30gal Shallow Mandarin Reef [AIO/Canister]

[DeanB.reef]

*Topic and tank under construction, this will look more like a build thread in the coming weeks*

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Hello!

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I've been planning this tank for the last couple months on paper and once the tank arrived from the builders it was time to start building it in reality. It's a new concept I've not really seen before so would appreciate any feedback! The idea is to keep all the equipment out of the main display area and confine it to either this back chamber section or canister filter I'll hook up later. All of this is being done so I can have a refugium so I can keep a mandarin dragonet once the tank is mature. I also want to keep the tank and area around it clean looking which works with my living room but I will go more in detail with this once I amend the build thread further.

The part I've not seen is having the wavemaker also in this compartment which serves two main jobs;

1. Creating most of the flow in the tank. It can be upgraded to a larger adjustable Tunze unit later down the line if needed. (The canister filter will have 2 loc-line fittings off to create more flow)
2. 'Pull' water through the chambers.

The water enters from the DT on the right where the intake/pickup from the canister filter will be, it also skims the top of the water to get rid of that oily film that builds up.
It then passes under a baffle where cheato will be but I made it large enough to house a skimmer if need be.
The final chamber is where the wave maker is, it's large enough so the wavemaker can keep the flowrate up but I could place even more bio-media back here.

The rockscape I currently have for the tank, will add more against the chambers to hide it a bit better as well as some rock coming out of the water.

Equipment list;

• Custom built tank by Aquariums4Life in the UK. Dimensions are 110x50x25cm (LxWxH) Glass thickness of 1cm. ~124 litres. (around 30 gallons if you're still viewing this in black and white )
• Custom built stand
• Fluval 206 canister filter
• Aqueon 150w heater
• x2 Ai Prime lights
• Tunze powerhead
• Salifert test kits
• D-D Refractometer

Livestock;
In holding tank

• Common clownfish x2
• Royal Gramma
• Green Chromis
• Hermits
• Nassarius Snails

Future stock

• Green Mandarin
• Cleaner Shrimp
• Peppermint Shrimp
• Chalk Goby
• Wrasse
• More clean up

The mandarin and goby will be some of the last things to add to the tank to ensure the tank is set up correctly for them which may be a challenge with the royal gramma and wrasse. I'll either have to remove these two fish back into a holding tank or try using an acclimation box for the new fish. It's a long way down the road so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Coral;

• Zoas
• Acans
• Torch/Hammers

Early stages of development with this tank but hopefully I can get some pointers and correct if need be before I fill it with salt water. Thanks!

 

[D4jack]

Looks nice! Good luck getting your flow figured out in the dt. Keep us posted. I was trying to accomplish that but ended up with a pawerhead and WaveMaker inside the display. Now that it's there I don't really mind it.

 

[D4jack]

Powerhead

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Going to be awesome.

 

[DeanB.reef]

Looks nice! Good luck getting your flow figured out in the dt. Keep us posted. I was trying to accomplish that but ended up with a pawerhead and WaveMaker inside the display. Now that it's there I don't really mind it.

Was there a main reason you put the powerhead into the DT in the end? Was it the type of corals you were keeping or detritus building up?

 

[DeanB.reef]

After some more playing about with the baffles in the back, I got to a point I was happy with and sealed up the chamber for good, added Caribsea Special Grade and rockwork before filling it with salt water. I left the tank a day to let the sand settle before adding Dr Tim's One and Only along with the ammonia needed.

Had my clownfish, chromis and royal gramma in a holding tank while the tank is cycling. They've been in there about a month and a half. Unfortunately I had 2 chromis die after about 2-3 weeks in the holding tank but I should have expected that due to it only being 40 litres. I'm just glad it seemed to be aggression related and not illness as the other fish have been fine since. Touch wood they all make it into this new tank

Picture was taken just after they were introduced into my first tank a year and a half ago.

 

[DeanB.reef]

Cycle has been completed, took a total of 21 days to see ammonia and nitrite hit zero. Nitrite definitely took the longest, I thought I had stalled the cycle somewhere but it worked out in the end. After Ammonia got to zero, I started ghost feeding very little and worked my way up. From 14/APR/21 to 21/APR/21 these photos were taken. I added in the inverts a day after nitrite hit zero and then the fish a further 2 days after that. Hermits really go to work on cleaning up diatoms which I presume is what's grown on the rocks and sand. As of today there's still a brownish colour to the rock but it's about where I'd want it to be after my last tank build.

