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

[Snow_Phoenix]

I have a bad feeling that's something is wrong with my water. 

 

Something feels off - it's close to midnight and I'm partially sedated, but I'll check on the equipment and do some tests in the morning. I'll be rushing off to visit my grandmother (she took a very bad fall) in my uncle's home - so might do the testing after the visit. 

 

Just hope the system is okay overnight. I feel very uneasy.

 

Especially after the monti and both frogspawns having issues. I run a dirty system, which slows down the growth of my SPS, but having my monti STN, and then brown out in 36 hours - it disturbs me. I know the piece can bounce back after some TLC, just need to check on everything. I hope it's not some sort of contamination - already running extra carbon, fish and inverts look okay. 

 

Only some coral pieces are suddenly struggling. Will do a major WC some time this week. 

[Wonderboy]

Hoping everything does well for you

[Snow_Phoenix]

Found out the possible issue:

 

 

Rust on one of the silver screws of my mini wavemaker in the sump. Already lost a few heads of green acans (pull-over from my pico for the contest), and few polyps of rainbow implosion zoas. Green monti cap completely browned out. Green encrusting monti has darkened to a weird shade of maroon.

 

One last head of the orange frogspawn is still alive, but smaller than usual. Green frogspawn is partially retracted. Red symphyllia is a bit skeletal and bottom right corner is white/retracted. 

 

Lola, my starfish, is disintegrating. 😭

 

Running extra carbon - will do a 10G WC every 3 days (so that I won't shock the system). 

 

It slid downhill really fast from today morning until tonight - yes, there were warning signs, but I identified the cause too late. 😓

 

I don't own a copper test kit - LFS doesn't either. I didn't bring my zoa colony home because I told them something is off with my reef, and they were nice enough to offer to keep the coral for a month or more, if needed.

 

Trying to save Lola mostly now - her arms are still intact but she has lost chunks of flesh, and she is upside down on my sandbed. 😭

 

So yes, this is a mini crash of sorts - just trying to stop it from completely killing my whole reef. Worse come to worse, I'll strip the tank down and board the fish and coral at the store (hoping it would not come to this) and restart from scratch. 

 

For now, just sticking to WCs. 

 

Half-afraid to go to bed because I don't know what I will wake up to in the morning. 😓

 

 

 

[seabass]

Sorry to say that the sea star won't make it.  While something in the water may have been the cause, it's more likely that they slowly starve in our artificial reef tanks.  They appear fine, until they suddenly disintegrate.

[Snow_Phoenix]

24 minutes ago, seabass said:

Sorry to say that the sea star won't make it.  While something in the water may have been the cause, it's more likely that they slowly starve in our artificial reef tanks.  They appear fine, until they suddenly disintegrate.

I agree. I considered that as well - Gary (the larger star) was always more active than Lola (the smaller star) and I have filmed him 'eating' the biofilm off the rocks several times. Lola does it as well, just not as frequently as Gary. 😞

 

My two brittles are okay though - I target-feed them chopped shrimp weekly without any issue. 

[kimberbee]

Ugh!! Sorry you're dealing with rusty equipment!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Woke up to a dead and disintegrating starfish. 😭

 

Disposed Lola's remains and checked on the reef. Green frogspawn looks a *tiny bit better, but the others are still the same. 

 

More WCs to come. 

[kimberbee]

So sorry about Lola. I hope the water changes help the rest of the tank. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So, I did a 20G WC today - my motor pump was not working when I plugged it into the power strip, so I had to manually use a bucket to pour the new SW in.

 

This is the state of the tank - it doesn't look too good:

 

Basically, a lot of LPS is pissed off and shrunken/retracted. Granted, the lights are dialed down to ultra-heavy-blues for the night, but they still wouldn't be this 'tiny' during this time. The fish are all surprisingly okay - as for inverts, Lola's the only one gone so far, the others are still here.

 

I added two extra carbon packs and more new floss to the sump today. I'm trying to think back on what changed few days ago. And I remember several key things (besides the whole rusty screw in the wavemaker):

 

1. I started using a new body spray two days ago. The deodorant is very, very strong, and my entire room is drenched in the scent of it whenever I use it - which is something that hasn't happened previously. (I'm thinking - aerosol contamination? My tank is in the bedroom, and my lid is actually made of egg crate. So anything in the air can very easily seep into the water.)

