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Snow_Phoenix
10 hours ago, Critteraholic said:

Your tank is beautiful!  I love it.  I hope mine looks as nice as yours when I'm done.  Keep doing what you can and I hope you feel better soon!

Thanks - I hope so too. 

10 hours ago, Murphych said:

Love it. It's good to see that you made a point of saying you used a lens.. I bet loads of people struggle to figure out why their tanks don't look that good in pictures

 

 lens..

Yes, I toy around with my tank's light settings & often use a filter lens over my phone. Otherwise, the original pics are just doused in blues - or too paled out in whites. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Took some pics early in the morning, right after I turned the lights on so most of the corals are still retracted:

 

Ironman shroom:

 

IMG_20210717_111535_992.thumb.jpg.e1ccec3c05ef7c8990eaca00e6ab2feb.jpg

 

IMG_20210717_111535_990.thumb.jpg.6c50a0cec8478b49e9ee57ab86b1da0c.jpg

 

Garf bonsai acro:

 

IMG_20210717_111650_982.thumb.jpg.68bd38b3cdc4808c1659fb5da02e6bf9.jpg

 

Duncan coral:

 

IMG_20210717_111433_177.thumb.jpg.d3fa97c5d400e65e6418e57cd0551d27.jpg

 

Malayan rainbow acans:

 

IMG_20210717_111433_176.thumb.jpg.16cf4b5417fddb100ebc9a5818132fca.jpg

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Snow_Phoenix
42 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Hi Snow  The tank looks good. How are you feeling?

A bit lethargic. I've been feeling tired on and off for the past two days. Had a headache yesterday, but quickly took some meds before it could become a migraine. Today is a bit better. Walked around the housing estate a bit - just to get out of the house and see things. 

 

I didn't touch any of the tanks, except to dose them and feed the fish. My damsel, Sapphire, fed my neon setosa to my yuma. :sideeyes:

 

Yuma's okay, but setosa has lost flesh all over, and I don't think it'll make it. :sad:

 

Sapphire constantly rescapes my tank. She mostly spits sand all over the frags and digs a hole under my lobo, but sometimes she yanks the smaller frags directly off the rocks and yeets them to the other side of the tank. 

6 hours ago, Murphych said:

Loving the forest fire just out of focus in the last pic..

It grows rather quickly. I'm quite fond of it, actually. Because compared to all the other SPS, I find this easy to take care of. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Quick update: evidently my HOB filter overheated some time overnight & burnt out. Unfortunately this *was my spare filter, so my tank is only getting circulation & aeration for the moment. 

 

My LFS texted back & said they have HOBs in stock, but the store will be closed tomorrow because it is a public holiday. 🤦‍♀️

 

Tank is doing okay otherwise. If the LFS doesn't have HOBs in the size needed for this tank, then I will have to order a filter online & it should take a few days to be couriered to my home. Either way, I'll monitor the tank for an oddities. The fish & inverts are fine & active as usual. 👍

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Without question TOTM worthy, your tanks/pics are what keep me going haha!  Incredible stuff I was always look forward to seeing.

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Snow_Phoenix

New filter has been couriered. Should arrive in 2 to 3 days. Tank is okay, but I need to trim my B.O.P. birdsnest & neon setosa. The setosa is mostly a lost cause, but there are still a few patches of flesh left. As for the birdsnest - one branch is covered in algae, the other one is healthy & growing. So I'll snip off the dead area and re-glue the healthy frag back on the rocks. 

 

Still battling cyano. It's unsightly, but bearable. Thinking of saving up to get another Jebao SW-4 and position it on the left side of the tank to create a cross-flow of sorts. 👍

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Snow_Phoenix

I kept saying neon setosa - it's not a setosa, but a neon spongodes. My setosa died a long time ago. Apologies. 🤦‍♀️

 

Also, I updated my coral list - I'm actually down to 84 morphs & varieties. I've lost quite a fair few zoa morphs over the months. Some to pox, and sometimes they simply melt away for no reason. I still have around a dozen zoas left reserved at my primary LFS, but I don't think they're being reserved anymore because it's been months (currently confined to a 10km radius within my home only, as enforced by the law due to the prolonged lockdown and continuous rise in Covid cases). :sad:

 

One of the morphs I picked was a Gold Maul. I bet it's no longer there and has been most likely sold to someone else. :tears:

 

Anyhow, I have bigger problems than a bunch of corals. On a more personal note, we have lost almost 10 extended family members and close family friends (which is pretty much family anyway) due to Covid over the last few weeks. My aunt's brother is still fighting for his life in ICU. He's only 44. He managed to recover from Covid, but the virus wrecked his system and it'll be a miracle if he makes it. I've cried enough. My mum broke down yesterday too. 

