Dennerle 60L *closed*

[gen]

Hi everyone, 

 

After spending some weeks lurking on the forum I thought it was time to share my own Frankenstein's tank.

The tank is in the living room, my aim is to try to make it as "nice and colorful" from all sides, without too much equipement visible. 

Had to rescape it 2 times already, I'm still learning about coral growth, pattern and...aggressivity. 

 

Feel free to comment, advice is always welcome.

 

History so far :

-Started a freshwater planted tank (around 8g) on 2017/11

-Started a second one (shrimps) on 2018/01

-Played with both tank (learning how to setup, clean, care, innovate, etc.) until 2018/08, when I finally gave up sanity and moved toward the idea of a reef tank

-First inverts around 2018/12

-Been stocking up / rescaping the tank ever since

 

Current equipment :

- Tank : Dennerle 60L (~16g)

- Light : AI prime HD

- Filter : Aquaclear 20

- heater : Eden 100w

- Flow : jebao SLW 10

- DIY fan

- Inkbird controller

- ATO

 

Livestock :

- 1 Okinawa gobiodon

- 2 sexy shrimps

- 2 fire shrimps

- 1 Tridacna maxima

- 2 red hermits

- bunch of snails 

- bunch of corals : discosoma, euphyllias, zoas, Monti, duncan, acan, etc. 

 

Deaths so far (chronogically) 

- 1 black and white clownfish : no apparent reason for first one, the other one was fine.

- 2 lysmastas wurdemanni : they died weeks appart

- snails

- 1 sexy shrimp, a few days after receiving it, probably didn't like the transport (heat pack wasn't activated...), the 2 other survived

- histrio gobiodon, Picasso clownfish, black and white clownfish : hell of a week, white spots on the Picasso, never found the gobiodon, last clownfish died a week after the Picasso (no apparent sign of disease) 

 

The start : 2018/08

 

2019/03

 

2019/10 Front view

 

2020/02, FTS

 

FTS 2020/04

[gen]

Time for an update.

 

Cleaned up my filter, my maintenance consists in :

- changing the filter floss everyweek

- cleaning the sides every 2 weeks/month depending on algae growth

- trimming chaeto if needed

I chose a transparent filter to run chaeto with a led light strip (white bucket is the ATO bucket)

 

Originally used chaeto because of the algae growth in the tank. it helped (and chaeto is still growing, slowly, be surely).

I'm probably still overfeeding :

• I tend to worry for a while when getting new corals / fish. I got the gobiodon 3 weeks ago and it was really shy at the beginning, I really overfed at the time so he would grab something. 
• I try to feed the corals once or twice a week, sometimes too much

 

The clam is moving since I got it, I heard it bounce against the glass three times already. This night it trid to move a bit too much, and kind of fell.

That was yesterday (clam was vertical, notice the bold gobiodon facing the front glass)

 

And that was this morning...

 

Appart from that, everything seems to going ok

[gen]

Trying to get some nice shots lately (with a phone)

 

Whatcha looking at?

 

Added 3 sexy shrimps this week, this one seems to like being in the front

 

That gobiodon is really, really shy 

 

He buried himself in the sinularia

[gen]

Time for an update :

• I had to add my old aquaclear 20 to get rid off the oily surface film, worked like a charm
• Sold some soft corals overtaking the tank (they were my first corals, they did thrive a bit too much after almost 1 year in the tank)
• Replaced the noisy fan cooler with an old fan from a ventirad
• Bought a cheap AI Prime HD

I have been trying to get some decent close up shots :

 

Hermit waving

 

Duncan

 

That little guy finally decided to show up from time to time

[Wonderboy]

Excellent photos! Everything looks so happy! Looking forward to more  :]

[gen]

Thank you very much 😄

 

New update :

• I had to change the flow pump some weeks ago. It didn't stop working but when I put my hand the tank to clean the glass...I got electrocuted (small voltage luckily). Had to shut down each piece of equipment individually and test the water with my hand to finally find the culprit. The pump didn't show any exterior sign of malfunction. Anyway I had a spare tunze nanostream that took over the job.
• I took the canister filter out of the stand and I put it on the side of the tank. I stripped it of the leds, also shortened the pipes for easier maintenance and less heat loss (heater is in the canister).
• Sold my sinularia corals and some small discosomas : more space was needed. 
• 3 of my euphillyas looked sad for no apparent reason (except what the changes I made, but others LPS seem happy and one euphyllia is really happy) so I ran carbon for a week and made some heavier water change. They seem to get better but only time will tell.
• Got a new clown (picasso I think) qo my black clown doesn't feel alone. He seems to enjoy the company

Some new shots :

 

Pachy before and after waking up (took the two photos at the exact same spot)

 

 

Clean up crew doing its job

 

New zoas

 

I will be moving in my new place in two weeks, will try to rethink the scape and take a FTS after that.

