ReefSentinel’s 200g Mini Barrier Reef build.

[ReefSentinel]

Looking good!

Im assuming you got metric pvc piping - where did you get it from? Im seeing a lot of suppliers here so Im attempting to make some plans to order some in.

Thanks,
99% metric other than all the equipment joints.
The brand is “Sanking”, there are a number of resellers in each state in Australia, the distributor is ensoaquatics, https://ensoaquatics.com.au/orange-din-upvc-pipe/

 

[Janci]

Good to see more movement in the tank.
I hope all goes smooth

 

[ReefSentinel]

Good to see more movement in the tank.
I hope all goes smooth

Thanks Janci,
definitely good to have movement, while it has taken a while to get here I am happy to take my time now & try to do things right, I know some people seem to be able to throw everything is and it works however I need both my tank and my experience to grow.

 

[ReefSentinel]

HI All
Another week gone in lock down here (Sydney Australia) luckily I am still working which is good $$.

Sorry, Iphone does seems to take good photos of the DT or I haven't figured it out.

No real change with the tank, just letting it will settle down.
My parameters
Salinity: 35.5-36
ORP - currently setting around 438, hope this is ok as it seems to keep rising
Temp: 25 (77.5)
PH: Average day is MIn 7.9 to 8.05

Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 445
Magnesium: 1275
Nitrates: 0.1
Alkalinity: 7.9
Phosphates: down to 0.48, used a 1kg of phosguard, purchased "Quantum Phosphate Remover" to help lower level, read mixed reviews so taking it easy on the dose amount - fingers crossed.

Tank Live Stock to date
1 x Yellow Eye Kole Tang
1 x Purple Tang 2 x Redline Cleaner Shrimp
1 x Peppermint Shrimp
1 x Nassarius snail
1 x Trochus Snail

Purchased a few more CUC today, current sitting in QT tank for next 78 days.
1 x Peppermint Shrimp
5 x Nassarius snail
1 x Trochus Snail

Skimmer update, so far so good, very happy with the sound level unnoticeable, still to add my float switch to the lid.

Looking back at the build and the original build concept I think overall the build to to plan.
Still need to do sometihn in the back of the top cabinet door to stop the light being seen, - Any ideas out there.

 

[Forty-Two]

Did you setup a QT by any chance? What are your plans with that?

My build is very slowly coming together. Originally I had wanted to avoid QT (due to limited time to take care of another tank, and smaller tanks are harder to automate it seems) - but it looks like I may need to go in that direction for good practice ( I dont want to setup a 'temporary QT' - so my only option is to get one and make it look decent). Im also wondering about the practice of setting up the QT first, testing the rocks for phosphate etc - seems like it might be a good direction to go.

 

[ReefSentinel]

Did you setup a QT by any chance? What are your plans with that?

My build is very slowly coming together. Originally I had wanted to avoid QT (due to limited time to take care of another tank, and smaller tanks are harder to automate it seems) - but it looks like I may need to go in that direction for good practice ( I dont want to setup a 'temporary QT' - so my only option is to get one and make it look decent). Im also wondering about the practice of setting up the QT first, testing the rocks for phosphate etc - seems like it might be a good direction to go.

Hi,
I have two QT’s setup, one for inverts and other for fish, they are a pain but for the dollars spend n the DT I see it as a must have.
I think I didn’t test for while cycling the rock was phosphates which I wish I did as I am dealing with it now.

 

[Forty-Two]

Hi,
I have two QT’s setup, one for inverts and other for fish, they are a pain but for the dollars spend n the DT I see it as a must have.
I think I didn’t test for while cycling the rock was phosphates which I wish I did as I am dealing with it now.

Ahh ok - so Im likely on the right track then considering this. Yes its a pain - but I also agree considering the DT - and the money spent it seems a little irresponsible not to have a QT (*sigh*) - not just for the livestock sake, but also for the $$$.
Did you go with the 'functional' QT route, or did you go with something that looks a little more appealing?

 

[ReefSentinel]

Ahh ok - so Im likely on the right track then considering this. Yes its a pain - but I also agree considering the DT - and the money spent it seems a little irresponsible not to have a QT (*sigh*) - not just for the livestock sake, but also for the $$$.
Did you go with the 'functional' QT route, or did you go with something that looks a little more appealing?

Just the traditional qt setup of two tanks in the laundry, nothing special.

 

[Forty-Two]

What's the Phosphate situation looking like for you?

