KyleJ42
Active Member
I second the whole “petco” thing. Ive bought two regular ocellaris clowns from them before, and both were super healthy/lasted years. Still going in the persons tank i gave them away to as well! Fat and healthy lol.
The ubiquitous first timer Waterbox 20 Build. lots of pics!
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Steve089
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waterbox 20 still doing its cycle thing, im in no hurry...reading ammonia at 1.0, nitrite at .5 nitrate at 0.
kinda seperate but related update....got a great deal on craigslist that I couldn't pass up...live rock, candy apple zoas colony, gsp, 3 small bubble tip anems, 2 mushrooms, and some other polyps. all for about 30% of regular retail. have it all set up in a 5 gallon pico that im monitoring like a hawk.
as of today zoas are finally opening up and BTA seems like its happy! probably will upgrade this to a cheap 10 gal once the BTAs start growing...tank has a nicrew hyper reef light on a timer (lowest power), small return pump for flow, heater dialed into 78*
none of this is going into the waterbox 20, more a side project to scratch the itch and apply some of the knowledge Ive learned thus far... at most, I might frag some zoas and place in there in a few months.
anyways thanks for looking!
kinda seperate but related update....got a great deal on craigslist that I couldn't pass up...live rock, candy apple zoas colony, gsp, 3 small bubble tip anems, 2 mushrooms, and some other polyps. all for about 30% of regular retail. have it all set up in a 5 gallon pico that im monitoring like a hawk.
as of today zoas are finally opening up and BTA seems like its happy! probably will upgrade this to a cheap 10 gal once the BTAs start growing...tank has a nicrew hyper reef light on a timer (lowest power), small return pump for flow, heater dialed into 78*
none of this is going into the waterbox 20, more a side project to scratch the itch and apply some of the knowledge Ive learned thus far... at most, I might frag some zoas and place in there in a few months.
anyways thanks for looking!
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btmedic04
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Sweet entry into the hobby! I can see MTS has already taken hold lol. Truth be told, it happens to us all. I currently have 3 tanks (40b reef, nuvo 10 reef, 20L frag tank) and I'm seriously contemplating the new waterbox marine x 110.4
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Steve089
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@btmedic04 saw the marine x series today! def sweet and a worthy future setup to work towards
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Steve089
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the pico...zoas, GSP, and paly are doing great. got 2 ricordia, rock flower anem at LFS this weekend and dropped in there. looking forward to making my own frags to drop in the WB-20 once it’s cycled.
BTAs are small and look healthy, but I know they are sensitive to changing params, need pristine water, strong light, and need mature tanks (not an idiot with a 5gal pico that was set up with live rock in a day)...had to buy BTAs with the other corals when I got the deal off of CL, but considering re-homing to a more experienced keeper if I end up moving all corals to other thank once it finishes cycling.
BTAs are small and look healthy, but I know they are sensitive to changing params, need pristine water, strong light, and need mature tanks (not an idiot with a 5gal pico that was set up with live rock in a day)...had to buy BTAs with the other corals when I got the deal off of CL, but considering re-homing to a more experienced keeper if I end up moving all corals to other thank once it finishes cycling.
btmedic04
Well-Known Member
Looks great! When I combined two smaller tanks into a larger, I was concerned for my BTA as well. What I ended up doing was cycling the new rock in a 5 gallon bucket with saltwater and a powerhead and dosed Dr. Tims ammonium chloride. After it had completely cycled, I moved over the old rock, used new sand and used several gallons of old water from my other tanks. My BTA didnt move from that spot for a year despite the tank transfer. In fact, the only reason it did move was because it got too big to keep all of its foot in the hole it had found lol
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Steve089
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waterbox 20 still cycling: 1.0ppm ammonia, .75ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate
ended up getting another CL deal, this time a 16 month old IM nuvo 20 full setup with all the fixins plus some LPS for a killer price. will be my grow out tank for the anems. picking up friday! will post pics once I have it set up. Goal is to stop there (who am I kidding)...2, 20gal tanks!
meanwhile, explosion of growth in the pico holding tank in just 10 days. palys are taking off
ended up getting another CL deal, this time a 16 month old IM nuvo 20 full setup with all the fixins plus some LPS for a killer price. will be my grow out tank for the anems. picking up friday! will post pics once I have it set up. Goal is to stop there (who am I kidding)...2, 20gal tanks!
meanwhile, explosion of growth in the pico holding tank in just 10 days. palys are taking off
Everything Aquatics
Well-Known Member
What zoa are in the last picturewaterbox 20 still cycling: 1.0ppm ammonia, .75ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate
ended up getting another CL deal, this time a 16 month old IM nuvo 20 full setup with all the fixins plus some LPS for a killer price. will be my grow out tank for the anems. picking up friday! will post pics once I have it set up. Goal is to stop there (who am I kidding)...2, 20gal tanks!
meanwhile, explosion of growth in the pico holding tank in just 10 days. palys are taking off
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Steve089
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i believe candy apple?
