Matt's Waterbox 110 - First Saltwater Tank

[mjh712]

Step 2 - Inverts Round 2 & Intro to MacroAlgae

Finally put together an order from Reef Cleaners:

• Codium (Short) - Orderd 1 and got a decent amount of pieces. Now I just have to get them to stay put...
• 4 Assorted Smaller Conchs - Only 1 survived the shipping
• 4 Astraea Snails - 3 survived. Don't know if it was shipping or not. The shell was flipped and empty the following morning.
• 3 Imported Hermits - 3 survived.
• 20 Empty Shells (& 10 M/L shells) - The sent a wide variety of Empty Shells
• 5 Mexican Turbo Snails - None Survived... I think they were all dead as they never moved before the hermits got to them.
• 10 Nassarius Vibex - I think only 2-3 made it, there were a lot of empty shells. I put all the empty shells in an isolation box & I don't think any of them moved.
• 5 Scarlet Hermits - 1 Survived, 2 were dead on arrival, 1 shell was empty, don't know what happened to #5.
• 3 Trochus Snails - All survived
• 2 Very Small Trochus Snails.... They're sooooooo tiny, but both survived. They're now probably crawling around inside the live rock.

It seems like the casualties were almost entirely the scarlet hermits, the turbos, & the conchs. I'm assuming it was the fact it took the full 3 days to arrive, so the largest waste producers suffered the most.

Finally started Prazipro on the wrasses in QT. 2.5mL for the 10G QT. First dose 5/20, second dose 5/25. 40% water change before each. Both Wrasse's are looking healthy and colorful. Looking to start copper treatment either Monday 5/31 or the following weekend.

 

[mjh712]

Step 2 - Copper Mistreatment

Last night I attempted to start Copper treatment on the wrasses in Quarantine. I had Cupramine, so I decided to try that. I had read before how some wrasses are fine with Cupramine, some had issues, but I figured the first dose should be fine......

Almost immediately, the Lubbock's wrasse darted into the glass, which is very out of character. A few minutes later I noticed the Melanarus isn't in it's sand bed bowl, but next to it laying on the bottom. Both wrasses are laying down weird... I do some quick research & immediately start to fill up a bucket of fresh saltwater. While the bucket is filling keep reading up on other people's experiences & saw someone recommended to transfer them into a different tank. I grabbed a large bowl, filled it with water from the DT & grabbed the net. After transporting the wrasses to the bowl, I put a towel over it & went to work on the water change.

I changed about 50% of the tank & then put the fish into a hangon container inside the tank, while still in the DT tank water. After ~15min of slowly adding water into the container, I released the fish into tank & hoped for the best. I didn't want to leave them in the container since there wasn't any air exchange.

They both went to corners of the tank. They didn't look in the best shape The melanarus was laying almost flat on it's side & didn't really look like it was breathing & the Lubbock was half laying down. As it was late, I was hoping they were just going to sleep. I cleaned up everything, ordered Copper Power (since the Chelated copper seems to be the recommendation for Wrasse quarantine) & went to bed hoping for the best.

When I woke up, the Melanarus was hanging out inside one of the PVC pipes, but I didn't see the Lubbock's. After poking the PVC piece he normally sleeps in with the net, the Lubbock rose out of the corner & looked to also be fine.

I tested the copper level this morning & it was about 0.1mg/L, which makes sense after a 50% water change after dosing 19 drops (for a 10G tank) since the bottle recommends 2 doses to get it the recommeded 0.5mg/L level. (I also did the Seachem kit's sample test to be sure & that was on the dot)

I'll probably do another water change this week, then start the Copper Power this weekend. I don't think I want to try the Cupramine on the wrasses again. At least not unless I have made some precautionary preparations, just in case.

 

[mjh712]

Step 3 - Corals

I let some of the impatience get to me and I figured I'd try my luck with some corals.

Top Shelf Aquatics was having a Live Sale the first weekend in June, I talked myself into getting a "few" beginner corals. I specifially was looking to get a Toadstool, & maybe a bubble coral or candy cane... or that's what I had planned out.

