New waterbox 20 build! First timer here!

[mycograham]

Hey everybody at reef2reef! I’ve been a secret admirer for far to long and I at long last am able to start my very own reef aquarium! I have been doing lots of research here on #Reef2Reef and on #BulkReefSupply (their YouTube videos contain valuable information about getting into this hobby) As well as all the information coming from #WORLDWIDECORALS Thanks Josh, Andrew, Ryan, and the many people at reef2reef for the inspiration and information to get excited about this hobby! I’ve always been interested in saltwater aquariums since I was a child and would have my mother take me on a walk to the local fish store, Todd’s tropical fish in Bonnie Brae neighborhood of Denver. The man who owned the shop had an amazing saltwater aquarium that used to mesmerize me (I would say this was probably around 1991, not long before the store closed). I’m now waiting for my new aquarium since #WaterBox is sold out and waiting for a new shipment. Hopefully it arrives soon as I have most of the other equipment already. I recently relocated to Olympia, WA so if anyone near my area should give a shout out. Here is a list of equipment so far: (feel free to comment would love to hear feedback)
Tank: Waterbox cube 20 with +HD
Light: AI 16 HD Reef with arm
Return: sicce syncra 0.5 (I hear the WB stock return is garbage)
Heater: Cobalt Neo 50W
Flow: Vortech MP10
Skimmer: Aquamaxx WS1
ATO: JBJ nano ATO
Aquascape: Real Reef 20# “Life” rock
Salt: Blue bucket Red Sea
Sand: ????

Livestock in my quarantine tank with one large rock, no artificial light, cycling for 2 mo. bare bottom:
1x Snowflake clown (Almost 1 month) from #barrierreefaquariums in Seattle

Cleanup crew in quarantine:
1x Emerald crab
2x Cerith snail
1x trochus snail
1x turbo snail

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Sounds like a great start, and I'm happy to hear you did lots of homework before diving in. You definitely have all the necessary equipment, and the fact that you have a quarantine tank puts you in that much better a place to succeed. Good luck!

 

[Everything Aquatics]

I would love to see some pictures, this tank Tank is great

 

[mycograham]

Sounds like a great start, and I'm happy to hear you did lots of homework before diving in. You definitely have all the necessary equipment, and the fact that you have a quarantine tank puts you in that much better a place to succeed. Good luck!

Thank you very much! I appreciate the feedback. Haha hours of #BulkReefSupply and #Reef2Reef definitely helped and I looked at lots of reviews before I got anything.

 

[mycograham]

I would love to see some pictures, this tank Tank is great

Thanks so much! I will definitely post pictures once the tank arrives and I will include my aquascape and set up! Hopefully my cube tank will arrive in the next few weeks! Here is the quarantine tank set up before water and the clown when I brought him home! His name is Tony Soprano haha.

 

[mycograham]

Slow motion of my clown... he’s a nerd.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Hey everybody at reef2reef! I’ve been a secret admirer for far to long and I at long last am able to start my very own reef aquarium! I have been doing lots of research here on #Reef2Reef and on #BulkReefSupply (their YouTube videos contain valuable information about getting into this hobby) As well as all the information coming from #WORLDWIDECORALS Thanks Josh, Andrew, Ryan, and the many people at reef2reef for the inspiration and information to get excited about this hobby! I’ve always been interested in saltwater aquariums since I was a child and would have my mother take me on a walk to the local fish store, Todd’s tropical fish in Bonnie Brae neighborhood of Denver. The man who owned the shop had an amazing saltwater aquarium that used to mesmerize me (I would say this was probably around 1991, not long before the store closed). I’m now waiting for my new aquarium since #WaterBox is sold out and waiting for a new shipment. Hopefully it arrives soon as I have most of the other equipment already. I recently relocated to Olympia, WA so if anyone near my area should give a shout out. Here is a list of equipment so far: (feel free to comment would love to hear feedback)
Tank: Waterbox cube 20 with +HD
Light: AI 16 HD Reef with arm
Return: sicce syncra 0.5 (I hear the WB stock return is garbage)
Heater: Cobalt Neo 50W
Flow: Vortech MP10
Skimmer: Aquamaxx WS1
ATO: JBJ nano ATO
Aquascape: Real Reef 20# “Life” rock
Salt: Blue bucket Red Sea
Sand: ????