 

[ReefSentinel]

What's the Phosphate situation looking like for you?

My first check after setting the aquascape up was around 0.78ppm, a few weeks after the reading is 0.48 (now), trialing quantum phosphate remover now.

my dry rock was cycling for almost 12mths so I guess all the food I had added would be the result, was checking nitrates over this time and done a few water changes, should have done more I guess.

 

[Forty-Two]

My first check after setting the aquascape up was around 0.78ppm, a few weeks after the reading is 0.48 (now), trialing quantum phosphate remover now.

my dry rock was cycling for almost 12mths so I guess all the food I had added would be the result, was checking nitrates over this time and done a few water changes, should have done more I guess.

What kind of rock was it again? It seems like its coming down though - so that's good news. I hadnt considered seeding it for 12 months. I had thought about doing this for a couple of months in advance, but I'm hoping to get a good chunk of live rock as well as I hear its available here but I havent seen it yet to know what they mean by 'Live rock'. I find the term gets thrown around a fair bit without any accuracy.

You could also try some GFO as well I suppose if you have a reactor handy.

 

[ReefSentinel]

What kind of rock was it again? It seems like its coming down though - so that's good news. I hadnt considered seeding it for 12 months. I had thought about doing this for a couple of months in advance, but I'm hoping to get a good chunk of live rock as well as I hear its available here but I havent seen it yet to know what they mean by 'Live rock'. I find the term gets thrown around a fair bit without any accuracy.

You could also try some GFO as well I suppose if you have a reactor handy.

The rock was just dry rock when I got it all, purchased from different peoples builds, left over etc, a lot of it old coral.

The original plan was to cycle the rock for 3-4mths not 12 mths, just the way the build worked out with delays.

GFO is a option however I didn’t think I would need it at this stage, I believe it is a result of the rocks so hoping to knock it down and see how it goes, I plan to do a 20% water change soon so this should help as well.

 

[Forty-Two]

The rock was just dry rock when I got it all, purchased from different peoples builds, left over etc, a lot of it old coral.

The original plan was to cycle the rock for 3-4mths not 12 mths, just the way the build worked out with delays.

GFO is a option however I didn’t think I would need it at this stage, I believe it is a result of the rocks so hoping to knock it down and see how it goes, I plan to do a 20% water change soon so this should help as well.

My plan is - at least right now - to get a phyto reactor and dose phytoplankton. We’ll see how that goes.

 

[ReefSentinel]

Hello & Good morning/afternoon,
Quick update,
Still tasking things slow with the DT, just getting suit to doing test and maintenance.
Order from Amazon received this week
- Brightwell Microbacter 7, I cann't seem to find in Australia so ordered from US to help build up a different bacteria
- 16 x 4" Fliter socks from Aquatic Experts, I previously had 16 but as the tank use 3 i thought another 16 would reduce the washers, note the smell of these after they sit in a bucket for 2 weeks is quit unbelievable - haven't smelt this still my kids were newborns.
- Vitachem, complete vitamin supplement, while i try to feed different foods I though this added to food may help the fish, again can't buy is Australia.

Live stock side of things.
The main fish i wanted since the beginning of the build was a Yellow Tang, due to delays in the build Yellow Tangs price jumped from $50-75 here now $600+ Aus and are very rare here to find.
One came up for sale 2nd second i wish you call it from a local reefer who want to put two together, after a few day he had to get rid of one so he sold the better condition one, good news for me as I picked it up for a ok price specially considering we are in lock here and can only travel 5km from home for shopping of essentials only of course.

So now the dilemma -
My original plan was to get a purple tangs near the end of the stocking list, as yellows were not available purples were going up in price and I had the Kole tang so decided to get the purple while I could and add together, now I have yellow which i wish to keep over the purple if it gets to there.
Plan at the moment is to keep Yellow in QT tank catch purple and put in sump for a week, then add both at the same time during the night and see what happens, add mirror to side of tank, I have read a lot stories some work together some don't and some take a little time to work things out.
The Yellow seems to be a little larger than the purple, from my reading not sure if this is better or not.
QT side of things due to the cost i paid for the Yellow I would prefer not to do copper as I am not a expert in it and trialing on yellow tang is not something I wish to do, I may do fresh water dip, General cure only and watch for a week or 2.

