Snow's 2.9G O.S.P.R. Mushroom Mansion

[kimberbee]

[Snow_Phoenix]

I did another 90% WC today afternoon. 

 

So far, I have hit two snags with this little tank: 

 

1. Diatoms.

 

 

It is not really bad, and it only covers the top layer of my forked stick, which is under direct exposure of my light. The good news is that the diatoms vanish every single night when the lights go off, but they return the following day like clockwork. Since basting removes them and this is temporary, I am not overly concerned just yet.

 

2. The second shroom. 

 

 

Remember I have two hairy shrooms - one of which wasn't doing so well? Well, I discovered that it had detached from the tiny LR rubble it came on, was shrunken and covered in a tangle of fern caulerpa roots.

 

I gently pried it away from the macro but it looks like hell (as compared to its homie next to it). So I fished out a larger piece of LR rubble from the fugebox of my 20G and put it in between the shroom and the unruly caulerpa. I think I *might rubber band the shroom down to the rock to help it stick later.

 

As for good things, that little hitchiker snail I introduced on the tank seems to be doing a good job - I just wish I had a dozen of these guys to eat my GHA strands or something.

 

 

Also, I gave it some thought today and I have decided to introduce the hitchiker crab into the pico this evening. I'm not sure if he will make that much of an impact in the tank, but I think he should fit right in. 

 

[Tigahboy]

Sorry to hear about the free-floating shroom.  But that shroom rock is beautiful!  😍

[Snow_Phoenix]

12 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

Sorry to hear about the free-floating shroom.  But that shroom rock is beautiful!  😍

Well, it looked terrible from Day 1 tbh. I thought I could salvage it somehow, so I moved it to the Pico. It appeared to improve for a while, but then I realized it was far less 'fluffier' than the other Hairy Shroom I had it with. I'll strap it to the rock - see how it goes.

 

I might tinker with the shroom pile again later. It's so difficult to move things around without knocking over something else. My trusty chopstick does most of the shifting, but I think I'll need a pair of tweezers too. Every time I do a WC or top-off, I seem to send a rock or shroom flying halfway across the tank. 

[Tigahboy]

Just now, Snow_Phoenix said:

Well, it looked terrible from Day 1 tbh. I thought I could salvage it somehow, so I moved it to the Pico. It appeared to improve for a while, but then I realized it was far less 'fluffier' than the other Hairy Shroom I had it with. I'll strap it to the rock - see how it goes.

 

I might tinker with the shroom pile again later. It's so difficult to move things around without knocking over something else. My trusty chopstick does most of the shifting, but I think I'll need a pair of tweezers too. Every time I do a WC or top-off, I seem to send a rock or shroom flying halfway across the tank. 

I was doing chopsticks for the longest time on my FW pico, but getting actual long tweezers was a game changer for me.  LOL.  

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

I was doing chopsticks for the longest time on my FW pico, but getting actual long tweezers was a game changer for me.  LOL.  

Then tweezers, here I come!

[yoshii]

1 hour ago, Tigahboy said:

I was doing chopsticks for the longest time on my FW pico, but getting actual long tweezers was a game changer for me.  LOL.  

+1 I got some cheap 15" ones off Amazon for my last tank and I don't know how I survived without them!

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 minutes ago, yoshii said:

+1 I got some cheap 15" ones off Amazon for my last tank and I don't know how I survived without them!

I have a pair of 'reptile' metal ones that I use to feed my eels downstairs, so I think I'll just use those. They're quite long too - around 30cm, if I'm not mistaken. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Okay guys, so we got a rubber band on hold. Mission mushroom strap-down commences! 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

You guys were right - the tweezers helped a lot! 

 

 

But the problem is, I'm terrible at strapping down shrooms. They slime (ick!) and slip and slide all over the place. After a few minutes of wrestling my shroom into place, I accomplished this:

 

 

But I think the strap is too tight. If I loosen it, it will be too loose. So I guess if this works out, I might have two smaller hairy shrooms in the future...? (Or a glob of melted shroom guts) 

 

This is my other healthy shroom in comparison:

 

 

They look so different. 😕

[Snow_Phoenix]

Grump the crab is in:

 

Tomorrow I plan on adding a small vial of Bioptim/Biodigest. The tank has already been seeded with tisbe pods from the store, and is technically cycled, but I figured the bacterial boost couldn't hurt.  

 

This was part of the pod culture I used:

 

More wicked things to come! 

