Snow's 60G Secret Predatory Sanctum 🐲🐉 - Shutting Down

[Snow_Phoenix]

Me tinkering with the lights and upping the UVs a *bit in the R60 turned out to be a bad idea. Ended up melting some of my LPS here & there: 😓

 

 

 

 

 

I reduced the UV% back to its original damage, but I'm worried about the bubble coral - it seems to have taken a large hit, although it was on the sandbed. 😭

 

The cynarina was lucky - I think mostly because it was positioned towards the front of the tank, and not directly under the R60:

 

 

It was quite puffy today evening too, after I turned off the flow to feed the fish. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

The fish are all doing fine. Today, I focused on the 3 little 🐲🐉 that I have. 

 

Here's Bella, having a few quick nips:

 

Then she went all out for the pellets in the evening: 

 

Poseidon was a bit slower though:

 

I still miss Icarus. Tank's not really the same without that tiny red dragonet. 😔

 

My CB angel has adjusted very well to the reef though. Constantly see him grazing on the rocks or simply weaving between the rockwork. 👍

[debbeach13]

I hope all the corals recover for you. Finding that sweet spot in lighting for what each coral needs can be so tough in any mixed reef.

[Snow_Phoenix]

33 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I hope all the corals recover for you. Finding that sweet spot in lighting for what each coral needs can be so tough in any mixed reef.

Edit: Just realized - wrong thread. Heh. 

 

Need sleep. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Good afternoon. 😎

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

After more than 2 years of keeping this guy, I finally decided to name him...Lurker: 

 

 

Because honestly, that's the only thing he does in my tank. Lurk. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

It's very late on my end - but I just wanted to say: the big tank is showing early signs of what appears to be BJD. All LPS have been affected, including the hammer. The cynarina is tentatively okay for now, but if it really is BJD, it looks like I'll be losing all of my colonies anyway. 😞

 

I'm dead exhausted - I WCed the sump and cleaned it thoroughly today. Am/Was planning on WCing 20G of the DT tomorrow/day after. I'll see how it goes, and take it one day at a time. Too tired. 

 

This sucks. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I'm really hoping these pieces will recover in time - a lot of dipping needs to be done, but the bubble concerns me the most because the affected area is in terrible shape: 😓

 

 

 

The shrooms are untouched though. Yumas are all okay:

 

 

 

Caught Illaron on the hunt for pods:

 

 

One of my brittlestars trying to look glamarous: 🤗

 

 

Spyder in the fuge: 😊

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The largest & littlest fish of my reef (also the ones that have been with me the longest) - Thanos (starry blenny) & Goblin (GCG) : 

 

 

 

Goblin has a new couch:

 

 

 

 

I'll try to post a detailed meal prep./recipe list for my fish - especially my dragonets, later, when I'm back on my laptop. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I spoke to another reefer on this site recently, who did in a way encourage me to make more posts on the amount of prep. I do for my fish - most specifically, for my dragonets. So here's a quick peek on what I more or less do on a daily to weekly basis for my fish:

 

1. Snow's Basic Mysis Slush

 

1x small container of warm dechlorinated water

20x cubes of Mysis (Hikari)

3x teaspoons of Cyclops (Ocean Free)

 

Mix 20 cubes of water (use RODI or DI if your tap water isn't good) in a small container full of warm water:

 

Add in the cyclops and mix it all up using a chopstick/fork. Add 1x of Selcon and/or Vit. C as a supplement. 

 

Seal the container and put in the freezer. Then thaw accordingly to the amount your tank requires each time you need to feed the fish/corals.

 

2. Snow's *Extra Mysis Slush.

 

Same recipe as above, but add in 5x cubes of brine shrimp in the mix. Freeze, thaw & use accordingly.

 

3. Snow's Quick Pod Bites.

 

3x teaspoons of (concentrated) spirulina-enriched frozen copepods

3x teaspoons of (concentrated) frozen artemia with yolk sacs still attached

1x drop of Selcon

1x drop of Vit. C

 

Mix all ingredients in a small cup - prefarably 100ml. Stir it a bit using a chopstick, then use a baster and target-feed your fish. Works well for dragonets, but this is more of a daily-basis prep. and enough to cover one feeding session for a hungry dragonet. 

