Snow's 60G Lair of the Dragons 🐉🐲 - Dragonets

[Snow_Phoenix]

I'm upgrading my 20G mixed reef to a 60G. I've decided to start a journal a bit ahead of time - the tank has already been paid for, and is currently being built by my LFS.

 

Specifications:

 

2'ft x 2'ft x 2'ft cube tank = ~60G

10mm Crystal White Glass

Rimless 

20" x 18" x 15" sump = ~23.37G

Total system volume = ~83G+

 

Equipment:

 

3000l/Hr Return Pump

Jebao OW-25 Wavemaker

1x AI Prime HD (55W)

1x InLed R60 (85W)

*Skimmerless

 

Livestock Plans:

 

Mixed reef with minor SPS and LPS. More focused on Softies and Shrooms. Will have zoas as well as nems.

 

Fish:

 

1x Starry Blenny (Thanos) - 12/08/2018

1x GCG (Goblin) - 30/09/2018

1x Female B/W Occy Clownfish (Nero) - 07/12/2018

1x Male Reg. Occy Clownfish (Sushi) - 09/06/2019

1x Yellow Coris Wrasse (Helios) - 06/08/2019

1x Zebra Dartfish (Tic) - 13/06/2019

1x Tangaroa Goby (Casper) - 07/05/2019

2x Steinitz Goby (Odin & Freida) - 06/11/2019

1x Lubbocks Fairy Wrasse (Bo) - 27/11/2019

1x Leopard Wrasse (Leopold) - 08/12/2019

1x Male Spotted Mandarin Dragonet (Poseidon) - 31/01/2020

1x Male Scooter Dragonet (Illaron) - 21/02/2020

1x Female Scooter Dragonet (Bella) - 01/06/2020 (*Been in LFS since 01/2020)

1x Male Ruby Dragonet (Orion) - 05/09/2020

1x Male Blue Mandarin Dragonet (Qin) - 30/12/2020 (*Temporarily moved to the 10G nanoreef for recovery)

1x Christmas Wrasse (Bullet) - 21/11/2020

1x Bicolor Blenny (Dusky) - 17/01/2020

 

 

Inverts:

 

1x Saron Shrimp (Saron) - 15/07/2018

1x Fire Shrimp - 23/11/2019

3x Nassarius Snails

1x Tuxedo Urchin (Tux) - 22/04/2018

1x Purple Rock Urchin (Mr. Prickles) - 10/12/2018

1x Halloween Urchin (Monty) - 05/11/2020

1x Spider Decorator Crab (Spyder) - 06/06/2020 (*Been in LFS for ~8 months)

2x Bubbletip Brittle Starfish (Marco & Polo) - 12/07/2019

1x Sandsifting Starfish (Patrick) - 20/02/2021

6x Turban Snails

 

Corals:

 

Red Pavona

Chili Pepper Montipora

Red Montipora

Green Pagoda/Cup

Emerald Mummy Eye Chalice

Orange/Green Cynarina

Pearl Bubble Coral

Yellow Yuma

Orange Yuma

Green Yuma

Pink Yuma

Green/Orange Yuma

Purple/Green Yuma

Green/White Yuma

Multi-colored Yuma (*Rainbow)

Green/Yellow Rhodactis Mushroom

Green/Red Rhodactis Mushroom

Dark Red Rhodactis Mushroom

Green Rhodactis Mushroom

Violet Rhodactis Mushroom

Green/Yellow Rhodactis Mushroom

Green Rhodactis Mushroom

Brown Rhodactis Mushroom

Orange/Beige Rhodactis Mushroom

Orange/Blue Rhodactis Mushroom

Superman Discosoma Mushroom

Yellow/Red Spotted Discosoma Mushroom

Green Spotted Discosoma Mushroom

Green/White-Striped Discosoma Mushroom

Ironman Mushroom

Watermelon Teal-Striped Discosoma Mushroom

Blue Discosoma Mushroom

Lava Lamp Mushroom

Red Devil Mushroom

Blue Hairy Mushroom

Green Hairy Mushroom

 

Macroalgae:

 

Fern Caulerpa

Grape Caulerpa

Blade Caulerpa

Galaxaura

Red Bubble Algae

Dragon's Breath

Red Cotton Candy

Chaeto

 

*TBA:

 

Fish & Inverts:

 

x4 Snails

x1 Cleaner Shrimp

x1 Female Ruby Dragonet

 

 

*Stocking plans might change as I move along, but I don't plan on doing any tangs, triggers, rabbitfish etc. I might look into dwarf angels though like a flameback, coral beauty or flame. 

