20 gallon Waterbox Cube

wjcastiglione

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Hi All,

I'm thinking of getting back into reef tanks - but I have to be honest, I quit the last time because it became way overly complicated and a constant fun suck. I think that was a result of me being a little too eager too quickly.

About 8 years ago - My previous setup was a 32 gallon biocube - and I modded the lid with LED lights - fit a skimmer + and everything I could in the back of the thing, different media baskets. ATO, at one point in time I even had nutrient pumps to try to sustain hard coral. When the hard coral was put in the tank - that's when it really got complicated.

Long story made short - I had a major tank crash, lost a ton of livestock and coral - and I shut the tank down and sold it.

This time around - I'm hoping to really, really go simple - I just want a 20 gallon Waterbox cube to put on my desk. Something to keep me in good spirits during the workday. I only desire to probably have two clowns, a goby, a nem, and some soft corals inside it with live rock and live sand. I'd prefer to have everything in the back of the tank with just media balls, etc. Maybe an external ATO.

I'm hoping technology on these cube tanks has come a ways since my tank 8 years ago.

Why I came on here for advice is because I have the following list of concerns:

1. The maintenance was a bear in my biocube because it was so hard to remove all the equipment and adjust in the back of the tank. because of this - I'd really like to avoid a skimmer. Or maybe a hang on back skimmer? Can I make that work?

2. People that are successfully running a cube this size - what does your maintenance/water change schedule look like? What am I signing up for? Can I realistically run this tank without checking water perimeters every day after the initial cycle? If you are successfully running a cube this size - what type of equipment do you have in it?

3. Last but certainly not least - I have a very curious toddler and another on the way. Waterbox does sell lids for the tank - but they are only mesh. Does anyone have experience with toddlers and tank this size sitting on a desk? my fear is she constantly tries to get into this thing.
 

minorhero

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I can't help with most of your questions but regarding the toddler....

I have 2 kids, now ages 5 and 3. When my first born was 18 months old she pushed a chair across a room up to the counter my 5 gallon freshwater tank was on. She then climbed the chair, unscrewed the bottle of fish food and emptied the entire bottle into the tank. I found out about it 10 or so minutes later when I walked into the room and noticed out of the corner of my eye that the tank substrate looked funny. A closer look showed that the tank substrate was now covered with fish food.

A few 100% water changes later and I got things under control.

I set some ground rules after that about not touching the tanks and not putting anything in the tanks. It hasn't happened again until last week when my second born (now 3) put a worm he found outside in another freshwater tank. To be fair to him, this is a newt tank and I commonly feed worms to the newts (though I cut them up first and wash them off). I again reiterated the rules and he seemed like he was going to comply.

Sooooo the answer to your question is that your toddler will probably mostly comply with your rules about not putting things into the tank etc. If they are old enough you can explain how it could hurt the fish inside if they do it without you etc etc.
 
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wjcastiglione

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I can't help with most of your questions but regarding the toddler....

I have 2 kids, now ages 5 and 3. When my first born was 18 months old she pushed a chair across a room up to the counter my 5 gallon freshwater tank was on. She then climbed the chair, unscrewed the bottle of fish food and emptied the entire bottle into the tank. I found out about it 10 or so minutes later when I walked into the room and noticed out of the corner of my eye that the tank substrate looked funny. A closer look showed that the tank substrate was now covered with fish food.

A few 100% water changes later and I got things under control.

I set some ground rules after that about not touching the tanks and not putting anything in the tanks. It hasn't happened again until last week when my second born (now 3) put a worm he found outside in another freshwater tank. To be fair to him, this is a newt tank and I commonly feed worms to the newts (though I cut them up first and wash them off). I again reiterated the rules and he seemed like he was going to comply.

Sooooo the answer to your question is that your toddler will probably mostly comply with your rules about not putting things into the tank etc. If they are old enough you can explain how it could hurt the fish inside if they do it without you etc etc.
Thanks for the feedback, man - she's 2-1/2 right now - so I think we could kind of explain to her that it will hurt the fish.. That may work. Not sure if she'll get it yet lol
 

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