natalia_la_loca Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 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! 9 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 Trying out some new lenses. wide angle Macro and funnest of all...fish eye 7 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 I Love the fish eye! For a second it looked like your bowl was in a bowl! 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Fisheye from over the top of the bowl with the lid off! 4 Quote Link to comment
davy jones Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 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 1 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 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. 1 Quote Link to comment
davy jones Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Thanks for the reply! No need to test params if you reset it every week anyways right! 1 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 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. 9 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 The new filters are really nice! What kind / where did you get them? The bowl is looking beautiful 2 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 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. 3 Quote Link to comment
holy carp Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 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? 1 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 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. Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Wow the colors look great with the new filters! Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 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. Drag files here to attach, or choose files... Accepted file types gif, jpeg, jpe, jpg, png · Max total size 6MB 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 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! 1 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 23, 2017 Author Share Posted April 23, 2017 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? 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 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? 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! 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 I dunno but that would be super cool! 1 Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 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? 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!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 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. 1 Quote Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 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 Happy nephthea happy euphyllia (the shadow is my phone lol) 5 Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 Corals look GORGEOUS. Of course, I expect no less from this Bowl. Really hope the Pom-Pom didn't die. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 Aww come on little pom pom! 2 Quote Link to comment
holy carp Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 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... 2 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said: Happy nephthea Love the Nepthea! Quote Link to comment
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