 

I'll also be adding various types of macro to the fuge in the sump, as well as slowly stock up on corals as I go. Otherwise, this will mostly be a TT from a 20G to a 60G. I currently have ~10kg of LR in my 20G. I'll be adding an extra 20kg LR to the 60G (split between DT & sump) - I've already been cycling some dry rock for nearly 2 months in a storage bin in preparation of the upgrade. All the equipment except the return pump is now with me - that will come when they deliver the tank to my house.

 

Here's a basic sketch design of how the DT & sump looks like:

 

 

This is a pic of how the cabinet will be (as texted by my LFS manager to me this afternoon):

 

 

The color of the cabinet will be black matte:

 

 

And this was the two of us discussing and adjusting the sump design repeatedly over the past few days:

 

 

 

 

I left the sump design up to my LFS manager to decide. I'm not confident in designing my own sump, tbh, and he's more experienced than I am, so he'll be getting to it.

 

The salt used will be Fritz RPM.

 

I'll be mixing the salt a day ahead of the tank's arrival so that we can quickly scape the system and get it filled up and running as soon as possible. This whole setup did cost me a lot of time, effort, planning and money, but I think it's worth it. The main reason behind this upgrade is because my 20G is cracking, and the crack is angling towards the bottom panel of the glass - it's just a matter of time before the tank collapses. The secondary reason is because my Starry Blenny is too large and I think he'll appreciate a larger tank. The whole system will be set up in my bedroom, and no fans or chillers will be used since my room is quite cool enough, especially when I turn both the fan and A/C on at night. 

 

Will update when the tank arrives. Stay tuned! 🙂 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I'm upgrading my 20G mixed reef to a 60G. I've decided to start a journal a bit ahead of time - the tank has already been paid for, and is currently being built by my LFS.

 

Specifications:

 

2'ft x 2'ft x 2'ft cube tank = ~60G

10mm Crystal White Glass

Rimless 

20" x 18" x 15" sump = ~23.37G

Total system volume = ~83G+

 

Equipment:

 

3000l/Hr Return Pump

Jebao OW-25 Wavemaker

1x AI Prime HD (+1 AI Prime HD in months to come)

Bubble Magus Curve 5 Skimmer* (will be added in months to come)

 

Livestock Plans:

 

Mixed reef with minor SPS and LPS. More focused on Softies and Shrooms. Will have zoas as well as nems.

 

Pull-over from my 20G:

 

Fish:

 

1x Starry Blenny

1x GCG

1x Pygmy Perchlet

1x B/W Occy Clownfish

1x Spotted Mandarin Dragonet

1x Pink Streaked Wrasse* (Currently in QT)

 

Inverts:

 

1x Saron Shrimp

1x Golden Banded Boxer Shrimp

1x Candycane Pistol Shrimp

3x Nassarius Snails

2x Brown Legged Hermit Crabs

1x Porcelain Anemone Crab

1x Tuxedo Urchin

1x Purple Rock Urchin

Cluster Duster (4x feather duster worms)

 

Anemone:

 

1x Neon RBTA

 

Corals:

 

Various types of SPS, LPS, Softies, Shrooms and Zoas

 

TBA:

 

Fish & Inverts:

 

x6 more small* fish TBD

x1 Cleaner Shrimp

x1 Fire Shrimp

x5 Hermits

x3 Turbo or Turban Snails

x3 Nassarius Snails

x1 Brittle Starfish

 

*By small, I'm thinking of something that has low bioload as well as doesn't exceed 5". Stocking plans might change as I move along, but I don't plan on doing any tangs, triggers, rabbitfish etc. I might look into dwarf angels though like a flameback, coral beauty or flame. 

 

I'll also be adding various types of macro to the fuge in the sump, as well as slowly stock up on corals as I go. Otherwise, this will mostly be a TT from a 20G to a 60G. I currently have ~10kg of LR in my 20G. I'll be adding an extra 20kg LR to the 60G (split between DT & sump) - I've already been cycling some dry rock for nearly 2 months in a storage bin in preparation of the upgrade. All the equipment except the return pump is now with me - that will come when they deliver the tank to my house.

