Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

Tank is fishless, but the corals appear to be faring better. I still have some nasty cyano on the sandbed: 

 

 

But at least most of my Zoas & Palys are now almost fully open back again:

 

 

The main yuma is as bubbly as ever:

 

 

Chili pepper monti is coloring back up very well:

 

 

Harvey is as bold ever. Just hoping his dangling fat butt doesn't accidently break a chunk of my pavona:

 

 

I'm thinking of trading in some of my forest fire digi frags at my primary LFS the next time I go there. My mum suggested we drop by for a visit again some time in mid-Nov. I'm tentatively thinking about it, but I've already started to save up again - because I would love to pick up more Zoa/Paly & shroom morphs that I do not have yet. 

 

And with some of the forest fire frags cleared from my main ledge, I can *tentatively try to keep another stick or two again (might not - haven't quite decided yet). 

 

I'll be trimming off the blasto skeletons from the LR - to clear up space to accomodate more Zoas. I'd like to re-expand my garden and rebuild my collection, but I will eventually need to trim some of the pre-existing palys because they're overgrown. 

 

I would like to frag my Purple Monsters too. They're beautiful, but scattered and competing with some of the other morphs for space. Lots of thinking to do. 🤔

[Critteraholic]

18 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

They're beautiful, but scattered

My purple monsters are growing the same way.  I thought it was because of the dino outbreak! 😆

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 hours ago, Critteraholic said:

My purple monsters are growing the same way.  I thought it was because of the dino outbreak! 😆

Gotta admit, even if they take over the rock, they do still look pretty. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Purple Hornets second polyp is gaining in size. Gold Mauls now have 5 polyps. I hope it continues to grow quickly without issues. 👍

 

 

Red Hornets have also increased from 3 to 5 polyps: 

 

 

The Butt Munchers and Purple Monsters have pinched skirts for some reason. And the Rainbow Yodas are very shrunken too. 😔

 

 

Zoa Ledge bursting with color:

 

 

Forest fire frag plug is slowly being encrusted with more polyps:

 

 

The John Deere leptastrea is outcompeting everything, including the Whiplash merlettis & Meteor Shower cyphastrea. Am keeping an eye on it. 👀

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Siphoned another flatworm off the orange rhodactis today. I think I left one behind though:

 

 

Three ironman shrooms and counting: 

 

 

Blue hairy shroom:

 

 

The bleached lobo edge is recovering very slowly. Forest fire rhodactis:

 

 

The two tiny discolored red discosomas next to my blue discosoma are the shrooms that I salvaged from the 60G yesterday: 

 

 

Green leptastrea is showing hints of minor PE again. I think it can bounce back. 🤔

 

 

Blue peacocks mini colony:

 

 

Cyano still here, but corals are mostly okay. Next WC coming up in a few days. Might try adding a pinch of RowaPhos in a sock in the filter to see if the lowered PO4 levels has any effect in reducing the cyano. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Another successful molt. 😊👍

 

 

 

Throwback: A rare lissocarcinus crab that I picked up for a nano years ago - was originally mislabeled as a Porcelain Nem crab: 

 

 

Also, status of my life right now: 

 

 

😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Taken right after the lights were turned on, so minimal PE in most pieces: 

 

 

 

 

One of the paly polyps in the middle has two mouths. So unusual: 

 

 

Starburst green implosion paly:

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Shrooms in the dark:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Heavy pic update coming up. Will break this up into several updates. 

