Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

Ironman discosoma:

 

 

Zoa Ledge:

 

 

 

FTS on 12/8/23:

 

 

 

[ml86743]

Lovely as usual. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

A small slice of bad news - the new turbo snail I picked up from the LFS on Monday died. I allowed my hermit to pick at it for a bit before tossing it out. I took several pics of Mushroom Mountain from different angles today. The new red discosoma certainly adds a burst of color to my collection. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I also rescaped my Zoa Garden and shuffled the rocks a bit. Some of the polyps were knocked off, so I had to reglue them to different areas. 😅

 

 

 

 

Still trying to figure out how to frag my merlettis safely to turn them in for store credit. 🤔

 

 

 

And lastly, my FTS today on 13/8/23:

 

 

I cleaned the glass and replaced the filter media today. Also pruned some GSP, hence the bald spots on some of the rocks. 😅

 

Weekly WC tentatively set for tomorrow or the day after. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Better PE today. 🥰👍

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I used a mix of Fritz (last bit) and brand new IO salt yesterday to complete my weekly WC. The corals looked quite happy today. All open. 

 

Here's some pics of my Zoa Garden. 😊

 

 

 

I think I'm beginning to have a new favorite corner. 😅

 

 

The Pinwheels have lost their traditional markings, but are most certainly making a strong comeback:

 

 

Lovin' the flowery polyps of my latest tiny leather:

 

 

Zoa Ledge front view:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I spent nearly ~30 mins yesterday trying my best to eradicate the GSP that has taken over the rocks. I didn't quite succeed in removing all of it, and it was rather tough to clip off. Looks like I'll have to keep going every week at it until it's gone. 

 

At least my lime green monti appears happier:

 

 

 

Shrooms are very wide and happy today too:

 

 

SPS has full, fuzzy PE:

 

 

 

Geralt was mooching in the duncan. 😅 🦀

 

FTS today on 16/08/23:

 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

haven't checked in on here in forever - everything is looking great !

[Snow_Phoenix]

2 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

haven't checked in on here in forever - everything is looking great !

Thanks, Mitten! It takes a lot of time and effort to keep it that way though. I still make mistakes, and the corals do throw up a fuss every now and then, but for the most part, everything is stable for now. Tank's still fishless though. Would really love to re-add some fish to it soon. 

[Amnemonemomne]

On 7/22/2023 at 7:33 AM, Snow_Phoenix said:

I love those two pieces too! The pavona keeps growing out though, so I often trim it down a little and trade in the pieces at the LFS for new frags or tiny CUC. I have no heart to trim it right now though. Absolutely love the ripple-effect it has at the edges. Reminds me a bit of an underwater rose petal. 🥰

 

The duncan does take up a fair bit of room, but I don't mind. As long as it's happy and healthy, I leave it be. Duncans can be quite hard to come by at my store these days. I wonder how much a single head costs now. 🤔

to answer your question, i'm not sure what it usaully is charged for but my lfs charges 14 per head (only lfs near me that has saltwater stuff). When i got my duncan it had 2 heads but now it has 4 big heads and a few babies coming along so it was IMO worth $28.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Did some digging today and found that the blue zoa is called 'blueberries' and the pinwheel morph are called 'daisy cutters'. 🥰

 

 

Also, I seem to have a dino issue. 😕

 

 

Time to start digging up some old threads on NR to see how to tackle this. It has relegated itself to staying on my sandbed so far, but best to get rid of it before it spreads over the rocks. My rainbow brain was quite upset today because of it. Hope my corals won't stress out too much and die. 😕

 

If anyone has some advice in handling this, I'm all ears. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

The Zoa Ledge today:

 

 

Weeping willow doing well: 

 

 

 

Less dinos seen today, surprisingly. Need to get a fish to poop in this though. Tank *might be too clean. I might move a young feeder molly or two (if I can net them) from my 60G to this nano. Still undecided. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

My nano today. Post-WC with IO yesterday. 💦

 

 

 

 

 

 

FTS today on 23/8/23:

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

A few coral snapshots for today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the corals are still unhappy. Not sure why. I'll try to purchase some calibrator fluid for my refractometer - having a slight feeling it might be off. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Some sad news today. After I transitioned my tank over to IO fully from Fritz few days ago, I noticed some of my SPS weren't doing well, and my coralline began to die off in patches. IO isn't a bad salt, but the calcium levels in the salt mix are too low for my nano. The kH in turn is too high (?). 🤔

 

Since I run a mixed reef in a small 10G, keeping parameters in balance has always been a challenge. I've tried to slowly increase Ca dosing, but this does affect kH & Mg levels too, so the tank's now imbalanced. 😞

 

Over the past week, some zoa colors have dulled out, 2 shrooms have melted and some of my SPS have STNed. The worst hit was my pink pavona:

 

 

 

And I couldn't salvage much because most of it was white from the underside and base. This really upset me because it took a long time for my pavona to develop its trademark 'petals'. 😭

 

I managed to trim off a few tiny pieces and attach them to the rocks, but I'm unsure if they'll make it. 😞

 

 

 

I'm still seeing ugly white patches of dead coralline on my usually purple rock. As frustrated as I am, I couldn't find any Fritz RPM (blue box) online locally except one local store that has marked it up way beyond market price - which is pretty much price-gauging. 😕

 

My next option was to quickly find another brand of salt with levels that might be more suitable for *this tank. Finally spotted some Red Sea blue buckets for sale online, so I dipped into my savings and purchased a 22kg bucket just now. It should arrive at my doorstep within 1 to 2 weeks. 

