Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Elizabeth94]

This tank is incredible. 
 

I also have never been able to keep mushrooms alive long term. They look great for a while then they shrink and are gone. 
 

This tank is honestly making me second guess my new build being mostly sps.

[Snow_Phoenix]

14 hours ago, TheKleinReef said:

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

 

I actually had the same issue with several shroom morphs. Looks very pretty, stays for a while, then one day I check the tank and it's simply gone. 🤷‍♀️

 

Usually it's the ultra-fancy ones with the extra-bright colors that do this. The common green and red ones are steady and grow like weeds. 

 

BME, shrooms seem to like lower light. I place mine at the more shadowy corners on either side of the tank, as opposed to the center which is directly under my light. 

 

14 hours ago, Elizabeth94 said:

This tank is incredible. 
 

I also have never been able to keep mushrooms alive long term. They look great for a while then they shrink and are gone. 
 

This tank is honestly making me second guess my new build being mostly sps.

Thank you so much for your kind words. 🌺

I have been never successful at keeping SPS-dominant tanks for some reason. Have tried it on and off, only to fail repeatedly. I prefer running mixed reefs instead. Plus, I love the blend of shapes and colors different coral types can give. It makes me happy. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Looks better today than yesterday. Slight color improvement noticed in my zoas. 🥰👍

 

 

 

 

 

Today's topview shots:

 

 

 

FTS on 01/09/23:

 

[Lebowski_]

I just realized this was the last TOTM, which means you will forever be enshrined on the front page 😄

[Snow_Phoenix]

19 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

I just realized this was the last TOTM, which means you will forever be enshrined on the front page 😄

If I'm not mistaken, the TOTM tanks get 'cycled' through the front page, so you'll see a different set of three featured tanks every time you log into NR. That way every past TOTM tank gets a chance to be *featured again, as opposed to having one tank be stuck on the front page forever. It's pretty neat, actually. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Weeping willow:

 

 

 

 

Little toadstool:

 

 

Garf bonsai:

 

 

Forest fire digi garden:

 

 

Hairy shrooms:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Duncan:

 

 

 

Trumpet coral:

 

 

Rainbow brain coral:

 

 

Bicolor lobo:

 

 

Shrooms! 🥰

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

FTS today on 4/9/23:

 

 

 

 

Tank is finally showing some signs of improvement. Color has started to return in some coral, but still remains muted in others. More time & TLC will be needed to see more changes. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Bought a new coral cutter recently. My previous one rusted and could no longer be opened. This one is more expensive and coated - and supposedly anti-rust, but we'll see. 🤔

 

 

Fragging should be a lot easier now. 👍

[A.m.P]

I should really stop using bonsai shears and sewing needles...

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, A.m.P said:

I should really stop using bonsai shears and sewing needles...

Gotta admit sewing needles can be pretty useful though! 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

When you order a reef blanket online and it did not disappoint! 😄🥰😊

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I did a partial clean up of sorts today. Replaced the filter floss and media, scraped the glass, then removed some clumps of encroaching GSP around my monti and acans with my new cutter. Also managed to remove a few clumps of GHA. 

 

WC tentatively set for tomorrow. 👍

 

Here's a throwback pic of one of my old nanos in my old house few years ago:

 

 

It was a very simple basic reeftank with cheap corals, a large clump of macro, few fish and my purple spotted mantis shrimp, Freya. 

 

Speaking of fish and shrimp, I think it's high time that I restock the tank. 

 

Planning on doing *2 fish from this list:

 

1. Occy/Percula clown

2. Orange skunk clown

3. Hi-Fin w/ pistol shrimp

4. Tangaroa goby

5. GCG/RCG

6. Purple firefish

 

And *3 inverts from this list:

 

1. Saron shrimp*

2. Candycane pistol shrimp

3. Nassarius snails

4. Bumblee snails

5. Halloween hermit crab

6. Pom pom crab

7. Porcelain nem crab

8. Bubbletip brittlestar

9. Chocolate banded serpent star

 

*A must have. I love sarons! 🥰

 

I still have some time to think about it, but a lot of these choices are subject to availability in my LFS. I do know they have a small group of bumblebee snails currently in stock though! 😅

 

If anyone has any other suggestions of interesting inverts and fish that might do well in a 10G mixedreef, do let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts & opinions. 😊

 

(Also, I currently have a red-legged hermit, a turbo snail and a YCBS. No other non-coral invert.)