 

[gen]

Quick update I wanted to share since I am currently moving from one place to another (not far away). 

 

I managed to grab a 13liters AIO tank working as a temporary home for 2/3 of my corals in the new place.

 

Meanwhile the rest of rock/corals and all fishes are waiting to get transfered. I removed the sand bed this morning (going bare bottom) and only put back 1/3 of the water with minimal equipment (pump/heater/light) since they will be moving tomorrow morning. 

Everybody seems happy so far. 

 

[gen]

Hi guys, took me 3 days to finally get the tank as I wanted. 

New rockscape, same livestock. Still need some cable management to make equipment less visible. 

Some shots of the new scape, wanted the Euphyllias on the top. 

 

 

Meanwhile my last Zoa decided to get new heads (sorry for quality) 

[gen]

IHello guys, 

 

Everything seems to be happy so far. I couldn't resist buying a nice zoanthus colony (I m addicted now). 

 

Latest shots :

 

 

[gen]

Under natural light + low light from AI prime (morning) 

 

That guy decided to show himself 

[gen]

Happy new year everyone! 

 

Bad news :

- The picasso died this week : spotted white spots (on him and less than 48 hours after he was gone. I think he got stressed in the last weeks (moving, rescaping added a new flow pump, more agitation / light than usual with christmas). 

Other fishes seem to be fine (no sign white spots or rapid / heavy breathing), can't speak for the histrio though since he remains hidden.

 

Good news :

- added a jebao SLW 10 flow pump, had some difficulties finding a decent spot / setting. It added a nice flow to the upper half of the tank, especially on the montipora and LPS (euphyllias, duncan). The blue caulastrea is the only one not fully opened yet.

- The black clown settled in the rhodactis (he used to host an euphyllia befiore the moving). This morning the gobiodon decided to test it as well (the black clown couldn't stand the picasso near the rhodactis, but doesn't care about the gobiodon at all)

 

 

 

- the violet euphyllia looked like sh** a while back (2 heads closed, others not fully opened), He seems to enjoy his new placement and decided to spawn new heads (sorry fo quality, had to zoom)

 

I will try to restrain myself on messing with this tank, I'm planning the following :

- A light for the canister filter (it's tranparent) to healp cheato growing instead of algae in the tank. I'm waiting on that idea since the death of 1 clown will reduce waste (and I lack motivation to make something decent enough)

- A nice pice of euphyllia on the top (I kept a place there)

- Some more zoas / ricordea on the bottom rocks

I'm open to ideas if you guys think of something 

 

Currently cycling a 13L (2.8g) pico to mess with.

[StinkyBunny]

Those clowns have velvet and unfortunately there isn't much that can be done for it in a reef tank. DO NOT add anymore fish to that tank or they will die from it. If you bought them at the same place then that's where it's coming from.

[gen]

Thank you for your advice. Was not planning a new fish anytime soon, but that will refrain any impulsive buying. 

 

Lately I have found a new interest in natural light (morning), brings up new colors. 

[gen]

The remaining clownfish died during the night 😞

No sign of anything yesterday evening, he ate normally, not fast breathing, no spots. I can only hope he didn't suffer.

Found the CUC actively trying to make his corpse disappear.

 

The Okinawa gobiodon remains, no sign from the histrio yet. 

[StinkyBunny]

On 1/14/2020 at 1:31 AM, gen said:

The remaining clownfish died during the night 😞

No sign of anything yesterday evening, he ate normally, not fast breathing, no spots. I can only hope he didn't suffer.

Found the CUC actively trying to make his corpse disappear.

 

The Okinawa gobiodon remains, no sign from the histrio yet. 

Leave the fish as they are for a month. Clowns can be be susceptible to velvet as well as brookynellia. I'm personally not a fan of them in a reef tank unless it's set up specifically for them with anemones and rockwork for the anemones.

