Squidsreef's Waterbox 90.3 Mixed Reef Build

[squidsreef]

Did you build the screen with a Red Sea kit or have it made to your specs? Do you like your cover? I’m looking at a custom lid from Kraken.

I built it myself! The cover is great! Other than the tiny area that was impossible go over, I love the net cover. A Kraken cover would be a nice luxury.

 

[squidsreef]

11/26/20 Update (added to the bottom of the original post):

Our new clownfish arrived! Because the first was a little bit pricy, I decided to go with an "Extreme Misbar Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish from ORA. He has not quite developed his full colors yet (I assume) because he is currently an orangish-black and will someday be fully black. When he arrived yesterday (11/25/20) he was wayyyyy tinier than I thought he was going to be. They advertised as the same size as my previous clowns, but this one was much smaller (about 0.75"). After several hours of cautious nipping from our existing clown (nearly twice our new clown's size), they seemed to begin getting along quite well. I still see her nip him from time to time, but I expect she is just showing her dominance as interim queen of the tank (until my Tomini tang arrives).

My midas blenny is doing excellent! He is not quite as yellow-colored as many other midas blennies, but he has shown his true colors, mainly a rusty yellowish red. He has displayed classic blenny behaviors, including hiding in the rocks at night, changing to a camouflaged color at night while perching on top of our rockwork, and the unique swimming patterns. He is beginning to swim around the tank for longer periods of time, even when there isn't food in the water column.

My plan is to pick up the Yellow Watchman Goby as well as a Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp from my local fish store tomorrow, and the Tomini tang sometime next week. As soon as the entire gang is comfortable, I will be purchasing a few cheap starter LPS/softie corals from my local fish store.

Here's a video I took this morning of the entire gang hanging out together.



(It has also been weeks since I turned on the lights and I am yet to have seen a single hint of algae in the tank... I'm waiting for an explosion of it sometime soon)

 

[squidsreef]

11/27/20 Update (added to the bottom of the original post):

Our new clown is doing pretty well! I picked up some more frozen reef frenzy food at my local fish store, and he seems to enjoy it.

I picked up a candy cane pistol shrimp and a yellow watchman goby from my local fish store as well today! The goby is super stressed out, likely because the pistol shrimp immediately crawled into a tiny cave in the rockwork. In the next few days, I'm expecting them to find each other and be comfortable again. It is by far the tiniest pistol shrimp I have ever seen.

In addition, I made a slight impulse buy. I bought a small set of 3 trumpet coral frags on a plug. I decided when I was there that this would be the my option of choice to determine whether the tank was ready for coral or not!

When I glued in the coral, they opened up quickly and seem to be doing great!

Another full tank show below of the whole gang under some super-blue light!

 

[rhines]

what’s up, it’s funny seeing your build thread pop up after seeing the tank on discord. Tanks looking good and the aquascape has tons of potential once you start stocking up on corals.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

what’s up, it’s funny seeing your build thread pop up after seeing the tank on discord. Tanks looking good and the aquascape has tons of potential once you start stocking up on corals.

Useful response

 

[squidsreef]

12/11/20 Update (added link to the bottom of the original post):

The tank is doing great for the most part! The yellow watchman goby unfortunately did not make it due to being extremely stressed out, which my local fish store owner verified as he was also acting strange at the store.

The diatom bloom arrived slowly, but ramped up to cover the majority of the sand in the tank. After two water changes and a siphoning of the sand, it seems to have died back quite a bit and is at a manageable level that doesn't make the entire tank look ugly.

In the past few weeks, I have purchased several more corals, including a red/orange rhodactis mushroom, a neon green hammer coral, and an orange ricordea florida mushroom I'll be picking up tomorrow.

I have also picked up a baby six-line wrasse as well as two small emerald crabs from TSM Aquatics as they have an excellent full-medicated 30-day quarantine setup for each fish that comes through their warehouse. They have all been doing excellent with the exception of one emerald crab clipping a tiny piece of one of the trumpet coral polyps off in the first day or so (it has since recovered well).

I have also pre-ordered a small tomini tang and a hi-fin red-banded goby up for my pistol shrimp that are currently being quarantined at TSM Aquatics as well.

I have been testing the tank's water parameters weekly, and doing 15% water changes every other week.
Currently, parameters are very stable, but I will continue to monitor them as the stony corals tend to suck up lots of nutrients as they get larger.

Salinity: 1.025
Temperature: 78.1 Degrees F
Alkalinity: 8.0 dkh
Calcium: 400 ppm
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 3

I've attached another short video showing the new six-line as well as the rest of the tankmates. The emerald crabs hide in the crevices of the rocks most of the time, so they are not visible in the video.