The sale started on Saturday and I was out so after a quick search for beginner corals, I ordered a small chalice frag, a mystic sunset monti frag (couldn't resist), and a mystery montipora (red). Sunday I was at home watching the Sixers game followed by Netflix, so I was able to follow the sale a lot closer and picked up a Bioluminescence chalice, a $10 green monti, a $8 Purple Bowerbankii, a Spitfire Leptastrea, a neon green Hydnophora, 2 mystery LPS (Bling Bling Cyphastrea & Ultra Acan), 1 Mystery Zoa (Mohawk), 1 mystery SPS (CB The Thing), and a Neon Green Toadstool.

Fast Forward to Friday (6/11/2021) when the package arrived & I got to experience my first coral dipping experience. Based on what I found online, I opened each frag, slowly added some tank water to bring the temp up, performed a 10 minute dip using a Coral Rx pack & 1G of tank water), and capped it off with a 2 stage tank water rinse before placing them on a frag rack. 1 of the frags did have a small worm come off of it, so it was definitely worth it.

Here's the full list:

• Neon Green Toadstool Leather Coral
• Red Montipora
• Green Montipora
• Mystic Sunset Montipora
• Ultra Acans
• Purple Bowerbankii Acan
• Tyree Blue Chalice
• TSA Biolumimescence Chalice
• Bling Bling Cyphastrea
• JF Spitfire Leptastrea
• Neon Green Hydnophora
• CB The Thing
• Mohawk Zoas

 

[mjh712]

Step 2 & 3 - Chelated Copper & Aiptasia suprise

On Saturday 6/19, I started the Copper Power on the wrasses in QT. Adding ~.75ml twice a day for 6 days to get it up to ~2.0 ppm. 4 out of the ~12 doses in and the wrasses are fine. Hopefully this goes a lot smoother than following the Cupramine instructions. Should finish raising the levels Friday morning & should finish the 30 day treatment around July 25th, so I should be

Sometime last week I noticed some tentacles sticking out under the sunset montipora (first coral in the video above) that I recieved from Top Shelf Aquatics. I looked but couldn't really seen anything (whatever it was seemed to have vanished into the cavity between the frag & coral, photos below). I pulled the frag just to be safe & put it into a hang-on containter outside the tank. When I looked later, my fears were realized... here's my post from another thread.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I have the same issue

this is the underside of a montipora frag plug. The aiptasia is literally on the top side of the plug under the montipora that has encrusted about 80% of the frag plug

should I just toss the frag? Try to break a piece off and put it on another frag mount? The aiptasia squeaks back into its hole if it’s disturbed & I don’t want to seal the water/frag under the montipora with super glue

Think I may try to frag a piece of the frag (using a pliers or bone cutters), but I don't want to put the frag back in the tank. I don't want to put glue on it, because I don't want the coral growing over the aiptasia and potentially creating a cavity (which could be a potential time bomb) underneath it.

On another note, I got 2 hammers and Magician palys from Joe Knows Reefing, and everything looks great. I'll post pictures later.

 

[mjh712]

Phases 2 - Quarantine Update

Wrasses are still in Quarantine for another 2 weeks. Level was ~1.75, so I bumped it up closer to 2 with no problems. I ordered the Hanna Copper tester and it's super easy to use. May do a water change, but don't know if I want to play with a copper level matching water change.

Phase 3 - Corals update

I did 2 more coral live sales after Joe Knows Reef's with Cherry corals, & Unique Corals.

In Cherry's sale I picked up a

• CC Ice Age Maze
• an Aussie Blasto
• Scarlet Fever Palys
• Blue Hornet Palys.

In Unique Coral's sale I splurged and got

• Dragon Soul Torch
• Teal Hammer
• Toxic Frogspawn
• Red Rim Blasto
• Dragon Eyes Zoas
• Mixed (Orange & Yellow) Zoas

I may be done with coral for a little while until I see how everything goes. So far, the montipora's seem to be struggling the most, with the frags I attemped to get from the aiptasia'd frag seemingly dead. The green & red are also not doing hot & the challices are starting to show a little white. I'm a little worried about the Bowerbankii and the Ultra Acan, but I upped my water changes, so hopefully that helps. Everything else seems to be doing fine.