[gen]

My initial idea wasn't far from that, I wanted a clownfish / euphyllia tank.

It kinda evolved along the way (not surprising as a first SW project I guess). 

 

"it's my coral now" 

 

Splitting 

[gen]

Quick update. I think we all like when our tanks are looking good and clean. Well, I also kinda like when mine is dirty, it reminds me of all the life it contains. 

 

Algae on glass is about 3 days old. 

 

Started to clean one side to give an idea. 

 

Everything looks happy, especially the algae eaters from the CUC. 

 

 

[gen]

So the algae on glass was a bit annoying and neither the canister nor the small aquaclear hob filter seemed to be able to collect whatever I scrapped. 

I decided to put back in action the 55 tidal hob filter. That thing really moves water. However it did look ugly with the current setup, had to adapt. 

So now :

• The canister (and heater) is hidden in the furniture, got the filter floss out. So now it only serves as a chaeto reactor (wrapped some led around the canister). 
• Finally used the black plastic background that came with the tank. Helps hiding the huge hob filter and my poor cable management. 
• Moved things around so every piece of equipment could fit on the back

The final result is better than I expected. Filtration power is at its maximum (tidal 75 is rated at 350 gph / 1500 lph), surface agitation impressive too. 

Might have to move the jebao slw to adjust the flow pattern. Probably gonna try to have some GSP growing on back wall / filter. 

 

The blue caulastrea seems to be enjoying the adjustments. 

 

My big rodhactis was acting weird lately...realised a few days later that it was splitting. 

 

[gen]

Quick update :

• Added a nice sarcophyton (couldn't resist how fluffy he looked) 
• Regular maintenance seems easier, looks like the tank is stabilizing (2.5 months after moving and taking out the sand). 
• Zoanthus seem to grow, each type has its own rhythm. 

Recent FTS :

 

 

[StinkyBunny]

That's a nice Toadstool. 

[gen]

Last week I ordered some corals and shrimps. At the time, a local hobbyist was selling some nice things, so in the end the following was added to the tank :

• 2 fire shrimps : shy creatures, but they come out for food
• Torch frag (I kinda broke a part of its skeleton, so I got 2 frags now)
• Nice frogspawn to complete my euphyllia garden (not a fancy color tough)
• Red acan 
• Bubble tip  baby nem, she found a spot between the clam and a rock (not a great spot but I won't annoy it for now)
• some hermits / snails to renew the cuc

My pink zoanthus decided it was time to pop 3 new heads, which will double the "colony". 

 

Some new shots

 

 

The euphyllia garden looks better from above

 

[gen]

With the current situation I've had some free time to look around (originally I was supposed to clean a bit the mess) in the basement and I came across some reef rocks I had to take out the tank when I rescaped some months ago. 

 

After beating them up and the help of some glue I managed to make :

• an arch
• some sort of platform (glued to a magnet I retrieved on the defective flow pump). 

After moving some things around in the tank I put them in. I was expecting something quite ugly (I know my skills) but in the I kinda like the result. I still have to move some corals or rocks around but I already give more depth / relief and more surface for future addition. 

Shrimps seem to love it too. 

 

Front view

 

Side view 

 

I'm also trying to reduce visible equipment. I left a narrow black piece of plastic hangging on the back glass to hide cords (the light is terrible today, can't take a nice photo). 

 

Right now I'm still considering two options :

• Leaving things as they are, but I know that lily pipes will need regular cleaning 
• Removing the combined canister "filter" (currently filled with livre rocks and chaeto) / heater. I can actually take the heater out (like a normal one) and put it in the tank. It as a plastic sheath I could use to glue corals on (therefore hiding the heater). It would also help creating more height in the tank. 

I m recording the temperature fluctuations before taking a decision. If the current setup lacks stability, I will move to the second option. 

I will upload decent pics when I manage to take some. 

[gen]

After seing this :

 

I thought :

 

Well for what it's worth, he keeps eating algae... I wonder if he knows how much of it has grown on his own shell. 

[gen]

After many weeks struggling to keep a decent maintenance schedule and switching equipment, I decided it was necessary to move forward with a new tank that would fit my needs, both technically and esthetically). 

I ended up buying a Nuvo 20 peninsula (I was really glad to find one shipping threw Europe). 

 

That being said, I won't update this journal anymore.