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On 11/22/2020 at 7:07 PM, farkwar said:

I would put egg crate over the hat

There are already two opaque lids over the tank - adding eggcrate wouldn't block out more light, I *think. 🤔

 

Plus, I'm using my older light strips which have much less power & intensity compared to the PAR38. 

 

I think the Montihat will recover. It's been quite resilient so far. Just needs time & more WCs. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion though! 👍

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Update #1:

 

Took a few shots of the reef this morning - my apologies if some of the pics seem repititive, but I love certain coral pieces a lot - like my yuma, for example: 🥰

 

IMG_20201123_100956_505.thumb.jpg.3816c52540b1303faa69204885a9ac5c.jpg

 

Puffy brains: 

 

IMG_20201123_100956_507.thumb.jpg.cd2af97f2f59e63d3abb605d30b7ec34.jpg

 

IMG_20201123_100956_509.thumb.jpg.f73e5e721f721b043820983d9e23f8d2.jpg

 

UCs:

 

IMG_20201123_100956_506.thumb.jpg.7a76baf7e1bf2a08c2f96649c47bb5cd.jpg

 

Recovering blastos:

 

IMG_20201123_100956_516.thumb.jpg.88a1d5ca03a6b837e18e74fa31c04f22.jpg

 

Favites is still healing too:

 

20201123_101046.thumb.jpg.e181cdcc11ad27851ae992299fb5fc59.jpg

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Update #2:

 

However, there are some pieces in the reef that aren't doing well. 😕

 

I'm debating if I should trim my forest fire digi, but even the damaged parts still has some polyps, although PE is minimal in those areas:

 

IMG_20201123_101216_543.thumb.jpg.6d9562a72b38165182083f4ffbd70e9c.jpg

 

My purple monti confuses me. There white patches that come & go on the coral, and I'm not sure why. I thought it was light intensity damage, but now I'm starting to wonder if Sapphire or Dusky has been nipping it: 🤔

 

20201123_101245.thumb.jpg.f28b4e66bd7ba7511932f79bb9de4e87.jpg

 

My tenuis is a bit of a mystery. A part of it is lighter than the other - this one I definitely attribute to light intensity damage: 

 

20201123_101309.thumb.jpg.a511a173845a1b6a74e26ce0bebbbbb7.jpg

 

The tricolor blasto is still shrunken. It didn't do too well in the pico. Same trouble here in the nano: 😕

 

IMG_20201123_101216_545.thumb.jpg.68d5b2101897de3d48d7254d8bc7504e.jpg

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Brunch in the reef - cue pod storm! 🤗

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CH64_CSjnxM/?igshid=1entqzh4xbo56

 

Hungry lobo:

 

IMG_20201123_124228_812.thumb.jpg.5870cf15fb8651ec567afa2f3d723e2c.jpg

 

IMG_20201123_124228_811.thumb.jpg.8e4e113eb0c582184964ecac19fb9e74.jpg

 

Vids. taken at 4x & 8x speed:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CH65M0ALwq3/?igshid=vzb4t50slkhz

 

The rainbow brain was hungry too - vids. taken at 4x & 8x speed:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CH65nTCLRed/?igshid=yu8uz4002dxz

 

Benny sneakily eating a piece of mysis from the sandbed:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CH65scVjsdE/?igshid=6j6smcue680l

 

Really miss the Instagram links being able to be embedded in NR. 😕

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I noticed some of the new & old zoas have already popped out new polyps. 😄

 

Starburst with new 4 polyps:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_526.thumb.jpg.cdbfdefad1e3c9f5eca7f82ac61639f0.jpg

 

UC with new baby polyp forming:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_529.thumb.jpg.63dbe0a04d2a41b125be5fce453f783d.jpg

 

Rainbow yoda with 2 new polyps: 😊

 

IMG_20201123_172055_527.thumb.jpg.dfb51b5407b987262585f41524d38395.jpg

 

