MiniReef 120 (30G) - Coming back after 3 years out of the hobby

[chaewon]

Have been busy with Uni and Work and now in my final semester and I have more free time now. I am studying Marine Science and I have had the privilege of conducting field work at the Heron Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef, working at an Aquarium shop and visiting Coral & Aquaculture Wholesalers. Currently working with some researchers on hopefully a published paper investigating coral bleaching and I think it is a good time to dive back in the hobby!

The tank in question is an Aqua One MiniReef 120, dimensions being 60W, 45H and 45D. I've been a bit of a hoarder so fortunately, I still have a lot of my equipment. Unfortunately, my Vectra M1 did not make it and my AI Primes have the dreaded pink light so I am needing to get a new light.

Equipment wise, I am running:

Tank: Aqua One MiniReef 120 (Roughly 30G)
Light: EcoTech Radion Xr15 Pro Gen 6
Return Pump: Dalua 3000L Return Pump
Wavemaker: EcoTech Vortech Mp10
Skimmer: Great White GW-7
Rocks: Caribsea life rock tree - a bit expensive but it made whipping up an aquascape super easy
Biological Filtration: Mixed bag of Seachem Matrix, Sera Siporax & Eheim Substrat Pro
Sand: 10lbs of Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink - this is the first time ever that I'm running sand and I am keen to see how it goes!
Salt: Red Sea Reef Salt
Dosing: Tropic Marin All-For-Reef
Doser: Chihiros Dosing Pump Mate

I am planning to keep birdsnest, torches, hammers, acans and blastos as they were some of my favourite. On a side note, I've always heard keeping aussie gold torches are really hard, what are your experiences?

Will be away for a couple weeks for some fieldwork so will be back soon

 

[shcrimps]

scape looks super good (if that paper gets published post a link here)
can’t wait to see that tank all filled in

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Have been busy with Uni and Work and now in my final semester and I have more free time now. I am studying Marine Science and I have had the privilege of conducting field work at the Heron Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef, working at an Aquarium shop and visiting Coral & Aquaculture Wholesalers. Currently working with some researchers on hopefully a published paper investigating coral bleaching and I think it is a good time to dive back in the hobby!

The tank in question is an Aqua One MiniReef 120, dimensions being 60W, 45H and 45D. I've been a bit of a hoarder so fortunately, I still have a lot of my equipment. Unfortunately, my Vectra M1 did not make it and my AI Primes have the dreaded pink light so I am needing to get a new light.

Equipment wise I am running:
- Vortech Mp10
- Dalua Great White Return Pump 3000L/ph at the lowest setting
- Great White Skimmer- GW7
- Currently have an AI Prime 16HD (with fried UVs) running 3 hours per day to help out with the cycle, hoping to upgrade to an Xr15 Pro.
- Aquaone 300W Titanium Heater
- Chihiros 2 head doser, using all-for-reef

For Aquascape, I have selected
- Caribsea life rock tree - a bit expensive but it made whipping up an aquascape super easy
- Caribsea arag-alive fiji pink sand - this is the first time ever I'm running sand and I am keen to see how it goes.

I am planning to keep birdsnest, torches, hammers, acans and blastos as they were some of my favourite. On a side note, I've always heard keeping aussie gold torches are really hard, what are your experiences?

Will be away for a couple weeks for some fieldwork so will be back soon

Can't wait to see what it looks like with the stocked tank!

 

[chaewon]

Hello All! The cycle has finished

I have had a family member take care of the tank while I am away and send me some photos. I have also been lucky enough to have a reefing buddy take care of my first ever designer clowns (5 years old) and add some seeded rock and media to help out with the cycle.

Fish are being fed pellet food every 2 days and I am running the lights 4 hours per day. Sand is being pushed away from one corner so will need to re-adjust the wavemaker once I am back.

I've also left the fibre rod from the tree kit uncut as I am interested to see how SPS coral will grow on it and what their growth form will look like.

 

[chaewon]

New goodies, first water test and coral

Xr15 Pro has arrived, I am running the AB+ spectrum at 20% intensity. Currently waiting for my LFS' par metre to be available so I can measure the PAR.

First coral in the tank is a sarcophyton. We don't get the weeping willows here in Australia but I am hoping for this little guy to expand a bit more.

Picked up some Salifert test kits as well, and my current parameters are:

Salinity: 35.3 ppt
Alk: 8.0 dkh
Cal: 450 ppm
Mag: 1350 ppm
No3: 0.5 ppm

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Do you have an updated FTS you can share? It’s fun to see people’s progression!

 

[chaewon]

Do you have an updated FTS you can share? It’s fun to see people’s progression!

Thanks for stopping by. Here is an FTS

I've picked up a couple of hammers, acans, a zoa rock and some SPS (stylo, pocky and millie) frags to test the waters. I really liked the idea of having a more diverse bacterial ecosystem early from brstv and jake adam's nano tank so I went with the more instant route.

Currently dosing 6mL of all-for-reef and feeding fish daily.

