Shell Island - Rookie Waterbox Reef 100.3 Build Thread

[Radman73]

Congrats! My kids were 8 and 5 when I got my first tank. And yes, our first fish were clowns. They're still with me nearly ten years later. Glad you got everything with the return figured out.

As for QT, I recommend picking up a 10gal or 20gal, HOB filter, air pump, and small power head. That and a bunch of PVC pipes and fittings is all that's really needed. Unless you go with sand burrowing wrasses, in which case add one of your wife's small pyrex dishes with some sand and ask for forgiveness later . This should all cost only ~$50 plus the drive to the nearest Petco(which may be a haul for you) when they have their $1/gal sale. Your tank is large enough that at some point you're not going to want to risk wiping the tank out. Just remember to set the QT tank up in a different room.

With regards to acclimation, I float for 15 minutes, poke a small hole to check salinity, and if the destination salinity is .01 higher or up to .03 lower in goes the fish. Many swear by drip acclimating as well. There are great resources on this site so you can find a method you're comfortable with and that makes sense to you.

Good luck with the fish!

If you go back to Atlanta, drive a little further to Pure Reef. Fabulous store and really nice people.

 

[DothanReefer]

Congrats! My kids were 8 and 5 when I got my first tank. And yes, our first fish were clowns. They're still with me nearly ten years later. Glad you got everything with the return figured out.

As for QT, I recommend picking up a 10gal or 20gal, HOB filter, air pump, and small power head. That and a bunch of PVC pipes and fittings is all that's really needed. Unless you go with sand burrowing wrasses, in which case add one of your wife's small pyrex dishes with some sand and ask for forgiveness later . This should all cost only ~$50 plus the drive to the nearest Petco(which may be a haul for you) when they have their $1/gal sale. Your tank is large enough that at some point you're not going to want to risk wiping the tank out. Just remember to set the QT tank up in a different room.

With regards to acclimation, I float for 15 minutes, poke a small hole to check salinity, and if the destination salinity is .01 higher or up to .03 lower in goes the fish. Many swear by drip acclimating as well. There are great resources on this site so you can find a method you're comfortable with and that makes sense to you.

Good luck with the fish!

If you go back to Atlanta, drive a little further to Pure Reef. Fabulous store and really nice people.

Thanks so much for the input and recommendations! We have a Petsmart in town so maybe I can grab a 10-20g TopFin setup or something. I'll definitely check out Pure Reef next time we are in ATL.

 

[DothanReefer]

Update:
The clowns are alive and well. They are finally eating a little bit. Though, I've tried feeding PE Mysis after melting the cube in RODI water, but they don't seem to want it. They'll suck a piece in and then spit it back out. This morning they finally ate some "Omega One Marine Pellets *with Garlic" and some "New Life Spectrum Marine Formula" - though not much.

The larger of the two had some white stringy poop yesterday. I haven't noticed anymore today yet, but I grabbed API General Cure from Petsmart in case I need to medicate them. If I do, hopefully that can be done in the DT as I still have no hospital/quarantine tank. We'll see what her poop looks like later today hopefully. Other than poop, they both look great to my untrained eye.

I learned today that I shouldve started the skimmer before adding fish, but I didn't. Now I kind of wish I had. So, today, I'm going to be turning it on and trying to get it tuned. Any recs/input are always welcomed - it's a NYOS Quantum 120.

Lastly, before pics, I cant seem to get my Vectra M2 to operate at any sort of increased power. It's on the lowest setting. Anytime I increase it, it creates a crazy drain pipe flow in the sump - splashing and bubbling. It was recommended to me to grab the Ecotech Reeflink and try to fine tune with that and gate valve adjustments. So, ordered Reeflink.

Considering dosing Vibrant as nuisance algae preventative. Haven't decided on that yet as the tank is still in its infancy of cycle stage.

 

[Radman73]

Thanks so much for the input and recommendations! We have a Petsmart in town so maybe I can grab a 10-20g TopFin setup or something. I'll definitely check out Pure Reef next time we are in ATL.

Sharing this hobby with your kids is one of the most rewarding aspects. We went to Sea World once and there's an aquarium near their Manta ride. They usually have an educational employee standing there. At 9 or 10yo my daughter was telling him the different types of nearly all the fish. Then she started naming corals lol! Surprising how much they soak up. So definitely include the kids as much as you can. My daughter still comes into my office just to look at the tank. My son less often.