 

[mjh712]

Fish Stocking Update

For the last few weeks I've been debating about what to add next. I noticed a store a few hours away (NY Aquatic) had a Whitetail Bristletooth, but I'm going on vacation & wanted to wait until mid August to get more fish. Plus, I don't think I want to quarantine a tang since I only have a 10 gallon QT available currently. Of course I checked around and found Dr. Reef's Quarantined fish. They quarantine the fish & then set up a ship date, so it works perfectly with my timeframe of mid-late August. After a few weeks of debating I went on their site yesterday and saw they're having a Xmas in July sale. After finally settling on some other livestock, I placed the order...

 

[DocPalmer]

Hi MJ, following and love the post as I'm currently running a 15g QT and have a marine x 110.4 on the way (set to arrive end of this week). Curious how the light has been on your QT? I don't currently have one as it's just fish, hermits, astraea snails and a peppermint shrimp. The reason I ask about the light is because when I get into corals, I'm not sure if it will be acceptable to just put them into the DT or if they need to be QT'd for a little bit. Thoughts?

Great thread BTW!

 

[mjh712]

Hi MJ, following and love the post as I'm currently running a 15g QT and have a marine x 110.4 on the way (set to arrive end of this week). Curious how the light has been on your QT? I don't currently have one as it's just fish, hermits, astraea snails and a peppermint shrimp. The reason I ask about the light is because when I get into corals, I'm not sure if it will be acceptable to just put them into the DT or if they need to be QT'd for a little bit. Thoughts?

Great thread BTW!

I haven't really used the light on my QT. I'm afraid it will become full of algae. The wrasses don't really need any lights & they put themselves to sleep right around 6pm. I don't have any inverts in the QT since I'm putting the wrasses through copper treatment. But fish QT and Coral QT are a lot different, just like how some fish need different QT procedures.

At the moment, I just did the corals in a coral dip, then 2 bowls of tank water before adding them to the DT. I've thought about doing a coral QT tank. 2/4 of the orders I've received had worms, so I'd probably still dip the corals even if I went that route. As for good hitchhikers, one of my Zoa frags came with a tiny feather duster & a hammer came with a white sponge (that's also now on a snail). Both of those made it through the dip process. Though, so did the aiptasia above. As much as it would have been much better to not have that in my DT for a few days, I don't know if I would have caught it if it wasn't close to head level.

If I was to do a coral QT tank, I'd probably still dip. (Revive or Coral Rx, I don't think I'm ready to jump into the Bayer Insecticide dipping). I want to upgrade the lights on the 110 (I got the AI Prime 16s with the tank, but think I should have gone bigger), so I'd probably use one of the AI prime's. AI lights have an acclimation mode that you can do over an adjustable time period. I'm sure others do to, but if not just ramp up the time that they're on slowly.

Here's Humblefish's thread on Invert/Coral Quarantine.

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals & invertebrates. While unable to host ectoparasites the way fish do, corals/inverts are still able to “carry” fish diseases in one of two ways...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[DocPalmer]

I haven't really used the light on my QT. I'm afraid it will become full of algae. The wrasses don't really need any lights & they put themselves to sleep right around 6pm. I don't have any inverts in the QT since I'm putting the wrasses through copper treatment. But fish QT and Coral QT are a lot different, just like how some fish need different QT procedures.

At the moment, I just did the corals in a coral dip, then 2 bowls of tank water before adding them to the DT. I've thought about doing a coral QT tank. 2/4 of the orders I've received had worms, so I'd probably still dip the corals even if I went that route. As for good hitchhikers, one of my Zoa frags came with a tiny feather duster & a hammer came with a white sponge (that's also now on a snail). Both of those made it through the dip process. Though, so did the aiptasia above. As much as it would have been much better to not have that in my DT for a few days, I don't know if I would have caught it if it wasn't close to head level.

If I was to do a coral QT tank, I'd probably still dip. (Revive or Coral Rx, I don't think I'm ready to jump into the Bayer Insecticide dipping). I want to upgrade the lights on the 110 (I got the AI Prime 16s with the tank, but think I should have gone bigger), so I'd probably use one of the AI prime's. AI lights have an acclimation mode that you can do over an adjustable time period. I'm sure others do to, but if not just ramp up the time that they're on slowly.

