[Hello to R2R] [Waterbox 15 Setup]

[okale2015]

Hello everyone!

Background
I have been following various threads/people on R2R. It has been really helpful as I want to restart my old Waterbox 15 tank.
I had to move to a 5g tank due to time and rental apartment constraints. I have a pair of clownfish(4 year and 2 year old) with just some live rock in it. I did keep some corals but could not maintain it so I had to remove them at that time.

Tank Setup(Updated: 09/24/2025)

1. Waterbox AIO 15 Peninsula : 200$
   1. Discontinued but brought it in 2021.
2. Powerhead: 36$
   1. Hydor Koralia 565 GPH
3. Return pump
   1. Syncra Silent 0.5 : 185 GPH : 55$
   2. Silicon tube from Home Depot : 5$
      1. One end attached to the return pump and the other directly goes through the hole into display tank.
      2. To be added : dimensions and picture.
   3. Round nozzle : 2$
      1. Pointed downward into the tank.
      2. Glued to the return hole, hacky but works perfectly.
4. Heater: 30$
   1. Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Glass Heater - 150W - main(as I tend to keep house temperature between 69 F - 72 F) : 30$
   2. To be added
      1. Inkbird ITC-308 Wifi Temp Controller - 40$
5. Temperature display : 10$
   1. PAIZOO Fish Tank Digital Thermometer
6. Filter floss: 12$
   1. Seapora 4040 Filter Floss Aquarium Filter Pad, 10 sq. ft./12" x 120"
7. Carbon: 23$
   1. Marineland Black Diamond Premium Activated Carbon
8. Water change
   1. ATET ATO - 40$ - RODI water replacement
   2. ATET ATO - 40$ - Saltwater replacement into tank after using siphon to remove saltwater.
   3. Home depot bucket : 3$
   4. Eheim Jager 50W Heater : Using it for saltwater weekly changes. : 38$
   5. To be added
      1. ATET ATO - 40$ - To remove 2.5 gallon water from tank into a reservoir.
      2. Walmart 2.5g jug : 5$
         1. To remove 2.5 gallon saltwater every week.
         2. Could be used in future to remove water automatically.
      3. Smart switches to create a schedule.
9. Test kits(Salifert)
   1. Ammonia
   2. Nitrate
   3. Alkalinity
   4. Phosphate
10. Salinity measurement
    1. Old refractometer : 18$ -> works but seems to randomly fail.
    2. Tropic Marin High Precision Hydrometer : 37$
11. Rock
    1. Caribsea Life Rock : ~10 lbs, Nano rock kit with : 70$
       1. Currently, kept in RODI water with a powerhead.
    2. TBS 8 pound nano base rock : 130$(71$ cost + 58$ shipping)
       1. To be received around end of September.
12. Live sand(To be added afterwards)
    1. TBS 20 lbs live sand : 210$(135$ + 75$) : I will be ordering it around end of October.
13. Lights
    1. AI PRIME 16HD: 200$(Bought it in 2021).
14. Tank cycling
    1. Microbacter 7 : 10$ : additional bacteria to aid the cycling process.
    2. Dr Tim's Ammoinum Chloride : 10$ : To test fishless cycling before stressing out my fish.
15. Table(to be added): 60$
    1. Homieasy end table

I hope to start the tank once I receive the rock from TBS by September 30 and will keep updating the thread with all the tank setup. Thanks!

 

[BryanM]

Welcome to the forums, and good luck!

 

[okale2015]

Welcome to the forums, and good luck!

Apologies for the late reply. Thank you so much!

 

[okale2015]

09/28
Temporary tank setup is complete.
Tank parameters before anything is added to tank : Ammonia, Nitrate and Phosphate are 0. Alkalinity is 11.2, Salinity: 1.025.
- Temperature: 78

Starting the cycle for Liferock as I got impatient.
- Added 3ml Microbacter7(Label says 5ml per 25 gallon).
- Added Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride Solution : 50 drops(4 drops per gallon) for achieving ammonia-nitrogen concentration of 2 ppm based on water volume of ~12 gallons.

No lights setup as of now.
- Will setup the AI Prime16HD for the live rock before 09/30.
- TBS New tank startup guide mentions a 6 hours low light schedule after receiving base rock.
- Planning to setup a AI Prime 16HD schedule for the same.

Image 1 : Please ignore the background.

Image 2 : This is the level of water and the ato level.
I am using heater in the first compartment as the 150W heater is longer and does not fit in the second chamber. The second chamber simply has a filter floss. The third chamber has the return pupm and the ato for freshwater.

 

[okale2015]

Added AI Prime 16HD.
Starting on a 6 hour schedule with the following:
UV/Violet/Royal Blue/Blue at 15.
WB is at 6.