If anyone has ideas on the best procedure to get all 3 tangs together please let me know

My fish stock list also as a watchman goby and pistol shrimp, over the past 12mths I have seen a couple come up for sale in LFS but never had tanks ready for them, yesterday on my way home from getting my 2nd COVID vaccination (LFS was on the may of course) i found what I think is the smallest never pair for sale so had to get them both.
The Goby is approx. 20mm / 3/4" inch and the shrimps seems a touch smaller

Family & I are very happy with the purchase fun little guy or girl, so far the shrimp has added many different tunnels under the rocks in the QT

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Nice finds of the fish and shrimp!

 

[ReefSentinel]

Hi All,
Sorry been a while between updates as been super busy at work and I am trying just to left the tank settle in.

I haven't figured out how to take a good photo with iphone yet so please be kind regarding the quality, i will get there.

Plumbing update/changes

Connected up the plumbing the cleaning drain which now goes through the wall and drain the a surface drain.
This is used when I drain tank water and vacuum your bed / both at the same time.
Reason for the taps is I have plumbing it in a way I could drain into the return/filter socket area or feed water back in from outside to the sump if ever needed.

DELTEC skimmer seems to be going well, nice and quiet.

Life stock side of things, nothing has changed, I used egg crate as a divider for approx. 3 weeks between the Yellow and Purple tangs hoping both would get use to each other.
Removed this last night with a addition of live (now I guess) rock from the sump to help mix the aquascape a little.
Next morning everything seems ok, once there was a little light they yellow started chasing the purple for a while but after that they stopped and when to a more normal activities, time will till i guess.

I need trial quantum phosphate remover which did work however i noticed while film on glass I did previously read about and dosed in very small dosage hoping to avoid however still go the white film, I have stopped now and just going to continue with water changes until tank is more established however are reading I some of the "Mr Clean" sheets, haven't tried yet but hopefully these will help to remove the white film.
The film does seem to be reducing with cleaning the glass with Magnet Cleaner however there is still a lot there.
I plan to do a trial on QT tank first and DT, will report how it goes.


QT side of things, no new fish and the Goby & pistal shrimp are due out next week (78 days QT) which will be good.

 

[Forty-Two]

Hi All,
Sorry been a while between updates as been super busy at work and I am trying just to left the tank settle in.

I haven't figured out how to take a good photo with iphone yet so please be kind regarding the quality, i will get there.

Plumbing update/changes

Connected up the plumbing the cleaning drain which now goes through the wall and drain the a surface drain.
This is used when I drain tank water and vacuum your bed / both at the same time.
Reason for the taps is I have plumbing it in a way I could drain into the return/filter socket area or feed water back in from outside to the sump if ever needed.

DELTEC skimmer seems to be going well, nice and quiet.

Life stock side of things, nothing has changed, I used egg crate as a divider for approx. 3 weeks between the Yellow and Purple tangs hoping both would get use to each other.
Removed this last night with a addition of live (now I guess) rock from the sump to help mix the aquascape a little.
Next morning everything seems ok, once there was a little light they yellow started chasing the purple for a while but after that they stopped and when to a more normal activities, time will till i guess.

I need trial quantum phosphate remover which did work however i noticed while film on glass I did previously read about and dosed in very small dosage hoping to avoid however still go the white film, I have stopped now and just going to continue with water changes until tank is more established however are reading I some of the "Mr Clean" sheets, haven't tried yet but hopefully these will help to remove the white film.
The film does seem to be reducing with cleaning the glass with Magnet Cleaner however there is still a lot there.
I plan to do a trial on QT tank first and DT, will report how it goes.


QT side of things, no new fish and the Goby & pistal shrimp are due out next week (78 days QT) which will be good.

I also had some phosphate issues for a while - I was around .6 ppm and at one point it spiked to 1.3 ppm.

After doing many large water changes there was little reduction in the Phosphate so I tried Phosphate E. It worked quite well and dropped it down to .03 - however in hindsight I wish I had let it run its course.

I cant say for sure that there is a direct result of the dosing but after that I had a huge explosion of diatoms and some other algae in an otherwise clean tank (I have 50% live rock so I thought I might avoid the 'ugly stage'). Unfortunately here in Israel all invertebrates are illegal (which is sad to me as I was very keen on the inverts) - so Im not sure yet how this is going to end.

At any rate - Ive decided to be more patient in the future to see how it develops.

On the fish front - I also got a Purple Tang. Yellow Tangs are very hard to come by here. I know a place that has 12 but they wouldnt sell me one. Unfortunately it has ich now so now I have to pivot and get a hospital tank, and let the QT tank fallow as I was QT'ing Corals in the same tank.