 

Hoping my tank can hold until then. 😕

 

I'll use my leftover ~8kg of IO at home for QT tanks and my 60G. Since the 60G has hardly any coral in it, lower-scale parameters shouldn't matter too much. 

 

Just feeling disappointed and upset atm. 😞

[A.m.P]

Crap, that's awful, one of my nanos just had a bacterial infection blow through it and hit a ton of my lps, killed a few rescue pieces and it's always gutting. 
I hope things turn around quickly, I have a handful of sps which constantly die back and regrow in my systems, I hope it's similar for you this time!

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 hours ago, A.m.P said:

Crap, that's awful, one of my nanos just had a bacterial infection blow through it and hit a ton of my lps, killed a few rescue pieces and it's always gutting. 
I hope things turn around quickly, I have a handful of sps which constantly die back and regrow in my systems, I hope it's similar for you this time!

I hope so too. 😞

 

Really sucks to lose corals - especially the older ones. 😕

[sam_the_reefer]

It's still awesome how you've kept most of your LS healthy and thriving. I've given up on SPS because of how finicky they can be.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, sam_the_reefer said:

It's still awesome how you've kept most of your LS healthy and thriving. I've given up on SPS because of how finicky they can be.

Thanks. I usually don't go into detail about it on the forum, but it's quite tough to keep everything 'happy' all at once. Normally if 90% of the corals are open and thriving, the remaining 10% is discolored, shrunken or moody. I haven't been successful at keeping *everything open and content *together. Maybe in a bigger tank with higher water volume (and more buffering leeway), it's possible. 

 

But my nano is on the small side. Not that I'm complaining - I still love my tank and wouldn't trade it for the world. 🥰

 

It's just really hard when things die all of a sudden. I do take losses rather personally, but I have always been hypersensitive this way. Personality flaw, maybe (?) 🤷‍♀️

 

Eh, can't help who I am. The pavona fraglets made it through the night, but their colors are all washed out. 😞

 

Luckily I checked my online shipping status and the seller has already prepared to ship the bucket. Hope the courier service doesn't damage it. Red Sea blue bucket is quite pricey over here. Just can't wait to WC the tank with the new salt. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Well, interesting twist today. Ordered and paid for the Red Sea blue bucket, wound up with having RSCP delivered to my door instead. 🤦‍♀️

 

I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry. Looks like fate is determined to ensure my tank runs at a higher kH, but at least RSCP has higher Ca & Mg levels compared to IO, so the nano's SPS should be happier and start coloring up/growing out again. 

 

I'll have to do smaller, gradual WCs to help the nano get used the new salt.

 

Also, I gave the bucket a hat-mat. It's now a part of my family. 😄

 

[Lebowski_]

That Pavona was a real beauty. One of my favourite corals.

 

So it goes with a reef, though, the coral aren't meant to live forever, all we can do it our best. It had a good run, and maybe the small fragments leftover will make a comeback one day.

 

Love the disco, very nice colouration.

[Snow_Phoenix]

53 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

That Pavona was a real beauty. One of my favourite corals.

 

So it goes with a reef, though, the coral aren't meant to live forever, all we can do it our best. It had a good run, and maybe the small fragments leftover will make a comeback one day.

 

Love the disco, very nice colouration.

Yes, it was unfortunately it had to go out the way it did though. 

The pavona fraglets are still holding strong for now. I'm hoping it'll grow out again in the future as well. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

First day of WCing with RSCP salt (Red Sea Coral Pro). I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead with the standard 80% WC instead of a smaller, gradual one. All corals opened up fully under ~3 hours. 👀

 

 

 

 

 

Just need a few more WCs and the colors should bounce back to its original vividity. 💦

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of the yellows (like my John Deere leptastrea) still remains browned out, but I think the colors should return in the future. Just hoping all the lost coralline will regrow as well. 😕

 

At least my brain coral is very happy post-WC:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I took some actinic shots as well. Really missing the bright yellow splotches of my leptastrea on the rocks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm quite relieved that the salt was easy to mix and the tank didn't react badly to the new SW. Since the levels are quite high, I'll have to scale back on my usual dosing regiment. 👍

 

FTS under actinics today on 31/08/23:

 

 

 

[TheKleinReef]

tanks like yours make me want mushrooms, then I buy one and it melts into oblivion.