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Natalia's Reefbowlocalypse: all good


natalia_la_loca

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natalia_la_loca

Got the molt out. Here it is next to a molt I saved from a Pom Pom crab in my previous tank. This crab is TINY!

 

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This is seriously one of the coolest things ever. Deep blue professional makes an 8x8x8 cube for like $25 on amazon, works out to be about 2 gallons or so! I think it would be fun to try and create something similar to what you have here. Do you test your water and if so what are your params? What salt mix do you use? Sorry if youve gone over this info, i didnt read it in your featured reef profile thing haha

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natalia_la_loca

I hate to admit it, but I almost never test my water. My main "water tests" are the condition of the corals, water clarity, presence of nuisance algae, etc. When I have done water tests, nitrate and phosphate almost always hover close to zero. Calcium is around 400 except just before the water change. Alk is usually low, around 7. But still the corals grow, and 100% water changes fix all manner of problems. 

 

I buy water premixed at the LFS. They use a mix of Tropic Marin and Aquavitro Salinity.

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natalia_la_loca

I found some new gel filters that render the colors much better on an iPhone! Far less yellow in the background than with the other filters.

 

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natalia_la_loca

I ordered a Roscolux small swatchbook.  It has a ton of different gel filters.  In addition to giving you lots of choices (useful for different lighting situations), the filters are of better quality. The other filters I ordered had a lot of fine scratches that seemed to be artifacts of the manufacturing process. There were also only a few filters to choose from.

 

It took me maybe 15 minutes to comb through the swatchbook and find filters that worked well (there were several).  For the one in the pics above, I cut off a little piece and taped it to my phone. Super high tech :)  So when that piece gets all scratched up or whatever, there will be lots more to cut off.

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Nice work preserving those molts.  I've tried to do the same, but when they're so little and slippery when wet, it's really difficult to spread out the legs nicely without breaking them off.  Do you have a trick?

 

And the color looks great with those filters - were you still doing post-processing, or was that the direct photo result?

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natalia_la_loca

Thanks :) I used a toothpick to position the legs while still wet.

 

The only post-processing I did was the Structure and Sharpen filters--no color processing!  That's the best thing about these new gels.  Now I just need to find a better clip-on macro lens so I can zoom in on particular corals.

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Nano sapiens
2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I found some new gel filters that render the colors much better on an iPhone! Far less yellow in the background than with the other filters.

 

Very nice pics using the yellow filters.

 

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6 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I ordered a Roscolux small swatchbook.  It has a ton of different gel filters.  In addition to giving you lots of choices (useful for different lighting situations), the filters are of better quality. The other filters I ordered had a lot of fine scratches that seemed to be artifacts of the manufacturing process. There were also only a few filters to choose from.

 

It took me maybe 15 minutes to comb through the swatchbook and find filters that worked well (there were several).  For the one in the pics above, I cut off a little piece and taped it to my phone. Super high tech :)  So when that piece gets all scratched up or whatever, there will be lots more to cut off.

Thanks, ordered! 

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natalia_la_loca

The last couple of mornings, I've found the bowl a bit cloudy and all corals open except a few zoas. It clears up by midday. Could this be a spawning event?

 

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7 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

The last couple of mornings, I've found the bowl a bit cloudy and all corals open except a few zoas. It clears up by midday. Could this be a spawning event?

 

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Watch just after lights out.  My rainbow monti spawned right before we sold our 85.  Shortly after lights out, all yhese white little dots were released in the tank.  So cool if thatswhats happening in your tank!

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2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

The last couple of mornings, I've found the bowl a bit cloudy and all corals open except a few zoas. It clears up by midday. Could this be a spawning event?

 

34089015081_6c1abe9a35_b.jpg

 

 

Oh Wow, that would be SO cool, especially in a Reef Bowl that already defies the conventional ideas of how a Reef can and should be run!!!!

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 id draw out a sample of tank water into an api vial or something a little larger and then look through to make sure its not any growth on the glass obscuring. I noticed it gets good window light (excellence aka corals love sun) and though it can spike our films on surfaces the net effect is positive. in the summers I want my reefbowl to have direct sunlight im talking to the point I get concerned about overheating, that much direct. it makes my blastos open up so large it looks like they'll fall out. I have to clean glass more in the summer not a prob/worth it

 

if that extra cleaning ever got too much id close the blinds but the sunlight is dandy imo.

 

if a drawn sample looks cloudy then we need to see a microscope sample do tell

 

since an unrinsed sandbed isn't at play, minor bacteria blooms due to any sort of variation or change in feeding would not surprise me in vessels this small, though this is rare. im totally keen on seeing what caused a cloud ive never had one in mine not once ever.

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natalia_la_loca

I could see it being a bac bloom. Now that I think of it, it's possible I've lost my pom pom crab, she's been MIA for the last week or so. The hermit and all 3 snails are accounted for. Water change is tomorrow. If she's dead, the remains will probably be flushed out when i blow out the scape with a turkey baster. I hope she's still alive!

 

The bowl was cloudy again yesterday, but today is crystal clear. All corals have been open and happy through all this.

 

This was yesterday afternoon. Looking at the pic now, it doesn't do justice to how cloudy it was. Sorry, I should have gotten a better pic  :blush:

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Happy nephthea

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happy euphyllia (the shadow is my phone lol)

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I'm staying optimistic.  I was searching my tank for at least 20 minutes last night in hopes to find one of my two pom pom crabs.  They usually come out at dusk, and I hadn't seen either in few days.  I finally found a hint of their shell pattern moving deep within a crevice of a rock.  They can be really reclusive sometimes, and I don't think they follow as predictable a schedule as I originally thought.  Who knows how long they like to play hide and seek...

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

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