Mixed Reef Cube Build

Revnobody

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Hey guys and gals welcome to my build thread. I have been in this hobby, in one capacity or another, for nearly 20 years. After a short hiatus. It's time I get my hands wet again. Let's get to the build.

I decided I wanted to go small on the new build so after looking around I decided on the Waterbox 20.
Waterbox-20.jpg



Next it was time to decide on lighting. After researching all the new options on the market I decided to go with AI Prime 16HD

AI-Prime.jpg



Next I decided to pick up some Marco Rocks and start aquascaping.

Marco Rocks.jpg


After staring at the dry, dead rock for about a week I started thinking back to the last tank I had started with dry rock. Let's just say I wasn't all that pleased with how long it took the tank to mature. I battled every kind of nuisance algae that you can think of. Was this because of the dry rock? I can't say for sure but I hadn't dealt with so many issues early on in the past using live rock.

Anyway, I decided to ditch the Marco rock and order some premium live rock from KP Aquatics. I was so happy that I did. This was similar to the live rock I remembered early on in the hobby, It was filled with life! I found pistol shrimp, pods, starfish, urchins, mirthrax crabs, and things I'm still trying to identify. Yay!

KP-Live-Rock.jpg




I like to take things slow. As they say, nothing good happens fast in this hobby. I let the tank cycle and mature over the next few months without coral (Ignore the anemone, he was in there for a weekend sleepover). I know that's a long time for some but as I said, I'm in no hurry.


FTS.jpg



Leather.jpg



leather-2.jpg



And that's where we are as of today. I will continue to post updates and thanks for following along.
 
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jsker

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Sweet tank, and welcome back to the hobby!! :)
 
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Revnobody

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Just a quick update on the tank. I've added a hammer coral, blue "xenia" (Cespitilaria), and ricordea. I also added two clownfish. One standard ocellaris and a mocha ocellaris. I have a shipment coming from Jason Fox next week and will update once the corals settle in.

I still have a little cyano hanging around but it has mostly cleared up.

fish-1.jpg
hammer.jpg
Leather Coral.jpg
 
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Revnobody

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A few pics as promised.

JF Mango Coolers
Mango-Cooler-1.jpg


JF Enchanted Forest Birdsnest
Enchanted-Forest-BN.jpg


JF King Midas
King-Midas-2.jpg


JF Fairy Sword Sinularia
Fairy-Sword-Sinulara.jpg


And my clowns
Clowns-2.jpg
 
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Revnobody

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Are you planning any other fish and inverts? Or keep it simple with the nice clowns?
I do have plans to add more fish as follows.
Pink Streaked Wrasse
Yellow Watchmen Goby

As for inverts, I currently have a (2) pistol shrimp (hitchhikers), red mirthrax crab (hitchhiker), 5 Cerith snails, 5 blue legged hermits, and several mini brittle starfish.
 
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Revnobody

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A few new arrivals

Rainbow Goni, Magma Mountain Porites, JF Strawberry Cyphastrea, JF Boston Bean Digi, Afterburner Shroom, Bounce Shroom, War Coral.

DBE5905D-9777-4A1E-8D72-2C92FF83E8E8.JPG
EF819910-632C-4E8F-BE9B-D6E7C6F16A7E.JPG
Cyphastrea.jpg
Boston Bean.jpg
Afterburner Shroom.jpg
Shroom.jpg
war coral.jpg
 
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Revnobody

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On my previous tanks, I have always run Phoenix 14K MH. So, I have been tweaking my AI Prime settings to get a similar look and I feel that I have come pretty close with this setting.

I started with a mix between Saxby and BRS AB+ and tweaked it from there. I may end up slowly adding just a little more CW. But for now, everything seems happy and I find it visually appealing.

I also included my settings for the Nero-3 as I have seen a few threads asking where people run them.
Lights and Flow.jpg
 
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Revnobody

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Just a few updated pics with a full tank shot. The tank seems to be maturing well, the cyano has mostly cleared up other than the back wall and a small amount on one rock. The corals are all growing and have great polyp extension.

Mostly just updating this for my own records.
 

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Revnobody

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Birdsnest is showing some good growth which is exciting for me as I have never had much luck with them. Even when other SPS would thrive my BN always seemed to either slowly die or just survive with little growth.

BN-Growth.jpg
 
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Revnobody

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Time for another tank update.
I had to leave town for a few weeks and had a friend watching my tank. When I returned, I noticed the base of my birdsnest was losing tissue and my digitata had no polyp extension. After running some tests I found my nitrates had spiked over 200ppm! :eek:.

After a few water changes over 3 days, I managed to get them down to 20ppm. I plan to bring them down more slowly from here until I reach the desired level. The tissue necrosis seems to have stopped and over the last week, PE has been good. Hopefully, it recovers. The digitata has fully recovered and looks as healthy as it did before.

I guess this is repayment for being excited the BN was thriving. :p
 

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can i see an updated Boston bean picture i have a frag on the way and want to see one
 
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Revnobody

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After some investigation, I have figured out the source of my high nitrates.

I had vacuumed the sandbed several times, did multiple large water changes, and began carbon dosing. Yet, my nitrates would rise back up after just a few days. Perplexed, I started moving rocks, pumps, and etc looking for anything that may be the cause.

While pulling media from the second chamber of the AIO, I noticed a large sponge had been left at the bottom of the chamber. I could have sworn I removed it when I set up the tank but yet there it was.

As you can imagine it was quite nasty considering it had never been cleaned. I still have no idea how I missed it being in there but I'm quite happy I discovered it.
 

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