Livestock in my quarantine tank with one large rock, no artificial light, cycling for 2 mo. bare bottom:
1x Snowflake clown (Almost 1 month) from #barrierreefaquariums in Seattle

Cleanup crew in quarantine:
1x Emerald crab
2x Cerith snail
1x trochus snail
1x turbo snail

Kudos to you for doing quarantine! I didn't and like so many, have had to deal with ich.
I am curious. How is a clownfish nerdy? I have two.

 

[mycograham]

Kudos to you for doing quarantine! I didn't and like so many, have had to deal with ich.
I am curious. How is a clownfish nerdy? I have two.

It was very hard to take it so slowly! I do love my clownfish. Definitely the star of this new tank! So far he is in love with the return pump and has scared me several times by jumping into the sump to sleep before I made some alterations to this old jbj nano tank. He does love to come interact with me now that he has adjusted to the new tank. I’m excited to introduce him to his new home when the new tank arrives!

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Oh, I see and then, I don't. How does he jump into the sump? Is that thru the plumbing??

One thing I love about my SW fish compared to my FW is they do have more personality! They hide and look at you directly. They have more character. My two clownfish do this little kind of dance together. Maybe it is an attachment thing. Haven't figured it out. I have read that when one of a mated pair dies, the other grieves. My favorite is my royal gramma. His/her name is Popsicle!

 

[mycograham]

Oh, I see and then, I don't. How does he jump into the sump? Is that thru the plumbing??

One thing I love about my SW fish compared to my FW is they do have more personality! They hide and look at you directly. They have more character. My two clownfish do this little kind of dance together. Maybe it is an attachment thing. Haven't figured it out. I have read that when one of a mated pair dies, the other grieves. My favorite is my royal gramma. His/her name is Popsicle!

I’m probably just anthropomorphizing a fish but he does very silly things and swims around the tank like he enjoys it which is nice since the new tank will be slightly larger with better flow and some LPS corals and other fish to keep him company. I kind of wish I got two clowns at the same time but I chose to take it very slow. I love the name popsicle! It’s very cute Happy reefing!

 

[mycograham]

Oh, I see and then, I don't. How does he jump into the sump? Is that thru the plumbing??

One thing I love about my SW fish compared to my FW is they do have more personality! They hide and look at you directly. They have more character. My two clownfish do this little kind of dance together. Maybe it is an attachment thing. Haven't figured it out. I have read that when one of a mated pair dies, the other grieves. My favorite is my royal gramma. His/her name is Popsicle!

The jbj tank is a very older generation 10 gallon nano and I was given it for free from a very nice human on OfferUp and it has a very small gap between the sump and the light that if the overflow is high enough he can jump over it (especially since he likes the return flow that’s also close to the top and the same wall of the nano that divides the aquarium from the rear sump) I liked having the water level high enough that the return wasn’t creating tons of sound and bubbles so I added a flow head to divert the water a bit lower and cut tubing in half lengthwise and stuck it on the wall so it is harder for him to jump back there. It seems to have worked so far.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I’m probably just anthropomorphizing a fish but he does very silly things and swims around the tank like he enjoys it which is nice since the new tank will be slightly larger with better flow and some LPS corals and other fish to keep him company. I kind of wish I got two clowns at the same time but I chose to take it very slow. I love the name popsicle! It’s very cute Happy reefing!

I think you can still get another clown if he/she is a different size. Research on here. I debated a lot whether to get one or two. Went with two because I thought only one would be very lonely. They are meant to be paired I think.

 

[mycograham]

I think you can still get another clown if he/she is a different size. Research on here. I debated a lot whether to get one or two. Went with two because I thought only one would be very lonely. They are meant to be paired I think.

