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The Tree of Life🌱 - Waterbox Cube 10


MrP

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  • 2 weeks later...

This little tank has been doing well for over 2.5 years now. I've made a lot of changes during that time but it still needs a lot of attention. It's time to renovate! 

 

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A few plans for this tank I would like to accomplish in the next 90 days:

I will be striking through these as I complete them.

 

1 ) Eradicate the aiptasia. It has taken over! I'm undecided as to how go about this. I have already tried Berghia Nudibranchs. They ate a few and then disappeared. Maybe try peppermint shrimp? 

 

2 ) Eradicate most of the Zoanthids. Maybe the peppermint shrimp will help with this?

 

3 ) Move some coral around. Especially the Montipora Spongodes at the top. Move it lower to open up some real estate for some sps that are currently on the frag racks. 

 

4 ) Eliminate at least one of the frag racks. 

 

5 ) Replace the AI Nero 3's with an Ecotech MP10. 

 

6 ) Maybe replace the AI Prime with my spare Ecotech Radion XR15 G5.

 

7 ) A good deep cleaning. Remove the rock structure and clean out all of the detritus that has accumulated underneath it. This will also allow me the opportunity to eradicate the bit of turf algae that has been slowing growing.

 

8 ) Do some structural work on the rock to make it more practical for coral placement. 

 

9 ) Maybe change salt mix. I'm currently using Red Sea. I might transition to Aquaforest. 

 

10 ) Replenish the clean up crew and maybe add a Firefish Goby. 

 

Before pics:

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On 10/4/2022 at 6:12 AM, debbeach13 said:

You are going to be very busy. Good luck in the contest.

Thank you! I'm going to need a bit of luck for this. I've been needing to take care of some of these issues for several months now. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I began the transition from Red Sea Salt to Aquaforest Reef Salt. It's clean, mixes quickly, the parameters are similar, and the cost is a bit less as well. I bought the 200 gallon bag which was the best bang for the buck.

 

I switched out my Nero 3's for an MP10. I picked one up a few months ago when they were 20% off. I sold my Nero 3's so I almost broke even. 

 

 I'm trying to keep this reno low budget. I spent $62.84 on salt but I need salt anyway so I won't count it. 

As for the MP10, I actually come out $9.00 ahead after selling the Nero's. :lol:

 

Reno total: +$9.00

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's time to try and get this aiptasia under control. I ordered some gulf peppermint shrimp from Reef Cleaners. I also ordered a few more astraea snails, blue leg hermit crabs, and some dwarf cerith snails. 

 

This will likely be all I will spend on this tank during the reno. If I decide to add more coral or fish, I have a bunch of frags in another tank to trade in at a LFS so there won't be any cost involved for those additions.

 

Reno total: $23.45

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear diary,

 

It's been a week since I added the peppermint shrimp and they have already made a noticeable impact on the aiptasia. It doesn't appear that they are bothering any corals, yet. 

 

I pulled out the few patches of hair algae and added a capsule of Fluconazole. I slowed the kalk drip so I won't get an alkalinity spike. So far, so good.

 

I also peeled the GSP off of the back glass. Eventually, all of the GSP will be coming out. It doesn't grow very fast in this tank anyway due to the low nutrients. 

 

Next on the to-do list is getting rid of the zoas except for the rainbow Infusions and watermelons. They are both slow growing so I guess I'll keep them. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear diary,

 

It's now been 3 weeks since I added the peppermint shrimp. The aiptasia is almost gone. Here soon, I will transfer a few of them over to another tank. I'll probably keep a pair of them long term in this tank as long as they are being respectful to coral. 

 

The Fluconazole has done a fine job on the bit of hair algae that was present. I added a bag of carbon and a piece of Poly-Filter to help pull out what's left of the Fluconazole, if any. I'm also going to do a 20% water change tomorrow as well.

 

It's almost time to start getting rid of the zoanthids and restructuring the rock a bit. I have some Two Little Fishies Stax rock on hand I'm going to use. I'll have to do this in steps as I don't want everything out of the water for too long at a time. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, somewhat of an impulse buy that I couldn't pass up due to a good price of $38.40, I bought an Icecap K1 Neo skimmer from Coralvue's outlet section on their website. Being a newer model skimmer, there isn't a whole lot out there as far as reviews or videos so I decided to take a chance on it hoping it will be a decent little skimmer.

 

It's too early to give an opinion as it has only been running for less than a day but according to my pH readings, it seems to be helping a bit. I replaced the hose and silencer that come with it with a 1/4" air line and ran it to a 2" x 10" refillable filter cartridge that I have filled with co2 absorbent media.

