trouble or made much difference?

 

Absolutely. I believe there were three different varieties of filamentous algae in the reefbowl: one that formed thick stalks, one that formed little tufts, and one that formed longish strands that sometimes have a branching structure. The fluconazole totally eradicated the first two, as far as I can tell. At least now I only have one kind of hair algae to deal with. I also see a bubble of valonia once in a while, but that hasn't been hard to keep under control.

[YaBoyLaj]

So glad to see this get TOTM... i like saying BOTM better tho lol. Very well deserved, congrats!

[natalia_la_loca]

Made a little change yesterday. The architect lamp I was using was too short to suspend the par38 at an adequate height, so I had it stacked on two boxes and a book. Not very elegant! Then @Weetabix7 said there was a taller one available. It has a weird construction flaw: they put 2 screws in the bottom arm so it couldn't move. Probably because it's unstable in certain positions. But when the screws are removed and it's extended to its full height, it seems very stable (it has a very heavy base). And it looks much better now that I don't have to stack a bunch of things to get it to 17.5" above the water line. Not bad for $20.

 

 

[Weetabix7]

Hooray!!!

I didn't realize that about the 2 screws in the bottom arm, I need to try taking them out like you did, cause I need to extend mine up higher too. 

I currently have mine setting on top of a decorative Stumptown Coffee box, lol. 

[JoeR]

Much better. The one I bought off amazon for $15 didn't work at all, it wouldn't hold the bulb even though the write up specifically said it could. Also couldn't clip on the glass. 

 

Is that a rat terrier I see? I love them, my brother has two and they're the funniest dogs you'll ever meet.

[natalia_la_loca]

Yup, a rat terrier mix  He's a total sweetie. Loves to play.

[natalia_la_loca]

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Hooray!!!

I didn't realize that about the 2 screws in the bottom arm, I need to try taking them out like you did, cause I need to extend mine up higher too. 

I currently have mine setting on top of a decorative Stumptown Coffee box, lol. 

 

Before I forget, I wanted to warn you that one of the two screws may be really hard to remove. They are soft and easy to strip, which is what happened with mine. I had to stick a screwdriver between the bracket thing and the arm that the screw goes into (sorry, I have no idea how to describe these things) and that helped loosen it.  Unfortunately, that resulted in some scratched-up metal, but that isn't really noticeable unless you look for it.  If you'd like pictures of what I'm talking about, let me know.

[Christopher Marks]

5 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Yup, a rat terrier mix  He's a total sweetie. Loves to play.

Ok, now we gotta see a photo of the pups!  My dog Archer is a rat terrier beagle mix.

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

Before I forget, I wanted to warn you that one of the two screws may be really hard to remove. They are soft and easy to strip, which is what happened with mine. I had to stick a screwdriver between the bracket thing and the arm that the screw goes into (sorry, I have no idea how to describe these things) and that helped loosen it.  Unfortunately, that resulted in some scratched-up metal, but that isn't really noticeable unless you look for it.  If you'd like pictures of what I'm talking about, let me know.

 

Hmmm, yeah, pics would help when doable. 

Thx much for the warning. 

[natalia_la_loca]

Sure Here are some pics I have on hand.

 

Handsome boy (we give him a more utilitarian cut these days, he gets lots of tangles and burrs)

 

 

 

He smiles when you give him a tummy rub.

 

@Weetabix7, I'll take some pics for you tonight!

 

 

[teenyreef]

So cute! I love that smile

 

I agree on the Fluco, while it didn't eliminate every last bit of algae, it got rid of the evil uncontrollable stuff, and what's left is controllable through normal tank husbandry and the usual methods.