 

4. Snow's Ultimate Mega Slush.

 

This one is tricky, because it takes time and uses a LOT of ingredients. But I find it very useful in feeding various types of fish and corals at a go, and it can be either target-fed or even broadcast-fed to the tank. I'll just list down what I do - but if someone out there decides to follow this, you can make adjustments to the recipe yourself (you don't need to stick to the brands I use, nor even my water source, for example - go with your gut and do what's best for your animals). Also, you'll need a very large container/tupperware :

 

For Fish Only:

 

1x cup of 250 ml of dechlorinated water

20x cubes of frozen mysis (Hikari)

10x cubes of frozen brine shrimp (Hikari)

3x cubes of frozen bloodworms *rinsed thoroughly under running tap for a few mins. first

5x teaspoons of frozen copepods (NOA)

5x teaspoons of frozen BBS (NOA)

2x teaspoons of cyclops (Ocean Free - OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen krill (OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen arctic shrimp (OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen artemia (OF)

3x teaspoons of fresh flower crab roe

1x teaspoon of raw shrimp juice

3x drops of Selcon

3x drops of Vit. C (Brightwell)

 

With Corals:

 

TBA:

 

A small pinch of reef roids

5x drops of Phyto (Kent)

5x drops of Zooplankton (Brightwell)

 

Mix everything in a large mug/container. Add the supplements the last and mix it together. Let it sit on the counter for 30 mins. Then freeze it, and thaw it a bit every day accordingly - as much as your fish/corals can eat. 

 

You can swap out ingredients - use less/more, according to your personal preference. But this is what I've been using so far, and my fish have been very receptive towards it. I hope this can benefit someone out there, who is curious about what I actually feed my fish on a daily basis. I only feed my reef twice a day now, but I feed it heavily, and the first feeding session is completely frozen, whilst the second one is completely based on dry foods (eg. pellets & flakes). 

 

As for pellets, I use S-sized pellets meant for nanofish, and I use a mix of Hikari Marine S, Ocean Nutrition Formula One & NLS small fish formula. I also add seaweed (ON) strips into the tank for my blenny and angel. All in all, it takes a lot of work to keep this many fish up and going, and I personally like chunky fish, so I feed them as much as they can handle, and then a *bit more. 

 

Pumps are off for 1 to 2 hours during each feeding session, to allow the slower fish on the sandbed to have enough time to eat. I manually turn the pumps on and off - because I'm very worried my blenny or some other small fish might swim into my Jebao without me noticing and get chopped. 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

(And yes, it's a lot of work/hassle, but I think it's worth it) 

[A.m.P]

You have some lucky and spoiled rotten fish XD

[Ratvan]

51 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I spoke to another reefer on this site recently, who did in a way encourage me to make more posts on the amount of prep. I do for my fish - most specifically, for my dragonets. So here's a quick peek on what I more or less do on a daily to weekly basis for my fish:

 

1. Snow's Basic Mysis Slush

 

1x small container of warm dechlorinated water

20x cubes of Mysis (Hikari)

3x teaspoons of Cyclops (Ocean Free)

 

Mix 20 cubes of water (use RODI or DI if your tap water isn't good) in a small container full of warm water:

 

Add in the cyclops and mix it all up using a chopstick/fork. Add 1x of Selcon and/or Vit. C as a supplement. 

 

Seal the container and put in the freezer. Then thaw accordingly to the amount your tank requires each time you need to feed the fish/corals.

 

2. Snow's *Extra Mysis Slush.

 

Same recipe as above, but add in 5x cubes of brine shrimp in the mix. Freeze, thaw & use accordingly.

 

3. Snow's Quick Pod Bites.

 

3x teaspoons of (concentrated) spirulina-enriched frozen copepods

3x teaspoons of (concentrated) frozen artemia with yolk sacs still attached

1x drop of Selcon

1x drop of Vit. C

 

Mix all ingredients in a small cup - prefarably 100ml. Stir it a bit using a chopstick, then use a baster and target-feed your fish. Works well for dragonets, but this is more of a daily-basis prep. and enough to cover one feeding session for a hungry dragonet. 

