Snow's 10G Underwater Tropical Jungle Retreat (365 Day Challenge) - Taking It Down.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Quick updates:

 

1. I finally found the old clips I used to secure my Aquazonic LED. I shifted the PAR38 to the back a little bit to accommodate the clips and the extra light, so now the tank is very bright. :

 

 

2, My fish are doing okay - but I'm still working on getting the damsel out without disturbing the scape. He's super-fast and the only time he actually comes up is when I toss some pellets in the water:

 

3. Nemo definitely needs a new name - need to find him one, quickly:

 

4. Dusky is amazing. So much power and personality in a lil' dude:

 

5. The macro 'bushes/undergrowth' on both sides of the tank are still there. I have yet to prune the fuge of my 60G - kept sitting on it because I'm not too well:

 

6. Anyone thinks I should give Derp some extra siblings? 

 

7. The brittlestarfish has moved to the back of the tank, where it is darker and shadier:

 

8. Coralline ledge is still heavily encrusted with coralline, which I'm hoping will gradually take over the tank now that I have some proper lighting over it:

 

9. FTS on 22/2/20:

 

 

I spoke to my LFS manager yesterday about this tank and more specifically, about this contest in NR. They actually offered to support me all the way. 🙂

 

There were two zoa frags I was looking into - one golden-yellow, another common red with orange skirts - at the store, and my manager offered them to me as freebies, as my first two pieces of coral in the tank. I didn't bring them home from the store because I still need a fan over this. Right now, one of my worker-friends is trying to help me source out a mini fan from one of the other store branches. 

 

My usual online vendor has a clip-on fan which requires no lids (or a mesh lid with large gaps) over the tank for it to circulate air properly. It's also rather bulky-looking, and I'm not too fond of it. 

 

I'm trying to get something like my previous fan - the tiny, compact, hang-on sort like this:

 

 

^This was the fan type I used previously for this tank, and it kept it at a steady temperature of 28'C, which isn't too bad. Long ago, I could grow basic coral (and even monticaps) under this fan, and this same Aquazonic light I'm using. 

 

To give you a glimpse of what I'm speaking of - this was the exact same tank back in its glory days, in 2016:

 

 

 

I had to tear it down when I moved, re-set it several times without much success - mostly because I wasn't committed to it like before. But I think this contest gives me some good goals to work through, plus it's fun to tag along as part of the community and see all the other builds too.

 

The 'tropical jungle' will be different this time though - I don't think I'll touch any SPS with this reboot. But I'll definitely try to do a LPS or two (I need 'trees'! 😛) and focus more on building the reef around the theme I've picked. 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kimberbee]

I'm so glad you joined in!

[Snow_Phoenix]

37 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

I'm so glad you joined in!

Glad I managed to make it! 😁

[A.m.P]

On 2/19/2020 at 2:24 AM, Snow_Phoenix said:

Also, one quick note - this tank will be a budget tank. I've decided that with the exception of a Torch coral, I'm not going to spend more than RM 30 per coral frag for this reef. I'll try my best to get frags below RM 15, if possible. I think this is do-able, given that one of my LFS branches does specialize in selling very cheap frags of basic corals (non-premium ones). 

 

And I plan on taking my time with coral-stocking this tank. My main focus will always be my main reeftank in my bedroom. But this tank will keep chugging along, even if I don't add much to it. 🙂

 

All the equipment I've used are old equipment. The tank itself is very old. The only new equipment will be the mini fan.

Another budget tank! Awesome, can't wait to see how this turns out!