 

[DothanReefer]

Sorry, I know, my camera work has to improve!! Lol

 

[Radman73]

Update:
The clowns are alive and well. They are finally eating a little bit. Though, I've tried feeding PE Mysis after melting the cube in RODI water, but they don't seem to want it. They'll suck a piece in and then spit it back out. This morning they finally ate some "Omega One Marine Pellets *with Garlic" and some "New Life Spectrum Marine Formula" - though not much.

The larger of the two had some white stringy poop yesterday. I haven't noticed anymore today yet, but I grabbed API General Cure from Petsmart in case I need to medicate them. If I do, hopefully that can be done in the DT as I still have no hospital/quarantine tank. We'll see what her poop looks like later today hopefully. Other than poop, they both look great to my untrained eye.

I learned today that I shouldve started the skimmer before adding fish, but I didn't. Now I kind of wish I had. So, today, I'm going to be turning it on and trying to get it tuned. Any recs/input are always welcomed - it's a NYOS Quantum 120.

Lastly, before pics, I cant seem to get my Vectra M2 to operate at any sort of increased power. It's on the lowest setting. Anytime I increase it, it creates a crazy drain pipe flow in the sump - splashing and bubbling. It was recommended to me to grab the Ecotech Reeflink and try to fine tune with that and gate valve adjustments. So, ordered Reeflink.

Considering dosing Vibrant as nuisance algae preventative. Haven't decided on that yet as the tank is still in its infancy of cycle stage.

Good to hear on the fish. IIRC API GC is a combo of metro and Prazi. If you can pick up plain prazi pro, that is reef safe. General Cure is a good product, I use it regularly in QT, but I would also be leery of dosing in the DT. Monitor for ammonia if you dose it and keep some prime on hand. Research it here first. My recommendation is to not dose to DT.

You have a 5gal bucket right? You could always turn that into a QT tank. Just get an air pump and some prime.

 

[DothanReefer]

Good to hear on the fish. IIRC API GC is a combo of metro and Prazi. If you can pick up plain prazi pro, that is reef safe. General Cure is a good product, I use it regularly in QT, but I would also be leery of dosing in the DT. Monitor for ammonia if you dose it and keep some prime on hand. Research it here first. My recommendation is to not dose to DT.

You have a 5gal bucket right? You could always turn that into a QT tank. Just get an air pump and some prime.

Yep, sure do. That's a good idea.

Got PraziPro on way. Ordered basically a fish hospital last night at 1AM...lol.

Think I'm gonna just watch her for now, hopefully the stringy poop was a one time/shipping stress thing...or maybe food related. If it continues, I'll have to dose...I just want to be ready in case.

 

[DothanReefer]

Day 9 of having fish in the tank and they are doing great! I feed them some medicated food for about 3 days and now, no more white stringy poop. Worked out well!!

I'm in the process of breaking in the Nyos 120 skimmer - it is a bubble billions machine - i mean bubbles everywhere. I'm ending day three of continuous operation with air valve closed. We'll see how long it takes.

I added the XR15s today. They are G5 versions. I mounted them using the Ecotech RMS kit with adapter for G5s. However, now that they are mounted, they are not level to each other and they seem to aim toward the backwall a bit. I'm lost as to why they aren't the exact same height- see picture below - any input is welcomed as always.

I'm considering a cleanup crew now as they will most likely be my next additions. Tank has been cycling now for almost 2 weeks and still no ammonia. Nitrites are at 0.10ppm and Nitrates are at 2.00ppm. I'm still not sure what to do next other than just continue to stay patient.

This is what the skimmer was/is doing when the air valve is opened...hopefully, this will calm down and it'll work properly in short order.

For now, gotta figure out these lights and why they aren't level - kind of ridiculous considering the cost of the equipment imo.

Thanks for checking it out !

 

[dohc97]

Is there a way to control pump output on the skimmer also? You are doing a good job so far. On the lights you might to see if something is bent on the bracket

 

[Hugo’s_Reef]

Nice !! Your off to a good start . I have a similar build as well and I just went through the whole breaking in the nyos skimmer situation. It was kinda frustrating since their is not much information up there .i think I have it tuned finally . It was like a whole week process .

