Waterbox Marine X 60.2 from the Netherlands

JL92

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Hello everyone,


My name is Joos, I’m from the Netherlands and currently in the hobby since October 2019. It started with a little 60 liter Blue marine AIO nano which has decorated our living room for 549 days! Hereunder some pictures of the nano which was occupied by the following residents:
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Here some photos of this tank in its glory days:
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After that I ordered the tank that I’m rocking till this day, a Waterbox Marine X 60.2. This has been up and running since the 20th of February 2021, so at this time of writing a little over 1,5 years. It has been an absolute joy! I learned a lot from mistakes I made with the nano so I deemed myself a more experienced reefer (I was very wrong, haha). I still suck at coral placement and producing great color combo’s and yet again made the mistake of getting to much encrusting Montipora which are now slowly causing issues. But who knows, maybe I’ll learn the next time….

About the tank, hereunder some specs, residents and photo’s. I’ll try to update as frequently as possible but this somehow always seems difficult, haha!

The tank is running on ATI Essentials Pro in combination with a fuge and works like a charm. Besides that I dose Acropower, run UV and carbon 24/7 and manually dose Manganese (8 drops) and Iodine (1 drop) daily, often combined with Korallen Zucht coral snow, sometimes combined with a drop or two of Iron (depending on Chaeto color) I feed 2.5-3.0 grams of frozen Mysis and 1.0-1.5 gram of frozen seaweed and Mysis mix with 3 drops of aquaforest fish V often supplemented with a pinch of Ocean Nutrition formula two flakes. I rarely feed my corals directly, sometimes I mix some Aquaforest AF LPS food in the fish food and dump it in the tank.

I’m still battling some vermitted snails and a Aiptaisia here and there but besides that the tank is somewhat pest free.

Hereunder the equipment list:
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And residents:
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And finally, photo’s:
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I hope you will enjoy this thread, I will try to update as regularly as possible.

Greetings from the Netherlands :)
 

SaltyT

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Welcome to R2R!

Thank you for sharing your beautiful tanks with us! I'm looking forward to your updates.
 
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JL92

JL92

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Welcome to R2R!

Thank you for sharing your beautiful tanks with us! I'm looking forward to your updates.
Thank you very much! Currently trying to catch the Tominiensis and Melanurus :). Almost finished with planning what fish are going to take their place
 

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Thank you very much! Currently trying to catch the Tominiensis and Melanurus :). Almost finished with planning what fish are going to take their place
What fish are you considering as replacements?
 
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ADB0FA64-5757-4EF4-B751-0990466EC77F.jpeg


This is the plan, all that’s green is new additions. I’ll probably start with introducing a second Ataenia and Loretto. After that it’s all about availability :). The angel will definitely be last.
 

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That's a good list. Colin's angels are very nice. I hope you can obtain one. I noticed that you want two Cirrhilabrus lubbocki, I would suggest just one as they will likely already be males when you acquire them and may not tolerate each other in a tank of your size.
 
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JL92

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Thanks for the tip! I talked with my LFS today and will order them as a proven pair. If that’s not possible I will just take one and have them look out for a female and try to pair later. I need one of them to be male because I have read that there are two different color variations. I like the ones coming from Komodo .
 

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The Indonesian variant is very colorful. Female lubbocki aren't hard to come by so I'm sure your LFS will be able to source you a pair, but just another friendly tip - that female will transition to male at some point regardless of the male's efforts to stop it. When it comes to wrasses the "new" male usually tries to take out the existing male. Just want you to be aware so you can plan for it when the time comes. But until that happens, you'll probably get to see some spawning displays in the evenings :)
 
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Thanks for this info! I thought when there was a established male and female the female wouldn’t transition to male. Do you think that getting a considerably smaller female will help postpone or even prevent the transition?
 

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When it comes to Cirrhilabrus sp. there is no stopping a female from transitioning to male in captivity. It's just a matter of time. Even in the wild when a female is old enough she will transition into an initial phase male as the juveniles become spawning females. It's just nature taking its course.

There are other genera that are less likely to transition such as Macropharyngodon and Anampses.
 
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Thanks again! Very useful info. I don’t think a pair of Macropharyngodon or Anampses have a happy life in my “small” tank. I’ll reconsider to pair the lubbocki.

If I do end up with a pair, is the transition from female to male something that happens in a couple of days or does it take longer? I might be able to intercept and take the transitioning female out before anything happens.
 

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Sorry, I mentioned those other genera as examples of wrasses that don’t always transition in captivity.

The transition from female to male could take days or several months, it all depends on her. You’ll know it’s happening when her behavior changes and she starts squabbling with him.
 
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Update time!

Allthough I haven’t caught my Melanurus or Tominiensis I thought it was time to add a second Ataenia. So I did . On the 22nd of October I collected the second Ataenia from my LFS and put it in the acclimation box so they can start to know each other without the risk of aggression.

All went well until last week. I went to Italy for work the 3rd and 4th of November. At around 5pm on Thursday my girlfriend called me and asked if I left the acclimation box open on purpose… The lid opened due to bubbles forming inside the acclimation box (probably algae or something caused it). Luckily all went well and they were swimming happily together, success!

Other than that I’ve finally got my hands on a SSC frag. Also got a Miyagi Tort and Light blue Formosa. Happy me!

Back to catching fish… haha!

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Greetings from the Netherlands!
 
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Good news and bad news

I received a tip from a fellow hobyist that they had a Lubbocki in stock. Only one problem, I still had both the Melanurus and Tominiensis still in the tank. Couldn't catch them even after trying several methods. After some encouragement of a friend I borrowed some large containers at my LFS to empty the DT and take them out. Started with a failed attempt due to extreme cloudiness (dirty sand) and caught the Melanurus the second time. Tomininiensis was unfindable.... The upside of the tank drain was that all corals started to release their muckus and looked more vibrant than ever before :). Bad news was that my newly introduced Ataenia was a goner. Couldn't find him anymore :(.
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One week later, I reserved the Lubbocki together with a new Ataenia and decided it was really time to get that Tominiensis out of there. Arranged some barels on Friday and decided to do another try on Saturday. I went to friends on Friday evening and came home late (after lights where out) and decided to try and turn the lights at 100% and had succes! Finally got the two basterds out of there :D. Both are happily swiming at the LFS
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Hereunder a quick picture of the Lubbocki, absolutely amazing fish! The second Ataenia is very small and they inmedeately became a couple. Everything is much more in proportion and looking more peacefull. Very happy!
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Greetings from the Netherlands
 

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