I have read the same thing myself! I have been trying to decide if I should get another Ocellaris of a different size and pattern. I’m also thinking of getting a watchman goby, an orchid dottyback, a small type of blenny, and a wetmorella wrasse.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I have read the same thing myself! I have been trying to decide if I should get another Ocellaris of a different size and pattern. I’m also thinking of getting a watchman goby, an orchid dottyback, a small type of blenny, and a wetmorella wrasse.

The orchid dottyback is pretty but I think the royal gramma is more colorful.

 

[mycograham]

Update 8/28/20

I finally received my tank from WaterBox and I spent the last few days getting it set up. Once it was on the cabinet I acquired locally for $50, I would say it took me only a few hours to set everything up. I attached a video of the setup so far with aquascape. I ended up using 20# of the ocean safe ‘real reef rock’ as well as a little over 10 lbs of CaribSea Ocean Direct sand. Attached is a video I made with the AI prime & vortech MP10 on the tank as well.

 

[mycograham]

Build thread update:

Finally moving out of the ugly phase on this aquarium which is an awesome feeling The tank has just hit the 7 month mark and most of the algae problems have subsided. I’m still dealing with some diatoms and a bit of cyano in the sand, but the rocks have finally started growing coralline algae in many spots (mostly the deep maroon colored type but also some purple and pinks).

It’s been awesome to see many of the corals beginning to really show signs of growth, but I have had trouble with my euphyllia recovering from a massive hair and brown algae bloom on the rocks. I definitely should have waited a bit to put such a sensitive coral in the tank but I got antsy and excited.. whoops. The brown algae actually grew all the way up the euphyllia’s skeleton and I had to dip it and use hydrogen peroxide to try and save it. It has looked much better the last couple weeks and has started to recover which is nice! As far as the rest of the coral livestock, they have grown quite a bit. The Duncan has grown 3 more heads since I originally got it and is starting to encrust the rock I glued it to. The orange, purple and green ricordia Florida has split once and is planning on splitting again. My green eyed platygyra had been encrusting the rock and is really starting to become one of my favorite specimens since it’s feeding display is pretty awesome. The 3 heads of micromussa lord has grown 10 more heads which is incredible to me since I’ve only had it for a few months. The Trachyphyllia has been a very enjoyable coral to watch and has probably become my favorite coral in the tank so far. Also the free rhodactus mushroom from AquaSD when I ordered my corals has finally found a spot in the tank it likes and has started to grow as well. I have been dosing 5-7 drops of polyp booster from PolypLab and target feeding with an ice cap coral feeder with reef roids once a week.

Tony the clownfish has still been dealing with a black spot on his side. I did remove him and keep him in a quarantine tank dosed with metroplex for 3 weeks which seemed to help reduce the spot somewhat. It has been eating happily and back in the WB 20 enjoying eating various pods most of the day which is nice. He still enjoys eating mostly only the Sustainable Aquatics small slow sinking pellets. I did have an algae blenny for about a month but it would not eat any prepared foods (nori, hikari algae wafers/pellets, SA pellets) but ate lots of pods. Unfortunately it passed away I have an orchid dottyback that I rescued from the LFS with lympho and I have been keeping it in the JBJ and it eats lots of SA pellets and has been looking slowly better over the last couple weeks. Probably going to keep it in QT for a while until it looks healthy. (Crossing fingers)

I began to use my kamoer Bluetooth dosing pump with tropic Marin all for reef but I decided to stop running it until the algae bloom had subsided. I plan on Turing it back on in a couple weeks since testing my alk with my Hana checker was reporting a stable 8-9 dkh using it in VERY small amounts. I have been doing around a four gallon water change on Wednesday each week otherwise to keep parameters ‘stable’. As far as nitrate and phosphate I have been almost bottoming out and had to start changing the filter pads on my in tank chamber one insert less often (every 4 days) and reduced the frequency of changing my chemi pure blue packs to every two weeks. I also began dosing the polyp booster and have seen the color return to all the corals since the algae bloom which is nice. I would like to creep my nitrates and phosphate a bit up but I’m doing it very slowly just through feeding (heavy in heavy out kinda concept).

Well if you are still reading and I haven’t bored you enough that’s about it as far as an update. I’ll attach some pictures in case anyone reads this post haha.