 

[DothanReefer]

Everything is settling in nicely. I have not seen anymore white string poop after feeding medicated food for 3 days. Will be running all parameters tests tonight to see where we are on cycle. I have CUC ordered from @reefcleaners , should be here by Friday.

And, I couldn't help myself, I made my first coral purchase over the weekend from the @Zoanthids live sale!! They are supposed to ship on the 30th.

The skimmer has finally settled in. Its actually producing skimmate now! Watery still, but I expect that will change over time as bioload increases.

To-do's

1. Install PC-100A power strip
2. Install ATO
3. Glue vulnerable rocks (can this be done with BRS super glue in the water in display?)
4. Cable mgmt
5. Find a PROPER Lid (recs welcomed!!!!)

I bought a pedestal rock piece from BRS to add in, but I think its too big. May experiment with it later tonight....it is completely dry, white Marco rock...I feel like I need a little more surface area in display - may just add the 2 rocks from sump in there...

The lights are working good. They were a headache to get connected, but once connected they've operated flawlessly. I wish there was a manual for adjusting them - it seems all the presets are VERY blue throughout the day and it'd be nice to just tone it down a tiny bit. But, I'm worried about playing with the Mobius app too much as some folks on here have experienced some issues. Hopefully, I can avoid the issues.

I'm very close to pulling trigger on Seneye. I would've already if not for unknown around their release date of new version "Seneye Coral" that will include alk monitoring. Wish I knew if current models would be upgradeable? If anyone does, please let me know. Also, its tough to justify $500 for seneye when Apex is just a couple more...but no PAR monitor and I really don't have space to put anything for the Apex to control...really having a hard time deciding which way to go here.

Here are some pics, and as always, thanks for checking it out!

 

[DothanReefer]

Alright, time for an update...I'll do that later tonight...

Right now, I'm concerned about what this is!? Anyone?

I just added about 20 tiny CUC on Saturday. More on that in the update later tonight. Running about 12 tbls of carbon in a bag in one of the socks as well.. Other than that, everything is the same...

I'm wigging. Have first coral arriving later this week and not sure what to do!? How can I identify this?

 

[DothanReefer]

UPDATE:
The tank is doing great so far!! I know I've pushed the limit by adding a few corals, but honestly, I just don't know how new reefers can wait 6mos to a year to add corals as some on here have suggested. I purchased my first corals via live sale on R2R two weeks ago with Zoanthids.com. They arrived two days ago (Thursday) and all seem to be doing pretty well - more on those in a bit.

Since my last update, I've gotten the lighting tuned a bit and added a couple pieces of equipment.

Added:
1. Seneye Reef - purchased for PAR meter but the pH and ammonia monitor have been great tools for completing the cycle and piece of mind. It was simple to setup, hardest part is soaking the slide and waiting 48hrs to get the pH/Ammonia readings. But that gave me plenty of time to use the PAR meter and adjust the lights accordingly.
2. XP Aqua Duetto - ATO system that was super simple to install and works great so far.
3. Carbon bag - got some BRS ROX .08 carbon and tried running in cup, but changed back to just dropping the bag in a regular felt filter sock. I'm considering a reactor for future purchase - really like the look/design of the Nyos Torq but reviews have me sketchy on it...
4. Random Flow Generators - these came with the WB, but I had been using the nozzles that send out a stronger flow. I decided to try these and I'm super happy with the results. I'm able to get more power out of the M2 and flow is the tank is much more random - more powered flow can be generated with the MP40.
5. 10% Weekly Water Change - done this twice so far, may scale back to 15% bi-weekly as time goes on depending on what PO4 and NO3 do. Skimmer is running really wet, so we'll see.

Water parameters have stabilized around this:
pH - 8.2 (RS/Seneye)
dKH - 7.0 (RS/Hanna)
NH3/NH4 - 0.001 ppm(RS/Seneye)
NO2 - 0.00 ppm (RS)
NO3 - 5.00 ppm (RS)
PO4 - 0.100 ppm (Hanna)
Ca - 450 ppm (RS)
Mg - 1400 ppm (RS)
Salinity - 1.025 sg (Hanna)
Temp - 77.6 F (Hanna/Seneye)

I added the CUC two weeks ago and they are doing great! As you've seen with my last post, I had some diatoms, but it hasn't gotten out of control and the CUC has largely kept it in check. I have Cerith, Nerite and Nassarius snails as well as a few blue leg hermits. I still want a few Trochus and Astraea snails and a cleaner shrimp of some variety.

