Turtle's Miniature Menagerie

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SashimiTurtle

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Guess who made it over night without falling down...

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I got some new decorations for the stand. Well, they are part of phase 3 for the Miniature Menagerie.

Phase 1 was the tank, stand and equipment. That's pretty much done except for the AWC containers and the controller board for the back.

Phase 2, fish and coral. Well, technically not coral, anemones. Rock flowers and ricordea are types of anemones after all. Part 2 will probably never be completed, but ever evolving with new RFAs and rics. Theres another fish or two on my list as well, just waiting on the right one to show up.

Phase 3, well we have part of phase 3 already in the tank because they uniquely grow in salt water. That's right the mangroves. The rest of phase three are miniature potted plants. This is the Miniature Menagerie, miniature plants count too! We have the extra room around the stand for a reason, decorate it!

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So that's really blue, and far away. How about some close ups!

Alright the Sideshow Bob looking guy was too cool not to get. It's what is called an air plant. They take up nearly all their water and nutrients thru the leaves. It only requires you mist the leaves once a week. It ought to look rather interesting once it grows out.


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The little one on the right is a succulent. Very low maintenance plant. The directions say to slowly add 1oz of water a month. Yep, it's a desert plant. It needs to dry out between waterings. 1oz is actually around 29.5ml. Funny, converting imperial to metric so I can understand how much it is. It's also 2 table spoons, and I understand that perfectly well.

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Then over on the left behind the Google Home Hub(Pandora music box lol), is a lucky bamboo plant. That one requires the most care, but not super hard. Just keep the soil wet at all times.

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Got some new stuff in just before we head off to Tennessee for the weekend. We got a 6 foot roll of filter pad. Yes, 6 foot long by 10 inches wide. It should last a while.

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We also got some Chemipure Elite, mini sized. I believe around 3oz. It said for up to 10g, so I figured it would be ok.

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The tank has been running for a few weeks without mechanical and hasn't had chemical filtration since we got over the initial bryposis outbreak and used some Chemipure blue to remove the medication. The only thing filtering the water are the four 1.5" Brightwell Xport bio blocks, and the two mangroves. The mangroves still dont really have leaves to speak of, so I doubt they are doing much, maybe a little. I tested nutrients for the first time, just out of curiosity. Nitrate was between 1 and 2, and phosphate was undetectable with the Hanna LR Phosphate.(not the ULR) Needless to say, I dont really need the Chemipure, but I do have some unwanted algae growth on the glass, so I added it to see if I could get rid of that.

I'm certain the Brightwell blocks are removing most the nutrients. I'm going to look into adding a larger brick to the Fairy Tale.

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We're in Knoxville, Tennessee! I know, surprise if you're not following the Fairy Tale or @Katrina71's thread. I chanced out the filter pad and filled the ATO all the way up. This little tank only uses about 2 gallons a week, so 5 gallons ought to be plenty for the weekend.

The Menagerie is doing very well, and hopefully I can find some new miniatures to go in it at the Expo tomorrow. The mangroves are starting to grow a little more. The curvy one has almost developed a whole miniature leaf, and the straight one is finally starting to sprout up a small bud. Blaze and Ember are still doing well, as are the two porcelain crabs. I am down to only one sexy shrimp, tho. I'm not sure if they got picked on, or if they committed suicide... maybe they kept going in the back chamber and getting sucked up by the return pump. Maybe they are expert level hide and seek players.

Hopefully soon, we can order a few more and get a special miniature fish I've been wanting.

Mangrove growth!

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Sunlight pic of neon green RFA

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Older pic of same RFA under the Nanobox Duo

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You sure the RFAs didn't just gulp them up?
I didnt think of that...

They are called sexy anemone shrimp... maybe I forgot to tell the RFAs that shrimp are friends, not food. The crabs walk all over them and they don't even react anymore.
 
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Got back from vacation around midnight last night. We had a lot of fun in eastern Tennessee. Picked up a few corals at the swap on Saturday then went exploring for the rest of the day and on Sunday.

Picked up three new rics, one florida and two yumas. I grabbed another I thought, and was told, was a ricordea. They are looking like rhodactis but were very ticked off and still haven't opened up fully. I'm certain they are not ricordea tho.

Ricordea florida, orange with green rim, purple mouth

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Ricordea yuma 1, blue with purple and pink tips

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Ricordea yuma 2, purple with green and orange tips, green mouth

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Maintenance day! Siphoned the sand bed and drained about 90% of the water. Cleaned inside glass with magic eraser and filled with water from my storage barrel. After everything was done, I cleaned off the outside glass really well to get rid of any smudges and salt streaks.

Sand already siphoned, algae clips hold more than just algae!

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Fixing to fill with new saltwater.

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All full and running, a little cloudy.

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Cleared up and looking great!

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Haha I didn’t know it was that simple, maybe it’s because I just use tap water on the outside of my tank. Thanks!
I have a little spray bottle under the tank I use to spray off the mangroves. It's exclusively RODI, as it gets sprayed in the tank. I use it onnthe air plant also, seems to be ok for it being just RODI as it is growing. To clean the outside of the tank, I just took an old soft tshirt and sprayed the glass down and wiped clean.

I need to put another coat of wax on the glass. Regular car wax works, just dont get it in the tank. Makes wiping the glass down way easier.
 
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We did a thing. Theres been a fish we've been wanting for a long time. They are rare, only pop up a few times a year and they sell out quickly. They are very small, you could call them miniature miniatures. They get about 2" total length, but the ones I got are much smaller. Much much MUCH smaller.

Ok, so you're probably saying, "Turtle, just tell us what you got already." Well, it's a Gressingeri goby, or a flaming shrimp goby. They are about 1/4" each. That's right, one quarter inch. I was expecting 3/4" to 1" fish, but... they came much smaller than that. These guys are so small I lost them in the shipping bags several times...

They both look very healthy and active, and I placed them on the sand bed next to the rocks using a small glass bowl so that they wouldn't get lost or blown around by the current.

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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