Waterbox 20 first reef build

[tinyfellows]

Hello reef2reef I’m starting build thread for my first reef. I have been running freshwater planted tanks but I’m going to be shutting down my high tech shrimp tank. I originally got into the freshwater to get a grip on the hobby. My wife and I live in a tiny home on wheels so my tank will be in a loft. After many months of looking at an empty tank and a pile of gear that kept growing I finally got water in the tank. On 3/17 my rock and live sand finally went into the tank. I got live rock from my lfs and between the rock, sand, and microbacter xlm my tank cycled in 6 days.

Equipment:
Water box 20
Light reef 50 LED
Return pump im mighty jet desktop
Heater neo therm pro 100
Heater controller inkbird wifi
Skimmer eshopps
Tunze nano ato
Lid top lid with evap lid
Salt tropic Marin pro (German)
RODI brs 4 stage 75gpd
power head Nero 3 x2
Rock 14 pounds live rock from local store Seattle coral
Sand Carib sea live sand special grade



Livestock
Clown pair, shrimp goby pair, orchid dotty back, and sexy shrimp

CUC:
Haven’t decided but will probably do the usual mix of snails, hermit crabs, and a cleaner shrimp

Coral:
Probably will stick with east softies maybe some lps and a zoa garden
I’m on the fence about doing a bubble tip anemone for the clowns but am wary with the horror stories I have read.
section 1
Intank media basket: poly fill marine pure balls and carbon when needed

section 2
Skimmer extra marine pure balls to seed qt when needed

section 3 ato heater and return pump

Tank was started in 3/16/21




one month old 4/16

2 month update

5 month

 

[SPR1968]

Welcome and we need pictures!

 

[tinyfellows]

Pictures will be coming soon the tank and the light should be arriving this week so I will show where the tanks going to go and start making the stand.

 

[tinyfellows]

Unfortunately with the holidays, shipping problems, and the winter storm we experienced in the PNW my tank has still not arrived so I wasn’t able to get started on my stand over the holidays like I was hoping to.

 

[tinyfellows]

Santa came late to my house. Just need a couple more pieces of gear then it will be a test of my patience to see if I can wait till ski season is done (April) to set it up so I’m not out skiing nights and weekends

 

[tinyfellows]

Started my leak test fingers crossed there is no issue

 

[CrimsonTide]

Goodluck this will be a fun little tank for you. Hope ot didn't leak. Sounds like you're not waiting till the end of ski season.

 

[tinyfellows]

Emptied the tank after testing it for leaks thankfully there was none. However I wish I could say the same for my tiny home just found major leaking from all the windows and now are in a back and forth with the builder as it’s 2 years old and there are clear signs of negligence on their part. Once we figure out what the plan is for fixing it I will set the tank up. Unless it needs to be moved back to the builder to fix. 2022 starting out like a dumpster fire like 2020 and 2021.

 

[tinyfellows]

My ato reservoir and lid from top lids come tomorrow and that will be the last of my gear I need. Other than my sand rock salt and test kits which I’m going to pick up at my lfs next week and start setting up the tank next Thursday. I couldn’t wait till ski season is over especially since my wife is leaving for a week. So I’m going to have some time on my hands.

 

[tinyfellows]

Picked up some live rock from a tank break down they were selling at my lfs and some special grade Carib sea live sand. I forgot to take a picture before I clouded up the tank with sand so once it clears up I will post a picture of the rock work. I have never had an eye for creating aquascapes so it’s nothing special but I think I will work. I also added some microbacer xlm probably over kill but I wanted to make sure I had a nice biodiversity from the start. Also why I went with the tank tear down rock

 

[tinyfellows]

I have Mac spec nano spheres and I’m wondering how to determine how many spheres I should use any suggestions?

 

[tinyfellows]

I am amazed by the live rock, bacteria, and live sand just tested my tank 24 hours hour after adding them to the tank my my parameters are ammonia .25 nitrite .5 and nitrate 25. I was going to do my first water change after a week but with the nitrate levels already getting this high should I do one earlier or is it best to just let the tank sit and do it’s thing? Also here is a picture of my rock work. The front rock is going to be a zoa garden. Sorry for the reflection photography is another thing that isn’t my strong suit.

 

[tinyfellows]

Just read of R2r that the Salifert nitrate test will give a false reading if there is nitrite present so l won’t be testing nitrate till my nitrite zero out

 

[tinyfellows]

Things are progressing nicely my ammonia is down to .1 and my nitrites are .1 as well. I also saw an asterina star cruising around. I also added tigger pods today

 

[tinyfellows]

I’ve also learned the hard way to turn the ato off when pulling equipment out of the water. I was repositioning the cord on my skimmer and had to pull it out of the back chamber and when I did my ato dumped Rodi into the tank. But at least I’m learning these things before anything is in the tank other than the star fish and whatever else came in on the rock

 

[tinyfellows]

my cycle has finished already so I went and picked up a couple corals. I got a mushroom an scan and some Zoas. Doubt any of them have any fancy name or anything cause they were in the cheap section or the store. The acan and zoas were closed up so I didn’t get a picture yet. But here is a picture of the mushroom

 

[tinyfellows]

The zoas were open and happy today and the mushroom was looking puffy. The acan was a little lore open today but still closed up. I’m going to do my first water change tomorrow and Thursday plus feed the corals some reef roids. Here is a picture of the zoas I got

 

[tinyfellows]

I was feeding reef roids to my corals today and noticed a bristle worm crawling around phew those are nasty looking I was happy to find that they aren’t a bad hitch hiker. I also noticed something else crawling around but wasn’t able to get a good look at it before it went into my rock so I will be keeping my eye out for it again. Looked to be a small circular creature. I am also starting to get some turf algae so I will be picking up some Cuc tomorrow after work.

 

[tinyfellows]

Went to my lfs seaking to get some clean up crew. I left with a turbo snail, margarita snail, emerald crab, hermit crab, and a Duncan. I didn’t plan on getting a Duncan but as everyone know it’s so hard to so no to coral. Here is a picture of the emerald crab and Duncan after they I put them in. The Duncan is closed from dipping and transport so I will post another picture once it opens up. You can also see my mushroom still acclimating to the light in the sand

 

[tinyfellows]

Things are going well with the tank. The uglies have started today diatoms started to show up on the sand. My zoas mushroom and Duncan’s are looking good. My acan is not doing super well I moved it up the rock work thinking it wanted more lighting but it started to bleach. So now it’s back on the sand recovering. I’m having some trouble with my duetto ato it keeps over filling my tank way past the sensor. So I’m waiting to hear back from aqua xp about whether it’s a warranty issue. I’m waiting for a media back from brs so I can start running carbon as I noticed my water during my last water change was getting a little yellow.