 

2. I topped up my tank with FW around 2 to 3 days ago. I might have lowered my salinity too quickly - but I've done this before, and although my corals were stressed for a while, none of them died on me, and all the fish and inverts were okay. This *is a tap-water tank. It always has been a tap-water tank from the start. But I completely forgot we're entering the monsoon season, and SAJ (our local water supplier) always adds extra chlorine into the water during this time. (So I upped the dose of anti-chlorine today to double, and also added Prime for good measure).

 

I'm taking my water to my LFS tomorrow to cross-check my tests. So far, everything seems normal - but I'll double-check anyway. I also asked the LFS permission to board my fish and coral at their store in case of emergencies (major crash). They agreed to help in any way they can, since 90% of my current livestock was purchased from them anyway. 

 

I'll keep monitoring the reef. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. 

 

 

 

[kimberbee]

🤞🤞

[Snow_Phoenix]

Wanted to update this yesterday, but I was nursing a killer headache so I was lying in bed throughout the evening/night.

 

Basically, I took my water to be tested at the LFS yesterday and these were the results:

 

NO3 = 25ppm

PO4 = 0.1ppm (1st test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (2nd test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (3rd test/Sera)

Copper = 0ppm (they actually had a kit! I thought they didn't, but there was a brand new one left on the shelf and they just plucked it off, opened it and used it to test at no charge)

kH = 8.3

 

and...

 

Ammonia = 0.25ppm (1st test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (2nd test/Salifert)

My own results were (all using Salifert):

 

NO3 = 25ppm

PO4 = 0.25ppm

kH = 8.3

Ammonia = 0ppm 

Calcium = 450ppm

Mg = ~1450ppm

 

I think there was indeed a bit of ammonia in the tank - although it's a bit difficult to see the colors based on the color chart (I thought it was zero, apparently it wasn't). After consulting with @WV Reefer & @Tamberav, we determined the main cause of this whole mini crash was mainly due to the water I used for top-off, three days before everything went downhill. I topped off FW in my planted tank in the same room and lost all my kuhli loaches over the last three days. I didn't connect both incidents until I actually wrote it down and discussed it with Christy & Tam. 

 

Usually, there's a small handle outdoors that we use to 'flush' our distiller every week. I checked back with my father late last night and he didn't 'flush' out the water for the past two weeks. Couple that with the additional chlorine that SAJ dumps into our water during monsoon season, and I pretty much screwed up. 

 

I added a lot of Prime yesterday, and things have been slowly improving. 

 

Here was the tank yesterday, on Day #2 of post-mini-crash:

 

 

Some LPS like my frogspawns & elegance were still quite shrunken and moody. But the fish and smaller coral pieces (especially softies) were thankfully (!) alright:

 

(New little gobies were okay too):

 

And this was taken today morning, on Day #3 post-mini-crash:

 

The green frogspawn has browned out a little, but at least both it and my elegance is not as badly retracted as before.

 

The blasto garden is not at full puffiness, but I think it should recover in a few days:

 

Malayan rainbow acans are doing okay:

 

Gary & the fish are fine too:

 

I'll keep monitoring the tank for any other oddities. Green monticap still remains poop brown, but green encrusting monti has bounced back to being fully green with teal polyps (it didn't have those before) overnight. My major Pavona piece is missing - presumably carted off by my tuxedo urchin and dumped in the sandbed somewhere. Luckily I have a smaller piece that's encrusting to the LR near the montis, so the coral is still existing, somewhat. 

 

I'm mostly waiting for the LPS to recover. I think it should, given a few more WCs and some time. Will be feeding the tank a bit of frozen in a few days - don't want to stress out the system by adding too much nutrients for the time being. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

8 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Wanted to update this yesterday, but I was nursing a killer headache so I was lying in bed throughout the evening/night.

 

Basically, I took my water to be tested at the LFS yesterday and these were the results:

 

NO3 = 25ppm

PO4 = 0.1ppm (1st test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (2nd test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (3rd test/Sera)

Copper = 0ppm (they actually had a kit! I thought they didn't, but there was a brand new one left on the shelf and they just plucked it off, opened it and used it to test at no charge)

kH = 8.3

 

and...

 

Ammonia = 0.25ppm (1st test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (2nd test/Salifert)

My own results were (all using Salifert):

 

NO3 = 25ppm

PO4 = 0.25ppm

kH = 8.3

Ammonia = 0ppm 

Calcium = 450ppm

Mg = ~1450ppm

 

I think there was indeed a bit of ammonia in the tank - although it's a bit difficult to see the colors based on the color chart (I thought it was zero, apparently it wasn't). After consulting with @WV Reefer & @Tamberav, we determined the main cause of this whole mini crash was mainly due to the water I used for top-off, three days before everything went downhill. I topped off FW in my planted tank in the same room and lost all my kuhli loaches over the last three days. I didn't connect both incidents until I actually wrote it down and discussed it with Christy & Tam. 

