Snow's 2.6G Little Monsters Picoreef - Retired!

[Snow_Phoenix]

8 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Tank is so full and beautiful! I love the montihat 😂

I love it too! 🤣

[Snow_Phoenix]

Two quick updates:

 

Prowler's building a sand castle in my zoa garden. Again. 🙄

 

I figured I can't win against this tiny fish, so I let him have the run of my pico...for now. 😒

 

Took two quick shots of my corals - mini Malayan rainbow acans:

 

 

Random zoas up close:

 

 

I fed the tank some extra pellets and that brought all my little monsters out of hiding:

 

 

 

Turns out they're all buddies when it comes to dinner. 😄

[Snow_Phoenix]

I was inspired by Deb's request to take more FTS pics of the pico - so here are 4 early monthly FTSes today: 🤗

 

 

 

 

 

The differences between the shots are due to the angles and lighting. In some shots, I removed the Chihiros light and took the pic with only the Aquazonic lights, and in other pics, I used both lights together. You can see the differences in brightness for the shots. 👍

 

Planning on picking up more zoas and a tiny gorg. I *might be swayed into picking up a pom pom crab as well, but I'll do some quick research to see if it can get along with my porcelain nem crab first. 👍

[debbeach13]

Thanks the tank looks great. I like the darker photo's for viewing.  I think both lights are probably why I am jealous of your growth. Good luck shopping. If I recover from a morning off yard work (maybe an hour and a half) I might venture out in search of a fish. The feels like is already 102 so I might blow it off until tomorrow morning. Sucking down ice coffee right now.

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Thanks the tank looks great. I like the darker photo's for viewing.  I think both lights are probably why I am jealous of your growth. Good luck shopping. If I recover from a morning off yard work (maybe an hour and a half) I might venture out in search of a fish. The feels like is already 102 so I might blow it off until tomorrow morning. Sucking down ice coffee right now.

It was quite hot over here today too. Some of the shrubs have wilted a little. We didn't water the plants today though - ended up going out as a family to a supermarket to pick up some things, and then quickly dip by a restaurant to grab dinner on the way back. 

 

I'll probably take a topview shot of the tank in days to come. 🙂 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Mornin'! 😊

 

Sunflowers: 

 

 

Starting to see some yellow in the rainbow brain coral: 

 

 

The front view is the same though:

 

 

I wonder if the changes have to do with the additional lighting in the tank. It is definitely interesting to watch the progress in size and colors of the coral. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Piccolo waiting for the usual burst of food:

 

 

Zoa Tower: 🥰

 

 

Purple death palys - getting a little out of hand now: 😅

 

 

Two of my corals are off-color - my cyphastrea grayed-out last week: 😕

 

 

I have a suspicion this has something to do with the oily film on the surface of the water last week, but I'm not sure how those two events are connected. 🤔

 

My John Deere leptastrea has also turned a *muddy shade of yellow as opposed to the cheerful sunflower yellow - I noticed this change in shades around two weeks ago:

 

 

But what baffles me is that it is actually growing and spreading out. Just looks dull, that's all - especially compared to the neighboring pieces. Another mystery for me to solve. 🤔

 

The chili pepper monti is slowly returning back to its original red/green colors, but it's not as vibrant as my montihat yet: 

 

 

Also, my tenius browned out just before I WCed this tank too. I have a feeling that piece will take a long time to recover - if it recovers at all. 😕

 

The strange thing is that it's actually growing (encrusted more on the frag plug) and has full PE. 

 

So these three pieces will need to be watched. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just fed the tank some raw shrimp juice: 😊🦐

 

 

 

 

 

Piccolo took refuge under her coral - I think she was a bit scared of me when I stuck the container in the water: 

 

 

Everything else in the tank went nuts though. Feeding responses from both corals and other inverts were great - Benny the serpent starfish kept crawling all over the zoas to find tiny shreds of shrimp to eat. 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just turned the lights on. 😊

 

Duncan coral:

 

 

Clove polyps:

 

 

Weeping willow:

 

 

Rainbow refuge:

 

 

The oily film is back, but it's still thin. I think I'll swap out my carbon again later - not sure what else I can do except mop it up manually. Did I mention the film has a greenish tinge to it? 

 

I think it's some sort of algae bloom, as opposed to bacterial. Part of the tank's aging process, I guess. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Breaking this up into two updates - here's a single green zoa against a rainbow backdrop: 

 

 

It appears I also have the start of a valonia infestation:

 

 

Thankfully, I've only spotted one bubble and some quick removal with tweezers should get rid of it. 

