Snow's 2.6G Little Monsters Picoreef - Retired!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Several updates coming through - pic heavy! 😊

 

Just flipped the lights on, so not all of the corals are open & *awake yet. 😅

 

Memphis clinging on to the brain coral for dear life: 

 

 

 

Nuclear death palys turning a lighter shade of green: 

 

 

Pink/green milli has some very nice PE which looks like tiny flowers: 🥰

 

 

 

Browned out milli barely has any PE this morning - still no improvement in color/growth in this piece yet, but it is still too early to tell : 

 

 

The pinkish-purplish edges of the montihat has stopped *bouncing, so I'm left with a regular monti: 🤔

 

 

Update 2 & 3 coming up shortly! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Green leptastrea is still recovering - the polyps at the bottom right corner has turned a brighter shade of green: 🤗

 

 

UCs have developed stronger colors, and the second new polyp has more markings on it than before: 👍

 

 

 

New LA Lakers polyps are larger than before: 🤗

 

 

Baby Sunny Ds polyps are cute: 🥰

 

 

Sapphire rescaped my tank a bit last night. She buried my trumpet coral under a layer of sand, and moved one of my little leopard discosomas next to my green discosoma: 😄

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Sapphire is a gorgeous fish. Now that she's slowly becoming comfortable in the tank, she's developing quite the personality: 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know damsels get a terrible rep. - especially the blue devils, but I have to admit they're incredibly beautiful and fun to watch. 😊

[SaltyGallon]

Those springer's damsels are lovely - Sapphire looks very happy. Loving the purple rim on the montihat too haha! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

21 minutes ago, SaltyGallon said:

Those springer's damsels are lovely - Sapphire looks very happy. Loving the purple rim on the montihat too haha! 

Thank you! Also, Sapphire is actually a female blue devil damsel, I believe, not a springer's. Springer's are way more peaceful than this gal. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Took some topview shots of the tank earlier. 😊

 

Favites:

 

 

The Zoa Tower: 

 

 

 

Blasto merlettis - purple with light blue centers: 🥰

 

 

Puffy acans: 🥰

 

 

New milli frag:

 

 

Sticks on the wall: 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Got some shots of a few of the critters too. 😊

 

Sapphire:

 

 

Harvey: 

 

 

 

Memphis: 

 

 

Love this mish-mash of blue & purple zoas - my fav. colors! 🥰 :

 

 

The view of the pico from my bed: 😊

 

 

Also, Prowler gave my yuma back. Or rather chucked my yuma out of one of the burrow entrances. I think he was done holding it hostage. 🤷‍♀️

 

I also accidently overdosed kH today - the blastos were pretty pissed but other corals appeared fine so far. That brown milli I rescued doesn't look too good. I noticed it started declining since today afternoon (before I dosed anything). 🤔

 

Buying sick or unhealthy coral always carries a risk - they *can die on you before they recover. I learnt this when I first started this tank and lost a few unhealthy pieces - pieces that were too far gone to be saved. I was genuinely hoping I could save this milli, but I *thought I saw some parts of its browned flesh recede, and that usually isn't a good sign. 😓

 

This isn't going to deter me from taking in unhealthy/ugly frags from the store though. I find watching a coral bounce back and progress in terms of growth, health & color very rewarding, so I'll keep doing it. 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #1: Corals.

 

Tank is still waking up so PE is minimal in some pieces, but I did try to get a few decent pics. 👍

 

Red finger leather is nice and fuzzy: 🤗

 

 

 

Green leptastrea has developed even more color over the past ~16 hours. Quite happy with its recovery: 😊

 

 

Red pavona growth is good so far - so many new ripples on the surface:

 

 

 

New milli appears to have a mild improvement in color. The green part appears to be stronger (?) : 🤔

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2: Moar corals! 😄

 

Weeping willow toadstool has grown quite big - my scraper actually bumps into it whenever I try to clean the glass: 

 

 

Mystery coral still has no name nor have I found out what exactly it is. I kept calling it a leptastrea the last few weeks, but now I think it *might be a stylocoeniella (?) : 🤷‍♀️

 

 

Sunny D looks better in person than pics: 

 

 

Tricolor blasto: 

 

 

Blasto colony:

 

 

Red/blue lobo up close:

 

 

Kraken lounging among the shrooms: 😊

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Quick update: Some of my corals have started to compete for space - one or two frags are stinging nearby ones quite badly. 

 

I'm debating pulling up my 10G nano to my bedroom and transferring this pico to that tank. I technically have everything I need already - pumps, wavemaker, filter media (nano has a back sump), cabinet etc etc. but I'll probably have to throw another light strip over it. I'm currently discussing with my primary LFS to pick up another secondhand (older model) 72W R60 light from them - that'll solve my light issue overall. 

 

It won't be so much as an upgrade, as another TTM. 

 

My biggest problem is that the nano has fish of its own, and so does this pico. If I were to 'merge' both tanks, there will be displaced animals that'll need to be returned to the store, or one or two fish which will/can be shuffled to my 60G. 😕

 

I'll plan this carefully first. Nano's total overall volume is exactly 9.35G, but the DT area is probably only ~7.5G. It's almost three times the DT volume I have in my current pico, but the dimensions of that tank is 'taller' as opposed to wider. (It's 15" x 12" x 12")

 

Scaping will be harder. The one good thing is that the LR in the nano is approx. 5-years-old. Everything is established, but I'll have to get new LS again, I suppose. Heh. 

 

I'll think about this - possibly sleep on it, too. 