 

[chaewon]

Rainy day update

Parameters are roughly around where I am liking them. Waiting on LFS to restock phsophate test kits. Currently using the Hanna Salinity pen but its a bit suspect to me, so I have ordered a Milwaukee MA887 to cross reference.

Salinity: 35.2 ppt
Alk: 8.3 dkh
Cal: 450 ppm
Mag: 1320 ppm
No3: 2.0 ppm

I have no pH test either, however I'm considering getting a pH monitor like the Reef Factory pH Monitor.

FTS:

 

[chaewon]

Tank has hit 2 months old I'm starting to get some diatoms across the sandbed and in the fuge, but I think using a combination of copepods, live sand, some pre-seeded media and a ton of coral in the beginning has really helped with introducing good diversity and minimising the ugly stage (touch wood).

FTS:




Some close ups:



Not the biggest fan of the acans being on the sandbed and I am considering adding an extra rock in the back right corner so I can stack the acans and add some more zoas.



Sump:


Parameters:

Salinity: 35 ppt
Alk: 8.0dkh
Cal: 450 ppm
Mag: 1410 ppm
No3: 5.0 ppm
Po4: 0.10 ppm

 

[chaewon]

Oh and I forgot!

Future Directions for the tank

1. Setting up a manifold system, currently I just have a green hosing that connects my return pump to the pipe. A bit worried about that growing algae since its sort of clear.

2. Cleaning up the sump, covering the skimmer base with some black PVC as to avoid algal growth and getting media baskets instead of the baggies. Any recommendations on the media baskets?

3. I'm waiting on some superglue from aliexpress to arrive, so I can finally start mounting my GSP to the back wall and my SPS to the rocks. I'll be needing to plan out the placement of the SPS frags too.

If anyone has any suggestions on what to add or the directions of the tank, let me know!

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Your aquascape is spectacular and the corals all look so happy. Do you have plans for any additional fish?

 

[chaewon]

Your aquascape is spectacular and the corals all look so happy. Do you have plans for any additional fish?

Thank you very much

I definitely do have plans on adding more fish. Currently, I have the two clowns, but I am looking to get:
- Lawnmower Blenny
- Yellow Coral Goby
- Rainford's Goby
- Some sort of Wrasse, I'm leaning towards a possum or a Naoko's wrasse (but I'm not sure if this tank is big enough).

I've kept a lawnmower blenny before so if you have any recommendations for a good algae eater, I'm all ears.

Currently I'm more focused in blostering the invertebrate population, like copepods, small shrimps and snails. I have some mysid shrimp, turbo, stometella, and dove snails in the way. Hoping to grow out their population.

 

[chaewon]

3 Month Update:

Recently picked up some Seriatopora frags that are doing well. Tank is chugging along fine, however have experienced a few hiccups:

1: Acans have receeded a bit as flow has been too high. Struggles of a mixed reef as I was really hoping to ramp it up for the SPS. I've sinced moved them to a low flow area and decreased flow,

2: Alk has been hard to maintain (currently sitting at 6.7 DkH) due to increased Coralline algae growth. I've also had problems with my doser where it just doesn't dose..

Refugium
Dragon's breath is doing really well

 

[chaewon]

Managed to take some better shots!

My most recent addition is this torch that I'm super excited about. I've had it about a month now and what is special about is that it was spawned in capitivity (planular settlement). The mother colony was collected from Western Australia in 2009, and this little guy is approx 1 year old.

Birdsnest is growing really well too



And here is an FTS for the road!

 

[C12]

Looks great!

 

[Fishy Guy]

Tank looks fantastic!

Did you figure out what was wrong with your doser? I have a Chihiros as well.

 

[chaewon]

Tank looks fantastic!

Did you figure out what was wrong with your doser? I have a Chihiros as well.

Thank you!

I think there is an issue with the pump itself. It makes a dosing sound but nothing comes out, causing me to miss dosing for a couple of days. I've also been needing to re-prime the tubing everyday to ensure it doses correctly. Will be bringing it back to my LFS when I get the chance. How is your doser?

 

[Fishy Guy]

Thank you!

I think there is an issue with the pump itself. It makes a dosing sound but nothing comes out, causing me to miss dosing for a couple of days. I've also been needing to re-prime the tubing everyday to ensure it doses correctly. Will be bringing it back to my LFS when I get the chance. How is your doser?

I’ve never had any issues with mine. Only complaint is I wish you could re-prime without recalibrating.

 

[chaewon]

Quick snap before lights out. Tank is cruising along and getting full

Dragon's Breath Growth has seemed to stagnate, might need to harvest!

 

[chaewon]

Some new additions too!

Seriatopora are my favourite coral at the moment. I got this Seriatopora dendritica from Gallery Aquatica recently. Fragged from the mother colony featured by Jake Adams wayyy back: https://reefbuilders.com/2018/11/14/seriatopora-dendritica/



Also got this Birds of Paradise that is acclimating



And a green Pociliopora