 

The pump is a 12v pump so in the future, if I decide to keep the skimmer online depending on how it performs, I will solder on a GX12-2 connector so I can plug it into a drive port on my Hydros and control it accordingly. This will also free up a plug on my power strip. 

 

Reno total: $61.85

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A little update on the skimmer. It's only been 2-1/2 days since implementing it and it has already pulled out some dark skimmate. Over the past few weeks my pH has had an average high of 8.15 and a low of 7.9. After installing the skimmer, my pH for today is 8.37 high and 8.17 low. I think it might just be a keeper!

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Excited to see these renovations progress!  Tank still looks dope regardless. 

 

Good news on the skimmer, I've been considering trying out the icecap myself.  38 bucks is a heck of a deal!

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  • MrP changed the title to The Tree of Life🌱 - Waterbox Cube 10
  • 1 month later...

I finally got around to adding a GX12-2 connector to my Icecap K1 Neo skimmer pump so I can plug it directly into a drive port on my Hydros. This allows me to control the skimmer depending on the pH and frees up a standard outlet. 

 

For those that may want to modify their skimmer pump to connect directly to Hydros, the wire colors for the Icecap K1 Neo skimmer pump are brown and blue. Brown is positive and blue is negative. I had to re-solder them because I took the 50/50 chance and lost. I reversed the wires and all is good. :smilie:

 

I unfortunately didn't get to the finish line before the deadline on this reno but the reno will continue on, regardless. I still have lots to do. It did motivate me to eradicate the aiptasia which is completely gone, as far as I can see. Now I need to work on getting the shrimp moved to another tank. Easier said than done.

 

Since implementing a kalkwasser drip and the skimmer, I've been able to maintain my pH between 8.2 and 8.4 which has caused an explosion in growth. I am currently dosing 600ml of saturated kalkwasser per day and can't seem to keep my alkalinity above 7 dKH. I've been supplementing alkalinity with sodium bicarbonate so it won't have an effect on pH as that's already borderline too high. I might just add another dosing pump and start dosing All-For-Reef again to supplement but I'm concerned that will drive my calcium level too high. 

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Latest testing:

 

Temp: 79.1°

pH: 8.38

Alk: 7.3

Cal: 415

Mag: 1335

 

The testing indicates that the tank could handle dosing a bit of All-For-Reef as the calcium and magnesium are on the lower end of the safe zone. I'm maxed out on kalkwasser at 600ml/day. My ATO only comes on once every other day. At least I don't have to refill the reservoir as often. 

 

I have been dosing 0.34ml of Tropic Marin NP Bacto Balance for almost 2 years now. I mention this because Lou Ekus from Tropic Marin confirmed that NP Bacto Balance can be mixed with All-For-Reef. I've been considering doing this as I don't want to spend $200 on another pump and I really don't have the extra room for it. The last few days I've been dosing 3ml/day of All-For-Reef so I can get an idea of how much the tank will consume day-to-day so when it comes time to mix the two, I will have a good idea on ratio as to not go over my 0.34ml limit of NP Bacto Balance. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's now been almost a month since I started dosing 3 ml of All-For-Reef per day by hand. My alkalinity is keeping stable at 8 dKH, give or take a few tenths. I quit using my Hanna checker and solely rely on my Salifert alkalinity test kit. Cost per test, Salifert is about 1/3 the cost of Hanna reagent, is just as accurate, and is easy enough to use. Frugal, I am.

 

I'm currently dripping 550 ml of kalkwasser overnight. With the skimmer set to depend on the pH, I've been able to consistently maintain the pH between 8.37 low and 8.45 high. The growth I've had since maintaining a higher pH is phenomenal.

 

Other things I am currently dosing:

Tropic Marin NP Bacto Balance - 0.34 ml/daily.

Bacterioplankton food. Have to keep them fed too. In turn, they consume phosphate and deliver that phosphate directly to the corals. 

 

Seachem Reef Plus - 0.66 ml/daily.

I'm sure there are better supplements out there but I have 2 more bottles to go through and I'm sure it benefits the tank in some way. It is amino, vitamins, and trace elements. Things all living organisms need. 

 

Monopotassium Phosphate - 0.25 ml/daily.

I keep my phosphate a little bit elevated at around 0.15 give or take. Anecdotal, but I feel like it makes a difference as far as growth and color, especially the gsp and zoas. It also gives the bacterioplankton plenty to readily consume. And as an added bonus, it adds a bit of potassium as well. Elevated potassium is not a big deal.

