Another Waterbox Cube 20 Build Thread

meta · Apr 26, 2021

"Another" Waterbox Cube 20 Build Thread

About me

I'm a 26yo IT student from Belgium, and this will be my first (fresh/salt-based-)aquarium.

Ever since I was little I always had cats around -- and for the later part of my life, a lovely dog too.

Fish / corals are however something completely new to me.

So expect a lot of fuk ups, giggles and laughs as time will pass.

The reason for this is thread is simple. I'd like it to be a way for me;

Document and narrate my doings
Serve as a source for information / help for others (other build threads were an immense source of information to me)
Receive input / advice / help

Inventory (as of 26/04/2021)

The beginning

And to summarize for now: I failed in creating -- starting a build thread on a timely matter → given I'm already on the 15th cycle day.

Lucky for me, I took a lot of pictures along the way; and gladly will be starting from the beginning until now.

Aldrinlights · Apr 26, 2021

Looking forward to following your journey!

meta · Apr 26, 2021

The last package to be received was also the one which included the rocks. What this meant, was that I finally could attempt my own rockwork. Foolishness I thought it would be easy, couldn't be that hard. That state of thought changed rather quick haha.

I tried, and I kept on trying until something finally looked (semi) good and called it a night.

The next day, I tried recreating it in the tank -- but I didn't felt it any more.

Some more time passed and something completely different took place.

And some more time (and epoxy) later, this was the result.

It didn't resembled much of the earlier formations, but I liked it.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen the RO water was being processed (as what looked like a ghetto dialysis-setup), with the 65L mark almost nearing.

Installed all the tech. Applied the specific amount of salt, and again called it a night.

The nex day I prepared the AquaForest Bio sand and gently let it populate the tank.

It finally looked like an aquarium, and per my opinion -- a pretty one.
And to top it off, one in my living room. Childhood dream achieved ya.

Now I only needed the Red Sea Mature Pro kit, and the cycling could begin.

meta · Apr 28, 2021

As the days passed, I began to question the rockwork.
This because I didn't really plan ahead with corals / fish in mind.

While one cave was a given. I wasn't sure there would be enough hiding spaces or spots for the future to be fishies.

The same was appliable for corals. I hadn't done enough research to know: that a lot of softies I dig, tend to be invasive in a sense. And with the current rock-structure in mind, there were no separate islands or clusters to be found.

And as the following days went by, I felt more worse / insecure about the actual scape. Seeing all those dope and sleek designs on R2R didn't help much either haha. In my opinion: I felt like my scape was a (big giant blob) artificial attempt -- where I rather would have liked something more minimalistic / design(y).

It probably didn't help a lot either, that the stones I ordered (10kg) came in 4 pieces -- that of course in combination with the limitations of a 20gal box.

However, weeping wasn't an option, I still could attempt to fix it.

Another D.D epoxy stick / epoxy cloud attack later:

And while I'm still not 100% okay with it. At least I created some more coral surface haha.

Question: do you think the island would be sufficient for Zoas, Xenia or GSP to grow on?

Light-wise (AI Prime HD)
Surface; given it's mostly smallish rocks / rubble buried -- placed together.

meta · Jul 25, 2021

Been a while since I posted anything, life got a tad busy.

Having a saltwater aquarium has been an adventurous journey. A 3-month cycle. Undergone (still) an ich infestation. Setting up a HT. Almost losing my firefish (immense copper sensitivity). And currently battling the uglies.
But having a saltwater aquarium also has been such a ******* nice thing to happen -- and I can't wait to see it progress.