Here's Humblefish's thread on Invert/Coral Quarantine.

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals & invertebrates. While unable to host ectoparasites the way fish do, corals/inverts are still able to “carry” fish diseases in one of two ways...

www.reef2reef.com

Very informative thank you! Fortunately I have a great LFS that I will be purchasing my corals from (World wide corals) so i'll have the opportunity to inspect them on site prior to purchase. It sounds as though I won't need to quarantine so will refrain from a light on the QT.

In regards to lights, I don't blame you for wanting to upgrade them. I have 2 radion xr 15 blue's still in the box just begging to be taken out and tested lol. I'm exercising a lot of patience waiting on the DT to arrive... Very excited to see how they look to say the least!

Are you quarantining your inverts as well? or just fish? All the critters I have in my QT will be going into the DT once cycled but just curious for the future if i'll just be able to drop the CUC into the DT or if i should still QT them like i will for the fish.

 

[mjh712]

Very informative thank you! Fortunately I have a great LFS that I will be purchasing my corals from (World wide corals) so i'll have the opportunity to inspect them on site prior to purchase. It sounds as though I won't need to quarantine so will refrain from a light on the QT.

In regards to lights, I don't blame you for wanting to upgrade them. I have 2 radion xr 15 blue's still in the box just begging to be taken out and tested lol. I'm exercising a lot of patience waiting on the DT to arrive... Very excited to see how they look to say the least!

Are you quarantining your inverts as well? or just fish? All the critters I have in my QT will be going into the DT once cycled but just curious for the future if i'll just be able to drop the CUC into the DT or if i should still QT them like i will for the fish.

I’ve only ordered inverts from TSM Aquatics; Reef Cleaners, & Dr Reef, all of which quarantine them. My DT cycled well before my QT (probably bc there was no sand or rock) so I just picked up quarantined clowns, a fire shrimp, & some snails from TSM since it’s close.

I believe most invert QT is just a fishless period, so the fish pests die from no host.

& Nice lights. I’m probably going to wait for something to go on sale.

 

[mjh712]

Corals Update - 7/20

My frogspawn hasn't extended in a few days (that I've seen, though I haven't really been home during midday). A few coral skeletons are starting to poke through, & my alk was low so I'm trying to raise that & work on direct feeding with reef chilli and small pellets. I have coralline starting to grow on my the glue on the frags & some of the exposed skeleton, so I'm a little confused.

I'm going away for a 10 days next week, so I'm planning on doing a few small water changes leading up to leaving. I'll also be adding the wrasses early next week, so that kind of works out.

I'm also hoping to start adding the zoas to the rock I have 'marinating' in the sump. I have some marcorock rubble I'll be adding to the sump prior & a bioblock I need to rinse/soak before I through it in.

 

[revhtree]

Thanks for sharing! Any FTS?

 

[mjh712]

Thanks for sharing! Any FTS?

Here's the best I could do:

 

[mjh712]

Coral Update - 7/27/21

The first frogspawn is still not opening. I don't see anything wrong with it & all the hammers are as extended as I've ever seen them. I picked up a trifecta of euphyilia from Unique Corals & after a little bit of worry (see photos below), they all seem to be doing well.

My biggest concern was the purple torch I received. Part of the skeleton was showing on one side & there was a lot of "stuff" on the frag. My first thought was vermetid snails, but I haven't seen anyting extended. The torch was full extended the next day, so I guess I'll just monitor it.

The other coral I ordered were a golden hammer & another frogspawn. Both seem to be doing really well & I'll be moving them to the sand tonight.

Today's also the day I'm planning on switching the wrasses from QT to the Display tank. I already did a WC with 30% DT tank water Sunday night. So hopefully it'll be an easy transition. I'll be away from the 30th to the 7th, so hopefully everything goes smoothly while I'm away.