I've decided to make the tank a fully mixed reef, but focusing mainly on LPS corals. For soft corals/mushrooms, I will only be purchasing mushrooms and a single large yellow fiji leather (if I can find one that won't break my bank). For LPS, I will be adding a huge variety of many different kinds of LPS throughout the tank as time goes on. In terms of SPS, I will be sticking to only one or two plating montipora corals to be placed at the top of the tank. From what I've read, plating montis seem to be among the easiest SPS corals to take care of, and should be happy with my lighting and flow.

Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions for corals/other livestock to add, general tank suggestions, or if you have some corals that you would be willing to sell off for me to add to my tank!

 

[muggle reefer]

Great looking tank, we just started our own waterbox system.

 

[squidsreef]

12/30/20 Update (added link to the bottom of the original post):

The tank is thriving! With the exception of the smaller of the two emerald crabs nipping at some trumpet corals forcing me to rehome her to my local reef shop, everything is doing very well. My other emerald crab seems ecstatic that he has the tank to himself now.

Shortly after the last update, I added a Florida fighting conch, who is having a blast eating diatoms and detritus in the sandbed. In the recent weeks, I have also added several more coral to the tank including a small torch coral frag, a red plating montipora frag, a few ricordea florida mushrooms, a tiny frag of blastomussa merletti seen above, and the new crown jewel of my tank, a mini Australian elegance coral. The coral has had a bit of a rough time adjusting to my dkh (my local reef shop keeps their alkalinity much higher in their frag tanks), but it has started to open up a bit, and has even accepted some meaty food. My hammer coral is doing extremely well, and has even started to grow some tiny heads off its side!

Lastly, the fish are doing well. Some pecking order has been established with my six-line wrasse and midas blenny feuding for the top spot, but they have been keeping their distance from each other lately.

My clownfish are loving life and clowning around. They always rush over whenever anyone looks into the tank, as you can see below.



In the coming weeks, I will be adding a ray-fin goby and a tomini tang which are currently being held in quarantine at TSM Aquatics. The parameters in the tank seems fairly stable, but the corals are beginning to consume more minerals than water changes can regularly replenish, so I will begin dosing Tropic Marin All-for-reef sometime in January 2021.

Thanks for the great responses to my posts here! I've been inspired by a great reefer (Instagram at @inland_reef) to start an Instagram account for my reef tank that can be found at @squidsreef, where you can find some of the pictures above as well as many more!

 

[squidsreef]

2/8/2021 Update (added link to the bottom of the original post):

Big Update Time (I'll talk abut the elephant in the room on the right side of the tank down below)!

Since my last update, quite a bit has happened with the tank. Towards the end of the year, my tank was quickly bombarded with a blanket of red cyanobacteria. With my nutrients low and flow high, I ended up going through a dose of ChemiClean, which quickly cleared up the slime after only a few days. My tank was full of microbubbles after the treatment and subsequent water change, but my skimmer calmed down after about a week.
Almost immediately after the cyano disappeared, dinoflagellates took over. In the following weeks, I began dosing Vibrant, raising Nitrates and Phosphates, refraining from cleaning the glass, and manually siphoning out the bulk of the dinos every few days. It took almost a month, but the dinos have subsided and have been replaced by microalgae and the beginnings of coralline algae growth on the rocks. For the past week or two, the tank has reached an equilibrium in terms of algae growth, where my inverts and Tomini tang are consuming the algae at approximately the same rate it grows. Oh yeah... some new fish!

I picked up both a Tomini tang as well as a High-fin Ray Goby on 1/9/2021 from TSMAquatics. My tomini tang is shy, but has been eating well, and is a model citizen in the tank. Both arrived healthy and happy, but my goby disappeared as quickly as he was added, and was missing from 1/10 until 1/25. Fortunately, he reappeared on the other side of the tank late one night, and to my surprise, he was paired up with the candy-cane pistol shrimp I had added a few months ago! He seems to be too spooked to come out during the day, but I have been target feeding frozen food into their burrow daily.

With the addition of a few new fish, I decided to revamp my sump area, and created a small DIY chaeo refugium with an old light fixture and PAR-38 bulb I had laying around.

Two weeks ago, I also picked up a large green bubble-tip anemone from my local fish store at a good price, and it has been thriving. It regularly accepts feeding, and has chosen a great spot on the back of the rock structure in the right side of the tank. He hasn't yet played host to either of my clownfish, but they don't mind staying close to it, so I assume they will be hosted in the coming weeks/months.

In addition, I set up a small 20 gallon long tank in my basement for growing out frags and to eventually house my Six-line wrasse if I ever manage to catch her.

Now, for the elephant in the room - my Orange spotted Filefish, named Phil.

