The 7 Gallon Waterbox Story

[BehindGlass]

18 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

Looking great! Keep an eye out for one of those square 5G buckets that tidy cat litter and/or chlorine tabs come in - not sure of the dimensions you're dealing with, but those have been quick and handy IME.

8x11 inches is what I'm working with

[Krish87]

@BehindGlass : I got an InTank Media Basket after a lot of thought. I have the tank stocked with corals and clean up crew. No fish yet, although I am waiting to get a Tailspot Blenny 😊

 

I run a Chemipure Elite mini. It’s perfect for our 7G setup. All the other chemical filtration are too much. 

I’m changing water every 10-15 days. The tank is still establishing itself. Hopefully I’ll start seeing some growth in the next month.

 

 

[BehindGlass]

On 7/13/2019 at 11:54 PM, Krish87 said:

@BehindGlass : I got an InTank Media Basket after a lot of thought. I have the tank stocked with corals and clean up crew. No fish yet, although I am waiting to get a Tailspot Blenny 😊

 

I run a Chemipure Elite mini. It’s perfect for our 7G setup. All the other chemical filtration are too much. 

I’m changing water every 10-15 days. The tank is still establishing itself. Hopefully I’ll start seeing some growth in the next month.

 

 

I was also looking at the Chemipure.

 

I'm having to put a lot of thought into buying the InTank media basket. Mainly because of the price point. The material used is ABS/Kydex and a 12x12 sheet of it is under 5.00 (retail). I've worked with the stuff many a time over the years heat molding parts and sheaths. I'm tempted to just order a sheet and build it myself. 

 

I also will be doing bi-weekly water changes. I can't see a need for dosing such a small take. Water changes should keep up with the trace elements. Now when the tank fully grows in, may just have to.

 

Like my rock work I'm still not full decided on what corals to keep. With it being such a small tank and the risk of power going out (I live a hour from the gulf of mexico = storms/hurricanes) and having a huge temp swing during the period I'm leaning more towards more durable and forgiving corals. Leave my bigger tanks for SPS.

[Krish87]

6 hours ago, BehindGlass said:

I was also looking at the Chemipure.

 

I'm having to put a lot of thought into buying the InTank media basket. Mainly because of the price point. The material used is ABS/Kydex and a 12x12 sheet of it is under 5.00 (retail). I've worked with the stuff many a time over the years heat molding parts and sheaths. I'm tempted to just order a sheet and build it myself rather than fool with measuring and gluing. 

 

I also will be doing bi-weekly water changes. I can't see a need for dosing such a small take. Water changes should keep up with the trace elements. Now when the tank fully grows in, may just have to.

 

Like my rock work I'm still not full decided on what corals to keep. With it being such a small tank and the risk of power going out (I live a hour from the gulf of mexico = storms/hurricanes) and having a huge temp swing during the period I'm leaning more towards more durable and forgiving corals. Leave my bigger tanks for SPS.

You are on the right path!

 

No dosing needed at all. I use the Red Sea Coral Pro salt, it works like a charm. I picked the InTank as it was on a sale on their website (and the sale was really good as it made sense for them to take it off their inventory considering WB7 is a discontinued model). 

 

I have only one SPS (which is a Cats Paw). The rest are all soft corals, leather and easy LPS. Considering I do have a good LPS presence, I have to keep a tab on my Ca levels, but I believe regular water changes will take care of itself. 

[BehindGlass]

OCD and aquascaping... terrible combination.

 

Went by a semi LFS yesterday and found some small pieces of live rock that I could create a 3 tier scape. 

 

So after using some Gorilla Glue Gel and Epoxy I created a scape that I am finally happy with. 

 

It opened up a large amount of sand and at the same time gave me places to mount future corals.

 

With it opening up the sandbed it also opened up for more flow. 

 

The SW2 is just to strong for the tank, so I've ordered a Hydor Pico Evo powerhead. I'm going to try it out and see how it works out in the tank. You can turn it wayyyyy down, so between the 606 and the Pico I can get enough cross flow in the tank. Hopefully I can use the slip stream on the Pico. 

 

As you can see in the pics I also have a couple of new frags. The Blasto frags were free, they are on death's door and fully receded (ultra low survival chance, but free is free). Then there is a zoa frag, with multiple colors. Finally a plug of small polyp blue xenia. As you can see in the pics the freebie mushrooms that came with the purchase of the Nuvo 25 are liking the low flow and hanging out around the base of the new rock layout in several places. Also there is a small piece of pulsing xenia on one of the pieces of rock I bought. The SPS freebie isn't looking good at all and I doubt it will pull through. 