 

4. Snow's Ultimate Mega Slush.

 

This one is tricky, because it takes time and uses a LOT of ingredients. But I find it very useful in feeding various types of fish and corals at a go, and it can be either target-fed or even broadcast-fed to the tank. I'll just list down what I do - but if someone out there decides to follow this, you can make adjustments to the recipe yourself (you don't need to stick to the brands I use, nor even my water source, for example - go with your gut and do what's best for your animals). Also, you'll need a very large container/tupperware :

 

For Fish Only:

 

1x cup of 250 ml of dechlorinated water

20x cubes of frozen mysis (Hikari)

10x cubes of frozen brine shrimp (Hikari)

3x cubes of frozen bloodworms *rinsed thoroughly under running tap for a few mins. first

5x teaspoons of frozen copepods (NOA)

5x teaspoons of frozen BBS (NOA)

2x teaspoons of cyclops (Ocean Free - OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen krill (OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen arctic shrimp (OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen artemia (OF)

3x teaspoons of fresh flower crab roe

1x teaspoon of raw shrimp juice

3x drops of Selcon

3x drops of Vit. C (Brightwell)

 

With Corals:

 

TBA:

 

A small pinch of reef roids

5x drops of Phyto (Kent)

5x drops of Zooplankton (Brightwell)

 

Mix everything in a large mug/container. Add the supplements the last and mix it together. Let it sit on the counter for 30 mins. Then freeze it, and thaw it a bit every day accordingly - as much as your fish/corals can eat. 

 

You can swap out ingredients - use less/more, according to your personal preference. But this is what I've been using so far, and my fish have been very receptive towards it. I hope this can benefit someone out there, who is curious about what I actually feed my fish on a daily basis. I only feed my reef twice a day now, but I feed it heavily, and the first feeding session is completely frozen, whilst the second one is completely based on dry foods (eg. pellets & flakes). 

 

As for pellets, I use S-sized pellets meant for nanofish, and I use a mix of Hikari Marine S, Ocean Nutrition Formula One & NLS small fish formula. I also add seaweed (ON) strips into the tank for my blenny and angel. All in all, it takes a lot of work to keep this many fish up and going, and I personally like chunky fish, so I feed them as much as they can handle, and then a *bit more. 

 

Pumps are off for 1 to 2 hours during each feeding session, to allow the slower fish on the sandbed to have enough time to eat. I manually turn the pumps on and off - because I'm very worried my blenny or some other small fish might swim into my Jebao without me noticing and get chopped. 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

(And yes, it's a lot of work/hassle, but I think it's worth it) 

How many fish do you feed with this?

[Snow_Phoenix]

38 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

How many fish do you feed with this?

Currently 17, but I think this can support up to 20 fish, if necessary. My full list of fish are on the very first page (first post) of this journal thread. You can quickly read through the different types I have. 🙂 

[Snow_Phoenix]

58 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

You have some lucky and spoiled rotten fish XD

Oh yes, they're definitely very, very spoiled. I think the Big Guy a.k.a. Thanos a.k.a The Blenny is probably the most spoiled one of the lot. You should honestly see him try to beg for more food. The tank is behind me, but if I turn around in my chair at my desk, I sometimes catch him pressed up against the glass, staring at me. It's strange, but very curious too. 😛 

 

He only swims off if I drop in more seaweed pellets into the tank. 

[WV Reefer]

3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I spoke to another reefer on this site recently, who did in a way encourage me to make more posts on the amount of prep. I do for my fish - most specifically, for my dragonets. So here's a quick peek on what I more or less do on a daily to weekly basis for my fish:

 

1. Snow's Basic Mysis Slush

 

1x small container of warm dechlorinated water

20x cubes of Mysis (Hikari)

3x teaspoons of Cyclops (Ocean Free)

 

Mix 20 cubes of water (use RODI or DI if your tap water isn't good) in a small container full of warm water:

 

Add in the cyclops and mix it all up using a chopstick/fork. Add 1x of Selcon and/or Vit. C as a supplement. 

 

Seal the container and put in the freezer. Then thaw accordingly to the amount your tank requires each time you need to feed the fish/corals.

 

2. Snow's *Extra Mysis Slush.

 

Same recipe as above, but add in 5x cubes of brine shrimp in the mix. Freeze, thaw & use accordingly.

 

3. Snow's Quick Pod Bites.

 

3x teaspoons of (concentrated) spirulina-enriched frozen copepods

3x teaspoons of (concentrated) frozen artemia with yolk sacs still attached

1x drop of Selcon

1x drop of Vit. C

 

Mix all ingredients in a small cup - prefarably 100ml. Stir it a bit using a chopstick, then use a baster and target-feed your fish. Works well for dragonets, but this is more of a daily-basis prep. and enough to cover one feeding session for a hungry dragonet. 

