Waterbox Cube 20

[Bwlynn]

Hello fellow reefers,
I’ve been away from the reefing hobby for a few years but started getting email advertisements from different coral farms…. Which lured me back in, so I’m sharing my new tank build.
It’s a Waterbox 20 cube AIO. The equipment upgrades are a bit overkill but here they are:

Eco tech Radion Xr 30 second gen. set to 30% max and running a lps and softie default template schedule.

Red Sea Wave 25 gyre powerhead set to 20% max and a random program.

Apex A3 controller.

I’m not using a skimmer, instead I’ll try to keep up with filter floss, chemipure blue when needed and 10% water changes every 2 weeks.

The end goal will be a zoa garden with mushrooms and a few toadstools. Maybe an lps or two but I’m not dosing for Ca, Alk, or Mag so I don’t want to get carried away with lps or sps.

The livestock list will be a pair of storm clown fish, a yashiba goby and a possum wrasse or six line wrasse. So four total fish. The invert list will be a few Trocus, Nasarius and Cerith snails, Halloween or blue hermit crabs and potentially a cleaner shrimp and blue tuxedo urchin. I may get a few peppermint shrimp now for aptasia that will eventually appear.

I’ve completed the nitrogen cycle. My local fish store is having a sale so I’m going to get a few corals and inverts and maybe a fish.

Thank for your interest and take care!

 

[Peace River]

Welcome back to the hobby! It looks like you are off to a good start - congratulations on the new adventure!!!

 

[tydeck]

Looking good. Love the mix of rocks. Following

 

[Bwlynn]

Thanks for the complements Peace River and tydeck!
I went shopping for some livestock and found some nice corals, fish and inverts. They are:

Coral:
5 colonies of Zoas
2 colonies of mushrooms with 2 and 3 on each
One weeping willow toadstool
One toadstool with short green polyps
One hammer and one torch euphyllia
One clove polyp colony
One trumpet coral colony

Fish:
A pair of mocha storm clown fish
One yashiba goby that never comes out
And one six line wrasse that only lived a few days unfortunately?

Inverts:
6 trocus snails
4 cerith snails
1 turbo snail
4 peppermint shrimp
1 porcelain crab

I’m getting a feel of placement for lighting and flow before I glue all the frags down but currently all the corals have opened up. I’ve had to turn the Red Sea Wave 25 down to 10% - 20% random flow because it really moves water. I like it though. It’s my first gyre powerhead and it’s really eliminated flow dead spots.
It’s unfortunate that I lost my six line wrasse, 2 peppermint shrimp and 2 cerith snails. I’ve lost inverts before to a newer tank before but never fish. The pair of clown fish are doing well but they were in a different tank than the six line when I bought them. I didn’t quarantine the fish and treat them because I don’t have another tank to quarantine with. I should think about that down the road though.
I dipped all the corals. I used a 3% hydrogen peroxide /saltwater mix at a 1 to 3 ratio for most and then an iodine dip for the toadstools. They have all acclimated to my tank well I think.
Thanks reefers for checking out my build thread and take care!

 

[infinite0180]

Nice! Careful with that mag cleaner, i had the same one on my water box and it picked up sand and scratched the glass right away. I switched to the tunze!

 

[Bwlynn]

Happy New Years Eve,
I hope all is well in the R2R community! My tank is progressing well. I’ve glued some frags down and installed a battery backup for my Red Sea Wave. I’ve got new corals arriving on January 4th. A few more zoas, mushrooms, 3 gorgonians and 3 acan lords to round it out.
I’ve started using brightwells kalk2 in my ato reservoir to raise my ph. I think that it’s winter and no windows open in the house has increased the co2 and lowered the ph in the tank. It currently ranges between 7.6 to 7.8 and I’d like the 8.2 to 8.4 range. Brightwells version has a little strontium and magnesium which combined with the iodine I’m dosing every other day should help everything color up well.
Thanks for the comment infinite0180 on your experience with the mag cleaner. I’ve seen good reviews of the tunze glass cleaners. I’ll keep that in mind.
Happy New Years everyone!!!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank looks good so far!!

