First marine tank - Waterbox 90.3

[jakeb]

I've added updates about corals and fish in separate posts, so people can skip the text and look at some photos (most of this is just reference for myself )

Fish / Inverts

After getting my first fish, I have decided to limit myself to captive bred fish. I've discounted a few of potentials (dwarf angels, aptasia eating filefish, dottyback), after I get a second banggai, I am a little unsure what to get next. So far I have:

2 Occellaris clowns
Banggai Cardinal
Yellow spotted goby
Yellow watchman goby
Canary Blenny







I have most of the inverts I plan to get, except for one or two porcelain anemone crabs. So far I have:

Skunk cleaner shrimp
2 Emerald crabs
4 Red legged hermits
4 Trochus snails

Here's the shrimp in his favourite spot

 

[ying yang]

Hi there,blennies are cool little fish to watch as when they pick algae from the rocks they flick their head doing it and looks very comical,I have a tail spot blennie and a bi colour blennie who get on just fine now and even tag team the coral beauty to try stop it eating from the rocks but coral just carries On regardless..^_^

But your tank coming on nicely so keep up the good work

 

[jakeb]

Corals / Anemones

I've wanted a rock flower anemone for a while, and got one a few weeks ago. It's my most expensive animal, but I love the colours on it. I'll get another one or two at some point, but not for a while.



Since parameters seem stable, and flow is better with the AI Nero, I have tried some easier SPS.

Freak hair pavona


Forest fire montipora


Apple berry montipora


Undata montipora


Snowcap montipora

Seriatopora guttatus


I've added a couple of LPS and Zoanthids, and my existing ones are doing well. Except for a new torch I lost to brown jelly disease a couple of days ago (link to forum post). Fortunately it looks like none of my other corals have it (fingers crossed).

 

[jakeb]

Hi there,blennies are cool little fish to watch as when they pick algae from the rocks they flick their head doing it and looks very comical,I have a tail spot blennie and a bi colour blennie who get on just fine now and even tag team the coral beauty to try stop it eating from the rocks but coral just carries On regardless..^_^

But your tank coming on nicely so keep up the good work

Yeah, they're great - I like it's surprised little face

 

[cooksterni]

Tank looks good, did you sort out the noisy sump? To me it looks like your water level is too low which might be causing it. I also went down the route of 2 filter cups from Kraken.

 

[jakeb]

Tank looks good, did you sort out the noisy sump? To me it looks like your water level is too low which might be causing it. I also went down the route of 2 filter cups from Kraken.

It probably was for my Tunze skimmer. I replaced it around a month ago with a Bubble Magus Curve A5 as the Tunze was underpowered. The Bubble Magus is a lot quieter and pulls out a lot more skimmate.

The water level was probably too low for the Tunze, but it sits at the right level for the Bubble Magus now. I did test the Tunze outsite the sump (in varying water levels) and it still made the same noise.

I find filter cups so much easier to maintain than socks, which means I'm a lot more likely to maintain them regularly! How do you find the Kraken filter cups? One very small niggle I have with is they don't always sit perfectly, so water drips through the gap and makes a noise.

 

[cooksterni]

It probably was for my Tunze skimmer. I replaced it around a month ago with a Bubble Magus Curve A5 as the Tunze was underpowered. The Bubble Magus is a lot quieter and pulls out a lot more skimmate.

The water level was probably too low for the Tunze, but it sits at the right level for the Bubble Magus now. I did test the Tunze outsite the sump (in varying water levels) and it still made the same noise.

I find filter cups so much easier to maintain than socks, which means I'm a lot more likely to maintain them regularly! How do you find the Kraken filter cups? One very small niggle I have with is they don't always sit perfectly, so water drips through the gap and makes a noise.

yeah I noticed the same, you have to make sure they are sitting exactly in the middle or the water can sneek under them and make a drip noise. other than that they are all good. I am the same mindset, I change floss in the cup a lot more regular than I ever did socks

 

[jakeb]

It's been a while since I last posted, so I better go through changes.

RODI Unit
After an ICP showed high silicates in my RODI water, I added a silicate resin housing. I also added a second DI resin housing (TDS of tapwater is 300+). I've put normal DI resin in the first housing, and colour changing in the second - so I know when to change the first resin housing.

Sump
I've made a few changes to the sump, so it is a lot tidier than it was. I've also added a float valve to my ATO chamber to stop the pump running when it's empty. My skimmer isn't in the photo, as I was waiting for a replacement for a faulty pump.