 

I'm using a light schedule from Krish87, but I've dropped the intensity of it down by 50% while everything starts to acclimate. 

 

Added a couple of astrea snails and couple of nassarius snails to turn the sand bed (and push over the coral frags)

 

I've decided to go with Chalice, acans, Lobo, Blasto, hammer and frogspawn ... other than the xenia and zoas which those will find their way into my future 40g Nuvo.

 

As of tonight on order from Aqua SD ebay auctions are:

 

Raging Hippo Chalice

Storm Rider Chalice

Dragon Stone Chalice

 

Ultra Aussie Lobo

 

Safari Rainbow Acan

Orange Bomb Acan

Zoidberg Acan

Heated Acan

 

Fluffy Blasto Chunk

 

Four hammer Frags (couple of them will make it into the 40 and 25 later on)

 

I'll schedule them to be delivered mid next week.

 

This weekend will be the first water change on the tank. Will do a 50% change.

 

Also cleaned up the medusa wire mess and mounted the inkbird inside the cabinet.

 

Finally installed a ATO reservoir, which turned out to be a 2 gallon cereal container from walmart. Fits just right with room to spare on the side.

 

that's pretty much all that has gone on as of late. Once the corals come in I'll get pics of them up on here. 

 

I'll just be on the lookout for more acans and some frogspawn then.

 

[Krish87]

1 minute ago, BehindGlass said:

OCD and aquascaping... terrible combination.

 

Went by a semi LFS yesterday and found some small pieces of live rock that I could create a 3 tier scape. 

 

So after using some Gorilla Glue Gel and Epoxy I created a scape that I am finally happy with. 

 

It opened up a large amount of sand and at the same time gave me places to mount future corals.

 

With it opening up the sandbed it also opened up for more flow. 

 

The SW2 is just to strong for the tank, so I've ordered a Hydor Pico Evo powerhead. I'm going to try it out and see how it works out in the tank. You can turn it wayyyyy down, so between the 606 and the Pico I can get enough cross flow in the tank. Hopefully I can use the slip stream on the Pico. 

 

As you can see in the pics I also have a couple of new frags. The Blasto frags were free, they are on death's door and fully receded (ultra low survival chance, but free is free). Then there is a zoa frag, with multiple colors. Finally a plug of small polyp blue xenia. As you can see in the pics the freebie mushrooms that came with the purchase of the Nuvo 25 are liking the low flow and hanging out around the base of the new rock layout in several places. Also there is a small piece of pulsing xenia on one of the pieces of rock I bought. The SPS freebie isn't looking good at all and I doubt it will pull through. 

 

I'm using a light schedule from Krish87, but I've dropped the intensity of it down by 50% while everything starts to acclimate. 

 

Added a couple of astrea snails and couple of nassarius snails to turn the sand bed (and push over the coral frags)

 

I've decided to go with Chalice, acans, Lobo, Blasto, hammer and frogspawn ... other than the xenia and zoas which those will find their way into my future 40g Nuvo.

 

As of tonight on order from Aqua SD ebay auctions are:

 

Raging Hippo Chalice

Storm Rider Chalice

Dragon Stone Chalice

 

Ultra Aussie Lobo

 

Safari Rainbow Acan

Orange Bomb Acan

Zoidberg Acan

Heated Acan

 

Fluffy Blasto Chunk

 

Four hammer Frags (couple of them will make it into the 40 and 25 later on)

 

I'll schedule them to be delivered mid next week.

 

This weekend will be the first water change on the tank. Will do a 50% change.

 

Also cleaned up the medusa wire mess and mounted the inkbird inside the cabinet.

 

Finally installed a ATO reservoir, which turned out to be a 2 gallon cereal container from walmart. Fits just right with room to spare on the side.

 

that's pretty much all that has gone on as of late. Once the corals come in I'll get pics of them up on here. 

 

I'll just be on the lookout for more acans and some frogspawn then.

 

Just love your aquascape! I know OCD + Aquascape is a perfect recipe for disaster LOL!!!

 

I am hitting an algae issue again. I'm honestly not sure whats going on. Perhaps, I might need to do a big water change tomorrow. Maybe that might fix things.

 

 

[BehindGlass]

7 minutes ago, Krish87 said:

 

 

I am hitting an algae issue again. I'm honestly not sure whats going on. Perhaps, I might need to do a big water change tomorrow. Maybe that might fix things.

 

 

You can try a wc. What are your parameters? how long since the last wc? 

 

My tank is going through the uglies right now with a brown dusting. Kicking on the SW2 for about 3-4 minutes brings up off the sandbed for me.