 

We're just waiting for the vaccinations. It's begun to ramp up now - mum already has a vaccination date, but I haven't yet - quite possibly since I'm much younger.

 

Back to the tank, I just realized I haven't seen both of my brittle stars in quite a while - over a month, actually, and this worries me. I have no plans on moving any of the rocks to find them, because all the rocks are packed with corals, and I don't want to upset or accidently squish/break/kill anything. 

 

My circus barred goby, Prowler, and blue devil damsel, Sapphire, are both alive and eating well. Spotted the two shrimp out last night too. 

 

I might add another tiny turban snail in the future as well. 🤔

 

The Rasta Zoa & Captain America Paly combo has accidently fallen on the sandbed behind the rocks, so I'll have to retrieve it via forceps and re-glue it back on the Zoa Ledge. 

 

Once it's much, much safer to go out, I'll try to nip out back to the LFS to see if I can pick up more rhodactis & discosoma shroom frags, and perhaps a few zoa & paly morphs too. And maybe a stick or two. Would definitely love to get a new orange setosa. It used to grow slowly, but steadily in my tank. 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

I stirred the sandbed using a chopstick - mostly to prevent the cyano from building up too much, but without a filter to suck up the bits of floating algae, it wasn't exactly productive - although from an aesthetic viewpoint, the tank looked better for a bit. 🤷‍♀️

 

I also managed to snap off the dead, algae-ridden branch of the birdsnest coral. The rest of the coral is surprisingly hard and has already encrusted to the LR below. 

 

Still no sign of the brittle stars. My red mini carpet nem is on the move again. It was on the glass two nights ago, then it decided to walk around the Zoa Garden and temporarily settle on the side of the Zoa Ledge. 

 

I think I'll push myself to quickly do a WC some time this week. Need to siphon out as much of the algae as possible, and replenish the trace elements.

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Snow_Phoenix

The forest fire digi is actually attempting to grow over an old skeleton of one of my birdsnest branches. Not sure if it'll succeed, but it's definitely interesting to watch it try:

 

IMG_20210721_111911_805.thumb.jpg.48056a9c2727fd6c16b1296c14e9e4e2.jpg

 

The mystery monti has taken on a deeper shade of green:

 

IMG_20210721_111951_817.thumb.jpg.e7a2ec1439af3e8c94c46961181bdebf.jpg

 

Shrooms of the nano:

 

20210721_104845.thumb.jpg.c0bf770ef155b661e6f200648521518e.jpg

 

20210721_104939.thumb.jpg.29f9b1109759fe1244991edb079fc107.jpg

 

20210721_105221.thumb.jpg.73ba5bb9ef99acc30ed351a16f79e821.jpg

 

20210721_105043.thumb.jpg.b53e2851d37ffa617110e0271d1f98df.jpg

 

Most of the corals are still retracted because I took these pics right after I turned the lights on. 👍

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Snow_Phoenix

The new HOB unit arrived today evening:

 

20210721_182022.thumb.jpg.f207cfbf972bf0c5bd2dc0ad06f27484.jpg

 

20210721_181909.thumb.jpg.35c24caef57e9909e822886987abb6f4.jpg

 

It appears to be slightly larger than my current HOB though. Might have to modify my lid accordingly to accomodate it. Hopefully I won't need to shift the light because it looks longer too. 

 

Max. output is 430L/Hr, which is not too much, but combined with my SW-4, should be enough flow for this tank. 🤔

 

Still thinking of picking up another SW-4. I figured more flow can't hurt. 🤷‍♀️

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  • 3 weeks later...
Snow_Phoenix

Tank's not in good shape because I held off WCs for too long. A lot of SPS either STNed or bleached over time. I had to trim quite a few sticks and toss out remnants of the montihat too, because it was too far gone and heavily encrusted in algae. 😞

 

Surprisingly, the forest fire digi is going strong and has a lot of branches. It's quite resistant towards parameter fluctuations, nutrient depletion and well...pretty much anything. Still grateful to have it though! Because I do truly love it.

 

I managed to perform a 8G WC today - pretty much forced myself to do it even though I strained my back quite badly two days ago, and haven't fully recovered from that injury yet. 