Unknown zoa with two new tiny zoa polyps:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_535.thumb.jpg.8725cf7c4f88f5e9f23d1acb203267ff.jpg

 

Blasto with new tiny head:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_549.thumb.jpg.eb7cf8126e33d6c9faabfcf8451e1b16.jpg

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Nuclear death (green/yellow morph) with new head:

 

20201123_172139.thumb.jpg.a4b98fd1c3b325364f90f365aa2995a1.jpg

 

Purple hornet (bad pic - sorry!) with 2 new polyps:

 

20201123_172224.thumb.jpg.8c0dad6189cff6a54334c82ef75d57a5.jpg

 

My blue hornet is still single tho: 🤔

 

IMG_20201123_172308_773.thumb.jpg.1672a39aeb7d531038f7ec4ec17c4d9e.jpg

 

But at least the trademark yellow ring is back. 

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Caught Prowler rescaping the back of my tank again: 😅

 

IMG_20201124_095832_723.thumb.jpg.30f7fa4251426f612606f0942c8bc6da.jpg

 

IMG_20201124_095832_724.thumb.jpg.fe15abdee5f1bf04f59e815a1c4e736f.jpg

 

He thinks I can't see him in the shadows, but I do. 😉

 

Memphis filter-feeding:

 

IMG_20201124_095924_937.thumb.jpg.895e4dfbb791aefc228f6867e5e9aac0.jpg

 

IMG_20201124_095924_935.thumb.jpg.8c9d875468413c09ffe0acfcc0c49af0.jpg

 

The micro-goni has grown further:

 

IMG_20201124_100017_504.thumb.jpg.22758d3a6aab200e367ff94209c42049.jpg

 

Also, I think I figured out what's wrong with my forest fire digi - mostly why it has no/minimal PE when the lights are on, then PE when the lights are off. I caught Dusky the blenny biting off the polyps of one of my setosa fraglets which I glued too close to its burrow. It killed the fraglet within a day - today morning, all I saw was a white dead stick. 😕

 

The forest fire digi is also very close to Dusky's main burrow. I'm going to try and move the coral away and towards the back of the tank (near the main chili pepper monti frag) and see if it can recover there. 🤔

 

This coral-biting behavior isn't new to me. A very long time ago, I owned a cute YCG that killed a whole pocci frag by biting off its polyps. It never bothered anything else in the tank. 

 

Blennies can be quite territorial too. I've owned several, and I've seen them *move entire coral frags if they are too close to the fish's main burrow. 

 

So I guess that ledge space around Dusky's burrow cannot accomodate any sticks. The odd thing is that my Montihat is there, but Dusky doesn't seem bothered by it - perhaps *plating corals are better tolerated as opposed to *branching ones. 

 

Also, I've decided to order in a new light for the reef. It's not exactly a fancy one, but not a super cheap budget one either. I've seen several local reefers use it for their mixed reef tanks - it can support basic SPS like montis etc., but two units might be needed to support more demanding SPS. 

 

It's a M029 Aqua Knight Spectra. I tried getting a secondhand light from my LFS, but it was too expensive. I figured I might as well order a brand new light for the same price. No wifi capability, but has dimmers & cree LEDs. No green or red channels though, but has whites, 2x types of blues & UVs. 

 

I tossed it into my online shopping cart - will check out later. Also, it's only 30W, and since I can dim it, the chances of it frying anything will be less. 

 

My current PAR38 bulb will be moved back in storage & kept as an emergency back up light. I tend to keep back ups of all main equipment for my tanks - just in case one of them fails and I can't get to the LFS to get a replacement. 

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HiParGero are good lights, not the best for growing sps under unless you crank the whites up, but grow just about anything else fine. You've got the two other for supplemental light anyway and some folks have no problems with higher-mounted sps under them, look forward to seeing it on the tank, hope it works better!

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11 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

HiParGero are good lights, not the best for growing sps under unless you crank the whites up, but grow just about anything else fine. You've got the two other for supplemental light anyway and some folks have no problems with higher-mounted sps under them, look forward to seeing it on the tank, hope it works better!