 

Kraken was lurking under Coralline Ledge: 😮

 

 

The next two pics were taken without yellow clip-on lens for a change: 

 

The cyphastrea appears to be improving a little in terms of color, but is growing as usual:

 

 

I also made it a point to trim off the excess glue under my green favites and chili pepper monti, then  re-glue them to the rock. The favites were okay, but the monti was not happy at being handled: 😕

 

 

I also mopped the oily algae film on the surface of the water, and changed the floss & carbon for good measure. The film hasn't returned yet, but hopefully this bloom will vanish on its own in time. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I also fed the tank some pellets and that brought all of my active inverts scrambling out into the open. 😅

 

Harvey:

 

 

Piccolo: 

 

 

Kraken & Benny:

 

 

The gang together:

 

 

I'm planning on test-fragging my tubbs blue zoas this week. Since some of the polyps have literally grownn over the sandbed, snipping them away from the parent colony shouldn't be an issue. 

 

I want to try doing this on my own before I attempt to frag the purple death palys. If I can grow the frag(s) out, I'm hoping I'll be able to either sell them online or trade them in for store credit at my LFS. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Harvey's out in full camomode:

 

 

 

 

Pics were taken with & without flash. My other Saron in the large reeftank mostly turns green at night. So interesting to watch these guys switch colors to blend in. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Not quite a FTS, but here's a random shot of the pico today:

 

 

Prowler has resumed his conquest of the little reef and started building a second sand-mountain in the middle. Again. 🙄

 

Not quite sure what he's hoping to achieve, but if he starts piling sand on the montihat (again), then I'll clear it (again). 

 

I love this little fish, but he can be a tiny terror sometimes. 😕

[erinalter(ed)]

I'm with @debbeach13: full tank shots are great! I'm just getting into this hobby, and I find that a good FTS really helps me get a better sense of how corals relate, aquascaping, and what sort of corals/other animals can fit in a given tank. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, erinalter(ed) said:

I'm with @debbeach13: full tank shots are great! I'm just getting into this hobby, and I find that a good FTS really helps me get a better sense of how corals relate, aquascaping, and what sort of corals/other animals can fit in a given tank. 

I agree FTSes do look good. But I also like taking individual shots of certain coral pieces at different times - mostly to track their progress (growth & color-wise) over a period of weeks/months. 🙂 

 

I think I'm pretty much stocked though. Although I do see empty spots here and there to mount more zoas - and maybe a tiny gorg or stick. 

[erinalter(ed)]

12 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I agree FTSes do look good. But I also like taking individual shots of certain coral pieces at different times - mostly to track their progress (growth & color-wise) over a period of weeks/months. 🙂 

And i'm all for the individual shots! just include an FTS in with the batch 🙂

[WV Reefer]

On 8/16/2020 at 10:17 AM, Snow_Phoenix said:

I was inspired by Deb's request to take more FTS pics of the pico - so here are 4 early monthly FTSes today: 🤗

 

 

 

 

 

The differences between the shots are due to the angles and lighting. In some shots, I removed the Chihiros light and took the pic with only the Aquazonic lights, and in other pics, I used both lights together. You can see the differences in brightness for the shots. 👍

 

Planning on picking up more zoas and a tiny gorg. I *might be swayed into picking up a pom pom crab as well, but I'll do some quick research to see if it can get along with my porcelain nem crab first. 👍

Looks great! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, erinalter(ed) said:

And i'm all for the individual shots! just include an FTS in with the batch 🙂

Will try. 👍

45 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Looks great! 😊

Thank you! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Brrr...it's cold in my bedroom today morning. 😄

 

 

Piccolo seeking comfort under the lobo, as usual:

 

 

Sunflower zoas from two different angles: 😊

 

 

 

The Montihat: 😄

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The red fungia on the left is new: 🤗

 

 

Red devil shroom:

 

 

My green discosoma is a bit weird. When it's small and shrunken, it's bright green, but when it's large and spread out, it has brown streaks in it:

 

 

Anyone have any ideas why? 🤔

[debbeach13]

I love all your individual photo's and then the full tank shots show how it is all put together. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

2 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I love all your individual photo's and then the full tank shots show how it is all put together. 

Thank you. I'll take another FTS after I perform the next WC. Need to scrape the glass & mop up the algae film again. 😕

[Tired]

For the discosoma, it might have something to do with, essentially, compression. If you look really closely at corals, they have pigmentation made up of a few million tiny little dots. When those dots are pressed closer together, it changes the way the color looks. The green in yours is probably overwhelming the brown, visually, when it's smushed up.

[Snow_Phoenix]

9 minutes ago, Tired said:

For the discosoma, it might have something to do with, essentially, compression. If you look really closely at corals, they have pigmentation made up of a few million tiny little dots. When those dots are pressed closer together, it changes the way the color looks. The green in yours is probably overwhelming the brown, visually, when it's smushed up.

Ah, that explains it. Thanks for the info! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

The new squishy throne of colors: 

 

 

😄

 

Also, I picked up a very small turban snail today. Because I do have algae on the glass and frag plugs which needs munching. If the algae is depleted, then I can transfer the snail out to my 60G before it starves. And if the algae returns, then I figured I can re-add the snail to the pico again. 👍