 

[Bwlynn]

Thanks @Gumbies R Us ,
I just purchased more Zoas, Mushrooms, Acan lords and Gorgonians from Corals Anonymous and KP Aquatics. I'll post some photos in a few days. I've been battling film algae and cloudy water due to the increased bio load. To manage it I just bought an In Tank 3 media basket for 1st Chamber recommended by @ohioreefer . I'd like to add a carbon, gfo combo in a mesh bag and/or use chemipure blue in the 2nd and 3rd tier in addition to the filter floss in the 1st tier. I have an Eshopps nano protein skimmer I brought out of storage to use. I didn't have much luck achieving good skimmate the first time I used it but I thought I would try again. @ohioreefer also recommended the Bubble Magnus MiniQ Nano skimmer which they are using in their Waterbox 20 build thread so I just ordered one. Check out their thread if you haven't yet, it's great!
I'm also moving my kalkwasser out of my ato reservior and putting it in a separate reservior which I'll dose at night with a kamoer x1 doser using the "ACI kalkwasser method." Having it in my ato water has worked but my ph still swings from 7.9 at night to 8.2 in the day so just dosing kalk2 at night should stabilize the dip. My overall range is still rising each day but I'm looking to stabilize in the 8.2 at night to 8.4 range during the day. I'll program the apex to turn off the doser at a ph of 8.3. I also worry about my ato pump seizing up running kalk through it so this solution gives me piece of mind.
Take care reefers!

 

[tinyfellows]

What was your starting point for your kalk dosing once you switched to dosing fully saturated over night?

 

[Bwlynn]

What was your starting point for your kalk dosing once you switched to dosing fully saturated over night?

I switched to Neptunes DOS pump vs using a dosing pump on a schedule. It’s just so much better because you can use the ph meter with the Neptune to control the dosing. The kalk solution was always fully saturated from the start. I’ve adjusted the amount the DOS pump can dose to equal the evaporation rate. I was initially using more kalk solution than was evaporating but it kept diluting the salinity of the aquarium. This kept the ph drop at night from being to drastic but I decided to live with more drop night to maintain more of a constant salinity.
I’ve included photos of the DOS programming and the ph range. You will notice the 24 hour DOS allotment is 1000 ml but my evaporation rate is 675ml in 24 hours. The 1000 ml is the max the DOS will dose but it never does because of the rise in ph during the day. The DOS advanced program photo shows that it will only dose if the ph is below 8.29.
I have noticed a big improvement in the overall health of the aquarium by targeting the ph vs calcium and alkalinity. My tank is a mixed tank though with lower mineral demands.
Hopefully this answered your question tinyfellows.

 

[Bwlynn]

Here are the Neptune DOS related photos

 

[tinyfellows]

I switched to Neptunes DOS pump vs using a dosing pump on a schedule. It’s just so much better because you can use the ph meter with the Neptune to control the dosing. The kalk solution was always fully saturated from the start. I’ve adjusted the amount the DOS pump can dose to equal the evaporation rate. I was initially using more kalk solution than was evaporating but it kept diluting the salinity of the aquarium. This kept the ph drop at night from being to drastic but I decided to live with more drop night to maintain more of a constant salinity.
I’ve included photos of the DOS programming and the ph range. You will notice the 24 hour DOS allotment is 1000 ml but my evaporation rate is 675ml in 24 hours. The 1000 ml is the max the DOS will dose but it never does because of the rise in ph during the day. The DOS advanced program photo shows that it will only dose if the ph is below 8.29.
I have noticed a big improvement in the overall health of the aquarium by targeting the ph vs calcium and alkalinity. My tank is a mixed tank though with lower mineral demands.
Hopefully this answered your question tinyfellows.

This was super helpful thank you so much. One more question i use hydros so not super familiar with Neptune products. Does your dos dose continuously when your ph is below 8.29?

 

[Bwlynn]

This was super helpful thank you so much. One more question i use hydros so not super familiar with Neptune products. Does your dos dose continuously when your ph is below 8.29?

No, the Neptune DOS takes your total amount in the time you have allotted and divides it into equal doses every 7 minutes. In my case with 1000ml in 24 hours it doses, at the most, 8 ml every 7 minutes until it hits the ph of 8.29 I’ve set. The breaks between dosing are nice because it gives the kalk time to disperse in the water and lets the ph stabilize before referencing the ph and dosing again.

 

[Bwlynn]

Happy 2024 to everyone,
I have a tank update with some photos to share. I initially stocked my aquarium with Soft Corals, Zoas and Palys. I have since expanded to more LPS and SPS corals. Overall everything is in good health. Im still happy with using the Apex DOS for dosing Kalkwasser only and not using 2 part or the newer 1 part for addressing calcium and alkalinity needs. I only test for salinity for water changes twice a month. I don't test for calcium or alkalinity and the APEX test for ph automatically. Overall its been a fairly low maintenance system that is supporting some Montipora and Acropora successfully. I would still consider it a mixed reef with low calcium needs but I was surprised to have success with acros while not having to dose 1 or 2 part. I think the older way of targeting ph only with kalkwasser and not targeting calcium and alkalinity separately has been a good fit for me.
Thanks for looking and take care!