 

While WCing, I used a forceps to rescue a small zoa-paly frag mix that had fallen at the back of the tank. There are still closed polyps on the frag, but hopefully it'll bounce back in time.

 

I admit that I did lose interest in maintaining this tank at one point, and neglected it quite a fair bit. Ever since my access to my primary LFS has been cut off by the prolonged lockdown, I just gave up on the inside. 

 

But what surprised me was the resilience of my little reef. Yes, some corals don't look good, but for the most part - a good majority of the corals don't look too bad either, and I'm still seeing some growth in some pieces. I truly didn't expect it, because I do have a long-term history of sucking when it comes to keeping nanos. But I think...this might (?) actually work for once. Provided I devote more time & attention to the tank.

 

I'll have to pace myself though, because I do have a lot of other animals to take care of. My red pavona has encrusted to the back wall too. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Duncan (palys below are discolored) :

 

20210809_095215.thumb.jpg.b562608105bc2ddf9a1f62ca800170be.jpg

 

Leptastrea & cyphastrea with bleached monti & half-dead spongodes:

 

20210809_095131.thumb.jpg.4deaa08c2783acb816f7d1a3aec9e75a.jpg

 

Bleached purple monti & superman discosoma: 

 

20210809_095047.thumb.jpg.11c57ca2c73e42080ed8dc0a40b5b91b.jpg

 

Blue hairy shroom:

 

20210809_094933.thumb.jpg.8a20b3deb66feb90b4b50bf276a860f9.jpg

 

Bullseye rhodactises & cyano: 

 

20210809_094910.thumb.jpg.b0e2d1f924a7d736a4c7dc7dc76b7765.jpg

 

Discosomas:

 

20210809_094847.thumb.jpg.129433ec27f65c41c7be420497f8a165.jpg

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Mini rainbow acans:

 

20210809_094707.thumb.jpg.c1b1b4f3cc435ef6a1a194b212ac66b6.jpg

 

Browned out garf bonsai:

 

20210809_094636.thumb.jpg.b34f6a9ce995101c6a3ccedd035d5e4b.jpg

 

Mystery monticap:

 

20210809_094605.thumb.jpg.0cba958de0ed9d0f55637a39754d0d68.jpg

 

Discolored palys:

 

20210809_094435.thumb.jpg.27b5ea094a9ae0e0579495e3e785bf0f.jpg

 

I decided to share both the good & bad aspects of the nano atm. Mostly because I made a lot of mistakes, but that is part of reefing. And I want to slowly bring this tank back on track, but this will take a while - possibly months of recovery. Most of the pieces will recover, but some of the SPS won't. 😔

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Snow_Phoenix
22 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I think every that most of the coral look great. Love that Pavona.

Yes, I was surprised to see it encrust to the back wall. Besides my forest fire digi, my Pavona is pretty resilient too. I think montis work well for me - yes, I currently have bleaching issues, mostly because I abstained from WCs for almost 2 months, but they're quite hardy. I still have my chili pepper monti and the mystery monti is growing well too. 

 

So I'll probably re-stock the tank with montis in the future for SPS. And I don't think I'll purchase any more sticks above RM 20 per frag. Sticks don't do too well for me. My LPS seem to be okay though - blastos are a bit retracted, but should heal up with a few more diligent WCs. 

 

I *might resume collecting more zoa & paly morphs at the end of the year. But for now, I'll focus on trying to nurse as many of these pieces back to health, starting with the red cap monti. It's very pale pink, but still has PE and isn't fully white, so there's still hope. 

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Snow_Phoenix

My wavemaker kaput. Tried to take it apart to fix it & clean it, but it still wouldn't work. 😔

The lack of flow has been causing a buildup of cyano in the tank. And stressing out all my animals.

 

20210823_131114.thumb.jpg.ee9b516ff27f026118ce852ff2f66292.jpg

 

Benny was very weak when I found him today (yes, he has apparently been alive all this while) and began shedding his arms. 😭

 

 

In a last ditch effort to save him, I quickly transferred him to the fuge of my 60G. I truly hope he makes it, because I do love him, and chocolate banded serpent starfish are quite difficult to find as it is. 😔

 

20210823_131141.thumb.jpg.a9f346e5aa6011cd4c38232058087296.jpg

 

20210823_131211.thumb.jpg.9cc5e0cd1ef3403f0b1b5c6489f1679e.jpg

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  • Snow_Phoenix changed the title to Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

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