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

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Wingy said:

I would split and glue in some clear plastic drinking straws.  You could even weave them into a mat first and then glue it in.  

This is actually a very good idea. Except I don't know how to weave any straws - might have to google it up or check a tutorial vid on YT. Thanks for the suggestion though!

1 hour ago, Wingy said:

Would it help to glue the plugs down and give Derp some dice or acrylic items to toss around instead.  Do you have any acrylic bird toy parts you could use?  

All my bird toys are wooden so that my conure's beak is trimmed down. I can get a hold of dice but I don't know if the paint coating it is reefsafe. I managed to glue down most of my frags except the zoas, shrooms and lobo. Thank goodness the lobo is too heavy to be lifted by a hermit. 😓

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pic heavy quick update: 

 

Some snapshots of my corals today, before WC. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Derp nibbled on this last night:

 

 

And I have diatoms on my glass, and pods feasting on it:

 

 

 

Also, my hitchiker sponges are doing well - the gray one has darkened a little but the tiny purple ones are popping up everywhere:

 

 

 

Topshot view before regular biweekly WC today:

 

 

FTS before WC today:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Also, I decided to patch up my lid to make it escape proof. 

 

1. I first cut off excess mesh from the mesh lid of my 20G nano.

 

 

2. I measured the gaps and cut out the mesh pieces accordingly.

 

 

3. I decided to use cyanoacrylate glue instead of regular super glue. 

 

 

 

4. Then I slipped a plastic glove on and began gluing down the cut out pieces over the gaps in my plastic lid.

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Janky lid completely fish-proofed:

 

😊

 

 

[WV Reefer]

3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Pic heavy quick update: 

 

Some snapshots of my corals today, before WC. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Derp nibbled on this last night:

 

 

And I have diatoms on my glass, and pods feasting on it:

 

 

 

Also, my hitchiker sponges are doing well - the gray one has darkened a little but the tiny purple ones are popping up everywhere:

 

 

 

Topshot view before regular biweekly WC today:

 

 

FTS before WC today:

 

 

Things look great...... that tall rock is still my favorite. 😊

[pgrVII]

3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Pic heavy quick update: 

 

Some snapshots of my corals today, before WC. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Derp nibbled on this last night:

 

 

And I have diatoms on my glass, and pods feasting on it:

 

 

 

Also, my hitchiker sponges are doing well - the gray one has darkened a little but the tiny purple ones are popping up everywhere:

 

 

 

Topshot view before regular biweekly WC today:

 

 

FTS before WC today:

 

Great pictures @Snow_Phoenix 🤙

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Things look great...... that tall rock is still my favorite. 😊

 

1 hour ago, pgrVII said:

Great pictures @Snow_Phoenix 🤙

Thank you both for your kind words! 🙂 

[pgrVII]

1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

 

Thank you both for your kind words! 🙂 

Youre quite welcome 😊

[MetaTank]

Everything looking great! You have sooooo many corals in there already...lol...

 

Also, Superglue is cyanoacrylate glue. SuperGlue brand Gel is ethyl cyanoacrylate. How was the texture of the stuff you used? Nice thick gel? That's going to be pretty much the only difference between brands, the thickness of the actual mix. It's also sold as IC Gel, or "Instant Cure Cyanoacrylate Gel"

[Snow_Phoenix]

6 hours ago, MetaTank said:

Everything looking great! You have sooooo many corals in there already...lol...

 

Also, Superglue is cyanoacrylate glue. SuperGlue brand Gel is ethyl cyanoacrylate. How was the texture of the stuff you used? Nice thick gel? That's going to be pretty much the only difference between brands, the thickness of the actual mix. It's also sold as IC Gel, or "Instant Cure Cyanoacrylate Gel"

I have come across super glue here which doesn't contain cyanoacrylate. It bonds a lot more quicker and is stronger but I'm not sure if it is reefsafe. 

 

And yeah, mine was thick but only because I used it in excess, I think. 

[Sancho]

2 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I have come across super glue here which doesn't contain cyanoacrylate. It bonds a lot more quicker and is stronger but I'm not sure if it is reefsafe. 

 

And yeah, mine was thick but only because I used it in excess, I think. 