I am dosing Reef Zlements Z-Complete 2 part with a D-D H2Ocean P4 Pro doser. Both are working well. The doser is accurate and the app is easy to use, and the RZ 2 part seems to be a cost effective 2 part. 2.5 litres cost £30 (5 gallon, $35) last me around 8 months.

I've switched back to filter socks as they catch loose GHA well.

(I still need to sort the cables for the ATS lights, and the power cable for the front fan...)

 

[jakeb]

New controller
I upgraded to the newer version of Robo-Tank controller, which has a smaller controller with separate extension for DC ports, PWM sensors, and 3.5mm light controllers, and another extension for sensors. The extensions are in boxes inside the sump, and are connected to the controller through a hole in the cabinet. I now don't have 101 sensor and DC power cables running around the back of the tank!

The extensions don't produce much heat, so should be fine in some waterproof boxes.

 

[jakeb]

Graphs
Robotank uses Reef-Pi, which has an API for controlling anything, although I am only using it to get some pretty graphs (via Prometheus / Grafana running on another computer). This gives me graphs like:

 

[jakeb]

Algae Turf Scrubber
Since it seems impossible to buy an ATS in the UK, I followed a guide to make one. The design is essentially an acrylic box with clear sides and a fake bottom, with an outside section for the heatsinks/LEDs. It is on stilts as it seems easier than using rails.

The fans switch on when the heatsink gets to 30°C, and switch off when it has cooled it to 25°C. The growth on the photo below is around a week.

 

[jakeb]

June 2021 compared to now

I thought I would put up some photos of some corals when I purchased them and what they are like now. One thing I know has definitely grown in the hair algae...

Zoas (I wish they all had the same growth rate!)

Lobos

War coral

Acans

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

Nice work.

 

[ying yang]

Some nice very colourful corals you got there ,and especially like that big colony off zoas you got.
What's the top coral in this picture?
Is it a monti or a chalice ?

 

[jakeb]

Some nice very colourful corals you got there ,and especially like that big colony off zoas you got.
What's the top coral in this picture?
Is it a monti or a chalice ?

Thanks. Ive been really lucky with the rastas, hopefully some of my newer zoa frags will catch up at sone point.

That one is war coral (favites pentagons).

 

[ying yang]

Thanks. Ive been really lucky with the rastas, hopefully some of my newer zoa frags will catch up at sone point.

That one is war coral (favites pentagons).

Aw yes that's it,alot of corals look so similar I OFTEN get them mixed up ha ha
Looks very nice now indeed,but just trying to imagine that as it grows bigger ,be very impressive.

So how many rasta zoas you start with? I take it alot of polyps grown ,when you say been lucky

 

[jakeb]

Aw yes that's it,alot of corals look so similar I OFTEN get them mixed up ha ha
Looks very nice now indeed,but just trying to imagine that as it grows bigger ,be very impressive.

So how many rasta zoas you start with? I take it alot of polyps grown ,when you say been lucky

It's not the best photo either, a lot easier to ID it in person

I think the rasta zoa was 3 or 4 at the start - it must be 50+ now. My utter chaos started with 3 or 4, and must be 7 or 8 now...

 

[ying yang]

Aw that's brilliant they multiplied so much and such vibrant colours on the rastas,I think next time I go to lfs ,I will pick some up,been meaning to for long time but when get to lfs and got at least 1000 different corals to choose from,I often think get something other lol

 

[jakeb]

Aw that's brilliant they multiplied so much and such vibrant colours on the rastas,I think next time I go to lfs ,I will pick some up,been meaning to for long time but when get to lfs and got at least 1000 different corals to choose from,I often think get something other lol

That's always a good problem to have It sounds like a good store to have near you! My closest store like that is about an hour away. I get most of my corals from people selling on forums, or https://www.fragfarm.co.uk and https://www.prestigereef.co.uk

 

[ying yang]

Yes very good store,and they just had a refurb so all freshwater tanks,fish,products now upstairs and where the freshwater tanks was downstairs ,now they more coral tanks so now got 7 large coral tanks like 1.5 metres wide and 4-5 metres long,plus small tanks for cuc and a large tank for sharks/stingrays for sale ,so excellent store and reasonable prices alao.
I'm quite lucky I have over 10 lfs in under orjust over an hour drive away as got all the lfs in liveepol and Manchester to choose from ^_^