 

Usually, there's a small handle outdoors that we use to 'flush' our distiller every week. I checked back with my father late last night and he didn't 'flush' out the water for the past two weeks. Couple that with the additional chlorine that SAJ dumps into our water during monsoon season, and I pretty much screwed up. 

 

I added a lot of Prime yesterday, and things have been slowly improving. 

 

Here was the tank yesterday, on Day #2 of post-mini-crash:

 

 

Some LPS like my frogspawns & elegance were still quite shrunken and moody. But the fish and smaller coral pieces (especially softies) were thankfully (!) alright:

 

(New little gobies were okay too):

 

And this was taken today morning, on Day #3 post-mini-crash:

 

The green frogspawn has browned out a little, but at least both it and my elegance is not as badly retracted as before.

 

The blasto garden is not at full puffiness, but I think it should recover in a few days:

 

Malayan rainbow acans are doing okay:

 

Gary & the fish are fine too:

 

I'll keep monitoring the tank for any other oddities. Green monticap still remains poop brown, but green encrusting monti has bounced back to being fully green with teal polyps (it didn't have those before) overnight. My major Pavona piece is missing - presumably carted off by my tuxedo urchin and dumped in the sandbed somewhere. Luckily I have a smaller piece that's encrusting to the LR near the montis, so the coral is still existing, somewhat. 

 

I'm mostly waiting for the LPS to recover. I think it should, given a few more WCs and some time. Will be feeding the tank a bit of frozen in a few days - don't want to stress out the system by adding too much nutrients for the time being. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m glad the damage was minimal. 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

6 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

I’m glad the damage was minimal. 😊

Me too. Glad I caught it early as well. Imagine the horror if this had happened during Christmas, when I'm usually away at my grandmother's house for a few days. 

 

Valuable lesson though: always check your water source! And add extra dechlorinator/Prime during rainy seasons. 

[Ratvan]

5 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Wanted to update this yesterday, but I was nursing a killer headache so I was lying in bed throughout the evening/night.

 

Basically, I took my water to be tested at the LFS yesterday and these were the results:

 

NO3 = 25ppm

PO4 = 0.1ppm (1st test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (2nd test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (3rd test/Sera)

Copper = 0ppm (they actually had a kit! I thought they didn't, but there was a brand new one left on the shelf and they just plucked it off, opened it and used it to test at no charge)

kH = 8.3

 

and...

 

Ammonia = 0.25ppm (1st test/Salifert), 0.25ppm (2nd test/Salifert)

My own results were (all using Salifert):

 

NO3 = 25ppm

PO4 = 0.25ppm

kH = 8.3

Ammonia = 0ppm 

Calcium = 450ppm

Mg = ~1450ppm

 

I think there was indeed a bit of ammonia in the tank - although it's a bit difficult to see the colors based on the color chart (I thought it was zero, apparently it wasn't). After consulting with @WV Reefer & @Tamberav, we determined the main cause of this whole mini crash was mainly due to the water I used for top-off, three days before everything went downhill. I topped off FW in my planted tank in the same room and lost all my kuhli loaches over the last three days. I didn't connect both incidents until I actually wrote it down and discussed it with Christy & Tam. 

 

Usually, there's a small handle outdoors that we use to 'flush' our distiller every week. I checked back with my father late last night and he didn't 'flush' out the water for the past two weeks. Couple that with the additional chlorine that SAJ dumps into our water during monsoon season, and I pretty much screwed up. 

 

I added a lot of Prime yesterday, and things have been slowly improving. 

 

Here was the tank yesterday, on Day #2 of post-mini-crash:

 

 

Some LPS like my frogspawns & elegance were still quite shrunken and moody. But the fish and smaller coral pieces (especially softies) were thankfully (!) alright:

 

(New little gobies were okay too):

 

And this was taken today morning, on Day #3 post-mini-crash:

 

The green frogspawn has browned out a little, but at least both it and my elegance is not as badly retracted as before.

 

The blasto garden is not at full puffiness, but I think it should recover in a few days:

 

Malayan rainbow acans are doing okay:

 

Gary & the fish are fine too:

 

I'll keep monitoring the tank for any other oddities. Green monticap still remains poop brown, but green encrusting monti has bounced back to being fully green with teal polyps (it didn't have those before) overnight. My major Pavona piece is missing - presumably carted off by my tuxedo urchin and dumped in the sandbed somewhere. Luckily I have a smaller piece that's encrusting to the LR near the montis, so the coral is still existing, somewhat. 