 

I did a 8G WC today and some major maintenance to get rid of the cyano as much as possible. My foot is throbbing, but I had to keep up with the WC because some of the corals looked very unhappy. 😕

 

I took several FTSes for this month. This time under slightly heavy blues for a change. Some of the shots are crooked though. Sorry about that. 😅

 

 

 

 

 

I also removed the blasto skeleton from the LR. The blastos themselves aren't doing too well, but I'll be keeping the rock they're on to create a Zoa Ridge (basically stick more Zoa & palys on the rock, and expand the garden) :

 

 

Another piece that has been declining steadily is unfortunately, the strawberry microgoni. 😔

 

 

Based on the way it is going, I think I'll eventually lose this piece, which sucks, because it is no longer available at my LFS, and only came through the store once. 😔

 

I did add a bit of RowaPhos in a tiny sock and toss it in the compartment of my HOB today. The amount is very small, but I'm unsure if this will help bring down my PO4 levels to reduce the cyano. 😕

 

I cleaned out the HOB thoroughly today though. Replaced the floss & carbon as well. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The green leptastrea has shown some mild improvement after the WC today. From nil PE to stubby PE:

 

 

The orange leptastrea is faring much better:

 

 

Some of the Zoas & Palys are still very shrunken & moody. I'm not sure why the Butt Munchers & Purple Monsters are unhappy, because the rest are mostly okay:

 

 

 

 

Harvey is fine: 😊👍

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

My lone turban snail still working on algae-munching:

 

 

Garf bonsai (ISO was too high, so pic came out too dark) :

 

 

 

Shifted 2 shrooms from the sandbed to the rocks. Mini Mushroom Mountain in the works, I guess...? 😅

 

 

 

 

Yumas heaped together and recovering: 😊👍

 

 

The rainbow ones are super tiny and still regrowing. The discolored yellow one is right next to the green one. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Last pic update for the night:- 

 

Sunny Ds colony:

 

 

Lepto still recovering. Pavona still growing and retaining color:

 

 

Metallic GSP patch among the zoas: 

 

 

Rainbow brain:

 

 

Starburst Implosion palys:

 

 

Two different monti buddies: 😊

 

 

Tank will need more WCs and time to make a full recovery. Having no fish is quite upsetting, but I'm still enjoying looking at my corals & shrimp pair. Actually have quite a fair bit of stuff in the tank, and I do love watching new coral polyps form & grow. 🥰

[Ratvan]

So much to look at still in this tank, love the mushrooms. I think that Harvey and the Pavona are still my favourite things in this tank 

[Snow_Phoenix]

14 hours ago, Ratvan said:

So much to look at still in this tank, love the mushrooms. I think that Harvey and the Pavona are still my favourite things in this tank 

Thank you for the kind words, @Ratvan. And yeah, both Harvey & the pavona are my favorite critters to look at too. It's a shame sarons don't do well in groups. Otherwise I wouldn't mind getting another one. 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

The baby yuma is certainly taking its time to develop:

 

 

And the favia has new heads (?) around the edges: 

 

 

Forest fire frags are doing quite well:

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The pics came out too dark & blue. I think I'll ramp up the whites in my light before taking pics next time. Here are some of the shrooms up close - sorry for the blurry, potato-quality:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More close ups of the Mushroom Mountain up next. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

The Mushroom Mountain as promised:

 

 

 

 

 

I think I need a splash of yellow and more orange. I rarely see yellow colored shrooms though, but I vaguely recall owning a yellow one with red dots in the 60G once. Was pretty sure that was a premium shroom though. 🤔

 

Anyhow, will definitely keep an eye out for lighter-colored morphs. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I adjusted the lights on my aquarium's LED lights & tinkered with my phone's camera settings to snap these pics and try to get more accurate colors of my corals.

 

It is very difficult to nullify the blues completely, even after adjusting the white balance and using a clip on yellow lens filter. This was the best that I could do, and I think the colors captured are *almost accurate. 🤔

 

Some colors are still a bit darker than others, and in the case of my duncan, the whole pic was pretty much blue. 

 

Anyway, here's a take at Mushroom Mountain again. Lower blues, higher whites. With lower ISO & clip on yellow lens. 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

^Last pic looks so cartoonish in terms of color. Also, not very accurate. 😔

 

The previous pics are better and look closer to what I see when I stare at the nano. 

 

My lobo's colors are off though. The coral is actually medium-red with a light blue center, and only a small upper part has lost color. It's not bleached in RL. I need to find a way to get as-accurate-as-possible colors of *all the corals, not just some of them. 