What’s the main ingredient?

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 minute ago, Sancho said:

What’s the main ingredient?

For the non-cyanoacrylate one? I will have to check. It also has a strong smell that can give you a headache if you are exposed to it for a long time. My dad calls it 'elephant glue' because there is usually a pic of an elephant on the wrapper around the tube. 

 

I will try and see if we have a leftover tube lying around somewhere and get back to you. Kinda just woke up and still haven't dragged myself out of bed yet. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

17 minutes ago, Sancho said:

What’s the main ingredient?

Sancho, it looks mostly like this:

 

 

 

The ones we use for aquarium stuff more or less looks like this:

 

 

[Sancho]

2 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Sancho, it looks mostly like this:

 

 

 

The ones we use for aquarium stuff more or less looks like this:

 

 

It’s cyanoacrylate. I wouldn’t worry about using it 

[Snow_Phoenix]

8 minutes ago, Sancho said:

It’s cyanoacrylate. I wouldn’t worry about using it 

Ok, thank you. Sometimes the ingredients are written on the front or back, other times there is nothing there. I usually avoid the ones that don't mention cyanoacrylate at all. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I'm going to go pick up my fish from the store in about half an hour. Quite nervous - I texted the worker, she said he's doing ok in the holding tank. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So I picked up my little circus goby - he immediately took cover as soon as he was in the QT, but I caught him swimming around when I turned the lights off for the night:

 

 

 

I've decided to name him Prowler since that is what he does. 

 

I also just added a dose of Prazi in the QT just now, but the tank is currently overstocked and there are too many fish in it. So I think I'll shift everyone out into a 15G plastic tub so that there is more room for the fish - will throw in some additional PVC pipes as well. I just hope they all make it through the Prazi. The QT period can be very stressful to the fish, and I hope all of them make it through the 1 week of dosing. 

 

As for the Pico, my rainbow implosion polyps are extending too much. So I thought of cutting of the stem of the frag plug and gluing the entire base above my green rhodactis shroom rock. Not sure if that is alright, or if I should try gluing it on top of my acans instead. 🤔

 

Derp is also in good spirits:

 

 

He still makes a mess of things. I spotted Grump sneaking around behind my LR today but he was ultra-quick so I couldn't get a shot of him. Nice to know he's alive and well though. 

[WV Reefer]

34 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

So I picked up my little circus goby - he immediately took cover as soon as he was in the QT, but I caught him swimming around when I turned the lights off for the night:

 

 

 

I've decided to name him Prowler since that is what he does. 

 

I also just added a dose of Prazi in the QT just now, but the tank is currently overstocked and there are too many fish in it. So I think I'll shift everyone out into a 15G plastic tub so that there is more room for the fish - will throw in some additional PVC pipes as well. I just hope they all make it through the Prazi. The QT period can be very stressful to the fish, and I hope all of them make it through the 1 week of dosing. 

 

As for the Pico, my rainbow implosion polyps are extending too much. So I thought of cutting of the stem of the frag plug and gluing the entire base above my green rhodactis shroom rock. Not sure if that is alright, or if I should try gluing it on top of my acans instead. 🤔

 

Derp is also in good spirits:

 

 

He still makes a mess of things. I spotted Grump sneaking around behind my LR today but he was ultra-quick so I couldn't get a shot of him. Nice to know he's alive and well though. 

 

Prowler is super cute!! 😃

[Snow_Phoenix]

23 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Prowler is super cute!! 😃

Thank you! He cost me three figures - I genuinely hope it was worth it, because the same guy that eyed my pink streaked wrasse was dead set on picking Prowler up from the store as well. 

 

I don't think I'll be purchasing any fish for a while though. Definitely exceeded my budget this month. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I topped off the tank today, and added 3 drops of zooplankton + 1 drop of dKH buffer in a small bucket.

 

 

Gave the mix a quick stir with a chopstick and only had to add 1.5 cups of the water to the pico. I used the remainder of the water to top off my nano. 

