Snow's 2.6G Little Monsters Picoreef - Retired!

[Snow_Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, Tired said:

It looks like cotton candy algae. Yank it immediately. If you want some second opinions, keep it in a cup of tank water just in case, but yank it. 

 

I've seen pictures of red bubble algae, though it seems to be more uncommon and less invasive than the green stuff. The red clump of stuff does look like dragon's breath or something similar. 

Okay, will yank it first thing in the morning. Real shame though because it does look pretty to me. 🤷‍♀️

 

Thanks for the ID, btw. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I was experimenting with my light + phone settings again. These are some pics taken under 75% light + blue light filter on phone + yellow filter lens:

 

1. My John Deere leptastrea - finally recovering its original color and slowly regaining green coloring around its skirts:

 

 

2. Green leptastrea is now light green as opposed to totally white. Also has full PE, but full recovery to its original colors will take time:

 

 

3. I finally glued down the new orange/purplish leptastrea to the LR today. Coral was pissed for a few mins, but then went back to its fluffy-self:

 

 

4. Those green acans that made a comeback from near death are turning greener, and also growing larger. Expecting this to return back into its original mini-colony form in weeks/months to come:

 

 

5. These pics were taken without any filter settings or filter lens of any sort:

 

 

 

 

 

6. I pulled out the cotton candy algae as suggested. I'm hoping my dragon's breath will grow (this is my first time coming across it here + owning it) but I noticed the tips had shimmery orange specks (spores? 🤔). 

 

 

7. Here is my FTS today, taken under the settings I mentioned earlier:

 

 

 

I still can't achieve 100% accuracy in terms of color no matter what I try. I will keep experimenting though, but this was the closest I could get to, today. 

 

Bonus pics: Went to the supermarket today and saw fresh squid as long as my forearm! 😮

 

 

Mum and I bought one. Frozen in our freezer for now, but here is how big it is in our sink:

 

[Ratvan]

I miss my fish market 😞

Tank is looking good, what did you do with the Cotton Candy algae?

[Snow_Phoenix]

10 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I miss my fish market 😞

Tank is looking good, what did you do with the Cotton Candy algae?

Seafood prices dropped here so we have excess of it, and fresh fish everyday. But only in supermarkets. Most wet markets are still cordoned off because people weren't observing social distancing. 

 

I wanted to keep it, and had it in a cup, but then I accidently dumped the whole thing in the sink because I forgot about it. 😨

 

So yes, my plans for keeping a pet pest algae was thwarted. 😭

[Snow_Phoenix]

I finally managed to get a few topshots/topview pics of the pico just now:

 

1. Under 75% light + blue light phone filter + yellow filter lens:

 

 

There's a bit of shadowing in the corners, but I think this is the closest-to-true-colors that I could get. 🥰

 

2. 100% light + blue light phone filter + yellow filter lens:

 

 

Looks brighter, but has a yellowish tinge to it. 🤔

 

3. 100% light + blue light phone filter + no yellow filter lens:

 

 

4. 75% light + no blue light phone filter + no yellow filter lens:

 

 

*Also, my light unit is very old, so not all of the LEDs are working even at full power. 

 

And to take these pics, I had to keep my light 'mounted' so that I could slip my phone underneath it. It took several books, rolls of toilet paper, an empty giftbox and an annoyed betta in a QT pico-pico to achieve this:

 

 

Ah...the things we do to get 'that' Insta-worthy pic. 🙄

[Snow_Phoenix]

Did a full 100% WC today for the Pico, as well as a 20G WC for my 60G. Basically exhausted myself today evening, trying to make sure both my reeftanks keep going. 😞

 

As I was cleaning up the 60G, I found one of my blasto frags buried upside down in the sandbed. It was the frag my secondary LFS gave me as a birthday gift last year. And it was almost dead. 

 

Very little tissue left. I remember this being an orange-rimmed blasto and it used to have dual colors. I pulled it out and transferred it to the Pico. I also temporarily transferred a small large-polyped green galaxea frag to the pico. That one used to grow very quickly, but for the past few weeks, has declined quite badly. There's still a lot of flesh on it though, but the color is no longer the vibrant green it used to be. 

 

I'll try to nurse it back to health in the pico, and once it's stable, move it back to the 60G. But I think I'll permanently keep the blastos (if they survive) in the pico. 

 

Will upload pics of both corals tomorrow - lights are already off for the day, and my monsters are out. 

[debbeach13]

It is good you found the blasto before it was completely gone. At least now it has a chance. Good Luck.

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

It is good you found the blasto before it was completely gone. At least now it has a chance. Good Luck.

Thank you. I still wish I had found it sooner. I wouldn't have, actually, if I didn't use one of my extra long bamboo chopsticks to sift the sandbed in the 60G today. 😞 

[Tamberav]

Sorry about the blasto. Hopefully it can recover. I found a coral upside down today with a hermit in it's place and thought it must be Derps cousin!!

 

Tank looks pretty... especially that wowza fire 🔥 red and green coral in the bottom left.

[Snow_Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Sorry about the blasto. Hopefully it can recover. I found a coral upside down today with a hermit in it's place and thought it must be Derps cousin!!

 

Tank looks pretty... especially that wowza fire 🔥 red and green coral in the bottom left.

It looks much better today - the blasto, I mean. I can see the heads puffing up a little. I think it can make a full recovery. The color is completely off though. It used to be green with an orange rim. 