[Snow_Phoenix]

1. So today, I finally pruned my refugium and picked out a nice clump of caulerpa:

 

2. I also managed to capture a few 'hitchikers' for the nano. Had to be extra careful scooping up the microbrittles because their legs can break off very easily. Also got a few of those tiny snails out:

 

3. The first thing I did was put the macro into the tank first. I started placing the fern caulerpa first, and tucked it between the 'ledge' and the 'arch' rock below it:

 

4. I slipped in a bit of grape caulerpa in some holes in the LR - to give the impression of 'bushes' popping out of the rocks. Well, it looks bubbly and a bit weird, I know, but I'm making do with what I have.  :

 

 

5. I then added more blade caulerpa to the left side of the tank. So more 'ferns', yay! :

 

6. Once I was done arranging the macro, I dropped the microbrittles and tiny snails into the tank:

 

7. Overall, the tank now has this messy, 'wild' look about it, but I love it! 

 

8. I can't wait to get my mini fan so that I can slowly add some cheap frags in it. Right now, my red PE zoa colony in my 60G split into half (the rock the colony was attached to broke), and I have two clumps of nice red zoas. I was thinking of moving one of these clumps to the nano in the future, since they'd make the perfect bunch of 'toadstools':

 

9. I'm still having issues getting the damsel out, but I'll keep trying. It's resorted to dive-bombing my clownfish from time to time, and I don't like it. 😞

 

The clown isn't stressed out, thankfully, but if the damsel doesn't let up, it might get stressed. Thinking of getting a small fish trap in the tank - but hopefully it won't catch the wrong fish (or Derp, for that matter):

 

 

10. The large brittlestar is doing fine - it was all stretched out this morning:

 

 

But it retreated into the rocks when I turned the lights on:

 

 

I tried making up a list of possible coral choices to fit the jungle theme:

 

So far, here's what else I'm thinking of:

 

Grass = Neon GSP, Metallic GSP, Green Galaxea

Mushrooms = Various mushroom corals (*preferably non-yumas)

Toadstools = Zoas, Palythoas

Flowers = Orange Clove Polyps, Green Clove Polyps, Xenia, Goniopora, Alveopora 

Trees = Long-Polyp/Weeping Willow Toadstool Leathers, Torch Corals, Kenya Trees, Finger Leather Corals

Fungus/Fungus Plates = Leptoseris, Monticaps (?) ---> Trying not to do SPS in this tank, will evaluate other options

Ferns/Undergrowth = Various types of Caulerpa

Bushes = Chaeto 

Lichen = Leptrastrea

 

Still planning it out and coming up with different options as I move along. 🤔

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[devaji108]

^ I love it! always think macos are under rated I almost went a maco theme for my 365...

anyway I would watch that grape C that stuff frows very fast and tanks over I personally would not use it. just MHO 

 

there is a red grape that a med grower might be a better option if you can get it there. 

 

I so plan to add clove polyps to my build as well I'll watch and see how yours do.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Quick update: Apparently the fan type I requested is no longer being sold here. But my LFS managed to get this for me:

 

 

So I'm picking it up on Wednesday. 🙂

 

Can't wait - because I can finally start sourcing out more tiny frags and can finally bring them home. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

12 hours ago, devaji108 said:

^ I love it! always think macos are under rated I almost went a maco theme for my 365...

anyway I would watch that grape C that stuff frows very fast and tanks over I personally would not use it. just MHO 

 

there is a red grape that a med grower might be a better option if you can get it there. 

 

I so plan to add clove polyps to my build as well I'll watch and see how yours do.

I really like Macros too! After I saw an old TOTM post by yoshii, that's when I knew having various types of macro in a tank can be beautiful too. 🙂

 

I think I'll pull out the grape this evening - a part of it turned transparent (not white yet) this morning, and I agree - it can grow very fast. 

 

I'll be keeping the fern and blade caulerpa though. 

 

I actually have clove polyps growing in my 60G - but they're attached to one of my main LR pieces, so I have no idea how to frag them. Otherwise, I was planning on dropping by one of my LFS branches and picking up new clove frags, just for this tank. 🙂 

Can't wait to see all the tanks in this contest filled up and growing. 

[devaji108]

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I really like Macros too! After I saw an old TOTM post by yoshii, that's when I knew having various types of macro in a tank can be beautiful too. 🙂

 

I think I'll pull out the grape this evening - a part of it turned transparent (not white yet) this morning, and I agree - it can grow very fast. 

 

I'll be keeping the fern and blade caulerpa though. 