All right, the corals. Well....I figured if I'm gonna have some corals this early, might as well jump in full-on. So, I received my shipment of 15 or so frags to see what I like and what my tank will handle right now. A few zoas/palys, a few favia/favites, a goni, an echinata, a leptastrea, a cyphastrea, a hammer and a jedi mind trick monti. Now, I'm not expecting all of this to survive - I know its early. But, I wanted to see where my tank stands and what is needed to get where I want to be. So far, 3 days in, everything seems happy and doing well!! The hammer, zoas/palys, leptastrea and goniapora have all opened up and extended nicely! The favia are beautifully colored up. The only one that I can't figure out yet is the echinata. It seems like it's very dark in color still. Maybe it needs more light? Maybe a better established tank? Not sure, but I'm not giving up. Right now, it's at about 100PAR with moderate flow. The monti is higher in the tank with about 140PAR and mod-high flow and seems to like it there. I'm going to watch both closely over coming week and see how they respond.

I know eventually, these tiny frags will grow and I'll need to dose along with my water change schedule. I plan to test every 3 days until I see changes in parameters that warrant dosing. I have a bottle of PolypLab One on standby for when that day comes. Not sure if its the best for what I'm doing, but it'll work for now until I develop my knowledge and understanding of the corals.

As soon as they are a little easier to come by, I still want a few more fish. I'd love to find a baby tang and baby copperband, but right now just gonna let everything settle for a little while.

That's all for now. As always, thanks for checking it out!!

And yes, of course, I know this was not textbook on timing of coral additions. Please keep the blasting to a minimum if you must. I've always had to learn the hard way

 

[DothanReefer]

Most of the corals are doing good so far. One Zoa still hasn't fully opened - it has 4 polyps and only 3 have opened. Though, only 1 opens regularly - the others stay closed for the most part.

I'm slowly tuning up the lights using the "Schedule" function on Mobius. Need to recheck PAR with Seneye as I've slightly adjusted down the whites.

The Goni seems to be doing the best out of all the pieces. Opens everyday extending way out. And the Leptastrea - its been open/extended since day 1. Hammer is doing well, haven't noticed anymore worms - I check regularly w magnifying glass.

I am struggling with finding happiness for the favia. Any help would be much appreciated. Right now, they are all center bottom - med flow, med light. Read somewhere that they may like lower flow/light, so I may move them.

Check out these tentacles this Favia was throwing out this morning during feeding!!
YouTube - Favia Tentacles?

 

[keywestreefer]

Thanks for the build thread. How is the tank holding up? And the coral? I just pulled the trigger on the 100.3 and the wait begins.

 

[DothanReefer]

Thanks for the build thread. How is the tank holding up? And the coral? I just pulled the trigger on the 100.3 and the wait begins.

The tank is awesome! Can't recommend it enough. I've got no complaints! Its completely silent and crystal clear. I'll be doing an update later today - I've made a couple changes and added some more fish and corals.

Thanks for checking out the build!

 

[keywestreefer]

The tank is awesome! Can't recommend it enough. I've got no complaints! Its completely silent and crystal clear. I'll be doing an update later today - I've made a couple changes and added some more fish and corals.

Thanks for checking out the build!

Looking forward to the update. Shortly after I replied here the wife agreed to let me get the 130.4. It will be here Thursday!!! Soooo excited.

 

[DothanReefer]

Update:
The month of May has flown by!! I've enjoyed every second of it even though there have certainly been some challenges with the reef along the way. Ive added a lot more coral and few new fish. I also added another MP40 for the other side of the overflow box. This has helped even out flow tremendously - with the use of Master/Slave relationships available via Ecotech Live.