Thanks! So far all the SPS are mounted from mid-level to the upper-level of the reef. Only my pocci is mounted at the bottom corner, but I'm thinking of moving it up soon. And yeah, thank goodness I have the other two LED strips as extra light - I think there might be a *bit of shading at the extreme corners of the tank, but I'm more happy that I can adjust/dim the new lights according to what the corals need. 

 

Also, I think I won't be focusing on sticks too much - might collect more montis though, because I absolutely love them, but maybe I'll slow down on picking up any acros (will try to avoid millis though). I'll focus more on building up my zoa garden/collection. And perhaps add a few more softies & shrooms too. 

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17 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I noticed some of the new & old zoas have already popped out new polyps. 😄

 

Starburst with new 4 polyps:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_526.thumb.jpg.cdbfdefad1e3c9f5eca7f82ac61639f0.jpg

 

UC with new baby polyp forming:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_529.thumb.jpg.63dbe0a04d2a41b125be5fce453f783d.jpg

 

Rainbow yoda with 2 new polyps: 😊

 

IMG_20201123_172055_527.thumb.jpg.dfb51b5407b987262585f41524d38395.jpg

 

Unknown zoa with two new tiny zoa polyps:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_535.thumb.jpg.8725cf7c4f88f5e9f23d1acb203267ff.jpg

 

Blasto with new tiny head:

 

IMG_20201123_172055_549.thumb.jpg.eb7cf8126e33d6c9faabfcf8451e1b16.jpg

And not even a baby shower

 

Well, I wasn't invited

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I've finally paid for the new light - just waiting for it to ship. Might take up to 3+ weeks due to the pandemic-shipping-transit-delays. In the meantime, I'll still be using my Aquazonic LED & Chihiros LED strips (combined total output of 34W - but currently both lights are only being used at 50% capacity). 

 

Thank goodness the 54W PAR38 bulb I purchased recently wasn't too expensive, so I didn't loose *too much money acquiring it. I need to do my research even more carefully next time. Even after all the reading & preparing that I did, I still made several mistakes with regards to purchasing aquarium lights in the past. 😕

 

I *think I can still pick up my mini red carpet nem from the LFS before/after my birthday though (store closes on Tuesdays, and my birthday is on a Tuesday this year pfft). Hopefully the new light will arrive before I pick it up, but I think the nem should be fine for a few days under my current LED strips. I'll try to keep an eye out for more Zoa morphs at the store though. I think I'll try to get a Midas polyp - and if possible, the Incinerators too (hopefully they'll be fragged by the end of this month). 

 

They had some very bright pink ones which I forgot the name of. Looked pretty. If it doesn't stretch the wallet too much, I'll try to pick up 3 to 5 new morphs next month. 🤔

 

They had some green implosion palys too - those are very cheap and in abundance, so I *think I can get a small frag of that for RM 10 to RM 15. Will keep it isolated on the sandbed though - really don't want that taking over the rocks/tank!

 

I already have shrooms at the LFS reserved for my large reef, so need to consider all of that in my calculations as well. I'll be sticking to a budget (as usual), but it's very easy to exceed it when there are so many small frags at the store. So...a lot of self-control will be needed ---> I suck at this. See coral, want coral. See fish, gimme fish! Bleh. 😞

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Looks like my tank might be suffering from New Tank Syndrome (NTS). 🤔

 

Either way, I have small patches of algae popping up over the sandbed, glass & Zoa Ledge:

 

IMG_20201124_174421_546.thumb.jpg.a204cc241a9c8c51bd08699bbaf1c4dc.jpg

 

IMG_20201124_174421_547.thumb.jpg.c6d147fdb9469dcdb86ce799f4585ced.jpg

 

IMG_20201124_174421_550.thumb.jpg.259e44478c5cddf97bda0711981c38e2.jpg

 

Time to beef up the CUC, I guess. A pair turban snails should be enough. 🤔

 

Cloves:

 