 

I actually have clove polyps growing in my 60G - but they're attached to one of my main LR pieces, so I have no idea how to frag them. Otherwise, I was planning on dropping by one of my LFS branches and picking up new clove frags, just for this tank. 🙂 

Can't wait to see all the tanks in this contest filled up and growing. 

yeah grape caulerpa can turn white can also go sexual and over run the tank very fast.  good call on removing it. lot of other nice algae other.

yes this challenge did fill up quite good I bet there will even be a few more before the 29th too 🙂

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 hours ago, devaji108 said:

yeah grape caulerpa can turn white can also go sexual and over run the tank very fast.  good call on removing it. lot of other nice algae other.

yes this challenge did fill up quite good I bet there will even be a few more before the 29th too 🙂

 

 

Hmm. I managed to get one clump out, but Derp did some rescaping today and shoved the second grape clump at the back of the tank. Will try to fish it out with chopsticks tomorrow. I'm trying my best to keep my hands out of the tank because the DT is small and I don't want to spook any of the fish into jumping. 

[devaji108]

chop sticks are always a nice small tank scaping tool! just make sure you get it all or you will know in a week or so 

[A.m.P]

Bamboo skewers work well too.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1. Dusky says hello! 🙂

 

 

2, My damsel dug a 'cave' under the rock. And smothered my chaeto with sand-rubble. Ugh. 

 

3. Derp attempted to scale my wavemaker when I turned it off for feeding time:

 

4. He then threw a tantrum and side-planted into my sandbed: 🙄

 

5. A quick check-up on him a few mins. later revealed that he was in fact, perfectly fine, and just a drama king: 

 

6. This is what I've been feeding the fish so far, and they love it:

 

7. A quick evening feeding video with all 3 fish up and about:

 

8. FTS on 25/2/20 (today):

 

Some of the blade caulerpa on the far left of the tank kept entering the wavemaker, so the top parts were chopped off overnight. I've removed all the grape caulerpa that I could find, but I'm positive Derp has hidden one strand of it somewhere in my tank. 🙄

 

A hermit's version of blackmail for more pellets, I'm sure. Pfft. 

 

I was looking into various types of corals that could form a nice green mat to resemble 'grass'. I think I'll stick with GSP or *maybe risk a small frag of green galaxea. I have the metallic version of GSP in my 60G, and it looks pretty nice:

 

Plus, it anchors to the LR quicker than regular GSP does, and has that lovely 'shimmer' to it. I'll try to acquire another frag of it one day, just for this nano. 

 

Tomorrow I'll be picking up my fan and *hopefully bring back the two tiny zoa frags from the LFS - my first 'flowers' for this tank. I'm quite excited and can't wait. 

 

Add-On: I've also changed my clown's name to 'Pisces'. 🙂 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hola everyone! 

 

I dropped by my LFS today afternoon and picked up my new mini fan! 

 

It's a bit noisy, but surprisingly strong for something so small and compact. I couldn't use my older janky lids with the mini fan clipped to the back of the tank, so I rummaged through the store room under the stairs and found some old plastic mesh:

 

Just cut it out to size and ta-da! I have a new lid: 

 

There are still small gaps on the far left corners of the DT that needs to be covered, but for now, this fits very well over the tank. 

 

Also, my fern caulerpa went wild last night and un-stuffed itself from the back of the rock. It's now dangling precariously at the front of Coralline Ledge, but it gives the tank an overall 'feral' look which I really like:

 

Spotted both my Turban snails up and about cleaning the glass:

 

CUC is minimal because I currently have no invasive/pest algae that needs to be eaten. Here's a quick video of the tank:

 

And this is how it looks overall with the new fan & mesh:

 

Also, I know I said I wanted to pick up my zoas today - but I ran into a slight problem at the LFS. One of my worker-friends fragged the frags into smaller frags and attached them to frag plugs. She wasn't around, so I wasn't sure which corals were mine because some of them look identical. My second worker-friend was there, but she had no idea which corals were mine either, so I thought I'll revisit the shop a few days from now to find out which of the new frags are mine. 

 

However, I found a lot of 'trees' a.k.a. green torches for sale! 

