Kaleb's Clownfish Waterbox

[blizzardscout2]

This will be a project tank with my 5 year old, Kaleb, in his room. I really liked the new aquariums by Waterbox and wanted something big enough for a bubble tip with clowns as that is what Kaleb wanted so I bought the Cube 15 gallon. I received it last week and the quality is very good. It even comes with a return pump and a few extras such as small filter sock and adapter for the overflow. The overflow is etched out of the glass making for a very slick look. I originally had bought a Nanobox Mini Tide M with a 9" neck with the intention of buying a 10 gallon, but I felt the 9" wasn't enough. I came across a good deal on a Radion XR15w Pro G3 and since I run Ecotech pumps in my 34 gallon, I decided to give one of their lights a try. My son is also interested in a symbiotic Pistol shrimp and goby so we may think about this too. So far the equipment used will be:

 

Tank:                  Waterbox Cube 15

Light:                  Radion XR15w Pro G3

Controller:         Apex Jr

Heater:               Cobalt Neotherm 100w x2 controlled by Apex (2 heaters for redundancy)

ATO:                    Smart Aqua ATO with Advanced Acrylics reservoir 

Powerhead:       Ecotech MP10 (will use covers when Anemone is added)

Pump:                 EcoPlus Pump that came with Waterbox

Skimmer:            I have always wanted to try out a Mame, however the fragile top makes me want a Reefglass or Pico. Not sure yet.

Biofilter:             Stax Rock (Super cool product) and MarinePure 2" blocks from my 34 gallon.

Sand:                  Still thinking about this. 

Glass Cleaner:   Flipper Nano

Dosing:               Kalkwasser in ATO if needed.

 

Seeing as though I have the RODI setup for my other tank, testing equipment, frozen food, etc it should be pretty inexpensive and easy to maintain after the initial investment.

 

Livestock:

 

Bubble tip Anemones (2-3 maybe)

2 Mocha Gladiators or Frostbite

2 Black Snowflakes

I will see about the pistol and goby. If he really wants to have them, then I may add these guys first and the clowns second.

 

The clown selection will depend on what my son wants, it is his after all! 

 

I am having a lot of fun playing with the Stax rocks to aquascape for his tank. They make it so easy to be creative and try things out easily. I may actually add more rock to my 34 using this as I have wanted to add a few small columns to the back corners. I will take my time and make sure I am satisfied before I get the tank wet.

[Christopher Marks]

Wow what a lucky kid! I love this.

 

These new Waterbox tanks look great! Looking forward to seeing what you two come up with

[blizzardscout2]

Thanks Christopher! The Waterbox tanks are certainly made with quality in mind. I am playing around with the STAX rock currently. My thought was to have two positions for the bubble anemones to sit. Of course they have a mind of their own so you never know where they might go. That said one can hope. Here is a few pictures of what I came up with for now. The front doesn't look too impressive but I was trying to make it look good from the right as that is where his bed will be.

 

 

[Kellie in CA]

Following!  That Stax rock looks like fun! 

[blizzardscout2]

It certainly is, I have it in the kitchen where I sit and drink coffee in the morning so I keep playing with them until I finally know what I like the best. 

[blizzardscout2]

After playing around with the rock, I thought why not place it in the tank and see how it looks. I found it wasn't tall enough and add some height to both stacks. Now I have them cemented and drying. Wow was that process sooooo much easier with having flat surfaces to marry together.

 

[blizzardscout2]

96 hours so far... 😀

[Ranjib]

Nice 🙂

[blizzardscout2]

I dialed in the Smart ATO. It required me cutting away a small piece of vinyl off the back of the tank. Once the water level is raised high enough the water noise is almost nonexistent. The water was tested on Friday, Ammonia 0.2, Nitrite 0.2. So I added some more Turbo start. 

[Toxic enigma]

That rock looks really nice, makes me even more tempted to convert my 55 over to salt. Looks like that would be perfect for scaping a taller tank.

[banasophia]

Nice, following!

[Christopher Marks]

So it begins! Really cool aquascape you came up with, reef stax are such a neat new invention! What does Kaleb think of all this? 🙂 

[coltnanoreef]

gonna follow as this is the first thread ive seen of the waterbox 15 gallon and i might be getting one. any thoughts on bare bottom vs. sand? 

[blizzardscout2]

Wow June 3, 2018 huh, lame. Tank is a few months away to the one year mark. Since being cycled I moved a medium mushroom rock from my 34g which actually fit perfect. I found a beautiful young pair of clowns from my LFS. I believe they are a Sea and Reef Blackstorm and Davinci from looking at their website. Kaleb named them Batman and Robin. They also have another tank mate a Purple firefish which Kaleb picked out which I secretly wanted too since it would never survive in my 34g due to aggressive tank mates. I bought 4 RFAs that are on the plateau with a Clove polyp. One of the RFAs is purple with a green rim so of course that's the joker anemone. 

 

I just got a tube extension for my camera so I will grab some macro photos of the new additions yesterday which Kaleb has been wanting for awhile.

[blizzardscout2]

So with the little time I had, this is all I got. I will have to try again next week as I work tomorrow. 

 

The photos are mediocre as I am still trying to figure out Macro. 

[Christopher Marks]

Have you had a chance to experiment with the macro extension tube any more @blizzardscout2? I'd love to see how far the tank has come! Welcome back 😉 

[blizzardscout2]

Ha, yeah I think I definitely have to use a tripod when I do. I do have some updates but no new photos. Maybe tonight. 

 

I just swapped out the Radion for a Nanobox Duo I found used, purple and neon orange lid. I told Kaleb it is super hero themed which he liked. I also added a IM reactor in the middle chamber with Phosguard and carbon temporarily. I’m going to run a small amount of Biopellets. I just received my inTank basket for the first chamber and have a bag of Chemi Pure and Filter floss in the top. 

 

I had a little mishap with the addition of a pair of beautiful Harlequin shrimp with a chocolate starfish, however once my wife found out she was not happy with that so I had to return them. 🙄

I instead came home with a Damsel and Saddle Toby puffer which Kaleb affectionately named Puffy. 

 

I will get some photos of the other additions....

 

 

[ramona]

Is this tank still alive?