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


Snow_Phoenix

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Snow_Phoenix
11 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Beautiful fish! Dart fish are amazing dither fish and perhaps that's why he's hanging out by him. 

 

Yeah, I realized whenever my dart is out in the open, the rest of my more passive fish immediately start swimming around him. :happy:

 

The wrasse has retreated into the sandbed for the night though. The first 24 hours are usually difficult - because this is when the fish either adapts to the reef or it doesn't. 😞

 

I'm hoping to see him up and about again tomorrow morning. 

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Snow_Phoenix

I was very worried when I woke up today morning and didn't see the new wrasse up and about yet. The first night is usually the hardest, because this is when a new fish perishes if it cannot cope with the tank. I waited until early afternoon and I still didn't see him. :scarry:

 

Finally had to run out for some errands - returned home and finally, finally! I see him up and about. At 1.42 p.m. :sideeyes:

 

I'm guessing he hates Monday mornings. :lol:

 

Checked up on the other two in QT and they're doing fine. 

 

The 60G is due for a WC though. I think it's been almost a month since the last WC. I might change out ~15G this time, and do another deep scrub of the sump. My only concern is that my corals are mostly sated with the high levels of nitrates and phosphates I have going on in the tank. A sudden drop can stress them to the point of killing them, so I'll have to be extra careful. 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

My brittlestar is officially a tease: :tongueout:

 

IMG_20190812_153710_831.thumb.jpg.08a4096232b8f1818adf9ce26fbb5e74.jpg

 

IMG_20190812_153828_201.thumb.jpg.da415e0613024c27cbff66a6f13e53c1.jpg

 

Tic looks good under the blues:

 

IMG_20190812_171243_185.thumb.jpg.716a79a3e8b6c4e455aa0212f4165bd9.jpg

 

Grumpy Thanos still watches for trouble:

 

IMG_20190812_184433_864.thumb.jpg.3318b2a04b2bbc569009b0b3b8e149b0.jpg

 

My Elegance under heavy blues today:

 

IMG_20190812_183808_810.thumb.jpg.43803d1287b75549011b76621859f25a.jpg

 

IMG_20190812_183950_536.thumb.jpg.fba7d29f613b722cb88c30a256b6431d.jpg

 

Post-feeding session today evening:

 

IMG_20190812_184156_889.thumb.jpg.3986efe9a9da725bab3e603fa5d4330d.jpg

 

The greens look weird under heavy blues. The elegance is luminescent in the center, which is probably why it looks so cartoonish, especially when I adjusted the white/blue balance. Hmm. 

 

Also, Jerk the hermit knocked 3 coral frags loose today. I ran out of glue so I had to put the frags directly on the sandbed. One of the shrooms looks partially melted because it was knocked facedown into the sandbed, but I am hoping it will recover. In the meantime, my largest bullseye rhodactis is splitting! 🤗

 

Can't wait to have 2 red-rimmed bullseyes tomorrow. 😊

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Your tank and photos are amazing

Thank you. :blush:

 

It took me years to realize: less time spent with hands in tank = happier reeftank. I used to have a notorious habit of constantly adjusting things in my tank (coral positions etc.) and I think that used to stress my animals out a lot. It is better to spend less time tinkering with stuff and just let it be. 

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1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Thank you. :blush:

 

It took me years to realize: less time spent with hands in tank = happier reeftank. I used to have a notorious habit of constantly adjusting things in my tank (coral positions etc.) and I think that used to stress my animals out a lot. It is better to spend less time tinkering with stuff and just let it be. 

Its taken a few months (and multiple bristle worm stings) for me to learn that as well 

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Snow_Phoenix
9 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Gorgeous! I can't wait till the Monti's fill in the top....going to look so amazing!

It will take a while though. SPS grows slowly in this tank because the parameters favor LPS and softies more. I am still on the lookout for a purple monticap though. 

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Snow_Phoenix

 

 

Early morning shenanigans: :happy:

 

(Taken from my bed - hence the blurred image)

 

Flowy corals:

 

Symphyllias today:

 

Cynarina:

 

I'm very tempted to test my water - might do so later in the afternoon/evening, if I have time. I estimate my nitrates to be around 50ppm++ (won't be surprised if it's actually beyond 100ppm). I think if I do too big a WC, I risk 'shocking' my system. So I've decided to do a 10G WC as opposed to a 15G WC. Might stir up the sandbed and do some basting/glass cleaning today though. SPS grows super-slowly in this tank because of the high nitrates, but LPS loves it. :ninja:

 

Will also need to feed the brains some chopped shrimp today - yum! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Well, I checked my levels for the first time in a very long time - mostly out of curiosity than anything else.

 

Salinity: 1.024

Nitrate: 50 ppm

Phosphate: 0.25 ppm

Calcium: 450 ppm

Magnesium: 1485 ppm

dKH: 8.3

 

Tbh, I was expecting the nitrates to be beyond 100 ppm++. Almost 5 weeks of WC usually will push the numbers way up high. Phosphates aren't as high as I'd originally expected - I attribute this to both the fuge and the RowaPhos that I use. My Calcium is pretty high. I dose Calcium once every two to three days - and even then, it's a very small amount. I do it for the sake of my SPS more than anything, but I guess they will continue to grow slowly if I have high nitrates and phosphates. 