 

Put down a deposit for one with 4 branches - they were going for a very reasonable price, and all the gold-tipped purple ones had been sold out. The pink-tipped/blue-tipped green ones are considered 'normal' here, so there was plenty left behind to pick from:

 

I'll be picking the torch up some time next month. 

 

I also saw these adorable dual/tri-colored fungia plates which were as tiny as 2", but they were all sold already: 

 

Otherwise, I was thinking one of these fungia are perfect to resemble the circular-shaped fungal plates we see growing on trees in nature. 

 

I did find some mini rainbow brains which I guess could also pass off as a colorful 'mushroom'/'toadstool', but the shop hasn't determined the pricing yet on pieces because they just arrived:

 

There were rows of beautiful acans, which do have a 'flower' like arrangement when they are sold as mini colonies, but they were quite expensive and out of the budget:

 

The LFS also had a colony of clove polyps and xenia which have not been fragged yet. Once they are fragged, I'll grab a frag of each since they make the perfect 'flowers' for the theme. There was also this adorable regular toadstool attached to an acan colony, but it wasn't sold separately, unfortunately. In the event that it is, I think I *might grab that one too - because it honestly looks exactly like an underwater toadstool - just with polyps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tempestas]

Wow. Such a nice selection at your LFS.

[Snow_Phoenix]

21 hours ago, Tempestas said:

Wow. Such a nice selection at your LFS.

We had a really bad coral-ban scare few months back. I'm honestly just glad to see full racks - even if it's the same type of coral over and over again. My LFS is trying their best to encourage more people to join the hobby by selling corals and fish at affordable prices. They're also trying to get more women to participate because the hobby is dominated by men here, and a group of them have a very elitist mentality towards newbie reefers or women in general. 

 

I don't see eye-to-eye with a lot of local reefers (especially ones up north) as a result. But I have to admit, the latest reefers I bump into at my LFS treated me like an equal and were very courteous/polite/helpful, so I believe there is still hope for a change in the future. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I've added my first four frags to the nano today! 

 

I sourced out frags from my own large reef that weren't doing well or declining. 

 

Out of the handful that would fit into my theme, I decided to introduce these four: 

 

 

1. Mini red PE zoa colony - originally a part of a larger colony that broke into half:

 

2. I *think these are green favites - as you can see, the edges have declined over a period of time:

 

3, A teal mushroom which was originally splitting like crazy, but then melted away to one head:

 

4. My John Deere leptastrea - which never grew in my large reef, but never quite died out either:

 

These pics were taken when the corals were newly introduced into the tank and just glued down. So most of the polyps are not open/extended. Here's how they look like under full actinics:

 

I also picked these four because:

 

-Red PE zoas = 'toadstools'

-Favites = 'lichen'/'moss'

-Mushroom = 'mushroom

-Leptastrea = 'flowers'

 

This is how the tank looks like as of today evening:

 

(The leptastrea is on Coralline Ledge - hoping it'll encrust to the rock and take off from there to create a nice 'flowery' ledge)

 

I'm saving the open spot on the far right of the tank for my 'tree' a.k.a. the green torch. I'm planning on lining the bottom of the torch with more mushroom corals of different colors. I think I'll create a 'toadstool' corner full of zoas and palys on the far left of the tank. And add some 'grass' (GSP/green galaxea) on the bottom of the LR (If I'm using green galaxea, it'll be on the sandbed, isolated and alone so that it won't sting anything nearby). 

 

I'm thinking of using tiny acans as giant 'flowers' as well. Depends on whether I can get small frags for cheap prices. 

 

I also performed my first 3G WC today since the re-set. Swapped out the floss, but it was relatively clean, so I think I'll swap it out bi- or tri-weekly instead from now on. The tank was fairly clean, actually. Even after stirring the sandbed with a chopstick, there isn't much dirt or detritus to be found. Since there's no nuisance algae (yet) since the reboot, I won't be adding any extra CUC. Am still committed to getting the damsel out, but it's a smart fish that knows how to hide from me, unfortunately. 