 

 

 

 

[Krish87]

39 minutes ago, BehindGlass said:

You can try a wc. What are your parameters? how long since the last wc? 

 

My tank is going through the uglies right now with a brown dusting. Kicking on the SW2 for about 3-4 minutes brings up off the sandbed for me.

 

 

 

 

Last water change was last Thursday. I'll be pretty early tomorrow. But maybe it is for the good. It will help me get rid of the ugly. It's like all the corals pop so beautifully under the blues, and right when you want to enjoy that sight, you spot some brown film algae over the main display glass and the edges. Urgh!!! 

 

It is so irritating 😡

 

Parameters are all in range. Brown dusting - yeah, that's what it is man... the same ugly thing here also!

[Krish87]

@BehindGlass - Quick question: At what speed have you configured your Cobalt pump at? Is it at 100 GPH or more? I'm looking at upgrading my pump (as I suspect that a low circulation speed of the complete water volume in the tank could a trigger to my algae issues).

[BehindGlass]

13 minutes ago, Krish87 said:

@BehindGlass - Quick question: At what speed have you configured your Cobalt pump at? Is it at 100 GPH or more? I'm looking at upgrading my pump (as I suspect that a low circulation speed of the complete water volume in the tank could a trigger to my algae issues).

The 606 is wide open since it is the only thing moving the water within the display area at this time. 

 

 

[BehindGlass]

1 hour ago, Krish87 said:

@BehindGlass - Quick question: At what speed have you configured your Cobalt pump at? Is it at 100 GPH or more? I'm looking at upgrading my pump (as I suspect that a low circulation speed of the complete water volume in the tank could a trigger to my algae issues).

What are your water TDS readings? you making your own RO or buying it from a LFS. While I've seen great RO water come out of a LFS, and I've seen some pretty poor stuff as well. 

[Krish87]

19 minutes ago, BehindGlass said:

What are your water TDS readings? you making your own RO or buying it from a LFS. While I've seen great RO water come out of a LFS, and I've seen some pretty poor stuff as well. 

I make my own RODI water and saltwater. 

 

My LFS has RO water. There is no RODI as far as I know. I once had purchased water from them, and then it turned out that the TDS reading was too high which actually affected the tank - there was a lot of unwanted algae. But the LFS received the news pretty well when I told them about this. They in fact appreciated that I tested it for them, and then they gave me a $50 freshwater card.

[BehindGlass]

Well just took out the SW2 and installed the Hydor Pico pump.

 

The pump is small, not much bigger than the SW2. But it does look a bit clunky in the tank and why Hydor.. WHY did you have to add maroon accent pieces to it! I know it will be eventually covered in coraline, but still.

 

Anyhow, I've got it set at about half way right now. I'll turn it up more once the mushrooms anchor themselves a bit better. It doesn't have the wide flow like the SW2 did and the spin stream does fit, but it looks even more clunky in such a small tank. Now only time will tell if I like it or not. I can't find anything else remotely small enough to fit in the tank and that has flow low enough not to turn it into a swirling toilet bowl full of sand. 

 

Taking the SW2 off I dropped the rear magnet down the chamber... thank goodness I don't have gorilla hands, otherwise I would be getting a wire coat hanger to fish it out with. 

 

I am still giving thought to the media basket. Only one problem... the magnet for the powerhead is also in that chamber. So while the magnet is strong enough to go through the abs and the glass, everytime I take the rack out, the pump will fall within the tank, unless I take it out as well.  

 

 

[BehindGlass]

Well not much to report .... another aptaisa has poked its evil head up out of one of the new pieces of rock. It's on the underside of top shelf piece. So next water change when I drop the water level down I'll take a lighter and roast the sucker. While looking at the watermelon striped mushrooms I noticed a couple of hitchhikers on one... freaking flatworms. The mushrooms affected were on a small rock/shell. So I was able to pull them out and give them a dip in cold freshwater and a shake... 3 flat worms remained in the bottom of the cup once all was said and done. 

 

I have two shipments of corals coming my way. One will be here tomorrow (though I requested it to be delivered Thurs, guess they didn't read the note) and the other will be delivered on Thurs.

 

Total of 41 frags are coming and will be housed in a 20L tank with my Kessil a350w lighting (light is meant for the Nuvo 25 build in the coming weeks).  I bought in such bulk to offset the 40.00 and 50.00 shipping cost and they are from ebay auctions so prices didn't hurt me to bad. I'll end up having to buy a few showpiece colors I want, but I can live with that as well. 

