Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

New lights have been set up - I'm currently using heavy blues at mid-level intensity. And every single coral that had a bit of yellow in it practically glowed - I was quite astonished. 😮

 

Forest fire digi:

 

 

Microgoni:

 

 

Sunflower zoas & John Deere leptastrea:

 

 

Yuma:

 

 

It's so blue, but I love it. 🥰

 

 

 

So far, none of the polyps closed up when I switched the lights - if anything, some corals like my brain is puffier, and the zoas & palys on the Zoa Tower aren't stretching as much as before. 

 

I tried to adjust the white balance of my pic to reduce the blues:

 

 

But it doesn't seem too different than the original. 🤔

 

Eh, was never too good at this photoediting stuff - I think I'll just stick with the clip on lens filter. 👍

 

Also, I shifted a very shrunken green blasto mini colony from the 60G to this tank this morning to let it heal. So that's one extra coral in the nano this week. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Many updates coming through - with a *lot of pics. 😊

 

I've adjusted the lights - scaled down the blues a bit, and increased the whites a little. I *think this looks better than what I posted previously, plus I can see my corals more clearly now. 

 

Update #1: Zoas & Palys. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2: SPS (Some pieces are still recovering) :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The montihat is still discolored, but at least the previously paled out chili pepper frag has shown mild red polyps. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #3:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The browned out milli has gained a greenish hue. The cyphastrea needs more time to regrow at the top. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #4:

 

 

 

 

Coralline Ledge:

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #5: 

 

FTS on 06/12/2020:

 

 

 

The lights are quite close to the lid/waterline, so it's impossible to get a single topview shot of the entire reef. I can only take section-by-section topview shots for now. 😕

[debbeach13]

The FTS are great. Also nice to see all the zoa's and paly's wide open. Tank is filling up nicely.

[Snow_Phoenix]

20 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

The FTS are great. Also nice to see all the zoa's and paly's wide open. Tank is filling up nicely.

Thanks, Deb! Hope I don't melt anything this time around. My zoas still have the pox though. Quite worried I might lose the fruit loops & purple hornets. 😓

 

If the small mint green frag dies, I still have a second healthy frag as back up, so I won't lose the morph. But the hornets & fruit loops are still very new to the tank and too small in number to be fragged yet. 😕

 

They still open up fully under the lights though. 

[debbeach13]

I lost half of my zoa's that I treated for zoa pox. I feel like the pox were gone after treatment. I do not have good results with zoanthids. Some times I feel like giving them a little tank of their own. Just to see if they would do better then. But I am too lazy to actually do it.

Seems like your new light is working for this tank so far.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

I lost half of my zoa's that I treated for zoa pox. I feel like the pox were gone after treatment. I do not have good results with zoanthids. Some times I feel like giving them a little tank of their own. Just to see if they would do better then. But I am too lazy to actually do it.

Seems like your new light is working for this tank so far.

Usually zoas do die when they get the pox, even after treatment. 😞

 

A zoa-only tank would be wonderful. But given how many pests zoas come with, it'd probably be a good idea to keep a small wrasse in a zoa-only tank. I've been contemplating transferring my platinum percula into this tank, and give away the common Occy that I have in my 10G downstairs. Was thinking of shutting down that tank permanently, and changing it to FW because it'd be easier to maintain, and I can focus on the two main reeftanks that I currently have. Otherwise, my attention is currently divided between 3 SW tanks, and the FOWLR downstairs is getting neglected. 😞 

[debbeach13]

Is the fowler, 10 gallon downstairs, and Snow's 10G Tropical Jungle healing retreat (Hiatus) all the same tank? 

I get it 3 can be a lot for me also. I had 2 days this week that I could not use my right hand at all. Now today I need to do a water change on at least 2 tanks (just finished the 20L) and hopefully all 3.  The 10 gallon started out cycling rock back in August. Added live rock and now it has a BTA and a fish so it requires WC every 7 to 10 days.

[farkwar]

10 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

never too good at this photoediting stuff

Do you clean the lens before taking pics?

 

Because of my job I always have pocket fulls of alcohol swabs.  I clean every single time.

 

The haze on most of your pics, I believe is fixable

[Snow_Phoenix]

10 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Is the fowler, 10 gallon downstairs, and Snow's 10G Tropical Jungle healing retreat (Hiatus) all the same tank? 

I get it 3 can be a lot for me also. I had 2 days this week that I could not use my right hand at all. Now today I need to do a water change on at least 2 tanks (just finished the 20L) and hopefully all 3.  The 10 gallon started out cycling rock back in August. Added live rock and now it has a BTA and a fish so it requires WC every 7 to 10 days.