Additions:
1. Too many corals to list, I'll cataloge them and not them specifically in a separate thread when I have time. But let's just say I have all kinds in there, SPS, LPS and Softies...and so far, they are all alive and growing.
2. Royal Gramma
3. Yellow Tang
4. Blue Hippo Tang
5. Court Jester Goby
6. 5 Spiny Star Astraea Snails
7. 5 Trochus Snails
8. 2 rounds of Pod additions from AlgaeBarn (injected 2nd batch into sandbed)

Ive participated in 4 live sale events over the past month and a half. Zoanthids.com being the first, then Top Shelf Aquatics, then World Wide Corals, and most recently TCK Corals. Had a blast doing it!! But, I think I went a little overboard with the WWC sale - package arrived and I realized I bought almost 40 corals!!! Ug oh...

So, needless to say, but at some point in my reef habitat there will be some natural selection taking place unless I buy more real estate in the coming year for the overgrowth. Should be fun to watch!

Parameters have all been very stable somehow and thankfully. I use Red Sea Master Kit, Seneye and Hanna Checkers.

pH - 8.3
dKH - 7
Am - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 2-5 ppm
Sal - 1.025sg
Temp - 76.7 F
Ca - 450ppm
PO4 - 0.10ppm
Mg - 1350ppm

I've been doing 15% biweekly water changes. I've had a second round of diatoms (after adding all the WWC stuff) but its fading now. I had a bunch of hair algae growing when I added the tangs, literally the next day, it was gone. Completely. Now I feed the yellow tang (Bubbles, of course) some Omega Seaweed via veggie clip every other day. Unfortunately, the blue hippo did not make it. Dory passed on 5/28 just 10 days after arrival. I'm not sure what happened, all the other fish are fine and there has been no aggression. There are no crabs/critters large enough to kill any of my fish (the tangs were the smaller variety because of my tank size). Live Aquaria says they will provide store credit so we'll see. Right now, I'm worried the blue tang may have brought disease with her so I'm prepared with a hospital tank I picked up at Petsmart. We'll see.

I know I'm asking for trouble by not quarantining new arrivals, but up until now I haven't the space for another tank. I've got that now so I hope to begin QT with any new fish arrivals in the future. Think I'm set on corals for a while

Some pics, and as always, thanks for checking it out!!

My goal this weekend:
Mount Corals!!!

Stay safe, until next time - Peace!

 

[keywestreefer]

WOW- What a handful of corals you have there LOL. How are you looking now? Any further issues? How is the Seneye working out?

 

[DothanReefer]

WOW- What a handful of corals you have there LOL. How are you looking now? Any further issues? How is the Seneye working out?

Lol, tell me about it. The best thing I know to say at this point is heed the advice of those who've done this before and take it sloooowwww....i wish I could go back. Its been exciting but not worth the loss and headache.

So I lost the royal gramma, the blue tang and the larger clown to ich/velvet. I was able to catch and quarantine the small clown and the large clown with cupramine, but the large didn't make it. I wasn't able to catch the yellow, the RG or the goby. They are all still in display - RG died very quickly, but the yellow tang didn't. The tang had whitespot all over (even on his eyes), but never stopped eating and now they are gone. Ive started my first round of Polyplab Medic, so we'll see if that helps.

I've also discovered bubble algae and aptaisia. Ive cut it out each time I've noticed, so hopefully I can keep those things at bay. So far so good. The aptaisia came in on a snail from WWC unfortunately. I didn't catch it because I was so busy that day getting the 40+ corals dipped and dropped (geeeeez, headknocker...). The bubble algae had to have come in on a frag at some point and I just missed it. But, both are relatively mild cases so far. Not to worried about these yet.

The Seneye has been great. Ive used it quite a few times to get my lights dialed in. And the pH/Amm monitor has been flawless. I love it!! Really not sure how I could ever go back to not having it. One thing I learned tho - if your slide expires, so does the stored data if you do not connect it to internet before expiration. I lost about a weeks worth of data due to this. Now I have backup slides ready to go though.

Ive added two shrimp to help with the parasites and literally, within the first 20 min the yellow tang was begging the scarlet skunk cleaner to clean him. And he DID!! It was amazing to watch for the first time!! Now, everyday, the tang comes by his cave and the shrimp goes for a ride while cleaning the dead skin/parasites off of him. Ill try to get a video - its soo cool to see if youve never seen it. I also added a blood red fire shrimp, but he's been more reclusive thus far.

I'll try to add some pics later, as always, thanks for checking it out!!