 

Here's a basic sketch design of how the DT & sump looks like:

 

 

This is a pic of how the cabinet will be (as texted by my LFS manager to me this afternoon):

 

 

The color of the cabinet will be black matte:

 

 

And this was the two of us discussing and adjusting the sump design repeatedly over the past few days:

 

 

 

 

I left the sump design up to my LFS manager to decide. I'm not confident in designing my own sump, tbh, and he's more experienced than I am, so he'll be getting to it.

 

The salt used will be Fritz RPM.

 

I'll be mixing the salt a day ahead of the tank's arrival so that we can quickly scape the system and get it filled up and running as soon as possible. This whole setup did cost me a lot of time, effort, planning and money, but I think it's worth it. The main reason behind this upgrade is because my 20G is cracking, and the crack is angling towards the bottom panel of the glass - it's just a matter of time before the tank collapses. The secondary reason is because my Starry Blenny is too large and I think he'll appreciate a larger tank. The whole system will be set up in my bedroom, and no fans or chillers will be used since my room is quite cool enough, especially when I turn both the fan and A/C on at night. 

 

Will update when the tank arrives. Stay tuned! 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yay!!!! New tank! 🥳😃

[Tamberav]

[Firefish15]

Keep us posted! 

3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

The main reason behind this upgrade is because my 20G is cracking, and the crack is angling towards the bottom panel of the glass - it's just a matter of time before the tank collapses.

That's got to be nerve-wracking. Hopefully everything goes smoothly!

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

Keep us posted! 

That's got to be nerve-wracking. Hopefully everything goes smoothly!

Thanks! And yes, I'm definitely super nervous. My cycled LR just hit the ugly diatom/algae phase in the bin. I thought of wrapping the bin up with some black plastic to slowly minimize the diatom/algae outbreak but I guess this is part of the rock-maturing process. Will need a very extensive CUC to clean up the mess though. 

 

I'm mostly worried over my fish during the TT. The last time I isolated my fish from my DT for Ich treatment, I lost pretty much all of them except my blenny and GCG. 😕

[Snow_Phoenix]

Around six+ weeks ago, I picked up four pieces of dry rock from my LFS which were originally LR pieces that came from one of their DTs, but left to dry out for over several months. There's absolutely no life in any of these rocks when I picked it up and each piece is oddly shaped (which will make scaping hell later, I bet):

 

Around 3 weeks ago, I hit the ugly diatom phase after cycling the 4 pieces in a transparent storage bin on the side porch outside my home. The bin is exposed to indirect sunlight everyday, and since my climate is tropical, we get plenty of sun during the early months of the year:

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I picked up 2 new large LR pieces from my LFS around 2.5+ weeks ago and added it to the bin.

 

By the start of this week, the rocks were completely covered in diatoms and some bits of it even had green cyano. So I did a full 100% WC, scrubbed the bin and covered with a large black plastic garbage bag:

 

 

 

While scrubbing out the bin, I kept the rocks submerged in the old saltwater in a large pail and a smaller bin:

 

 

 

I then refilled my storage bin with freshly made SW and readded the rocks one by one.

 

 

Then I readded my powerhead to provide circulation.

 

 

 

After everything, I closed the bin but left a gap for air to freely flow inside. I covered the lid partially with black plastic but left the gap untouched. 

 

 

I also hosed down 10kg of LS around 2 to 3 days ago, and have been re-drying it out under the hot sun.

 

 

I used a simple plastic divider to act as a lid to prevent my neighbor's cats from leaving unwanted organic presents inside.

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So my tank and cabinet are ready, but I pushed back the delivery to Friday:

 

 

 

I pushed the delivery back because I was unhappy over several things:

 

1. Tank is not rimless as requested

2. Tank has bracings along all four edges, which was not requested

3. Due to the position and height of the bracings, I can't clamp on my AI Prime.

 

So I am trying to work out on placing an additional layer of glass fixed 3" above the rim at the back of the tank so that I can clamp my light on there. 

 

Besides the not-so-desirable rim and bracings, I do like how the tank and cabinet looks. I just hope the sump turned out okay. 

[WV Reefer]

3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

So my tank and cabinet are ready, but I pushed back the delivery to Friday:

 

 

 

I pushed the delivery back because I was unhappy over several things:

 

1. Tank is not rimless as requested

2. Tank has bracings along all four edges, which was not requested

3. Due to the position and height of the bracings, I can't clamp on my AI Prime.

 

So I am trying to work out on placing an additional layer of glass fixed 3" above the rim at the back of the tank so that I can clamp my light on there. 