 

I've had TTMs that went over smoothly, but some that were quite rough as well. My greatest priority would be trying to make sure all the animals make it through the process safely. This includes all the corals, if possible. 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

10G coversion idea scrapped. The pico stays. 🤐

 

Also fed the tank some rotifers for the very first time - the corals (especially the SPS) seem to love it: 😊

 

Montihat with full PE during feeding: 

 

Duncan coral:

 

Red lobo: 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hungry SPS:

 

Green acans: 

 

🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

This was the tiny monti fraglet which got stung yesterday by my GSP polyps (of all things) 🙄 :

 

 

Looks pretty bad - especiallu since there is lost tissue at the lower edges. Hoping it can/will recover - still has mild PE. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Milli:

 

 

Montihat:

 

 

My yuma: 🥰

 

 

Cyphastrea:

 

 

Harvey: 

 

 

Found a new baby leopard discosoma shroom growing in the darkness:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #1.

 

Duncan coral:

 

 

Milli with PE: 🤗

 

 

Shroom buddies:

 

 

Setosa:

 

 

Rainbow acans: 

 

 

Sapphire peeking in to say hello: 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2.

 

Memphis on the Zoa Tower:

 

 

 

Green leptastrea still in recovery mode - all polyps have a stronger shade of green now:

 

 

Bad news on this brown milli piece that I rescued - I don't think it'll make it: 😓

 

 

 

The tips have started to turn white. And the bottom most branch has already lost most of its flesh. It's STNing. Sigh. 😕

 

Was hoping it would bounce back, but SPS are so finnicky. Especially when they are super unhealthy. 

 

Also, I've decided to revisit my previous idea & order in a 18" long shallow as an upgrade for the pico in the far future. It won't be any time soon, and I think the total volume will not exceed ~9.5G. But the dimensions will hopefully help provide enough space for the corals to grow out. Light used will most likely be my AI Prime from my 60G. I'll try to purchase either a new or secondhand R60 for the 60G when this build is completed. 

 

I still have to put aside some finances to get the tank itself, and one/two wavemakers. So lots of planning to be done. If I can get a nice 4- or 5-tier rack, then I can keep both the pico & the 18L running simultaneously. The pico can serve as a tiny frag tank then. 🤔

 

All of this would only probably happen next year, though, so no rush. 😊👍

 

I think Sapphire would love the extra space too. 😊

[Tired]

Sounds like a good plan. Damsels aren't really suited for picos long-term, and I'd love to see what you can do with a bit more space. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Sounds like a good plan. Damsels aren't really suited for picos long-term, and I'd love to see what you can do with a bit more space. 

I agree. Now that Sapphire has 'discovered' the whole tank, I noticed she likes exploring all corners/areas of it. She even goes under the shadowy cave under Coralline Ledge (where my goby, Prowler, is) and pops back up through another area of the tank. She isn't super active, though. Still quite skittish, but she's slowly getting used to me coming close to the tank to take some pics. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Spotted Memphis filter feeding:

 

 

 

He's so cool though: 😊

 

I stir up the sandbed & baste the rocks so that he can filter feed better - usually the tank gets a helping of frozen food once a week too, so that helps. He only eats pellets if they fall directly next to him. It can be tricky feeding him this way because the pellets are blown all over the place by the flow from my HOB, and quickly snapped up by the other critters in the reef. 

 

Small section of my zoa garden on the sandbed:

 

 

😊

[Tired]

I feed my porcelain crab, Airquotes (because she's a "crab") by offering some mysis on the end of a long set of tweezers. I think they're meant to be used for freshwater aquascaping, but they're a great all-purpose tool, and excellent for making sure everything gets its food directly. 

 

Everything looks really good. What are those blue-centered zoas on the far right? Do they have a name? 

[Snow_Phoenix]

41 minutes ago, Tired said:

I feed my porcelain crab, Airquotes (because she's a "crab") by offering some mysis on the end of a long set of tweezers. I think they're meant to be used for freshwater aquascaping, but they're a great all-purpose tool, and excellent for making sure everything gets its food directly. 

 

Everything looks really good. What are those blue-centered zoas on the far right? Do they have a name? 

I think I'll do that - but the crab might try to run when it sees a giant pair of tweezers coming from it. Porcelains are more of a prey-species, rather than a predatory one, if I'm not mistaken. One would think that with their fancy claws, they'll try to snip off enemies or something. 

 

Those are Tubbs Blue zoas - I absolutely love them! Nearly lost them to the Pox few months ago, but glad they survived. I'm thinking of fragging them in the future. 🙂 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Nite' from the Little Reef: 😊

 

[Tired]

Mine was reluctant about the tweezers at first, but there's a trick to it. If you approach slowly enough, they raise their antennae to touch whatever-that-is. If they touch the food with their antennae, suddenly they get excited instead of scared. You could also turn off the flow during feeding, just a few times, to let you drop pellets directly onto your crab. If you can get them to realize that the tweezers have food, they're all for it. Works on all sorts of animals. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #1: Corals. 

 

Everything is still a little sleepy this morning. 😄

 

Milli developing more base colors:

 

 

Monti hat flared out wide:

 

 

Sleepy rhodactis: 

 

 

Fuzzy red finger leather:

 

 

Weeping willow has developed a strong green tint at the base of its stem:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2:

 

Memphis trying to find some breakfast:

 

 

Sapphire admiring her reflection in the glass:

 

 

She wasn't too thrilled that I caught her: 😅

 

 

Tank is okay. The critters are okay too. 😊👍