Yes, that's the tank I plan on shutting down. I'm not getting rid of the tank itself, just converting it back to fresh. There aren't many fish suitable for a nano-FOWLR. If the tank was large - like a 4' ft long, I'd do a variety of non-reefsafe butterflies, angels, wrasses & perhaps a tang. But it's so small. 🤔

 

At least if it is FW, I can relax a fair bit and even reduce WCs to once a month (thinking of either stocking it with a single paradise gourami, or a small school of tetras). No plans on adding substrate, but I'll try to add a small piece of driftwood with either a java fern or anubia attached to it. I want it to be as low-tech as possible. 

9 hours ago, farkwar said:

Do you clean the lens before taking pics?

 

Because of my job I always have pocket fulls of alcohol swabs.  I clean every single time.

 

The haze on most of your pics, I believe is fixable

I do - I use the tiny square of special cloth that comes with the box. Dehazing pics does improve clarity a lot, but I try my best to snap pics that reflect the coral colors as accurately as possible (like how I see them in RL). It's difficult because the lights are so blue. Good for corals, not very good for amateur photography which only uses a cellphone. 😕

 

I think manipulating the LEDs would be easier to try and get better pics. I'm trying not to tinker with the lights too much though, because I don't want to stress out anything in the reef. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #1:

 

Some pics came out too blue, others came out lighter. I think te angle of the pics matter. 🤔

 

Zoa Tower:

 

 

Rainbow brain:

 

 

Red pavona:

 

 

Lepto:

 

 

Setosa (main frag) : 

 

 

Forest fire digi:

 

 

The chili pepper monti in the background looks better: 😊

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2: 

 

Sunflower zoas: 🤗

 

 

Different angles of the Zoa Ledge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pic came out too blue though: 😕

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Going to transfer Panda the platinum percula clownfish to the 10G nanoreef shortly:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIe1-zTj_M3/?igshid=11eor5m611mx2

 

My district will have a water cut tomorrow for 24 hours, so I'll try to WC as many tanks as possible today, excluding the nano, which has just been WCed. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Panda is very happy in her new tank - I've never seen her this active before: 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

No chasing or nipping from Sapphire the damsel so far. Although if Panda swims too close, Sapphire dives at her, but the clownfish completely ignores her and continues swimming. They're both roughly the same size (around ~2+"). 

 

I'll try to strip down my other 10G by the end of this week. If not, the next. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

These are the green blastos that I transfered into the nano recently:

 

 

Purple monti growing quickly:

 

 

Will probably need to frag the Tubbs blue zoas soon:

 

 

Weeping willow toadstool topview:

 

 

Green leptastrea has grown out quite a fair bit:

 

 

Metallic GSP stretching across the sandbed:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

John Deere leptastrea has spread out - it packs quite a sting though: 

 

 

Chili pepper monti (main frag) :

 

 

Rainbow brain coral from above: 

 

 

Tomorrow we'll have a water cut for 24 hours. I've already topped off all my tanks, including the nano. And we have stored water in pots, pails and cookware all over the house for daily use. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Good morning! 🤗

 

Panda: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just noticed that she's a bit thin. 😕

 

Will have to give her some extra food in the upcoming weeks so that she rounds out nicely like my clowns in the 60G. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Blastos:

 

 

AOGs:

 

 

Tubbs blues:

 

 

Yuma under heavier whites: 

 

 

Can't wait to pick up my little red nem next week. 😁

[Snow_Phoenix]

I found my mini maxi nem (long presumed dead) in my 60G just now, just sitting on the sandbed. It's shriveled up to the size of a penny and is completely bleached. Looks like a lost cause, but I thought I'll try to save it somehow, so I slotted it in a rock crevice at the back/right corner of the nanotank. I don't think it can even attach properly to anything anymore. 😢 

 

It's in terrible shape. But if it can recover in the nano somehow, I'd be glad - this nem was beautiful when it was first purchased. If I'm not mistaken, it was green and purple. 😞 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I re-glued one of the setosa fraglets next to its fellow fraglet after accidently knocking it over while adjusting the position of my acans:

 

 

Also, Sapphire has been busy. She rescaped this side of the tank today morning: 

 

 

And knocked the red finger leather back and down the rocks: 😅

 

 

The nepthea was sulking a bit: 🙃

 

 

Sparkling zoas! 🥰 :

 

 

Will slowly try to remove the GSP patch from these zoas because it is irritating the polyps a bit: 

 

 

Tenuis:

 

 

I'm starting to really like this corner too: 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Red fungia is recovering:

 

 

 

The faded chili pepper monti frag has now gained a greenish hue: 😊

 

 

I think they'll look cool once they fuse and plate out. 🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

Puffy brain: 

 

 

Yuma: 

 

 

Memphis among the zoas: 

 

 

😊