 

I plan to make the bottom of the tank across the front acan alley... the sides will be frogspawn and hammers. The shelves will be chalice. Everything is low to moderate lighting and low to moderate flow. Those choices should all work out given that I can easily adjust the lighting using my Seneye Reef par meter to dial it in and simply watch what makes the corals the happiest. 

 

What isn't used in this tank will go into the next tank build which is the Nuvo 40. I'll start working on it shortly. I have to strip the cabinet down from white painted and re-stain it a dark color to match the rest of the furniture. 

 

So tomorrow expect to see some new pictures with corals. I'll need to get me a orange filter so I can show the true colors off, without having to adjust the white lights. 

[Krish87]

24 minutes ago, BehindGlass said:

Well not much to report .... another aptaisa has poked its evil head up out of one of the new pieces of rock. It's on the underside of top shelf piece. So next water change when I drop the water level down I'll take a lighter and roast the sucker. While looking at the watermelon striped mushrooms I noticed a couple of hitchhikers on one... freaking flatworms. The mushrooms affected were on a small rock/shell. So I was able to pull them out and give them a dip in cold freshwater and a shake... 3 flat worms remained in the bottom of the cup once all was said and done. 

 

I have two shipments of corals coming my way. One will be here tomorrow (though I requested it to be delivered Thurs, guess they didn't read the note) and the other will be delivered on Thurs.

 

Total of 41 frags are coming and will be housed in a 20L tank with my Kessil a350w lighting (light is meant for the Nuvo 25 build in the coming weeks).  I bought in such bulk to offset the 40.00 and 50.00 shipping cost and they are from ebay auctions so prices didn't hurt me to bad. I'll end up having to buy a few showpiece colors I want, but I can live with that as well. 

 

I plan to make the bottom of the tank across the front acan alley... the sides will be frogspawn and hammers. The shelves will be chalice. Everything is low to moderate lighting and low to moderate flow. Those choices should all work out given that I can easily adjust the lighting using my Seneye Reef par meter to dial it in and simply watch what makes the corals the happiest. 

 

What isn't used in this tank will go into the next tank build which is the Nuvo 40. I'll start working on it shortly. I have to strip the cabinet down from white painted and re-stain it a dark color to match the rest of the furniture. 

 

So tomorrow expect to see some new pictures with corals. I'll need to get me a orange filter so I can show the true colors off, without having to adjust the white lights. 

Flatforms sucks! I had them too and they did cause a lot of trouble.

 

41 frags . . .  Dang! That is going to be so much fun! 

[BehindGlass]

11 hours ago, Krish87 said:

Flatforms sucks! I had them too and they did cause a lot of trouble.

 

41 frags . . .  Dang! That is going to be so much fun! 

I'm doubtful that the simple dip of 3 mushrooms has wiped them all out. That is only what I could see right then and there. I'm sure there are more lurking in the system. I'll have to read up on what I can dose to kill them within the tank. If I recall from years ago, there was something, but it didn't play nice with some corals in a tank. Hopefully things have evolved since then.

 

yeah 41 frags will be .... yeah.. errr.. fun.

 

wtf was I thinking. I'll have to sort them, acclimate them, light them, feed them, change water in the holding tank. set a ATO up for the tank. Only thing I won't have to do is take them out for a flipping walk. 

[TatorTaco]

41 Frags?  Geezus!  I'm not very good with Ebay.  How'd you find a vendor that had so many corals that you wanted from a single source?  

 

I like zoas and I'm interested in a few select pieces of SPS.  I wouldn't have a clue where to start if I just wanted a crap ton of everything without getting lots of duplicates. 

[Krish87]

3 hours ago, BehindGlass said:

I'm doubtful that the simple dip of 3 mushrooms has wiped them all out. That is only what I could see right then and there. I'm sure there are more lurking in the system. I'll have to read up on what I can dose to kill them within the tank. If I recall from years ago, there was something, but it didn't play nice with some corals in a tank. Hopefully things have evolved since then.

 

yeah 41 frags will be .... yeah.. errr.. fun.

 

wtf was I thinking. I'll have to sort them, acclimate them, light them, feed them, change water in the holding tank. set a ATO up for the tank. Only thing I won't have to do is take them out for a flipping walk. 

Yeah dude, hope that there is space for 41 frags to grown in.

 

Salifert Flatworm exit works well. Just follow the instructions diligently, and it works like a charm! Try taking it off manually (siphon) as far as possible. Salifert should be your last resort. it's like the bomb that the Predator uses to wipe every single dang alien when it is on the verge of losing.

[Krish87]

How is it going? 

 

Long time, no updates! Just wanted to check-in. 

 

Also, I wanted to confirm - are you still using a powerhead?