 

And thanks. 😊

 

The red/green one is my rainbow lobo brain. It is a bit pinched on one side, but is recovering nicely. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

So this was the new blasto I rescued from the sandbed of the 60G - you can see how bad it is right now:

 

 

This was how it originally looked like on 15/1/20:

 

And this is the galaxea with its lighter colors. It used to be a very vibrant shade of green, and was growing rather quickly. Now it has stopped, and appears slightly bleached:

 

This was how it originally looked like on 4/2/20:

 

 

I'm hoping these two pieces will bounce back and regrow in months to come. I'm cautiously optimistic, because I've seen how regrowth is possible in this tank with my red fungias - which have full PE and are very healthy now:

 

My rainbow brain is another coral that's slowly recovering. The bottom side is still 'pinched' but LPS usually takes a little longer to regrow as compared to softies, BME:

 

Remember my current green acans which are regrowing? This was how they looked like when I first brought them home (prior to the meltdown in the nano) - the color was still off (had brownish bits) but this was how vibrant it was, and how vibrant I'm hoping it'll return to someday:

 

Half-dead red fungias on 3/3/20 in the ex-nanoreeftank:

 

How my rainbow brain looked like on 15/2/20 (very healthy during this time):

 

How my blue/red lobo looked like on 17/1/20 (also very healthy) but is now a bit skeletal at the edges in the pico (in recovery mode):

 

 

[debbeach13]

I have no doubt that many will be back to their former glory. Jungle Healing to the rescue.

[Snow_Phoenix]

58 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I have no doubt that many will be back to their former glory. Jungle Healing to the rescue.

Thanks for the confidence in my coral-nursing skills! 🤗

 

Tank is almost full. Starting to wish I had set up a 5G long instead - just to make more room for more struggling frags. 🤐

[debbeach13]

As some recover are you going to move them back to the tank from which they came? 

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

As some recover are you going to move them back to the tank from which they came? 

Maybe. It will take some time before my 60G restabilizes. I tested all levels on both tanks an hour ago and there was a worrisome difference in kH levels. My pico is surprisingly more stable. 🤔

 

I think the galaxea will definitely be moved back though. And maybe the red/blue lobo (?) Am not sure. Will think about it. And see how it goes/how the corals recover first. 

[debbeach13]

Of course take your time. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Aiyee! Spotted one teeny-tiny aiptasia on the new clove polyp frag I just acquired. Will try to smother it with super glue tomorrow. 

 

Also, these are my current levels, as measured today evening after performing a full WC yesterday:

 

Nitrate = 2 ppm (*hoping to increase this by adding 1 tiny fish to this tank in the far future)

Phosphate = 0.1 ppm

Calcium = 415 ppm

Magnesium = ~1300 ppm

dKH = 8.7

 

I think the system is a bit too clean. But the corals seem happy, so I'm not planning on dosing anything. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Little bugger is out today - its hours are numbered: 🙄

 

 

My green leptastrea - color is returning; apologies for the douchebag snail blocking the view:

 

 

Purple death eater palys:

 

 

New acan heads spotted regrowing on the unhealthy freebie frag: 👍

 

 

I'm currently facing issues mounting my frags to the pillar rock on the far left of the tank. Whatever fraglet I mount keeps falling off. Because the surface of the rock is ridged and uneven, the coral glue just can't seem to 'stick' to it long enough for the corals to encrust on the rock and grow. So I'm going to try and mount the corals on other LR pieces in the tank and *maybe swap out the pillar rock for another LR piece in the fuge of my 60G. 

[Tired]

Would you be able to chisel a patch of rock smoother, maybe? Or get some sort of putty into the crevices to smooth things.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Would you be able to chisel a patch of rock smoother, maybe? Or get some sort of putty into the crevices to smooth things.

I did think about that - but I thought it would be easier to just replace the rock. It's okay though - I just tried re-gluing the rainbow implosion palys and one of the blasto fraglets on the pillar rock. I re-glued my pavona on the red fungia rock and the tri-colored blasto on 'Coralline Ledge' - the centerpiece that has various frags on it. Also smothered that pesky aiptasia with coral glue - hopefully there isn't more lurking out of sight.

 

I'm thinking of slowly adding some sand to the front and corners of the tank. Purchased a plastic sieve of sorts the other day from a DIY store, and it came in various sizes, which would be ideal for slowly adding sand into the tough-to-reach areas of the tank. The back of the tank which is covered in shadows, and where my stars lurk, won't have any sand in it though. So yes, I'm 'cheating' in a way. 😛 

 

It's just been a pain to keep the bottom of the tank clean and free from dirt. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Well, here's something interesting. I have caulerpa peltata growing in this tank - and I'm pretty sure I didn't put it in there: 🤐

 

 

Also, looks like the cotton candy algae is making a comeback from the dead: 

 

 

And...I booked 3 new zoa frags from my secondary LFS. Tentatively picking them up tomorrow or the day after. I figured I could grow them out in the pico, then re-frag them when they're large enough to transfer some of the polyps to my 60G (which should be stable enough by then to host new corals):

 

1. Multi-mix:

 

2. Sunflowers:

 

3. Orange bam bams:

 

Pico is doing well otherwise. Fed some pellets to my little monsters - even spotted a large amphipod grab a pellet and scuttle back into the rocks. 😳

[Snow_Phoenix]

New zoas are in the pico - also picked up a 4th fraglet of mint green zoas which I was eyeing on for a bit:

 

 

 

 

I haven't mounted them to any of the rocks yet because I was battling a nasty migraine the whole day. Will figure out proper placement tomorrow. 

 

Also, bonus pics from my secondary LFS. Enjoy: 🤗

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, coral cat shark pair: 🙂

 

 

[Ratvan]

What in the world is this thing?

 

Amazing pictures as always and teh Zoas look pretty too

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

What in the world is this thing?

 

Amazing pictures as always and teh Zoas look pretty too

Sea cucumber. About a foot long. 🙂

 

And thanks. 🤗

[Snow_Phoenix]

My monsters are out! 

 

 

 

(We really need a proper starfish emoji)