 

4. Snow's Ultimate Mega Slush.

 

This one is tricky, because it takes time and uses a LOT of ingredients. But I find it very useful in feeding various types of fish and corals at a go, and it can be either target-fed or even broadcast-fed to the tank. I'll just list down what I do - but if someone out there decides to follow this, you can make adjustments to the recipe yourself (you don't need to stick to the brands I use, nor even my water source, for example - go with your gut and do what's best for your animals). Also, you'll need a very large container/tupperware :

 

For Fish Only:

 

1x cup of 250 ml of dechlorinated water

20x cubes of frozen mysis (Hikari)

10x cubes of frozen brine shrimp (Hikari)

3x cubes of frozen bloodworms *rinsed thoroughly under running tap for a few mins. first

5x teaspoons of frozen copepods (NOA)

5x teaspoons of frozen BBS (NOA)

2x teaspoons of cyclops (Ocean Free - OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen krill (OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen arctic shrimp (OF)

2x teaspoons of frozen artemia (OF)

3x teaspoons of fresh flower crab roe

1x teaspoon of raw shrimp juice

3x drops of Selcon

3x drops of Vit. C (Brightwell)

 

With Corals:

 

TBA:

 

A small pinch of reef roids

5x drops of Phyto (Kent)

5x drops of Zooplankton (Brightwell)

 

Mix everything in a large mug/container. Add the supplements the last and mix it together. Let it sit on the counter for 30 mins. Then freeze it, and thaw it a bit every day accordingly - as much as your fish/corals can eat. 

 

You can swap out ingredients - use less/more, according to your personal preference. But this is what I've been using so far, and my fish have been very receptive towards it. I hope this can benefit someone out there, who is curious about what I actually feed my fish on a daily basis. I only feed my reef twice a day now, but I feed it heavily, and the first feeding session is completely frozen, whilst the second one is completely based on dry foods (eg. pellets & flakes). 

 

As for pellets, I use S-sized pellets meant for nanofish, and I use a mix of Hikari Marine S, Ocean Nutrition Formula One & NLS small fish formula. I also add seaweed (ON) strips into the tank for my blenny and angel. All in all, it takes a lot of work to keep this many fish up and going, and I personally like chunky fish, so I feed them as much as they can handle, and then a *bit more. 

 

Pumps are off for 1 to 2 hours during each feeding session, to allow the slower fish on the sandbed to have enough time to eat. I manually turn the pumps on and off - because I'm very worried my blenny or some other small fish might swim into my Jebao without me noticing and get chopped. 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

(And yes, it's a lot of work/hassle, but I think it's worth it) 

When you posted that to IG my first thought was that is some weird ass soup she’s eating. 😂

[Snow_Phoenix]

I didn't want to update at all today, because I wanted to focus on spending time with my family - mainly my sister, whom I finally got to see after ~6+ months due to the lockdown between the borders of both Msia & Singapore. She finally applied for a permit and crossed over successfully today, and it was wonderful to have the whole family back together again, even if it's only for one week (she'll have to head back for work soon). 

 

But several things happened today - so I'll post a quick update:

 

-I purchased two new dragonets today. 1 male ruby dragonet (skinny, mild showing of lateral lines) & 1 female spotted mandy (quite emaciated, but very active). I named them Orion & Althea respectfully. 

 

Here are several quick peeks of them:

 

 

They're both extremely small. And as of the moment, eating live pods/microfauna in my tank - it'll take weeks - maybe months to get them both to a healthy body weight. Althea concerns me the most because she's one stop away from being two-dimensional. Even now, I'm worried she won't make it past her first night/first week in the tank. All the dragonets that arrived at the store today were thin/emaciated & stressed. For more pics & vids, feel free to drop by my Insta profile directly. 

 

In fact, over the next few days, I might not be on NR as frequently as before because I want to spend time with my family. I'll try to update pics on Insta whenever I can though, but until my little sis returns to Singapore, I won't be sticking around any of my public SM platforms for too long. 

 

Also, I found out the cause behind my corals melting - I thought it was the lights, but it was actually a kH spike. I've been dosing kH everyday to keep the levels at ~8.3, that I completely disregarded testing my levels as I dose. In other words, I overdosed and spiked the levels up to 9.1 over the course of 2 to 3 days. *That melted some of my LPS. 😕

 

The bubble on the sandbed looks pretty bad - the polyps look like they're bailing out (?) at certain areas, and some parts of my elegance has peeled off the skeleton completely. The hammer *might recover because so far it's showing minimal damage, and the cynarina has receded a bit, but I think it can regrow. The cup coral might need some time to bounce back though. But everything else appears to be badly melted here & there. 😞

 

I'm not sure if any of the pieces will recover fully. Only time will tell. 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Enjoy your family. It is great you finally can spend some time together! Good luck with the new fish.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Updates:

 

-Almost all of my main LPS colonies was struck by BJD & got munched on by a fireworm.