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Steve089
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picking up the IM 20 setup today. had to move to waterbox to a new biocube 29/32 stand so the IM 20 can go on the wider stand. will post pics of both when im done, but IMO the waterbox looks good on the biocube stand...read the bad reviews and took a gamble ordering this stand on amazon, came undamaged thankfully
IM going in the corner in the last pic, lots of ambient light in that room but not direct
edit: obligatory pico coral pic
IM going in the corner in the last pic, lots of ambient light in that room but not direct
edit: obligatory pico coral pic
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Steve089
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i like how this thread went from, oh im setting up a waterbox 20 to...now I have 2 nanos and a pico 
picked up the IM20, everything is in fantastic shape. the AI prime alone was worth 2/5 the cost of the entire package ($500). came with: tank/lid, a BRS RODI, icecap gyre, duetto ATO, all the test kits, box of salt, extra dry rock, sand, heaters, mixing pumps...livestock: fire fish and a cleaner shrimp. corals: like 3 diff acans, xenia, hammer, and one or two others i haven’t ID,d yet.
will post more pics when the water clears up!
picked up the IM20, everything is in fantastic shape. the AI prime alone was worth 2/5 the cost of the entire package ($500). came with: tank/lid, a BRS RODI, icecap gyre, duetto ATO, all the test kits, box of salt, extra dry rock, sand, heaters, mixing pumps...livestock: fire fish and a cleaner shrimp. corals: like 3 diff acans, xenia, hammer, and one or two others i haven’t ID,d yet.
will post more pics when the water clears up!
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Steve089
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things cleared up a bit, tank was super cruddy after the move. ordered a filter floss holder so I don’t have to run filter socks for the IM20. firefish finally came out and is taking flakes
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Steve089
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waterbox 20 still cycling. test results below.
I was watching BRS lessons learned video on ULM setups and they were mentioning challenges with bare bottom AND dry rock setups in terms of the tank taking longer to go through its rythm and establish itself compared to a tank that at least had live sand in it along with dry rock.
contemplating adding sand, carib sea special grade to the WB
I was watching BRS lessons learned video on ULM setups and they were mentioning challenges with bare bottom AND dry rock setups in terms of the tank taking longer to go through its rythm and establish itself compared to a tank that at least had live sand in it along with dry rock.
contemplating adding sand, carib sea special grade to the WB
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Steve089
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broke down the pico and did away with my BTAs at an LFS. finally like how the IM20 is looking. for a scape plan, left side is soft/rock flower anems and then right side is LPS.
soft side: plan on having zoa garden on the left at the base, riccordia on right side base (got blue and orange ones coming tomorrow)
right side plan is LPS! hope to add a gold hammer, branching frogspawn in the future, maybe a few more acans
soft side: plan on having zoa garden on the left at the base, riccordia on right side base (got blue and orange ones coming tomorrow)
right side plan is LPS! hope to add a gold hammer, branching frogspawn in the future, maybe a few more acans
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Steve089
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waterbox 20 still cycling. now convinced I got a bad or dead batch of live starter bacteria. butttt we’re being patient because the IM20 is coming along nicely. got the scape how I want it. picked up a finger leather, hammer, and some mushrooms at a frag swap yestrday (traded for heaps of GSP, fragged a piece of save for myself though)...thinking some of the softies in this tank will be testing the waters for the WB20 once it’s done cycling. picked up a AI Nero 3 for the WB as well to replace the hygger powerhead that’s in there now.
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Steve089
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update! the WB 20 is finally cycled. decided to add sand after all and in the end I think it’s a good choice for a better start to the tank.
took down the QT tank after I got the IM20, BUT I have 2 Picasso clowns coming from quarantined fish next wed! excited to finally stock it and get on with the uglies!
been learning a TON from the IM20...cyano, bubble algae, aptasia (nipped that early) and bryopsis. makes me feel better that I have a little experience now with tank maintenance, importance of a well rounded CUC, and removing unwanted algae from the tank. cyano taught me a great deal about flow,
so I’m adding a second powerhead into the WB20, jebao OW-10
some green palys from the IM20 will be the first in the WB20 to test the waters
thanks for reading, pics for your time (IM20):
took down the QT tank after I got the IM20, BUT I have 2 Picasso clowns coming from quarantined fish next wed! excited to finally stock it and get on with the uglies!
been learning a TON from the IM20...cyano, bubble algae, aptasia (nipped that early) and bryopsis. makes me feel better that I have a little experience now with tank maintenance, importance of a well rounded CUC, and removing unwanted algae from the tank. cyano taught me a great deal about flow,
so I’m adding a second powerhead into the WB20, jebao OW-10
some green palys from the IM20 will be the first in the WB20 to test the waters
thanks for reading, pics for your time (IM20):
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