 

My Magnesium levels surprised me a little. I don't dose Mg at all. I was expecting this one to plummet like crazy, but it surprisingly is higher than usual. dKH is acceptable - I do dose 8 drops of dKH buffer every two to three days. I was planning on increasing this to 10 drops in the upcoming month. 

 

So there you have it. 

 

If I do a major WC, my levels are going to go out of whack - too little nitrates, phosphates and everything else, and I do risk melting or killing some coral due to the swing and the system being too clean. So I'll reduce my WC to 10G. I think I'll focus more on WCing the DT, and less on siphoning the crud out of the sump (apparently that crud is very much needed). 

 

Now off to some pics!

 

Flowy corals - I love, love things in motion!

 

Fishies all out for a swim together - adding the wrasse has changed something fundamental in the behavior of my other fish in the tank. I can't explain it. All I know is that my dartfish hangs out in the open more often, my clownfish actually swim down towards the rocks every once in a while (instead of hovering in the upper right corner where they're always at) and all my smaller fish seem to have become braver. I've also observed Miu, my pink streaked wrasse, come up to the front of the tank several times. And sometimes tail my Carpenter's for a while, before swimming away. It's strange, but I like this change. I think the fish seem happier too. :happy:

 

 

Here's Thanos donning his off-colors - he does this every evening on the same rock, with the same posture. My guess is to establish territory - he *owns this tank, and he doesn't let any of the other fish forget it: :lol:

 

 Remember the shrooms I was talking about? Here they are, still in mid-split:

 

And here's my puffy lobo (again) (sorry, but I love this lil' guy):

 

Gary munching on biofilm growing under my red digi frag - apparently this is how Iconaster longimanus stars feed (?) 🤔:

 

 I think I really need to find a nice name for him. Still haven't decided on it yet - will probably visit some mythological sites online to see if anything catches my eye:

 

And lastly, the subject of much controversy on Insta yesterday - apparently, ahem, *certain men are afraid of my *hairy hands. Don't believe me? Check out the comments to the post, and you'll see what I mean: 🙄

 

Honestly, it's not the worst insult someone has thrown at me over my physical looks, and although it did sting, I just ate some chocolate sugar crackers and went to bed. Meh. Gotta love the net. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

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14 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

it did sting

There's barely anything social about social media.

:rolleyes:

 

Every heard of Simone Weil? (Tangent Alert)

 

Hard to grok until I read it a few times...prolly due in part to it being a french->english translation for me, but check out her stuff on "void" and "compensation".

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57 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Well, I checked my levels for the first time in a very long time - mostly out of curiosity than anything else.

 

Salinity: 1.024

Nitrate: 50 ppm

Phosphate: 0.25 ppm

Calcium: 450 ppm

Magnesium: 1485 ppm

dKH: 8.3

 

Tbh, I was expecting the nitrates to be beyond 100 ppm++. Almost 5 weeks of WC usually will push the numbers way up high. Phosphates aren't as high as I'd originally expected - I attribute this to both the fuge and the RowaPhos that I use. My Calcium is pretty high. I dose Calcium once every two to three days - and even then, it's a very small amount. I do it for the sake of my SPS more than anything, but I guess they will continue to grow slowly if I have high nitrates and phosphates. 

 

My Magnesium levels surprised me a little. I don't dose Mg at all. I was expecting this one to plummet like crazy, but it surprisingly is higher than usual. dKH is acceptable - I do dose 8 drops of dKH buffer every two to three days. I was planning on increasing this to 10 drops in the upcoming month. 

 

So there you have it. 

 

If I do a major WC, my levels are going to go out of whack - too little nitrates, phosphates and everything else, and I do risk melting or killing some coral due to the swing and the system being too clean. So I'll reduce my WC to 10G. I think I'll focus more on WCing the DT, and less on siphoning the crud out of the sump (apparently that crud is very much needed). 

 

Now off to some pics!

 

Flowy corals - I love, love things in motion!

 

Fishies all out for a swim together - adding the wrasse has changed something fundamental in the behavior of my other fish in the tank. I can't explain it. All I know is that my dartfish hangs out in the open more often, my clownfish actually swim down towards the rocks every once in a while (instead of hovering in the upper right corner where they're always at) and all my smaller fish seem to have become braver. I've also observed Miu, my pink streaked wrasse, come up to the front of the tank several times. And sometimes tail my Carpenter's for a while, before swimming away. It's strange, but I like this change. I think the fish seem happier too. :happy:

 

 

Here's Thanos donning his off-colors - he does this every evening on the same rock, with the same posture. My guess is to establish territory - he *owns this tank, and he doesn't let any of the other fish forget it: :lol:

 

 Remember the shrooms I was talking about? Here they are, still in mid-split:

 

And here's my puffy lobo (again) (sorry, but I love this lil' guy):

 

Gary munching on biofilm growing under my red digi frag - apparently this is how Iconaster longimanus stars feed (?) 🤔:

 

 I think I really need to find a nice name for him. Still haven't decided on it yet - will probably visit some mythological sites online to see if anything catches my eye:

 

And lastly, the subject of much controversy on Insta yesterday - apparently, ahem, *certain men are afraid of my *hairy hands. Don't believe me? Check out the comments to the post, and you'll see what I mean: 🙄

 

Honestly, it's not the worst insult someone has thrown at me over my physical looks, and although it did sting, I just ate some chocolate sugar crackers and went to bed. Meh. Gotta love the net. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

Sadly the internet seems to retard the emotional intelligence of people

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Snow_Phoenix
18 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Sadly the internet seems to retard the emotional intelligence of people

Unfortunately, yes. 