First off, I wanted to explain that this was not an impulse purchase. I have been researching this fish for months, speaking to those experienced with keeping them, and acquiring all of the supplies and food necessary for keeping this species. Additionally, I have a backup plan set up in case he ends up taking a turn for the worse or stops eating - moving him to a much larger ~200g SPS dominated tank a friend of mine owns. I purchased this male filefish (2 5/8") from Diver's Den at Liveaquaria on 1/5/2021, and he arrived safely on 1/7. The folks at Divers den gave me specific information about how and what he is eating. At diver's den, he was previously eating bring and mysis shrimp, as well as Nutramar Ova frozen food a few times a day stuck in between the bristles of a toothbrush.

It has been over a month since I have received this fish, and he is happy, healthy, and eating several times per day. I feed a small amount of EasyReefs Masstick mixed with VitaChem in several places around the tank 3 times per day. He has no problem taking his time over the course of an hour and eating the bulk of the Masstick. Upon adding him to the tank, he made quick work of my monti cap, and started picking at my hammer coral, which I promptly traded to another reefer for some other corals. Since then, he has not touched any of the other corals. When I received this fish, he had one slightly foggy eye as well as a small white mark on his fin as seen in the picture above. I observed this over the course of the past month in case it was an infection or parasite, but it turns out it was likely some slight damage from shipping or netting. I added an acropora skeleton to the back of the tank in which I sometimes stick food to for him to eat. He normally sleeps in the corners of the tank, but has recently taken a liking to the acro skeleton as shown below, where you can see his camouflage coloring.

Phil is such a joy to watch swim around the tank as happy as can be, and interact with the other fish. He likes showing off the file on the top of his head, especially when my midas blenny moves near some of his masstick on the glass. Over the past month, Phil has been eating well, slowly gaining a bit of weight, and showing no signs of emaciation or any other health issues. I consider myself extremely lucky to have found a specimen that ate in my tank within 24 hours of adding him, and continues to accept multiple types of foods.

Below, I have added several other pictures of the tank and corals. I have added plenty of other photos of the tank and fish over at @squidsreef on Instagram. I'm very happy with how the tank is maturing, and I look forward to its progress over the course of the next few years.

 

[mcqueenokc1]

Love the thread. Very interested in starting this exact tank in the next few months. Quick question can you talk through your maintenance routine? What do you have to do on a weekly and monthly basis? How many gallons of water do you use for each water change?

 

[squidsreef]

Love the thread. Very interested in starting this exact tank in the next few months. Quick question can you talk through your maintenance routine? What do you have to do on a weekly and monthly basis? How many gallons of water do you use for each water change?

Thanks! I perform a water change every 2 weeks of about 15 gallons (approximately 20% of the total water volume). During the change I siphon some of the sand (mostly in the corners). Some people prefer weekly 10% changes, but I don't always have the time for that.

I empty the skimmer cup every 5-6 days. I also change out one or both of the filter socks every 5-6 days as well.
About twice a week I use a magnet glass cleaner front and sides of the glass of the display tank.

The ATO reservoir for the Marine X 90.3 is pretty small (2.5 gallons) so I have to fill it about ever 2 days. I run my RO/DI filter for about 4 hours per week, except when I need more water for a water change.

Hope this helps!

 

[squidsreef]

4/9/2021 Update (added link to the bottom of the original post):

2 Month Update Time!

The tank has now been set up for just under 6 months. So far, consistency and nutrient control has been my biggest challenge. Coralline algae continues to cover more and more of the tank as time goes on.

I will separate this post into two sections; positives and negatives, starting with the latter.

Negatives:
Phosphate and nitrate control has been difficult. Because of the orange spotted filefish, multiple heavy feedings per day is necessary, due to their high metabolism and small stomachs. Nitrates and phosphates due to the Masstick that I feed have been raising consistently, up to a maximum at one point of ~20 ppm no3 and ~0.28 ppm po4. Water changes increased to weekly and ~20% of the water volume of the tank. This became very annoying very quickly, so I strived to find other ways to control nutrients. After several larger water changes reducing nitrates to around 10 and phosphates to around 0.1, I decided to go the route of a biopellet reactor. I have had it set up for ~1 week now, and I am continuously monitoring levels in the tank to prevent bottoming out and causing a cyano outbreak.
Speaking of cyano, some brown cyano has begun to appear, but it seems to be relegated to the left side of the tank only on the rocks, and seems to be pretty minimal.
Unfortunately, like a pretty large majority of elegance corals in the hobby, mine has begun to show signs of Elegance coral syndrome, and is quickly declining. I have tried moving it several times, but the causes of ECS are cryptic and unknown. I am continuing to closely monitor this coral, but the chances of its survival at this point are pretty low.
Lastly, I ended up catching and trading away my six-line wrasse due to her increasing aggression as she grew larger, especially towards the clownfish and filefish. The goby has also gone MIA, which they tend to do.