[kimberbee]

Looking good! 

 

Don't forget, you manhandled the shroom a bit, so of course it's pissy! I love the green/purple color they have!

[Snow_Phoenix]

4 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Looking good! 

 

Don't forget, you manhandled the shroom a bit, so of course it's pissy! I love the green/purple color they have!

Lol, I think I downright strangled it, as opposed to just manhandling. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I just made my first worst mistake with this tank.

 

I was wondering why my shrooms were closed up and 'puffy' - didn't think much of it, even after I turned my lights off for the day. You know the feeling you get, when you know something is wrong, but you can't quite put your finger on it? I had that feeling nibbling at the back of my mind a couple of times throughout the evening, and something told me to check all my parameters just in case.

 

Few rounds of testing, everything is okay. Then I checked my salinity.

 

It was around 1.024, no biggie. 

 

Wrong. (!!!)

 

Some inner feeling better told me I should counter-check, just in case. So I ferreted out my old cheap plastic hydrometer from the cabinet downstairs and it reads....beyond 1.030 (?!?!).

 

I panicked a little bit, then re-checked my refractometer. I recalibrated it today morning before using it, but obviously I did something wrong today. I know my nano runs straight on point at 1.024, so I quickly checked the 20G's salinity and the reading came back as 1.019 (!).

 

Immediately I knew I messed up my recalibration somehow. So I re-recalibrated the silly thing, cross-checked with the 35 ppt solution the kit comes with, and what do I find? I screwed up. I screwed up big time! 

 

Post re-recalibration and my pico's salinity reads at 1.030. This was a huge jump from the 1.024 salinity I've been running it with since it got wet. And it has been running with this hypersalinity for the last few hours without my notice. 

 

I'm slowly reducing the salinity by manually removing the current SW and re-adding a bit of fresh water in a 10 to 15 minute interval. If everything goes well, I should be able to bring down the salinity over the next few hours (yay, no sleep!) and basically, I'll just let you all know if the tank survives the night.

 

I tried to find my hitchiker crab so that I could at least pull him out and save him, but there's absolutely no trace of him. 

 

Given how good he is at hiding, I'm not surprised I can't locate him at all. All my tiny hitchiker snails are currently collected at my waterline and I'm just waiting and hoping everything makes it in one piece. I could move my shrooms back into my nano, but I don't know how they'll react by the sudden shift from 1.030 salinity to 1.024 salinity. At least by gradually reducing the salinity, they *might make it. 

 

I'll keep you all posted if anything good (or bad) happens. I can't believe I was so careless! 😞 

[WV Reefer]

14 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I just made my first worst mistake with this tank.

 

I was wondering why my shrooms were closed up and 'puffy' - didn't think much of it, even after I turned my lights off for the day. You know the feeling you get, when you know something is wrong, but you can't quite put your finger on it? I had that feeling nibbling at the back of my mind a couple of times throughout the evening, and something told me to check all my parameters just in case.

 

Few rounds of testing, everything is okay. Then I checked my salinity.

 

It was around 1.024, no biggie. 

 

Wrong. (!!!)

 

Some inner feeling better told me I should counter-check, just in case. So I ferreted out my old cheap plastic hydrometer from the cabinet downstairs and it reads....beyond 1.030 (?!?!).

 

I panicked a little bit, then re-checked my refractometer. I recalibrated it today morning before using it, but obviously I did something wrong today. I know my nano runs straight on point at 1.024, so I quickly checked the 20G's salinity and the reading came back as 1.019 (!).

 

Immediately I knew I messed up my recalibration somehow. So I re-recalibrated the silly thing, cross-checked with the 35 ppt solution the kit comes with, and what do I find? I screwed up. I screwed up big time! 

 

Post re-recalibration and my pico's salinity reads at 1.030. This was a huge jump from the 1.024 salinity I've been running it with since it got wet. And it has been running with this hypersalinity for the last few hours without my notice. 

 

I'm slowly reducing the salinity by manually removing the current SW and re-adding a bit of fresh water in a 10 to 15 minute interval. If everything goes well, I should be able to bring down the salinity over the next few hours (yay, no sleep!) and basically, I'll just let you all know if the tank survives the night.

 

I tried to find my hitchiker crab so that I could at least pull him out and save him, but there's absolutely no trace of him. 

