First Tank - 25g Waterbox Peninsula

[hobie61]

Definitely recommend getting an ink bird. Heaters are the number one product to fail so having that safety is a must. It will save you plenty of heartbreak in the future

the inkbirds (with the wifi connection) are really helpful for monitoring the temp when away from your home, especially on hot days.

 

[OldRed1]

Your tank is such an inspiration! By pure coincidence, I just watched your YouTube video about setting up this tank haha. Didn’t even occur to me that these were the same builds.

 

[OldRed1]

Forgot to ask, what coral is featured in the photo that ends with 144732?

 

[hobie61]

I'm working on making an update video! In the 1st chamber(the water inlet) I have a filter floss holder with floss, and I built a tower out of egg crate to hold bioballs. In the middle I have my heater, Flow pump magnet that I sealed in a baggie, and the black sponge that came with the tank at the bottom. Lately I've been trying to get my nitrates down so have some purigen. In the return chamber I have my pump and ATO sensor.

The heater went bad so I'm actually using an old one I dug up. They sent me a replacement that I'm going to swap back to next week. Other than that the corals have been looking decent, just have a cyano outbreak I'm trying to deal with.

just thoughts, watch the sponge that came with the tank. I had forgotten about it, and about 7 months in caused me all types of problems due to being plugged up. still paying for the algae blooms because of it a long time afterwards. I got rid of it and more aware of how quickly things can plug up in the chambers. hope helps.

 

[OldRed1]

just thoughts, watch the sponge that came with the tank. I had forgotten about it, and about 7 months in caused me all types of problems due to being plugged up. still paying for the algae blooms because of it a long time afterwards. I got rid of it and more aware of how quickly things can plug up in the chambers. hope helps.

Also, what’s the benefit of sealing the magnet in a bag?

 

[officialreefbros]

the inkbirds (with the wifi connection) are really helpful for monitoring the temp when away from your home, especially on hot days.

I've been looking into them, but have seen a lot of mixed reviews! What heating element do you use with it?

just thoughts, watch the sponge that came with the tank. I had forgotten about it, and about 7 months in caused me all types of problems due to being plugged up. still paying for the algae blooms because of it a long time afterwards. I got rid of it and more aware of how quickly things can plug up in the chambers. hope helps.

Thanks! That's a great thing to note. I try to squish mine about once a month or so to make sure it doesn't plug up. Do you run anything in place or just have you only run a sock/floss?

 

[officialreefbros]

Your tank is such an inspiration! By pure coincidence, I just watched your YouTube video about setting up this tank haha. Didn’t even occur to me that these were the same builds.

Haha thanks! We have definitely learned a lot since that first video, but hopefully, they will help prevent others from making the same mistakes I do!

Forgot to ask, what coral is featured in the photo that ends with 144732?

It's actually a branching type of GSP. It encrusts about 2-3 inches and then goes up! It was hard to track down because a lot of the branching I saw grew very different, but was one of the main reasons I started a reef tank. When it gets big enough to start fragging I'd be more than happy to hook you up!

Also, what’s the benefit of sealing the magnet in a bag?

I was reading up a lot about the Nero 3 and the reason I put it in the bag is the magnet part isn't designed to be submerged. A LOT of people do it, but just to be extra safe I heat-sealed a small bag around it. I need to look more into a better way of sealing it or just let it get wet.

 

[officialreefbros]

Just got back from vacation and the cyano outbreak has progressed. I've been dosing microbactor7 and normal waterchanges targeting the manual removal. On top of the red there's also a gray that's almost translucent over some of the rocks and GSP. Debating using some chemiclean to try to get rid of it if there isn't progress in the next few weeks. Any recommendations?

 

[officialreefbros]

Just got back from vacation and the cyano outbreak has progressed. I've been dosing microbactor7 and normal waterchanges targeting the manual removal. On top of the red there's also a gray that's almost translucent over some of the rocks and GSP. Debating using some chemiclean to try to get rid of it if there isn't progress in the next few weeks. Any recommendations?