The Corals came from Australia btw! I got a Gold Torch, a beautiful Acan and Goniopora.

 

[ReefSentinel]

I also had some phosphate issues for a while - I was around .6 ppm and at one point it spiked to 1.3 ppm.

After doing many large water changes there was little reduction in the Phosphate so I tried Phosphate E. It worked quite well and dropped it down to .03 - however in hindsight I wish I had let it run its course.

I cant say for sure that there is a direct result of the dosing but after that I had a huge explosion of diatoms and some other algae in an otherwise clean tank (I have 50% live rock so I thought I might avoid the 'ugly stage'). Unfortunately here in Israel all invertebrates are illegal (which is sad to me as I was very keen on the inverts) - so Im not sure yet how this is going to end.

At any rate - Ive decided to be more patient in the future to see how it develops.

On the fish front - I also got a Purple Tang. Yellow Tangs are very hard to come by here. I know a place that has 12 but they wouldnt sell me one. Unfortunately it has ich now so now I have to pivot and get a hospital tank, and let the QT tank fallow as I was QT'ing Corals in the same tank.

The Corals came from Australia btw! I got a Gold Torch, a beautiful Acan and Goniopora.

Thanks for the advice hope everything works out for you.
Patients is key they say.

 

[ReefSentinel]

Hi all,
Been a busy few weeks, still getting use to the tanks and tank duties, water testing, water changes.
No corals added yet as I wish to take my time and wait for Coralline Algae to take hold, I think there are a few small patches starting.
As we have been in lockdown supplies for items have been a little tight however recently purchased some food grade vinyl tubing which I can now connect the new saltwater tank to the DT, SOOOOOO much easier than carrying 10 x 20ltr drums for water changes.

I have drain beneath the the DT that I connect a siphon drain which is connected drains through the wall to a external drain, then I place a candy cane assembly to pump the water from the garage to the DT.

the red led light comes on through the apex when maintenance mode is on, the main return flow sensor is below a set figure or apex error, on during water changes.
Yellow and purple tangs are getting along well which I am happy about.

Recently added the Yellow goby and Pistol shrimp to the DT from the QT tank around with a mix of snails.
Only issue is the goby when the the sand however the pistol shrimp landed on the rock aquascape about 1/2 way down and when into a hole in the rockwork and has been there for the past week.
It sticks it claw out every now and then makes its clicking sound from time to time, hopefully in will climb down to its mate.
The red arrow is where it lives.

 

[ReefSentinel]

Quick update,
Out shopping yesterday and walked pass Jaycar (local Electronic shop) and purchased a small Piezo PCB 3-30V DC Buzzer to connect to the Apex for a audible alarm.

https://www.jaycar.com.au/pc-mount-...le=1&queryId=79223a68bd02b9252f5c99bd9db9173a

Buzzer is connected to the 1Link 24vDC powder supply, the 1link has 2 power sources available 1st one is already used to control the Red LED strip line.

Apex programming a Virtual outlet & the 24VDC Accessory output form 1link,
Simple program but through I would share,
1Link Output (LinkB _Buzzer) Used the OSC ( Oscillation) command) set with delay as 0, time to run as 5 sec's and delay until next run as 5sec's, basically no delay, no for 5 sec's and off for 5 sec's and a command that states if V-Buzzer off then Off.
So the 1Link buzzer is always on unless the Virtual Output "V-buzzer" is "off", in this case the power supplier is off unless "V-buzzer" turns on.
V-Buzzer is my virtual outlet where I program all the error/events I want the Buzzer to come on for.
So far I have it turning on when my "Leak1" floor sensors turn "ON" and I have a number of float switches in the sump , I added the "SumpHI" (this is Saltwater side high sensor) & "RO-High" (High sensor in the RO water compartment - RO Top off).

Very happy with the result,
For the $4.95 I paid feel I added that great value to extra redundancy, while I the apex has the same alarms in the main alarm programming which will notify me on my phone and also turn the Red LED lights on having a audible alarm will work great at time.
One thing am thinking about (which I shoud l have while at the shop) is added a hard wired Switch between the 1link power supply and Buzzer as for the size of the buzzer the sound is very loud, ear piercing when next you it and I can imagine at 2am in the morning try to go through the apex app on the phone to turn the buzzer off it would be a nightmare, much easier to just click a switch to disable the sound.