I'm just waiting until I get some cyano if at all. I've had ~1kg of bio-media + a couple rocks which made their way from the old tank (1 year old) into the holding tank and now into this tank so I'm hoping is has a bit of bio-diversity to help combat some of the ugly stage.

As I knew I was upgrading to this tank at the tail end of last year, I neglected the old tank a bit so had some hair algae grow on the rocks. I gave them a bit of a scrub but mostly left it on as I was going to use it in this tank and figured the algae might consume some of the silicas in the. Maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in on this would actually work. Today I added a few turbos to see how they'd eat up the last bits of GHA left on the rocks.

 

[DeanB.reef]

Got my AI Prime’s hanging from the ceiling in a lampshade. Took the idea from AquaSplendor and dr.flippersreef. Might make a DIY thread on how it all goes together because there doesn’t seem to be one on here. First corals arrive on Tuesday. Went for 3 different zoa’s to try out.

Still looking for a small unit to house the canister filter but the tank is progressing slowly!

 

[DeanB.reef]

We’re 1 AI Prime down as the fan stopped working. After getting a replacement fan it’s still not working so will be sent back under warranty to see what’s up with it.

Picked up a couple zoa frags that are sat on the sand bed under the working light as the rock they’re going on is under the broken light.

Will get some filters for my camera so I’m able to photograph them!

 

[DeanB.reef]

Noticed my Royal Gramma has been hiding away a lot more and could see some of his scales turned white. It was really hard to get a good look at it because he’d hide in his cave and only eat when a piece of food floated in there.

It didn’t seem to get any worse but I picked up a cleaner shrimp and as soon as the Royal saw the shrimp he was like a completely new fish. Was out and active again. Initially the Royal showed a bit of aggression by opening his mouth at the shrimp and I figured I’d just bought him a £20 meal After about an hour the shrimp was cleaning the Royal and looks to have moved into the same cave.

This is the first time I’ve ever had a problem with a fish but I think one of two things has happened;

- Could just be dead scales which need cleaned off
- He’s caught himself on a rock and it’s been infected. Flicking on the sandbed probably hasn’t helped much

 

[DeanB.reef]

Syphoned out the sandbed. Fair to say a good amount of detritus and crushed rock came out!

 

[coral_yyh]

Got my AI Prime’s hanging from the ceiling in a lampshade. Took the idea from AquaSplendor and dr.flippersreef. Might make a DIY thread on how it all goes together because there doesn’t seem to be one on here. First corals arrive on Tuesday. Went for 3 different zoa’s to try out.

Still looking for a small unit to house the canister filter but the tank is progressing slowly!

absolutely stunning!
how did you make light fixtures for AI?

 

[DeanB.reef]

absolutely stunning!
how did you make light fixtures for AI?

Will be making some changes to how they’re hanging and will work on a guide for it very soon

 

[DeanB.reef]

Put in an order for some more coral, should arrive Wednesday. Looking forward to the Acans and purple goni the most, hopefully they show similar colours to that in the pictures

Struggling a little bit with keeping nitrates and phosphates in check. Nitrates are about 5ppm but have come down slowly from 25ppm after the cycle. I’m trying to maintain between 10-15ppm which I think should be good for an LPS system. Phosphates have been at zero for some time now but there’s no ill effect to the tank including corals yet.

After these new corals come, I think I’ll try coral feeding food/aminos and see if that brings both up. I’ll also be adding some more fish which should help.

 

[DeanB.reef]

Water change and tank maintenance with the F1 on

 

[DeanB.reef]

LFS got in one of these fancy Aquaspin testers so decided to give it a shot

Pretty happy with the results but could improve a few things for sure. ALK converted from ppm to dKh is just under 7. Would like to raise Phos to 0.02-0.05 and Mg to ~1400.

When I was buying salt water from the LFS, they used Tropic Marin so when I got my RODI set up I bought a bag to mix myself. The salt mixes at 7dKh but I may change to a different salt to increase more around 8dKh.

My green goni extends fine but my purple seems to be retracted more than it ‘should’. Will pick up a Mg test kit and additive and shoot for my 1400ppm to see if it looks more happy there.

Still battling a bit of brown hair algae with some green in spots. I’ve added a few more snails to clean it up and will continue to test No3 and Po4 to get a truer reading as I think the algae is still consuming some.

In a couple weeks time I’ll be buying a copepod kit to start a culture in preparation for getting my Mandarin!