 

Will keep trying. If anyone has any photography tips, I'm all ears. But I'll be limited by my phone - I don't have a proper camera yet, but it's something I'm planning on working towards to in the future. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Forest fire shroom - might end up sticking this one up on the LR, alongside the other shrooms:

 

 

The tiny red shrooms that I moved over from the 60G are opening up even more today:

 

 

 

Yuma corner:

 

 

Mini malayan rainbow acans has apparently grown two more heads, and is in the process of growing another:

 

 

Duncans (too blue!) :

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So happy the green leptastrea is bouncing back. It looks better today evening, than it was in the morning:

 

 

 

My pavona & lepto combo. Up close, when I zoom in, the colors are too dark and tinted blue:

 

 

 

But when I zoom out completely, I can finally get the more accurate colors for these pieces:

 

[A.m.P]

On 10/16/2021 at 7:13 AM, Ratvan said:

So much to look at still in this tank, love the mushrooms. I think that Harvey and the Pavona are still my favourite things in this tank 

It really is like one of those older botanical gardens, not the new negative space ones where everything is kept super segregated, but where the landscapers basically just went absolutely overboard on colors and flowers, shapes and sizes, and just packed as much as they could into a small space.
Even photos at different angles of the same spot look totally different because of how dense everything is, it's so much fun to sort through. (This isn't encouragement to get more coral though lol, things look great as they are and it's nice to just watch things settle-in and grow out XD)

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, A.m.P said:

It really is like one of those older botanical gardens, not the new negative space ones where everything is kept super segregated, but where the landscapers basically just went absolutely overboard on colors and flowers, shapes and sizes, and just packed as much as they could into a small space.
Even photos at different angles of the same spot look totally different because of how dense everything is, it's so much fun to sort through. (This isn't encouragement to get more coral though lol, things look great as they are and it's nice to just watch things settle-in and grow out XD)

Thanks, A.m.P. But I do wish to collect a few more Zoa/Paly & Shroom morphs though. 

I'll try to trade in some of the forest fire digi frags at the store as well. I'm not too keen on adding anymore LPS or Softies in the tank, but I admit I'd love to try keeping a tiny radioactive birdsnest stick again. 

[Critteraholic]

@A.m.POhhhh... I remember that look. I have a conservatory & gardens within driving distance and I loved to wander around looking at how they used the plants. The fern room was like walking into a jungle. Loved it. But now, like you said, it's all "empty".  Oh, it looks "tasteful" with pretty groupings, but give me the kaleidoscope and the scents all mashed together!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Identified a key issue with this tank that *might have been causing the decline in some frags which I've seen over the last few weeks. 

 

My salt is contaminated. It's light blue, and the blue gets a smidge darker everytime I scoop some out of the bag to mix it up with water. 

 

I didn't worry too much about the color change in the salt initially, but this last WC - I could have sworn some parts of the salt was moist & mushy, while other parts were still powdery. 

 

I should have just binned the bag and purchased new salt weeks ago. But I kept stalling & pressing my luck because I cannot drive all the way to my primary LFS due to the foot. 

 

So, I checked online for emergency salt which I could buy - RSCP is the best one available, but it comes in a huge 25kg bucket, which I cannot carry. Also, shipping is murder. 

 

I quickly shot a text to my primary LFS and thankfully, they can help. One of my worker friends will try to drop off a 5kg bag of Fritz at my home after she gets off work - turns out she lives nearby, so she doesn't mind helping to deliver a small bag. 😊

 

I'll WC the tank tomorrow if the delivery pulls through tonight. So glad I have such an amazing store to pull me out of a rough reefing spot - they've come through for me several times in the past already. 

 

Only flipside is now I have to bin at least 7kg of leftover Aquaforest Reef salt. I think I'll keep sticking to Fritz until it is no longer available locally. I remember how much my corals colored up & how quickly they grew when I was using Fritz. 

 

Hoping for the same result long-term with this new batch of Fritz. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

5kg of Fritz RPM in tight vaccuum sealed packs have just arrived. WC  with new salt incoming tomorrow. 👍