Snow's 60G Secret Predatory Sanctum 🐲🐉 - Shutting Down

[Snow_Phoenix]

2 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

 

Yep, pretty much me today! 

[debbeach13]

I hope you didn’t over do it. Take a couple days off and rest😏

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

I hope you didn’t over do it. Take a couple days off and rest😏

Yep, definitely resting. 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

One of the mollies were eaten last night - I removed the leftovers (bit of spine and head) today. I noticed both my foxface and hawkfish taking turns to eat it. 

 

I'm not sure which fish killed it, but something tells me it's Foxy (just a guess). Yesterday I skipped feeding the tank because I wanted the system to settle down after the intense WC. Looks like the larger fish were hungry and went after the feeders. 

 

I'm down to 4 mollies. Stardust remains the largest one so far. 👍

 

I'm very tired after yesterday's activities. Might rest/sleep more than usual over the next few days.  

[Snow_Phoenix]

My lion girls this morning. 🥰

 

 

 

Cynarina slowly puffing back up again. 👍

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I was looking through various aquascapes online to get an idea of how I'd like my new scape to be. I found this pic online, and I liked the scape a lot:

 

 

I'll try to discuss with my LFS manager to do something similar, but probably with a less complicated design. The overall look of flat ledges stacked at certain angles is what I'm going for. 

 

Mostly because I'd love to arrange various softies on each ledge, maybe do a few LPS (frogspawn, maybe? 🤔) and some cynarinas piled at the bottom. Rockscape wouldn't be too large either - thinking of 12" (L) x 12" (W) x 15" (H). 

 

I've never truly done a negative space concept for a reeftank, but I figured all that open space would benefit my current livestock because most of them are active open column swimmers. 🤷‍♀️

[seabass]

Those aquascapes are pretty intriguing (and surprisingly strong).  However, it does require a bit of work, and make sure you wear the proper gloves (or you'll glue your fingers together, or at the least end up with sand glued all over your hands).  Also, while you usually don't need to use superglue outside, this is an exception.  The fumes from using those quantities of glue is surprisingly strong.

[Snow_Phoenix]

37 minutes ago, seabass said:

Those aquascapes are pretty intriguing (and surprisingly strong).  However, it does require a bit of work, and make sure you wear the proper gloves (or you'll glue your fingers together, or at the least end up with sand glued all over your hands).  Also, while you usually don't need to use superglue outside, this is an exception.  The fumes from using those quantities of glue is surprisingly strong.

My LFS Manager/friend is actually fixing the aquascape - he'll be doing the scaping and gluing. I'm paying for both the rocks, glue and the workmanship/service charge (I honestly don't trust myself to handle that much glue, even with gloves on). 😅

 

I just need to patiently wait for him to complete it (he just returned to the country today, and told me he'll be waiting for new rocks to arrive at the store to get working), and once everything is glued together, I'll be bringing the whole scape home in one piece, and start cycling it in a bin outdoors. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Leathers. 🥰

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Good morning. 💦

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sand-siphoning #3 coming up sometime next week, or the week after. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Aquilla the clownfish and Foxy the foxface are best buds. 😊

 

 

 

Sand-siphoning pushed to next week. Need to clean & WC both my FW tanks - and each of them are 4'ft long. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The snack bar is open!

 

 

Quite interesting to watch all my other fish go after them; not only the lions. 

 

The glass needs to be scraped, but everything else seems alright. I'm still a bit tired from completing a 80% WC of my FW predator tank, and I intend to clean up & WC my discus tank soon too. 

 

I'll probably rest a few more days afterwards, then it'll be back to sand-siphoning again. Need to prune my chaeto as well. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Kenya tree:

 

 

 

 

 

Pineapple tree:

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Weeping willow:

 

 

 

Neon toadstool:

 

 

Orange cloves:

 

 

Forest fire digis and leptastrea:

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Cynarinas:

 

 

 

Lily. 🥰

 

 

 

Also pruned my chaeto! 🌱

 

 

Instead of tossing it, I kept it in my 10G downstairs. Trying to sell it off online, but if there are no takers and this bunch is still alive in ~1 to ~2 weeks, I'll drop it off at my LFS for someone who might need it. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Blurry pics ahead - sorry! 

 

But the amount of pods on my glass is so surreal right now. 👀

 

 

 

 

 

Those other oval-shaped critters are actually limpets. Pretty neat hitchikers. Looks like pruning the chaeto really dislodged some critters from their hiding spots. Hoping some of these get sucked up to the DT so that my fish can eat them. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Good morning, NR. 🌺

 

Aquilla:

 

 

 

Cleo:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just wanted to update: I dropped in around ~10 live shrimp into the DT today afternoon. My bag of shrimp accidently came with two tiny goldfish, and as I scooped out the shrimp into a cup (by hand today), I accidently scooped up one of the fish as well. I dropped the fish into the DT too, hoping it'd be eaten, but my predators were more interested in the shrimp darting all over the rocks. 

 

Eventually the goldfish didn't make it, and I had to dispose it. I think if I accidently scoop out the last goldfish during the next feeding session, I'll feed it to my FW predators instead. My hujeta gar or severums might appreciate it better. 

 

I've been occupied with various pet-related work recently, so I've temporarily put all SW tank-related work on hold (although I will have to WC my nano at one point). 

 

I initially wanted a blenny very badly in this tank, but my present batch of fish seem happy as they are. So the blenny is now just a loose idea which I may/may not follow through in the future. Otherwise, all my animals seem alright, and everything is okay for now. I'll take it one step at a time. 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

Some leathers:

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Puffy cynarinas. 😊

 

 

 

Hawke. 🥰

 

 

Foxy. 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just some lions. 🥰

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Lily hyper-extending her jaw today to swallow some ghost shrimp. This was her 3rd one. 😅

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Filthy glass. Needs a good scrape. 👀

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Scraped the glass today. Can finally see my fish! 😅

 

 

 

This one has new polyps around the rim: 

 

 

Also, I've decided to go bare-bottom during the reset. Both for aesthetic reasons and cutting down expenses. The rocks won't be in direct contact with the glass though - I'll brace it with some plastic grids (like the ones I use for my lids). 

 

My LFS has no new stock of rocks yet, so I'll have to wait on the new aquascape. In the meantime, I'm still hoping that there's an even better method of siphoning the sand out without displacing too much water. I think I'll have to resort to cutting the tube to make it shorter eventually. 😕

[Snow_Phoenix]

The weeping willow has certainly grown taller. 👀