 

-Pulled out the fireworm and killed it, but the affected corals were in poor shape.

 

-Removed 3 fish due to territorial issues & reducing overall bioload and exchanged them at the LFS today for a pretty purple gorg for my picoreef.

 

-Macroalgae went sexual at night and turned the water cloudy. Pruned the macroalgae, and water returned to normal within ~3 hours. No fish or coral losses sustained due to this. 

 

-Bella, my female scooter, became gravid again. 

 

-Orion, my ruby dragonet, actually lost more weight and is incredibly bony. He eats a LOT, but he's not in good shape. 😓

 

-Had a steep temp. drop in the tank from 28°C to 23°C due to heavy rain/cold day, and Goblin had his seasonal flare up of Ich due to this. 😭

 

My plan:

 

-Trap, remove & rehome 3 more fish

 

-Focus on Orion's diet as much as possible - as long as he keeps eating, there is a chance he might make it & survive

 

-Boost up immune system of all fish with high-quality food + garlic 

 

-Do another major WC on the tank & sump

 

-Replace old macro with new macro ---> did this just now

 

-Work on nursing surviving corals back to full health

 

This is the orange fireworm I pulled out:

 

 

(Body is orange & bristles are thick, white & red - the worm itself is quite thick, as compared to the average bristleworm)

 

Orion today:

 

 

Goblin's flare up:

 

 

Lot of issues. Going to tackle it one by one. 👍

[debbeach13]

Which fish did you already get rid of? Which fish are going next? Sorry they are not doing well.

[Snow_Phoenix]

40 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Which fish did you already get rid of? Which fish are going next? Sorry they are not doing well.

I removed the CB angelfish, the green chromis & the smallest mandarin (the new female I recently acquired). I was originally planning on removing the angel, the chromis & the lubbocks fairy wrasse. The lubbocks was getting bullied by the angel, and would in turn bully the chromis. But I couldn't catch the lubbocks - honestly it's almost impossible to catch a wrasse in my set up without completely removing all the rocks and draining the tank. They're very clever and excellent at diving into the sandbed/rocks for cover. 

 

I tried to get him for an hour, then gave up. I took the female mandy out because although Poseidon, my male, was receptive towards her in the beginning, I noticed he was chasing her a bit and trying to nip her fins. I didn't want to stress her out any further, so one of them had to go. Naturally, I chose to keep Poseidon.

 

I'm planning on removing another 3 fish (if I can catch them) - my steinitz goby pair & the lubbocks wrasse. 

 

I noticed the dynamics of the tank shifted quite a fair bit once I removed three fish today - the fish are more peaceful and mellow, and my more passive fish (like my gobies & dartfish) came back out in the open again. I think they were scared of the angel - the angel never harassed them, but it was quite bold and boisterous. And maybe too much for my reef. If I had a longer tank, I think it would have been a better fit. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Orion: 🥰

 

 

Yuma:

 

 

Will do everything I can to nurse this bubble back to health - both the worm & BJD damaged 50% of it: 😔

 

 

Lots of things to do, but I'll take it one step at a time. 👍

[A.m.P]

So many different bristles, the corallivores are just awful, oddly enough SA has "orange fireworms" which they used to breed and distribute as reef safe.
https://sustainableaquatics.com/feeds/sa-marine-polychaetes-live-marine-bristleworms/

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Amphrites said:

So many different bristles, the corallivores are just awful, oddly enough SA has "orange fireworms" which they used to breed and distribute as reef safe.
https://sustainableaquatics.com/feeds/sa-marine-polychaetes-live-marine-bristleworms/

I actually suspect there may be a second one in the same rock I pulled out the first one from. It's not very common to run across a fireworm here. Eunicids are more common hitchikers. 

 

I've dipped almost everything before adding it to the tank. The fireworm I pulled out most likely was a very tiny hitchiker on one of the larger coral frags/colonies I've purchased in the past - and grew over the weeks/months. 

 

I always had a feeling I had a large worm in the tank - I actually brought it up twice in this journal. 🤔

 

I just never saw it fully until I lifted my elegance coral & the LR under the coral to catch one of the gobies. It was quite...frightening, tbh. 😔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Older pics taken throughout the week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Spyder now has more sponges encrusted to his limbs: 

 

 

And he moves super-slow when he wants to get away: 😅