IMG_20201124_174721_921.thumb.jpg.4dd7042f2a1c2b604b092d4ddd7895d1.jpg

 

The brown toadstool now has tiny, stubby polyps again:

 

IMG_20201124_174652_128.thumb.jpg.3e7477a2577bcfa247f1ff3441043be9.jpg

 

The purple monti is on the road to recovery:

 

IMG_20201124_174601_589.thumb.jpg.dc860185fac2865c610a584cf3117944.jpg

 

But the Montihat has turned gray (?) in some areas, while a part of it remains a vibrant shade of green. 😭

 

IMG_20201124_174520_568.thumb.jpg.5d871fa8d0b5c0c695d4a005a5e4cb3f.jpg

 

I don't know why it keeps changing shades (but at least Dusky looks cute next to it). 

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Growing: 🤗

 

IMG_20201125_172914_832.thumb.jpg.e07ab14ce2bbbf656f3f71eab8c42501.jpg

 

20201125_172952.thumb.jpg.8f8d0fc76e3d5180dc22db5c33335717.jpg

 

Some of my SPS aren't too happy, but these pieces are doing okay, and the monti is recovering very well:

 

IMG_20201125_173110_138.thumb.jpg.c4334619ff894e807abea16d71d4857c.jpg

 

IMG_20201125_173110_137.thumb.jpg.7a0792ea1889e8f7eced30be0bad13db.jpg

 

My LPS are very, very happy though, with the current parameters: 🤔

 

IMG_20201125_173238_801.thumb.jpg.3ffbadf126c2cab4ef069ac56ba63fd8.jpg

 

Zoas look okay too: 😊

 

IMG_20201125_173412_264.thumb.jpg.1f43d2778438ae7521a0912fccb8063a.jpg

 

20201125_173443.thumb.jpg.86a9e5a2b901c4446d29c909bb206574.jpg

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Took some quick coral shots this morning:

 

20201126_142634.thumb.jpg.a78770c64d2e18ed168f044c1212ec9f.jpg

 

20201126_142707.thumb.jpg.dfc518a9c26f21104e08e7c3eb4eb955.jpg

 

IMG_20201126_142601_102.thumb.jpg.0b4a9fd9d9cbeaef87d98186959fc344.jpg

 

IMG_20201126_142601_103.thumb.jpg.16a66e0f951f7039fca8c49793cce0de.jpg

 

The bottom edge of the lepto lost a bit of flesh - maybe it got stung by the pavona? 🤔

 

They're both pretty much going to grow into each other. I think the growth rate will be better when the new light arrives though! 

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A different view: 🤗

 

IMG_20201126_173251_836.thumb.jpg.9c6d101f1d2b2aeeebb8d0cda80ecd2f.jpg

 

The macro corner: 

 

IMG_20201126_173338_326.thumb.jpg.b25f832eec7044f03ae366429f2be113.jpg

 

Weeping willow: 

 

IMG_20201126_173735_969.thumb.jpg.3d2b784df2d85ac04ed80005846a41c2.jpg

 

Dusky:

 

IMG_20201126_173432_238.thumb.jpg.66fa4667f4706bb340951910be7531e8.jpg

 

IMG_20201126_173432_235.thumb.jpg.5c759d575591d960c1508f06787a9178.jpg

 

IMG_20201126_173432_236.thumb.jpg.643360b60cbbe91ab444754b9a768989.jpg

 

Prowler actually spotted me. He swam out to get a good look at me, and once he realized it was me and not some weird blobby shadow outside the tank, he quickly darted back under the ledge. 

 

He's a very smart fish. 😅

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6 minutes ago, sr2z said:

Just a little question... How do you manage detritus build-up behind your rockwork and among your zoas?

Thanks

I use a baster and try to blow off as much dirt from the rocks as possible. As for the sand, I stir it up using a single chopstick in a zig-zag motion. 👍

 

I don't really baste my zoas (or any other corals directly) - just the spaces on the rocks that are not occupied by corals. 

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

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