Danny's WaterBox 20 Gallon Build Thread

[danielbrito0311]

Pests:
Over my tanks lifespan I have dealt with a couple of pests:
-Bubble Algae
-One Aiptasia (Used F-Aiptasia)
-Emerald Crabs eating corals
-Bryopsis

All of these are now gone/not visible.

 

[danielbrito0311]

Time Away:
I am usually away from my tank quite a bit, only getting to see it about 3 times a week. My roommate helps me out by feeding the fish but it otherwise runs on autopilot between water changes. The doser helps with this.

I am also out of town multiple times a year and so are my roommates so my tank is often left completely alone for 2 weeks-1 month. This is obviously very stressful but the main concern is simply making sure the ATO reservoir doesn't run out of water. I have a large bucket to deal with this while I am away.

For long trips away I also use an automatic feeder (Fishmate F14) which allows me to portion out 14 days of feeding. I find this to be better than traditional feeders since it ensures that overfeeding/nutrient spikes don't occur while I am away.

 

[danielbrito0311]

September 2024:

 

[danielbrito0311]

October 2024:

Added some rock to the foreground of the tank as well as at the top of the rock-work to make space for more SPS as I gained more experience. Moved some corals around as well and started experimenting with fragging.

 

[danielbrito0311]

October 31 2024:

Side of the tank shot

 

[danielbrito0311]

Mandarin Dragonet:

Here's a video of my mandarin picking at the rock. Usually stays around the same area and doesn't come near the clowns' area. He is small but you can see him under the hammer coral in the middle of the shot. I overfeed the tank a bit to make sure that he gets food.

 

[danielbrito0311]

January 2025:

Tank shot after returning from being away 1 month. No water changes and tank on autopilot. Only maintenance was my roommate topping off the reservoir about 3 weeks in.

The tank looks better than with frequent water changes so may consider reducing water changes in the future. Higher nutrients made the growth explode.

Also got a frag rack for Christmas so added that, from printed reef.

 

[danielbrito0311]

Top Down Shot - Present Day:

 

[danielbrito0311]

Present Day Tank Shots:

 

[danielbrito0311]

Mandarin Dragonet 2:

Wanted to make a post about caring for a mandarin dragonet from biota in a nano tank since I saw a lot of contradicting information when I was first researching it. This is all in my experience and my personal advice:

(1) Have a breeder box
-When it first arrived mine was very in tiny and I was not sure if it would eat prepared foods. By introducing it to a breeder box it gave it a chance to get accustomed to my tank/lighting/etc without worrying about other fish. I was also able to feed it very very often since it was easily accessible.

(2) No aggressive fish
-They are easy targets when they first arrive and in the first couple of months while they grow. If you have aggressive fish they'll be an easy meal.

(3) No copepods needed
-I've only added copepods to my tank once when I first set it up and only dosed phyto for about a week after that. My tank doesn't have a huge visible pod population. With that being said I'd recommend a mature tank with a healthy microbiome to help the dragonet find food on the rocks. To combat a lack of pods I overfeed fine pellet food and find that this is enough since my mandarin looks very healthy, not skinny and is active.

(4) Overflows/Wavemakers
-Make sure that overflows have mesh or some sort of cover on them as a baby mandarin dragonet can easily get swept into the filtration. When I first released mine I found it in the filter sock a couple minutes later, thankfully it was underwater and perfectly fine. Similar danger with wave makers sucking them in

Feel free to ask any questions about this, I know its a topic of a lot of debate, but I think it is possible and not as hard as people made it seem at first.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Mandarin Dragonet:

Here's a video of my mandarin picking at the rock. Usually stays around the same area and doesn't come near the clowns' area. He is small but you can see him under the hammer coral in the middle of the shot. I overfeed the tank a bit to make sure that he gets food.

My favorite fish

 

[ISFNick]

What an awesome tank bro

 

[danielbrito0311]

Clownfish Eggs:

Noticed the clownfish laid eggs again on a green sinularia. This is the second time I've seen them do this. They tend to get aggressive when eggs are laid and stick around the one spot in the tank.

 

[R1chardTugnutz]

This is an awesome example of a 20 gallon mixed reef tank.

I read that this is catch-up as the tank is over a year old. Do you have any other plans for it with it's current stage?

 

[danielbrito0311]

This is an awesome example of a 20 gallon mixed reef tank.

I read that this is catch-up as the tank is over a year old. Do you have any other plans for it with it's current stage?

Thanks so much, as of right now I'm letting it grow out and haven't bought new coral in quite a while. I might be moving this summer so anticipating that challenge.

Letting it grow out has presented some challenges as the torches have started reaching almost across the entire rock scape with their sweeper tentacles so they have been moved a couple of times.

Interested in more SPS to keep challenging myself but will probably wait and see how moving this tank goes. For now just letting it coast as its been for a couple months.

 

[danielbrito0311]

Tank Shot:

 

[danielbrito0311]

Side View:

 

[danielbrito0311]

Mushrooms:
Traded for a couple of Jawbreaker Mushrooms.

 

[WoodsieFL]

Crazy how much you can do with a 20. As a fellow nano reefer, I salute you. Looking good here brother. How are you keeping your pH up with only all for reef?

 

[danielbrito0311]

Crazy how much you can do with a 20. As a fellow nano reefer, I salute you. Looking good here brother. How are you keeping your pH up with only all for reef?

Thanks so much, just went through your threads and your tank looks sick as well. I actually don't monitor my pH since I don't have a test kit for it. I'm sure its not ideal but just try to keep the parameters I can check at the best levels I can.