Positives:
Coral grown is showing pretty clearly on nearly all of the corals, and new coral additions are looking full and healthy! In the past few months, I have picked up the following corals:

• Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxea
• Micromussa Acan Lords (Purple and orange)
• 2x Tricolor goniopora
• 3 headed gold Euphyllia Cristata
• Neon Green Nepthea
• Very large Kenya Tree leather
• Master Purple People Eater Cyphastrea
• Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

The fish have all been doing great! I have also added a female orange spotted filefish as well as a baby female blue star leopard wrasse. The wrasse has been eating frozen food as well as pods, and sleeps in the sand at night. Upon adding her to the tank, she was never timid or hid at all, which I was very happy about. The filefish both eat 3 times per day (two masstick feedings and 1 nori). The rest of the fish eat pellets, frozen, and some nori as well. I also picked up a harlequin serpent star, which has been thriving. Its not necessary, but I target feed the star every 7-10 days to ensure it has enough food.

Now for pictures and videos!

Gold Euphyllia Cristata and Blue Star Leopard Wrasse

Full tank shots from the side

Lastly, videos! First video is my harlequin serpent star going for a walk at night, and the second is my entire tank during an afternoon feeding!





Thanks for viewing the post everyone! I would love to hear some suggestions or thoughts about the tank!

 

[revhtree]

4/9/2021 Update (added link to the bottom of the original post):

2 Month Update Time!

The tank has now been set up for just under 6 months. So far, consistency and nutrient control has been my biggest challenge. Coralline algae continues to cover more and more of the tank as time goes on.

I will separate this post into two sections; positives and negatives, starting with the latter.

Negatives:
Phosphate and nitrate control has been difficult. Because of the orange spotted filefish, multiple heavy feedings per day is necessary, due to their high metabolism and small stomachs. Nitrates and phosphates due to the Masstick that I feed have been raising consistently, up to a maximum at one point of ~20 ppm no3 and ~0.28 ppm po4. Water changes increased to weekly and ~20% of the water volume of the tank. This became very annoying very quickly, so I strived to find other ways to control nutrients. After several larger water changes reducing nitrates to around 10 and phosphates to around 0.1, I decided to go the route of a biopellet reactor. I have had it set up for ~1 week now, and I am continuously monitoring levels in the tank to prevent bottoming out and causing a cyano outbreak.
Speaking of cyano, some brown cyano has begun to appear, but it seems to be relegated to the left side of the tank only on the rocks, and seems to be pretty minimal.
Unfortunately, like a pretty large majority of elegance corals in the hobby, mine has begun to show signs of Elegance coral syndrome, and is quickly declining. I have tried moving it several times, but the causes of ECS are cryptic and unknown. I am continuing to closely monitor this coral, but the chances of its survival at this point are pretty low.
Lastly, I ended up catching and trading away my six-line wrasse due to her increasing aggression as she grew larger, especially towards the clownfish and filefish. The goby has also gone MIA, which they tend to do.

Positives:
Coral grown is showing pretty clearly on nearly all of the corals, and new coral additions are looking full and healthy! In the past few months, I have picked up the following corals:

• Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxea
• Micromussa Acan Lords (Purple and orange)
• 2x Tricolor goniopora
• 3 headed gold Euphyllia Cristata
• Neon Green Nepthea
• Very large Kenya Tree leather
• Master Purple People Eater Cyphastrea
• Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

The fish have all been doing great! I have also added a female orange spotted filefish as well as a baby female blue star leopard wrasse. The wrasse has been eating frozen food as well as pods, and sleeps in the sand at night. Upon adding her to the tank, she was never timid or hid at all, which I was very happy about. The filefish both eat 3 times per day (two masstick feedings and 1 nori). The rest of the fish eat pellets, frozen, and some nori as well. I also picked up a harlequin serpent star, which has been thriving. Its not necessary, but I target feed the star every 7-10 days to ensure it has enough food.

Now for pictures and videos!

Gold Euphyllia Cristata and Blue Star Leopard Wrasse

Full tank shots from the side

Lastly, videos! First video is my harlequin serpent star going for a walk at night, and the second is my entire tank during an afternoon feeding!





Thanks for viewing the post everyone! I would love to hear some suggestions or thoughts about the tank!

WOW your reef is looking great! You can just see it mature though all the pics!

 

[squidsreef]

WOW your reef is looking great! You can just see it mature though all the pics!

Thanks! It's definitely a challenge keeping up with all of the maintenance for the tank, especially with larger water changes and keeping the sandbed clean!