[A.m.P]

That's a gorgeous nano, I love simple tanks.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Did a 80% WC today. This will be the second time I'm using RSCP. My duncan was very happy post-WC:

 

 

I managed to scrape off some excess glue patches and GHA patches on the Zoa Ledge. Unfortunately, my Candy Apple zoas have melted away, so I removed the remnants of the empty frag plug on the rock:

 

 

I also yanked off more GSP polyps around my lime green monti cap and rainbow acans:

 

 

 

Also, my acro frag fell off (???) the rocks in a single piece, so I had to glue that back:

 

 

My softies responded well to the WC:

 

 

Also scrubbed off some GHA from Geralt's shell using a damp tissue. 🦀

 

 

Overall, the tank is still a little cranky but should cheer up by sometime tomorrow:

 

[Rhetoric]

I'm completely smitten with your tank.  It's so full of color and growth.

 

Reading your journal reminds me it's normal to have to "glue a fallen", "scrub some GHA", or even "control GSP encroachment". 

 

It takes constant little efforts to find a big result.

 

#cheers

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

35 minutes ago, Rhetoric said:

I'm completely smitten with your tank.  It's so full of color and growth.

 

Reading your journal reminds me it's normal to have to "glue a fallen", "scrub some GHA", or even "control GSP encroachment". 

 

It takes constant little efforts to find a big result.

 

#cheers

 

 

Yeah, most of the time, having a reeftank needs constant bits of maintenance here and there. Algae is fairly normal too. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I took some pics yesterday and forgot to upload them. 😅

 

Here they are:-

 

Trumpet coral from above:

 

 

^Thinking of fragging some of the heads and trading them in at the LFS next time I drop by for a visit. Haven't truly decided yet. 🤔

 

The last yuma:

 

 

Weeping willow is growing out rather well:

 

 

Pavona fraglets are still going strong:

 

 

 

Duncan with 20 heads:

 

 

Fuzzy PE on forest fire digi garden:

 

 

^The chili pepper monticap is slowly coloring back up again - yay! 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Zoa Garden has large empty patches on the rocks. Guess I'll need to recollect some old and new morphs to fill it out again. 

 

 

Mushroom Mountain from various angles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My shroom collection has dwindled as well. So I'll need to keep an eye out for more shroom varieties at my LFS. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

FTS on 12/09/23:

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Shrimpy made a special appearance from his lair today. 💦

 

 

 

Also, can you spot the lil' guy? 👀

 

 

 

 

^Yes, that's how tiny he is! 😅

 

It's a super-small orange molly fry that I managed to scoop out from the fuge of my 60G reef, using my fingers. I have more fry in there which are mostly either gray or speckled. This one was bright orange and ultra-tiny, so I decided to keep him instead of letting him get sucked up by my filter and thrown back into the DT of the 60G, where he *might get eaten by the other fish. 

 

I'm unsure if he'll fare any better in my nano, but I figured it's worth a shot. 🤷‍♀️

[Snow_Phoenix]

Shrimpy stuffing his face. 😅

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

A/C in my bedroom became kaput so I'll be camping out in my sister's bedroom until it's fixed. 

Not too keen to be separated with my tanks, but it's not much of a choice. Either I move, or get cooked in an overheated bedroom. 🥵

Since there won't be any external circulation in my bedroom (now that I'm not in it), I quickly plugged in a small clip-on aquarium fan to the corner of the tank to keep the temp. down. Most of the corals are okay, but some are a bit cranky. The only issue with the fan is that evap. rate is incredibly high, so I'll be manually topping off water every evening in this tank.

 

Also, the tiny molly is still alive - yay! 

I've seen the lil' guy chase some pods on the glass. He's like a bright little spark in that tank - so I guess that'll be his name: Spark. 🙂 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Finally got my A/C and fan fixed! Room is back to being cool again, and my tanks a faring a *bit better. 🙂

 

I managed to get some basic clean up done. Just scraping the glass, cleaning the lids, then replacing the media. If I'm not too tired in the evening, I'll try to get my WC done. If not, tomorrow. I've been delaying it for almost 2 weeks, and some of my LPS are not too happy. 😕

 

Spark the baby molly has grown a *bit more and developed speckles. He's still cute though! 🙂  

[boscoT]

Gorgeous!!!