 

I'm mostly waiting for the LPS to recover. I think it should, given a few more WCs and some time. Will be feeding the tank a bit of frozen in a few days - don't want to stress out the system by adding too much nutrients for the time being. 

 

Glad the damage appears minimal so far and that you seemed to catch the issue in time.

[A.m.P]

Happy to see things on the mend, sorry to hear about the khuli loaches, they're awesome fish =(

[debbeach13]

Sorry for the losses. Glad things seem to be getting better. I hope conditions continue to improve. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Corals look much better today. PE is still not 100%, but the blastos, green frogspawn & elegance are faring better today than yesterday:

 

Fish & Inverts are also doing okay:

 

Also dropped by my secondary LFS because they were having some sales - just window shopping, but caught a few things of interest:

 

(This is the original red pavona colony of my current red pavona frag - it's huge!)

 

Saw this amazing multi-mix zoa colony on sale - didn't request for the price because I'm pretty sure it's very expensive:

 

Blasto garden in one of the major DTs of the LFS:

 

Major mixed reef DT in the LFS:

 

LPS-dominant nano-reef in the LFS - fully supplemented by Aquaforest products:

 

And these amazing frag tanks full of various gonis, acans and blastos for sale:

 

I think I'll visit again during Christmas/after Christmas. I saw a few nice blastos, including a small orange mini-colony that I'd like to add to my collection. My tank should re-stabilize by then. I'll keep up with biweekly/triweekly large WCs (~20G) in the meantime (and smaller ~5G WCs in between). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Close-ups of my shrooms:

 

Goblin's couch:

 

Zani throwing a tantrum against the glass last night: 😂

 

Thanos today morning:

 

Elegance bouncing back:

 

 

Turban snail hard at work:

 

Blasto garden today morning:

 

Mini Malayan rainbow acans (blurry because I had to zoom in to get a snapshot of them):

 

Cup coral has actually gained almost 3" in circumference since I first started this tank:

 

Close-up of one of my brittle starfish's leg (Ophiomastix sp.):

 

 

Red finger leather bouncing back and has full PE today. Also has more 'fingers':

 

Lost a tiny chunk of my lone red blasto frag at the center shelf LR piece - hopefully it'll grow back since it's mouth is there, and the rest of it appears mostly intact:

 

Also, this is my *tricolored yuma. It's starting to develop more colors in my tank - I can now see five individual colors, at least. Not bad since I got this at a steal off the discount rack:

 

I brought my zoa colony back today. LFS was willing to keep it, but they also have a shipment of new coral suddenly coming in (not even sure how they got this) and I felt a little bit bad because my colony is using up some space in their frag tank. The colony itself is around the size of a large palm - which doesn't count for much, but the space could be used up by another chalice colony or maybe a couple of frags at the store.

 

I actually discovered a lot of interesting hitchikers with this frag - (besides the GHA) there were microbrittles, sponges, spaghetti worms and even this hard, encrusting coral which I initially presumed was some sort of SPS. But after taking a closer look, I can see tiny tentacles, and it retracts when my hermit, Derp, steps on it. So I suspect it's a fungia. And there are quite a few of them mixed in with the zoas. 

 

Also...I haz a mantis. 

 

 

Presumably male - currently in my 10G nanotank and was just fed his first piece of shrimp on the end of a satay stick about an hour back. He's quite content to lurk between my rock pieces in the tank, so I'll leave him to it until he gets comfortable enough. Will probably start up a separate journal in the nano-section for him. But I need to pick up a few things first, including a fan to cool the water. Water in the 10G is very warm otherwise.

 

And yes, I guess I'll make a mini-reef out of it. Although I'll probably make it a budget tank, and put more focus on the 60G first. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ratvan]

Gorgeous photo's as usual. That Mantis is beautiful, looking forwards to the 10G build 😄

 

By the way do you still have the Pavona? Got any shots of it lately?

[Snow_Phoenix]

30 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Gorgeous photo's as usual. That Mantis is beautiful, looking forwards to the 10G build 😄

 

By the way do you still have the Pavona? Got any shots of it lately?