After running tests my nitrates are still high and my phosphates were low. I dose some phosphates to try to balance them out. After reading the imbalance can be the cause for the cyano. Do you think it would be worth it to add in more biomedia?

 

[officialreefbros]

I've been dosing some Phosphates to try to get my levels up from 0.01 to about 0.1. So far I've added about 0.1 over the past few days and I'm only testing at 0.02 all using a Hanna ultra low phosphate checker. After the 0.02 reading, I went in with a stronger siphon to manually remove as much as I could get. It worked decently but took a lot of sand with it.

 

[OldRed1]

How’s things with the cyano and phosphate? How are the corals doing?

 

[officialreefbros]

They cyano is slowing going down! The microbactor 7 and phosphate dosing has been helping!!!! It definitely seems like the issue was the phosphates as shortly after starting to dose they went to 0 somehow. Especially after dosing the posphates my corals have been looking better, mostly the toadstool stopped being dramatic For a whike it would be all slumped over

 

[OldRed1]

They cyano is slowing going down! The microbactor 7 and phosphate dosing has been helping!!!! It definitely seems like the issue was the phosphates as shortly after starting to dose they went to 0 somehow. Especially after dosing the posphates my corals have been looking better, mostly the toadstool stopped being dramatic For a whike it would be all slumped over

My understanding is that soft corals like toadstools love dirtier water with excess nitrates and phosphates to draw from. So it does not surprise me that your softie is looking healthier!

 

[dcsorrell]

The GSP growing vertically is one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Where did you find it?

 

[officialreefbros]

My understanding is that soft corals like toadstools love dirtier water with excess nitrates and phosphates to draw from. So it does not surprise me that your softie is looking healthier!

yeah and finally having enough of each is helping a lot! Even my other corals are doing better! Now I just need to cyano to finally stop spreading.

The GSP growing vertically is one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Where did you find it?

Same! It was the main reason I started a tank. It's a type of branching GSP that will encrust about 2-3" and then just grows up. I'm happy to hook you up with some once It gets big enough to frag!

 

[officialreefbros]

Sad Update: I think I have confirmation my peppermint shrimp have been beating up my LPS. I've suspected it in the past, but overnight the small head disappeared with residual tissue and now thi morning half the large head is gone. The flesh line was previously good and it was gaining size it also was recently caught picking at my acans, but i thought it was just taking food from its mouth until a head dead there too. Anyone else having issues with peppermint shrimp?

 

[OldRed1]

Sad Update: I think I have confirmation my peppermint shrimp have been beating up my LPS. I've suspected it in the past, but overnight the small head disappeared with residual tissue and now thi morning half the large head is gone. The flesh line was previously good and it was gaining size it also was recently caught picking at my acans, but i thought it was just taking food from its mouth until a head dead there too. Anyone else having issues with peppermint shrimp?

There is some belief that Peppermint Shrimp nibble on corals that are already suffering from disease or damage. So don’t rush to judgment just yet. Is it possible that there could be a more serious issue at hand that you haven’t yet observed?

 

[officialreefbros]

There is some belief that Peppermint Shrimp nibble on corals that are already suffering from disease or damage. So don’t rush to judgment just yet. Is it possible that there could be a more serious issue at hand that you haven’t yet observed?

Yeah I've seen a lot of mixed info on them, but for example my acan has several new small heads shooting out (still growing thankfully), but out of the 3 original heads 1 was fully picked apart, one had half removed and the large one had a slice removed. I may have some bad egg pepermint shrimp!

 

[officialreefbros]

Caught him red handed. Still not sure why he's picking at it all of a sudden. I've had this torch for months.

 

[officialreefbros]

Caught him red handed. Still not sure why he's picking at it all of a sudden. I've had this torch for months.

The half of the torch is still opening fine which makes me think it was the shrimp that caused this. If it was the water or other conditions it didn't like it wouldn't have changed overnight and wouldn't be opening up still. Any one have tips of trying to help it? Or just cross my fingers and hope it recovers?