 

Besides the not-so-desirable rim and bracings, I do like how the tank and cabinet looks. I just hope the sump turned out okay. 

 

Thats going to look really nice once it’s set up.😀 Sucks that they messed up your order though. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

28 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Thats going to look really nice once it’s set up.😀 Sucks that they messed up your order though. 

Thanks! I admit it does look very sleek. Really wish they hadn't added the bracings or the rim though - I wanted to go for an overall clean look. I'm now worried about the sump - hopefully they stuck to the design and it fell through. 

 

 

[748S911]

Sorry to hear about them messing up on tank, but congrats on the new tank. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

28 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Sorry to hear about them messing up on tank, but congrats on the new tank. 

Thank you. We are trying to rectify it now. I can't remove the bracings because it will leave horrible silicon marks behind. I might de-rim the tank on my own later if it looks too ugly. I need to see it firsthand to judge first. 

 

20G will be taken down part by part tomorrow. Since I'm stuck with work, I will take my time to fill up the 60G. Probably do it over the weekend, fill up the sand, mix some SW beforehand. It's going to take a while because I fell sick after this morning (no surprise there). 

 

I'll take my time scaping instead of doing a direct transfer. Will need to beef up my CUC too. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Tank has already been drained. It took me a few hours to drain it because I was nursing a severe migraine for 12+ hours yesterday and I still feel sick today. 

 

 

The blue bin houses all my fish, rocks, corals and inverts from the 20G. The pink tank houses all the rocks from my in-tank fuge and has one small wavemaker for circulation. 

 

 

I just hope everything makes it through the night and none of the fish jump out. I plugged the gap left by the HOB with some tissue - covered the gap on the other side with some fine plastic mesh. 

 

I think when the tank arrives tomorrow, I will only fill up the sump with SW and DT with LS and roughly 10G of SW. There will be some cloudiness from the sand, so I will try to throw in an internal filter to suck up as much dirt as possible before adding in the LR and transferring my corals one by one. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Through a series of mishaps including a difficult delivery, me falling down the stairs and extra money being forked out to appease two tired delivery guys while it was raining, I finally acquired this:

 

 

 

It is honestly a lot larger than I envisioned. The cabinet is also very high, and I will need to use a ladder to fill up the tank or add anything to it (rocks/coral/fish) from now on. It is going to be a bit of a nightmare, so I am considering getting some paid help from my LFS to fill it up since I'm not that strong and my back ribs are bruised from the fall.

 

I'm usually very particular about my tanks and don't let anyone touch them. But I guess this a big leap and it is a bit overwhelming. 😓

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Through a series of mishaps including a difficult delivery, me falling down the stairs and extra money being forked out to appease two tired delivery guys while it was raining, I finally acquired this:

 

 

 

It is honestly a lot larger than I envisioned. The cabinet is also very high, and I will need to use a ladder to fill up the tank or add anything to it (rocks/coral/fish) from now on. It is going to be a bit of a nightmare, so I am considering getting some paid help from my LFS to fill it up since I'm not that strong and my back ribs are bruised from the fall.

 

I'm usually very particular about my tanks and don't let anyone touch them. But I guess this a big leap and it is a bit overwhelming. 😓

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you are ok! 

 

I think it looks great and I actually don’t mind the rim. I have to use a chair or step stool with my 75 because the stand is so tall...... just be careful! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

14 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Hope you are ok! 

 

I think it looks great and I actually don’t mind the rim. I have to use a chair or step stool with my 75 because the stand is so tall...... just be careful! 😊

I am a bit hurt but nothing too bad. 

 

And yeah, I might end up using a chair - but I admit it does look awesome. 🥰

[Firefish15]

Wow, this has been a bumpy ride for you! How has your livestock been doing in the tubs?

 

Have you leak-tested and leveled it already?

 

[pricewayne]

That live rock is so cool!! Really interesting shapes.

 

Loving the tank & excited to follow along -- sorry to hear about your fall 😞

[Snow_Phoenix]

10 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

Wow, this has been a bumpy ride for you! How has your livestock been doing in the tubs?

 

Have you leak-tested and leveled it already?

 

It was definitely a less-than-ideal start. My whole body is aching today lol.

 

Livestock is doing okay so far - managed to see most of the fish except for Thanos - he's staying well-hidden between the rocks, possibly somewhere at the bottom of the tub.

 

And nope, I can't leak test it or add any water yet until the glue for the piping fully cures (recommended to wait for 48 hours at least). I still need to pick up a pump and longer hose from the store. I have no idea how I'm going to fill this one up because the tank is taller than me. The bucket-method will be a back-breaker for sure. 