 

I'm also thinking of adding an ornamental shrimp down the road. Something unique, which isn't too costly, but can still be viewed. I was originally thinking of going with the standard cleaner (I still might), but I'm leaning towards either a white spotted nem shrimp (not to be confused with a Sexy shrimp)/a red pistol shrimp (not to be confused with a candycane pistol)/a sugarcane shrimp or a blue coral banded shrimp (if I can get my hands on one - haven't seen it for sale here for almost 5 years, I believe, so this might be a no-go). 

 

Since the tank is quite small, I think one shrimp would do. 

 

I think once the damsel is out, it'll be a much happier, calmer tank. My bad on thinking all Talbots were peaceful. 

 

Also, I *might make several exceptions and add montis or shift over my browned-out cyphastrea into this reef. Still thinking about this, because once you start introducing a plate or stick, it usually makes you want more. 

 

 

 

 

[A.m.P]

It's a beautiful damsel, shame that its' got a lousy personality.

[Snow_Phoenix]

6 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

It's a beautiful damsel, shame that it's got a lousy personality.

I know. I love how its color 'pops' and how vibrant it is. But it's a...jerk. 

 

My blenny can put up with it, but it harasses my clownfish from time to time. I initially thought of swapping it out with something small and peaceful, like a Hi-Fin or YCG - but I'm unsure if my tank can handle 3 fish yet. (I think it *might be possible, since the biofilter is very old and established, but there is the issue of territory as well).

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Guess who finally got caught and is about to be deported back to the store? 

 

 

Had to remove all my macro and 3 out 4 of my LR pieces to get him. Basically rip apart my scape. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

There. I gift-wrapped the little jerk too. 

 

[banasophia]

Yeah it is such a pretty fish, too bad it was a little jerk... hopefully it will be a better community member in its new home! And it sure is traveling back to the LFS in style!!

[Snow_Phoenix]

17 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Yeah it is such a pretty fish, too bad it was a little jerk... hopefully it will be a better community member in its new home! And it sure is traveling back to the LFS in style!!

I actually like this little fish but it was abusing my clownfish way too much. I was half-afraid the clown might even jump out of the tank one day. 😓

 

I was debating of swapping this one with something small and peaceful, but there were no nano-sized nanofish available (unless you include more damsels). 

 

I'll monitor my tank. Keep it at two fish for now. The blenny and the clown gets along very well. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

After I booted my damsel back to the store, I came back home and noticed there was a LOT of difference in Pisces's and Dusky's behavior. For starters, they were both out and swimming (!) at the front of the tank - and even came right up to glass to greet me: 

 

Pisces was so excited that he kept swimming all over the tank and it was hard to keep track of him. Before this, he was confined to one corner of the tank because my damsel would divebomb him from time to time:

 

That fern caulerpa clump doesn't stay put. Today it wound up next to my wavemaker: 

 

Dusky looking cute and adorable today evening: 

 

My John Deere leptastrea opened up fully! 

 

Most of my red PE zoas have fully opened as well:

 

This shroom still needs to regain its original metallic look - perhaps in this tank, it'll return back to its true color:

 

Tank overall today:

 

 

My plans:

 

-Frag my rainbow implosion palys from my 60G and stick some polyps here --> need more colorful 'toadstools'!

-Transfer my Duncan (another 'tree' perhaps? 🤔), 1 not-doing-well-in-the-big-tank green kenya tree frag (another 'tree'!), 1 mini rainbow acan colony ('flowers'!), 1 green galaxea frag ('grass'), 1 not-doing-well-in-the-big-tank red acan frag ('flowers') & 1 discolored shroom ('mushroom') to the nano over the next few weeks.

-I *might also transfer these: browned-out meteor shower cyphastrea ('lichen'? Maybe. 🤔),1 red & 1 green monticap frags ('fungal plates') & 1 encrusting monti ('lichen) to the tank. Still considering if I should do SPS in this, but if I do, it'll probably be confined to montis and be very limited. 