 

[Daveouthere]

Display Tank Equipment List

Tank: Waterbox MarineX 110.4
Lighting: AI Prime 16 (x2)
Heater: Ink Bird with 600W Titanium Heater & Eheim 300W (used when cycling, will probably get removed)
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 150INT 6"
Return Pump: Neptune COR 20
Wavemakers: Gyre XF330 & Nero 5
ATO: Tunze 3155 Osmolator
Controller: Apex EL
Rock: Marco Rock (~25lbs of dry, ~15lbs of shelf, ~Xlbs foundation rock)
Sand: Caribsea Special Grade (60lbs - 40 dry & 20 arag-alive)
Media: Brightwell Xport-NO3 ~150g

How is your skimmer holding up debating on which one i should get for my same kind of tank

 

[mjh712]

How is your skimmer holding up debating on which one i should get for my same kind of tank

Fine. It took a bit to get it dialed in, but I was away for 10 days & my roommate didn't have to empty it. (Stock was 2 Wrasses, 1 Firefish, 2 clowns, 1 fire shrimp, & CUC)

Unfortunately, one of the clowns (the Darwin... again) jumped out of the tank a few days before I got home. I have a theory on what scared it, as a silly Purple Tang decoration got loose & was floating around the tank.

I have an order in with DrReef, so I reached out and he added a clown to the order. Guess I should get around to fixing the lid so it covers all of the tank (the netting pulls the back section about 1" from the back wall where the Darwin clown 'slept')

 

[mjh712]

Fish Update: Fairy Wrasse jumped a few weeks ago, was in the same spot the Darwin clown was. May just get another net instead of trying to fix/adjust this one. Talked to DrReef & my order should be shipping next week. Naturally, TSM now has WTB Tangs.

Coral Update: Lost the frogspawn & gold hammer coral... I dipped both & some small worms came off, but they weren't flatworms. All parameters were fine: Nitrate around 10, No Ammonia, PH at 8.2, Alk was in a good range, same with mag. I started using RedSea AB+ & Fuel & everything else seems to be doing fine. Purple Torch has new growth, Dragon Soul is looking better. I tried moving things up, but they both just shrunk into nothing...

CUC Update: Added some snails (nassarius, cerith, astraea), hermits, & conchs. I ordered an emerald crab, but it didn't make it. Some of the snails were a little sluggish... my Melanarus went right after them. Definitely a learning experience. Probably need to get some more Trochus snails & an emerald crab. Algae on the sand & walls is growing. I am getting corralline spots, hoping that continues.

 

[mjh712]

Will post about Philly Splash later...

 

[mjh712]

NEW FISH!

Today my order from Dr Reef's Quarantined Fish Arrived! Suprisingly FedEx delivered it at 9:25am after it was shipped around 9pm last night per the tracker...

The salinity in the fish bags were all spot on. The salinity in the invert bags was up around 1.030. All the fish (keyword) seem fine so far... one little incident, though. I'm pretty sure the Melanurus ate the Pistol Shrimp... He also was checking out the Yasha & the cleaner shrimp. If he eats the cleaner shrimp, he's getting rehomed. If not, I think I'll move the Yasha to the tank I'll be setting up for my roommate's clownfish (See Philly Splash post above)

The Order included:
- Whitetail Bristletooth Tang - Pretty Big. Wanted out of the bag almost immediately.
- Coral Beauty - Decent Size. Also very active.
- Phantom Clown - Smaller than my remaining clown so hope it goes well.
- Tailspot Blenny - Small & looked skinny, but was slowly moving around
- Yasha Goby - Small & escaped the aclimation box. Found a spot on a rock.
- McCosker's Flasher Wrasse - Least lively of the group so far. Perked up a bit in the tank.
- Pistol Shrimp - Didn't realize how small he was.... most expensive snack so far.
- Cleaner Shrimp - Looks good. Hope it's there when I get home.

I'll try to upload a video later... no luck atm.

 

[mjh712]

- Cleaner Shrimp - Looks good. Hope it's there when I get home.

Narrator: "He wasn't"..... :mad:

Anyone need a Melanurus wrasse that eats shrimp & snails? Really wondering how I still have a few Nassarius Vibex snails. Guess they know to only come out when he's sleeping.