9 hours ago, pricewayne said:

That live rock is so cool!! Really interesting shapes.

 

Loving the tank & excited to follow along -- sorry to hear about your fall 😞

Thank you! It's all oddly-shaped though - none of the pieces 'fit'. Scaping is going to be both challenging and troublesome, but I figured whatever that cannot be used in the main DT can always be placed in the sump. I think I will need to pick up more rock pieces though. There appears to be a lot of room in the tank - even if I put all my existing rock inside, it'll probably be only 25% full. 

 

My stairs are very slippery. Even the guys who were delivering my tank yesterday said it was slippery. Thankfully none of them fell - that tank and cabinet are extremely heavy. I'll post a pic of the sump later. It looks unique, I think. And contrary to what was outlined on paper, it appears very spacious up close. 

[Tamberav]

Looks good! The rim isn't bad, its a lot nicer rim than the cheapo janky tanks we have here. 

 

Can't you just pump the water from your mixing bucket/tubs up into the tank? or is the sink/area where you get your water far from the tank?

 

I only have 1 tank upstairs atm because hauling buckets upstairs sucks 😛

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

Looks good! The rim isn't bad, its a lot nicer rim than the cheapo janky tanks we have here. 

 

Can't you just pump the water from your mixing bucket/tubs up into the tank? or is the sink/area where you get your water far from the tank?

 

I only have 1 tank upstairs atm because hauling buckets upstairs sucks 😛

The rim is actually a piece of black lacquer glued at the top. I checked. So it's not even a 'true' rim, it's just a sticker. Sneaky, sneaky LFS! 

 

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that - I'm going to hit the store, get a new hose and also hit the LFS and get a pump - maybe a 2000L/Hr one. The sink is too far from the tank unfortunately. And the tap itself is a problem - I'm going to have a lot of difficulty trying to connect it directly to any sort of hose. So the best thing to do is mix all the SW in a giant bucket (there's a large 23G one downstairs which my mother uses to store rainwater - I asked her permission to use it, and she said fine). So I'll mix up water in that, and pump the water directly into the tank.

 

WCs are going to be a lot more tricky though - my gravel pump is super-short. So maybe attach the hose to one end and manually pump it down to a small bucket? 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

A quick update:

 

I've tried to clamp my Prime at the back of the tank, but I couldn't because the bracings were too close to the rim.

 

So I consulted my LFS and we came up with a design of sorts - mostly stick a piece of U-shaped glass at the back of the tank, so that I may mount my prime on that piece, instead of the tank directly. 

 

Tentatively, the store will be sending over someone to help fix that glass piece at the back of my tank tomorrow. And if everything goes well, I'll also be able to get the tank wet as well, and maybe even proceed with scaping. 

 

I might need to pick up more LR from the store since I think my present pieces are not enough to fill the tank. I'm not really sure - I guess we'll find out some time tomorrow.

 

I also purchased a small pump and a 10m long rubber hose today so that future WCs will be a bit easier and less strenuous. I shouldn't have a problem getting the water out of the tank, but getting it into the tank is going to be a bit of a challenge. 

 

Once I get the system wet and running, I'll post more pics. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I've started preparing the tank today to get it wet. Mostly I've been packing some coral stones into mesh bags with plastic zippers:

 

 

Cutting out some extra floss:

 

 

 

And I checked up on my LR - it is as brown as ever:

 

 

 

I'll have to hit another store to pick up some biorings/bioballs and more filter media. Will need to pack some carbon and RowaPhos in a sock too. 

 

I think the toughest part would be measuring and adding the salt later. And filling the tank up, of course.

 

I ordered a plastic hose clip/holder to help hold the hose while I fill up the tank, but I don't think it will arrive today. 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Well, here goes nothing. 

 

 

We also have therapy doggo on supervisor-duty:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So the sandbed isn't exactly level. The thickest part is around 3" and the thinnest area is around 1.5". 

 

 

I figured I will have to re-level it once the water gets in anyway. That's it for today. My LFS couldn't help today afternoon because we were having a severe thunderstorm. But on Wednesday, we have tentatively rescheduled the glass-fixing. 

 

I *might fill up the tank tomorrow but will let it run without rocks for 12 to 24 hours. I ended up using 12kg of LS as opposed to the original 10kg, so it will take a while for the water to clear again.