Waterbox 20 nem/clown cube

Matt Miller · Jan 5, 2021

Gaspipe said:
coming along nicely! Stick with the plan!!

Thanks!

I did get notice that next week they will start shipping again and will get my clowns! So whenever they are done getting conditioned, they will get shipped to me.

Tomorrow I'm picking up water to fill my 10g QT, and maybe a couple snails to get started. I'm getting pretty excited now for fish!

stylolvr · Jan 5, 2021

Nice setup! I just pulled the trigger on a Duetto ATO. How do you like yours?

Matt Miller · Jan 5, 2021

stylolvr said:
Nice setup! I just pulled the trigger on a Duetto ATO. How do you like yours?

I love it! It's probably my favorite part of this setup. My last tank got me so tired of dumping water daily.
I don't think I'll ever have a tank again without one lol.

Matt Miller · Jan 5, 2021

For the record here's my notes from the cycle.

Matt Miller · Jan 7, 2021

Got my first live "creatures" as my kids called them!

There's a couple nerites? Already buried in the sand, the shrimp ate almost immediately so that makes me feel like it might be ok lol.

I'm thinking if it lives I may order a couple sexy shrimp from my lfs.

Matt Miller · Jan 9, 2021

I think I'm going to go with pom pom crabs and sexy shrimp. So far the peppermint and snails are still alive, that's enough to make me happy right now!

Hopefully next week I'll find out when I can expect my clowns, and maybe by summer ish I can add an anemone.

TriggersAmuck · Jan 17, 2021

Great job exercising patience!

You will love the sexy shrimp, they are such characters! Be aware that in my instance I have added quite a few of them, but only three of them have "stuck". It is possible they are holed up in some invisible corner of my tank, but as much as the other three travel I'm pretty sure I would have seen them by now. I believe in all instances the losses occurred on day 1 or right at introduction. So go slowly acclimating.

TriggersAmuck · Jan 17, 2021

Another thought, if you are going to chance it a bit and add a 'nem at the 6 month mark, you might want to go with a few rock anemones at first, as they seem like tougher customers than the BTAs. The sexy shrimp will take to the rock 'nems right away (obviously the clowns won't, unless they are daft).

(What is implicit in my comment above is that I have lost quite a few BTAs since starting this tank, which surprised me).

Matt Miller · Jan 17, 2021

TriggersAmuck said:
Another thought, if you are going to chance it a bit and add a 'nem at the 6 month mark, you might want to go with a few rock anemones at first, as they seem like tougher customers than the BTAs. The sexy shrimp will take to the rock 'nems right away (obviously the clowns won't, unless they are daft).

(What is implicit in my comment above is that I have lost quite a few BTAs since starting this tank, which surprised me).

Thanks for the tips, I'm trying to setup a package quarantined group right now. 2 clowns, 2-3 pom poms and 2-3 sexys. If all goes well I can get them into my qt a couple weeks before my 76 day mark.

Since I already added some snails and a shrimp I'm letting the tank sit till the 76 day mark.

I do like rock flowers and had thought about filling the sandbed with them.....this isn't helping me slow my spending lol. I do like how this sounds for tank plans though, bta and rock flowers....

Phil D. · Jan 17, 2021

Nice Build Matt!! You can check out my post in the sales area, I have several California Rainbow BTAs up for sale when you are ready

Matt Miller · Jan 17, 2021

Phil D. said:
Nice Build Matt!! You can check out my post in the sales area, I have several California Rainbow BTAs up for sale when you are ready

Thanks Phil! I like those rbtas of yours, I will definitely keep them in mind.

Phil D. · Jan 17, 2021

Good!! Bought the one 2 years ago and now have14, even after selling 6 of them. They love our tanks so much they split all the time.

Matt Miller · Jan 18, 2021

That's awesome, I'm hoping to be ready to add a bta by summer ish. I've already bought one that's being held till I'm ready lol.

I think end of February, early March I should have fish, crabs and shrimp. Then maybe try a handful of rfa's to see how that goes.

I'm thinking about adding some pods now to see if that helps the tank maturing process?

Matt Miller · Jan 18, 2021

TriggersAmuck said:
Another thought, if you are going to chance it a bit and add a 'nem at the 6 month mark, you might want to go with a few rock anemones at first, as they seem like tougher customers than the BTAs. The sexy shrimp will take to the rock 'nems right away (obviously the clowns won't, unless they are daft).

(What is implicit in my comment above is that I have lost quite a few BTAs since starting this tank, which surprised me).

What kind of quarantine do you use for the RFA'S? Do you just dip and drop, or actually quarantine for 2 or more weeks?

I'm asking cuz the quarantine has been my biggest oops in this whole setup. I really wanted fish first and I still put stupid snails in so now I'm stuck waiting that out....and I got stuck with snails I don't even want in here now

TriggersAmuck · Jan 19, 2021

Matt Miller said:
What kind of quarantine do you use for the RFA'S? Do you just dip and drop, or actually quarantine for 2 or more weeks?

I'm asking cuz the quarantine has been my biggest oops in this whole setup. I really wanted fish first and I still put stupid snails in so now I'm stuck waiting that out....and I got stuck with snails I don't even want in here now

Hate to say it, but nothing in my current cube has been quarantined, fish and 'nems (and inverts) included. Not the way to do it I know (and possibly partially the reason behind a few BTAs demise maybe?), but just wasn't having the space to set up a proper quarantine.

Matt Miller · Jan 19, 2021

TriggersAmuck said:
Hate to say it, but nothing in my current cube has been quarantined, fish and 'nems (and inverts) included. Not the way to do it I know (and possibly partially the reason behind a few BTAs demise maybe?), but just wasn't having the space to set up a proper quarantine.

I've seen a lot of people who don't and have success, I'm just trying to take that extra chance to save myself if I can.

I tend to fall in the category of if it can happen it will so I'm going to try to avoid all possibilities.

TriggersAmuck · Jan 19, 2021

Matt Miller said:
I've seen a lot of people who don't and have success, I'm just trying to take that extra chance to save myself if I can.

I tend to fall in the category of if it can happen it will so I'm going to try to avoid all possibilities.

If you can keep a permanent, stable quarantine tank running then that is definitely the preferred method.

Matt Miller · Jan 21, 2021

Resisting the urge to impulse buy a 4 pack of ultras for $100 lol. I don't even have lights on yet

Matt Miller · Jan 26, 2021

I was good, didn't buy anything.

I took out the rock and filter media from dt so I don't cross contaminate the qt. I think I'll just use some pvc for that now.

Here's current fts with 3 snails And 1 peppermint shrimp still alive and eating well.

I need to adjust my flow or nero settings to stop pushing the sand around so much on the front left side of the tank.

I think I'm down to 58 days till I can put fish in, just about time to get clowns and crabs ordered.

TriggersAmuck · Jan 27, 2021

Matt Miller said:
I think I'm down to 58 days till I can put fish in, just about time to get clowns and crabs ordered.

What is driving that timeline for fish? If you do the 2ppm test (add 2+ ppm) of ammonia and it is fully metabolized within 24 hours, that is usually a good test that you are good for a minimal livestock addition.