 

Given how good he is at hiding, I'm not surprised I can't locate him at all. All my tiny hitchiker snails are currently collected at my waterline and I'm just waiting and hoping everything makes it in one piece. I could move my shrooms back into my nano, but I don't know how they'll react by the sudden shift from 1.030 salinity to 1.024 salinity. At least by gradually reducing the salinity, they *might make it. 

 

I'll keep you all posted if anything good (or bad) happens. I can't believe I was so careless! 😞 

 

Mistakes happen. At least you caught it quickly. 

 

Keep us updated. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hey everyone, good news! My tank made it through the night with zero losses. All corals are intact and doing well. Salinity has been pushed back down to 1.024. 

 

And I spotted my first possible pest late last night - a red flatworm! 

 

 

It's still clinging to the glass today morning. I thought I'll just let it be. I'm not sure where exactly it came from but my guess is the macro. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I just added a tiny vial of biodigest to seed the tank:

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will be moving my yuma(s) and clove polyp frag in. Then on Friday, I'll select three/four of my zoa frags. Next week, I'll move in two of my acan frags and *maybe one of my smaller leathers. (Most likely my green Nepthea).

 

Over the next few months, I'll slowly stock up on more shrooms. I think I'll add Miko towards either the end of April or early May. I'll focus on cutting out a lid out of mesh/plastic in the meantime. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Yumas and clove polyp frags added to the Mansion today - be warned - this is going to be pic heavy! 

 

 

And some old shots of pre-existing inhabitants:

 

 

 

 

Another 90% WC will be up tomorrow. Three zoa frags will go in during the next batch of tank introductions, followed by my pink-legged hermit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[748S911]

Great pics. 

[yoshii]

Beautiful pics! 😍

I need to hurry up and get my tank going lol

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

8 minutes ago, yoshii said:

Beautiful pics! 😍

I need to hurry up and get my tank going lol

 

I'm looking forward to yours! I loved your little macro TOTM all those years ago. That's when I realized that sometimes even the most simple of tanks can be stunning in time. 🙂 

[yoshii]

31 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I'm looking forward to yours! I loved your little macro TOTM all those years ago. That's when I realized that sometimes even the most simple of tanks can be stunning in time. 🙂 

Awww, thank you! I loved that little tank, it was my favorite. I'm hoping my pico will turn out similarly, they both have janky tanks, HOBs, and weird lighting

 

I think your growing shroom collection in this pico is really going to make it stand out

[Snow_Phoenix]

20 minutes ago, yoshii said:

Awww, thank you! I loved that little tank, it was my favorite. I'm hoping my pico will turn out similarly, they both have janky tanks, HOBs, and weird lighting

 

I think your growing shroom collection in this pico is really going to make it stand out

Thanks - but there might be some 'repeats'. I've seen pink and orange yumas up for sale but they're very pricey. So I'll stick to the usual discosoma or rhodactis varieties. The one thing I really love about shrooms is that you can literally pile them all next to each other without any issue (except for yumas, which can sting) so you can get a rainbow of color. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So I finally made a small lid for the pico. It turned out to be a janky lid though, but I'm cool with it. 

 

I started off by snapping a plastic aquarium divider into half. It wasn't exactly a clean break, as you can see below:

 

 

I then took the measurement of my light holder and filter into account. The lid will be oversized, so the corners of it will stick out from the surface edges of the tank:

 

 

30 mins of anxious cutting using a highly undersized and inefficient handsaw, I managed to get the two pieces cut out successfully. I then smoothened the edges using some sandpaper and voila! The lid:

 

 

There are a few cracks here and there and personally I think I'm just lucky to have an intact piece of plastic. I gave it a quick rinse and am drying it outside the house overnight. Tomorrow I will slip it over the tank. Hopefully the additional shading will reduce the daily evaporation rate and prevent Miko from carpet-surfing when he is added to the tank. 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Did another 90% WC few hours ago. I spotted some diatoms pressed up against the glass, under the sandbed (?) but when I stirred it up with my chopstick, it vanished. 

 

The little mushroom mansion is chugging along fine so far. Miko is also doing very, very well in QT and eating like a tiny workhorse. 

 

I promise I'll put up a FTS by the end of this week. I just want to move the zoas and the hermit in to make it complete. 

 

There might be a short downtime between the next coral additions after the zoas (and later, acans). I *might pick up a frag or two (if I ever step back in the LFS), but I'm basically trying to save every note I can for the upgrade of my 20G nanotank. So I'll be a bit frugal, and try to grow out this little pico between any cheap additions.