 

I think my nutrient levels are too low. With the double WCs every week, the corals seem to be doing very well, but I noticed both my fern caulerpa and galaxaura has began to die off as of yesterday morning. Makes me wish I didn't prune my caulerpa and let it run amok for a while. As for the galaxaura, it's breaking off at the very base in individual stems and floating about. I tried slipping the stems into any crevices I have in the tank, but I'm either being thwarted by my water flow from the filter or Derp.

 

I did feed him yesterday and he stampeded straight through the yuma pile like an angry bull. I might ghost feed the tank a few NLS pellets everyday and maybe even put a tiny piece of mysis on the lobo's mouth (quite frankly, this guy poops like mad after any food) and the mini nem. 

 

My fish are currently being Prazi'd in my QT - I upgraded them to a larger bin since I have quite a number of nanofish in there. I'll most likely do a swap-up and add Prowler first by this Friday, and the Miko some time next week, before my 60G arrives. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just some pics of new growth I've seen so far in this tank:

 

I also salvaged my Utter Chaos and Eagle Eye zoanthids. In the case of the Utter Chaos, it's a lone, diminished polyp that I don't really expect to survive. As for my Eagle Eyes, it has dulled out to a brown color, but I'm hoping that given time, it will resume its original vibrancy and also bopped out a few more new heads:

 

My Rainbow Implosions were doing very well, but lately, I've noticed the stalks were lengthening because they were stretching for more and more light. I debated gluing them over my Acan frag, then decided I might as well glue them directly at the top of my rhodactis shroom rock since it's directly under my PAR38.

 

 

They opened up fairly quickly after being glued down, so that's a good sign that the coral wasn't too stressed over being pulled out of the water and moved about. I also noticed my red finger leather is extending and sort of stretching and swelling. I wouldn't consider this as any form of growth yet, but it's definitely very fluffy and happy with its current position (although it remains flopped over rather than upright).

 

 

Overall, I think the pico is going quite well. There are still some hiccups here and there - mainly with my macro dying, diatom building on the glass after the fourth day of any WC and my green Yuma doing some weird shrinking thing, but I'm keeping tabs on the overall health of the corals, and most of them seem to be doing fine. I find the lobo a bit tricky and moody though. But the shrooms are the best - without Derp's interference, they just sit there and look pretty, which is fine by me.

 

I might pull forward my schedule and add my Circus goby late at night tomorrow, or the day after. Some thing tells me the fish would appreciate a more natural environment for survival, and the quicker the better. He's currently not accepting any prepared food, but he might just appreciate the pods in the tank.

 

Also, a small note - this is a toilet-sink-tap-tank. Meaning, I'm literally using water from my toilet sink to mix up fresh batches of SW, top-off etc. I have been using it since the first day this tank was started. I find the water in my sink seems to be ideal for reefing, and while it's not perfect (PO4 = 0.03ppm & NO3 = 25ppm), my tank finds balance with this water. It's a very fragile balance, but still balance. I do have a bit of bottled DI as backup though, just in case anything goes awry.

 

For those of you who aren't acquainted with my other threads, my house comes with a large DI unit (the distiller is several feet tall) plugged directly into the porch, and it filters all the water that comes in through the pipes that supplement the house. To my knowledge, the water is quite clean and free of heavy metals (this is just a guess, I haven't exactly tested this out yet) but I'm using it for all my FW and SW tanks with no issue. The water does have a high trace of chlorine and small trace of fluorine in it, which is the staple addition of our state/city water department. So I do dechlorinate any water that is being used for any of my tanks beforehand. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I just got a shot of Grump just now! Nice to see him actively up and about. He's still missing a claw but at least he is less elusive compared to Scarlet. 😊

 

[vlangel]

Wow Snow, you have been busy and your mushroom mansion is looking great.  I love it.  I hope that darling goby does well in QT.  It is so cute!

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 hours ago, vlangel said:

Wow Snow, you have been busy and your mushroom mansion is looking great.  I love it.  I hope that darling goby does well in QT.  It is so cute!

Thanks Dawn! I haven't checked the QT for the day, but hopefully all the fish are doing ok. When are your ponies arriving? 😊

[vlangel]

31 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Thanks Dawn! I haven't checked the QT for the day, but hopefully all the fish are doing ok. When are your ponies arriving? 😊

Not for a while.  I don't want my sister caring for them while I am on vacation.