Yeah! I found it upturned on my sandbed, hidden behind my blasto colony. It has turned a very pale shade of pink, but I have another super small fragment of it encrusted to my LR (tiny ~0.5" bit). That one is the same reddish hue as the parent colony at the LFS. 😊

 

I am looking out for a green version. If I can get my hands on a small piece, I'll take it. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

@Ratvan - I managed to get some snapshots of both my red pavona frags.

 

 

 

First pic is the large frag which was dumped upside down on the sandbed (taken out of water), and the second pic (scroll forward in the same Insta post) is the much smaller frag that's encrusted to my LR, and has retained the stronger red coloring. The first larger frag has receded - you can see patterns of its 'skeleton' left behind, but I think it's a relatively hardy SPS - so it should bounce back in given time. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Quick update:

 

I think those red hitchiker corals on the zoa colony are indeed fungias - in which case, I'm very, very happy! I've never actually seen/owned a red fungia before, and now I have around 4 to 5 of these little guys wedged between my zoas. They have tiny transparent tentacles and retract quite quickly if something (like Derp) steps on them:

 

 

 

Speaking of Derp, guess who made it back into the 60G, and is having a fun time swapping hats/shells? 

 

My older hermit, Jerk, however, is currently in my sump. I can't put him back in the DT - because the last time I had him, he picked at all the glue under the coral frags and threw my corals to the sandbed one by one. 

 

Half my time wasn't spent doing reef maintenance, but actually repairing the damage caused by Jerk's antics. But since he's my oldest hermit, I am a bit attached to him (so no, I'm not going to feed him to my mantis) and I've decided he can live in my sump. He seems to be okay in there - just checked and he's tracing patterns in dirt. 

 

And Thanos today:

 

 

I think I will re-start the journal for my 10G. It's currently a mostly-FOWLR-except-for-one-hairy-shroom, but I'm planning on converting it into a reeftank some time next year. For now, it houses my mantis, my almost-2-year-old Falco, and another fish I've been QTing for the 60G for a few weeks. The tank itself is ~4-years-old, and is quite stable, but has no coralline because I keep my lights off most of the time (except for feedings). 

 

Guess I'll have to make a lot of changes to prepare it before I can re-add some simple, cheap frags to it. (I'm thinking a softy/shroom/zoa/macro tank for easy maintenance). 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hi, lots of pics ahead - you've been warned! 

 

1. I noticed I have a variety of things growing in my sump lately. Do any of you have any idea what these 3 things are? So far all three appear sessile. 

 

 

 

 

2. I've named my little steinitz gobies Odin and Freida. Odin is always out in the open though, but Freida hides a lot. 

 

 

 

3. These acans I took from my pico are slowly making a comeback. Their original color was red with bold green stripes. In this tank, they have become a solid red color. A difference in lighting and parameters, perhaps? 🤔

 

 

4. Casper really likes my blasto garden. 

 

 

As for the garden itself, the blastos look quite good so far. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. And that new zoa colony is amazing! Full of many interesting hitchikers:

 

 

 

 

 

6. Here is Tux, my oldest urchin:

 

 

7. Doc & Goblin with the symphyllia:

 

 

8. Cynarina:

 

 

9. Thanos loves perching on things, including Gary! 🤣

 

 

 

10. Speaking of Gary, here he is with his usual lazy butt parked on one of my coral pieces. 

 

 

Back to the hitchikers, if anyone knows anything about them, let me know - I'm curious over what they are. 😊

 

Currently my sump is full of LRs covered in sponges & macro, some aiptasia, lots of pods and a few of these strange things. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

This big guy really puts a smile on my face every day. So much chunkiness, badassness and personality rolled into one! 

 

Gary being Gary:

 

 

-

 

I also finally started a new journal-thread for my 10G. It's a mantis tank though, but I'm planning on making it a reef in the upcoming months:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Okay. So my green chromis has no proper name until now. I honestly just call him 'Dude'. As in, 'Dude - get away from that scraper!' 'Dude, stay the f*ck off that pellet - let the others eat first!' or 'Dude, chill the f*ck out and swim over there!' 

 

So yes, half the time I put my hands in my tank, I'm mostly yelling at him to behave like a normal fish (which he doesn't). He's a little tyrant - but he adds a lot of movement to the tank, so that's why he's still in the 60G. 

 

Anyway, here's Dude:

 

Mushroom mountain on standstill - need to hoard more shrooms:

 

Lobo is as puffy as ever:

 

And Thanos says hi!

 

One of my LFSes has some nice SPS frags on sale. Not sure whether I should/should not buy 1 or 2 sticks for a change. Most of them are Millis and Acros. 🤔