 

My main focus will be macros, softies and LPS here and there. Also, I dropped by my LFS today and the entire torch rack was wiped clean (sold out to Singapore). My worker-friend commented I was very lucky to manage to reserve one before the other buyer came in to strip the racks. If all goes well, I should have that torch by the end of March. 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Yesterday, I ran into an emergency situation-of-sorts with regards to some of my smaller coral pieces in my large reef. I noticed most of the frags located at the back of the 60G, especially the SPS ones, had been either knocked over, STNed or lost color. I was quite worried and tried to salvage the ones that looked the worst-off. So I trimmed off some of my SPS - a purple encrusting monti (STNed), red pavona (lost color), cyphastrea (lost color) and also shifted 4 other non-SPS pieces to the nano.

 

It looked...pretty bad when I first moved the frags over:

 

Only the rainbow implosion palys were healthy, although they did have elongated stalks because they were positioned too low (and far away) from my AI Prime in the 60G. The other smaller green-skirted zoa frag I scraped off my LR wasn't opening up at all, and two of my tiny leather frags had very poor PE because they kept getting ripped off the rocks by my tuxedo urchin, who then wore them as glorified crowns. 

 

These were the how the corals looked like when I first added them to the nano yesterday:

 

1. Alien Pox cyphastrea (mostly browned out, with a *bit of color retained), STNed purple monti & pavona:

 

Barring the cyphastrea, I still do have tiny pieces of the monti and pavona in my 60G, which are doing far better and actually encrusted to the LR. Not sure why these *two pieces were doing so poorly. 😞

 

2. My two tiny leather frags - one is a red finger leather, and another is a mini green kenya tree - both had zero PE yesterday 😞 :

 

 

3. My rainbow implosion palys (healthy) & closed-up green-skirted zoas (unhealthy):

 

Each frag is quite small - roughly no more than 1" across, with the exception of the red finger leather, which is about ~3" if all polyps are fully extended. 

 

Today morning, I checked up on all 7 of the new additions and it's both a mix of good and bad news.

 

Both the purple monti and red pavona appear to have lost more flesh/color - so I *might actually lose these two:

 

It's quite upsetting because these two frags were very difficult to acquire here - especially the purple encrusting monti, and also a bit pricey. 😞

 

My only consolation is that I have two tiny red pavona frags that are still alive and growing in my 60G, and a very, very tiny patch of monti still encrusted to my LR, which is growing slowly and still has full color. So all is not totally lost. 

 

Otherwise, I figured the red pavona would actually make an amazing 'fungal plate' or even 'flower' once it grows out and folds over into a rose-shape - like the parent colony at my LFS. 

 

The cyphastrea seems to be doing okay (still browned out though) - I think it can pass off as 'lichen' in the tank, if it bounces back and actually encrusts to the LR I stuck it on:

 

 

The little green kenya tree is floppy-looking but it finally showed some PE today! 🙂

 

 

As for the red finger leather, it's still very moody, but some parts of it has very mild PE:

 

I found this very old pic of one of my nanoreefs 4 years ago - and there's a full colony of this same type of coral there (to show you how much this piece is capable of growing into):

 

I think both leathers would make perfect 'trees' or 'bushy outcrops' if they grow out.

 

I'm right now looking into my own large reef to frag or source out corals that aren't doing too well, but can still fit my theme. So far I have my sights locked on my duncan, which would make a nice mini 'tree' of sorts, as well as a large colony of partially melted green zoanthids which would resemble 'flowers' if they decide to regrow and open up again. 

 

In a strange way, I'm actually filling up my tank without spending a single cent (for now).

 

However, I still do have a torch coming in and that's the only coral piece that's biting the wallet atm. I'll try to source out more frags from discount racks in my LFSes in the upcoming months. And try and see if I can frag my own mushrooms (like the leopard discosoma, which already has four heads) to add them to this tank to create a small multi-colored 'mushroom' garden of sorts. 

 

I saw some yumas for sale in loose-form at my LFS (meaning they weren't attached to frag plugs or rocks - just sitting at the base of the frag tank), but yumas have quite a sting. In a large tank, I can space them out, but in a tank as small as this one, I might accidently melt some things. 😞

 

I *might also frag my Jack-O-Lantern leptoseris from my large reef in the future - it has a nice 'plate'-like formation to it which I really like. Plus, it's colorful too. 🙂