 

[okale2015]

I have been adding microbacter 7(3ml) every day.
Yesterday, added more ammonia as the rating seem to be consistently at 0.25 ppm for 3 days.
Received base live rock from TBS. It got delayed by a day but there was no smell or noticeable die off.

Current test results:
Ammonia : 1.0
Nitrate : 0.0
Phosphate : 0.0

 

[kevgib67]

I have been adding microbacter 7(3ml) every day.
Yesterday, added more ammonia as the rating seem to be consistently at 0.25 ppm for 3 days.
Received base live rock from TBS. It got delayed by a day but there was no smell or noticeable die off.

Current test results:
Ammonia : 1.0
Nitrate : 0.0
Phosphate : 0.0

Off to a great start, following.

 

[okale2015]

Off to a great start, following.

Thank you!!

 

[okale2015]

Looks like cycle is on the way! I see some nitrates(2-5) and ammonia has gone down from 1.5 ppm to ~0.5 ppm. Alkalinity has dropped to 10.2 after addition of live rock and has been consistently at the same point. Have added 3ml MB7 till yesterday.

Got a new zoa and pnw small frag rack from AquaSD to see how the coral does. Did not want the coral to die so added more MB7(8ml) today. Hoping not to repeat it from tomorrow.

 

[okale2015]

The parameters look stable. The nitrates are ~13 ppm(expected based on ammonia dosed) and ammonia seems to be very low.

Still adding MB7 but will stop at 14 day mark as written on the bottle.

The zoa I added is not opening up. I reduced the flow as the total flow in my tank was almost 48x. Now it is around 15x the volume.

Added my clownfish pair from the 5g tank to ths tank and seem to be little stressed! Only ate few pellets which they generally devour. Removed the rest of the food and added some fresh saltwater.

Looked at this article from Tropic Marin which says that iodine in a newly cycled tank is very low. So thinking of adding some iodine? Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Thanks!

 

[okale2015]

Ordered some ROX 0.8 Aquarium Carbon for the tank.

The live rock ordered from TBS had some Isopod Cirolanid in it. I did not ID them as I thought they are non-parasitic. But upon adding my clownfish, they quickly attached themselves to the pelvic fins, anal fins and even some of the main body. The fish were getting stressed(could be multiple factors such as new water parameters, new tank and the pods). The small fish did not eat any food while the bigger clownfish kept spitting the food out. I got a prompt response from TBS saying that they cannot reproduce in the tank., should die within 2 weeks and that they do not kill the fish.

I added Reef Nutrition Tigger-pods so that the clownfish could eat something and could be less stressed yesterday. By today morning, no isopods were visible(generally visible at night and 1-2 hours after light starts). Both the clownfish are eating just the way they used to eat before and look less stressed now.

Added a peppermint shrimp and 2 Cerith snails. The shrimp is hiding and the snails have already started their work!

Ordered 20lbs live sand from TBS. As I am in the middle of the move, I will be storing the sand in a bucket with a pump for aeration. TBS provided great tips to make sure that the sand remains live:
1. Store the sand in a 5g bucket of saltwater.
2. Replace the water with fresh saltwater after 2 days to be safe.
3. Stir the sand gently once a day.
4. As the TBS farm temperatures tend to be between 40F and 90F, heater wont be needed. Additional benefit is that the cooler water holds oxygen better.

 

[okale2015]

Salinity is stable at 1.025 throughout the week.
Both fish are eating but I still see some more pods attached to the younger fish. But when the pods are detached, the clownfish is eating fine.
I am trying to maintain alkalinity at 10 dkh using baking soda for increasing the alkalinity and Seachem Acid Buffer to reduce alkalinity if needed.
- Using https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html to calculate required dosing.
- Purchases some mini measuring spoons for accurate powder dosing.
- Sticking to manual dosing as I am new to this.
The zoa polyps are consistently opening up after doing the following:
- Moving them in low light and low flow area where they did not open up for almost 3-4 days.
- Adding 0.5ml reef iodide only once and they did open.

 

[okale2015]

1. Done with the move to a new place. Fish are doing good, shrimp has started eating pellets and the zoas are opening even after the move.
2. Tank parameters seem stable : Alkalinity is stable around 10, salinity around 1.025, calcium around 425.
   1. Magnesium seems low around 1200.
3. Ordered Hanna testing kits for Nitrate HR and Phosphate ULR to maintain nutrients at a decent level.
4. Ordered a stand which cost me around ~110.
5. Got 2 astrea snails and 1 nassarius snail as algae was increasing. So the total snail count is now 5 including the 2 cerith snails.
6. Started using turkey baster on a weekly basis on live roick.
7. I also see a lot of macroalgae. Used gemini AI to detect whether it was cyano or some macroalgae. Gemini seems to settle on it being Gracilaria and the other one to be corraline algae as even after turkey basting, I wasnt able to remove it.
8. I have started dosing 1ml AFR on alternate days to maintain alk at ~10.
9. Here are some pics.