 

How's Benny doing, btw? I need to pop by your threads and catch up. Especially your pico. 🙂 

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Just now, Snow_Phoenix said:

Unfortunately, yes. 

 

How's Benny doing, btw? I need to pop by your threads and catch up. Especially your pico. 🙂 

Benny sadly went MIA a while ago, mid to late July I think, I think he jumped out a tiny gap in my cover but not found a crunchy body.  100% gone as I have completely stripped and cleaned the tank since. But I do have a Two Spot (Cujo) in my 5.5G that I got starving and have fattened up. He loves his Barnacle 

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Snow_Phoenix
57 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Benny sadly went MIA a while ago, mid to late July I think, I think he jumped out a tiny gap in my cover but not found a crunchy body.  100% gone as I have completely stripped and cleaned the tank since. But I do have a Two Spot (Cujo) in my 5.5G that I got starving and have fattened up. He loves his Barnacle 

I am very sorry to hear about that. 😓

 

He might have perished in the tank itself and your CUC might have cleaned it up, hence the lack of a body. Tiny fish can be very sensitive sometimes. Good to know Cujo is doing well though. 😊👍

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Snow_Phoenix
35 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

I wanted to rip that guy a new one but deleted it as it will probably just make it worse.

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'm bored and considering reporting all his posts as abuse lmao

 

It is best to just leave him be. I didn't respond to any of his words because I knew it will get worse, and he appears to be the 'I-must-have-the-last-word' sort. No use trying to rebuff someone like that. Might as well ignore it - and if he keeps at it, I'll just block him and call it a day. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Back to reef-related news, I had to do an emergency WC in the QT bin to save my rubyhead. Both the wrasses were fine this morning when I checked on them, but when I came down to feed them, I noticed the ruby was at death's door and there was a stupid dead fly in the water. The bug must have only been in the bin for a few hours, but enough to contaminate it. I'm really hoping the rubyhead will pull through, because it was doing okay and I was planning on adding it to the 60G at the end of this week/early next week. 😞

 

Thankfully, the yellow coris seems to be okay - breathing a little hard, but still active as ever.

 

 

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Wow, it is absolutely insane that such a small influx of nutrients can swing a QT tank like that, no matter how small... I really hope your animals pull through, yikes, I'll definitely have to remember how little it can take to throw things off sometimes...

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It could be that the fly had contaminates on it? Not sure, but the potential of unknown influences is the reason I prefer to QT fish one at a time.

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Snow_Phoenix
12 hours ago, Amphrites said:

Wow, it is absolutely insane that such a small influx of nutrients can swing a QT tank like that, no matter how small... I really hope your animals pull through, yikes, I'll definitely have to remember how little it can take to throw things off sometimes...

 

12 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

It could be that the fly had contaminates on it? Not sure, but the potential of unknown influences is the reason I prefer to QT fish one at a time.

I think the fly was indeed filthy and full of contaminants. I did check up on both wrasses today morning though, and they're both back to normal. The ruby is still very skittish, but at least the coris is swimming out in the open and breathing normally. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Be ready - lots of pics ahead! 😊

 

Update #1:

 

Macro shots of some corals today:

 

IMG_20190817_185448_327.thumb.jpg.5bddb31fe6c596e79b26ab955df5a949.jpg

 

IMG_20190817_185448_326.thumb.jpg.bd300c7cb27fd727a14e68bea576652c.jpg

 

IMG_20190817_185448_329.thumb.jpg.58edf1a96c5626833c08526e9e48507a.jpg

 

IMG_20190817_185448_325.thumb.jpg.a54cb1588c094ad307a845a96b3b0edb.jpg

 

Overall coral pics:

 

IMG_20190817_102700_135.thumb.jpg.96fc80a4644eb5cf114e5b51139e0fe6.jpg

 

IMG_20190817_185135_552.thumb.jpg.fe4d8c2ec6dcb4ff34c2ecb33dd1a117.jpg

 

Mushroom mountain - I bought two new shrooms yesterday (one acid green and one neon orange) to compensate for some of the shrooms I lost through the Pico, and through my hermit toppling/feeding one coral to another:

 

IMG_20190817_132004_913.thumb.jpg.70b105d7a96541fa2574b2e2e0a2923f.jpg

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  • Snow_Phoenix changed the title to Snow's 60G Secret Predatory Sanctum 🐲🐉 - Shutting Down

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