 

Aquaforest Pro Bio F - 1/2 scoop/daily.

I prefer to keep my nitrates on the lower side, under 1 ppm and this really helps with achieving that. It is another food source for bacterioplankton which in turn, again, feeds the coral. I sprinkle it onto the water's surface, the fish eat what they can catch and the shrimp chase what they can get to. By them consuming the probiotic bacteria, I would like to think that maybe my livestock would be a bit healthier. 

 

I've also decided to make my move to Aquaforest Reef Salt, permanent. It has great parameters, is very clean, and is priced right. The 200-gallon bag, priced pound for pound, it's only a few dollars higher than Reef Crystals. With the added vitamins, it also smells like Reef Crystals, hmmm. 

 

As for food, the fish, shrimp, & crabs get fed mainly NorthFin Marine pellets. Once in a while, I'll switch it up with PE Mysis pellets but the clowns don't seem to care for it as much. As for coral food, I mix Brightwell Aquatics Phytochrome, Zooplanktos-S, and Microvore in equal parts. I broadcast feed approximately 1 ml of the mix daily. I'm not sure how much the corals actually consume but it doesn't seem to affect my targeted water parameters and the tank is not plagued with algae or cyano. What is left over gets picked up by the filter floss and skimmer. Our goal is to simulate the ocean. Having a wave of different planktons daily isn't a bad thing I suppose.  

 

I'm not very good at photos but in the next few weeks, I'm giving a local guy a bunch of frags which will help declutter this tank a bit. My wife got a new phone so I'm going to see how well it does. :smilie:

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  • 1 month later...

Unfortunately, over the next few months, this tank will be dismantled along with the matching Waterbox Cube 10 freshwater that resides next to it. 

 

I am upgrading my IM Nuvo 10 anemone tank which is way too small for anemones, to a Fijicube 38-gallon peninsula which will be occupying the space that my Waterbox Cube 10s currently are. My 2 black clowns will move into this tank. 

 

I am looking at getting a JBJ 45-gallon so the rock structure and all of the coral will be moved to it. It's a much-needed upgrade as the coral has run out of room to grow and is shading themselves and each other. 

 

My 5 tanks will be consolidated down to three and be much more manageable for me. 

 

 

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I got the JBJ 45 last weekend. Got it filled up with water, a small established rock, and a few bags of established media in the back chambers. I'm going to order a new return pump. The one that came with it, a Sicce 4.0, is annoyingly loud. I'm looking at ordering an SR Aquaristik DC 1000GPH pump. It came with a pair of IM Spinstream nozzles and a pair of new VCA random flow generator nozzles. The IM nozzles are great and function well but they restrict a lot of flow. I opted to install the VCA nozzles. What a difference! I might get these for all of my tanks. 

 

This tank will have two XR15 G5 blues over it and two AI Nero 5's. Both of these will be transferred from my cheap Petsmart frag tank which will also be shut down once this tank is fully running. 

 

Overall, it's a nice tank. Not quite Waterbox quality but still nice. I really like the rectangular footprint of it. The overflows are large which allows for a much larger return pump and combined with the VCA nozzles, will provide quite a bit of random flow in the tank. I might not need both Nero 5's. I guess we will see. 

 

Here's what I have done with the new rock structure. It's not quite finished yet. It will have another 6" or so added to the top. It's all Marco foundation cut rock that I got from Premium Aquatics over a year ago that I was going to use on my Fijicube 38 which has also been sitting idle for a while and will finally be set up. I have a bunch of rock that I got from Addictive Reef Keeping a few years ago that I will now use for the Anemone tank. 

 

This thread will probably be converted to display and document all of my saltwater tanks since the star of the show is going to be dismantled. 

DSC_0608 (2).JPG

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I got a SR Aquaristik DC 1000GPH pump ordered. It will be here in a few days. I also ordered a few plumbing parts from BRS so I can convert the 2 outflows to threaded loc-line fittings rather than the slip-on fittings it has now. It currently leaks at the elbows so the threaded elbows should correct that issue.

 

I'm considering an Icecap K1-50 skimmer. If anyone has experience with this skimmer, feel free to chime in. 

 

The rock structure is coming along nicely. I had a bucket of TLF Stix cement I decided to use to fill in where the flat rock meet one another so it doesn't look like a bunch of flat stacked rocks. The cement should be just as porous as the rock so hopefully by covering it, it won't affect its filtering capability. 

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I got the SR Aquaristik pump installed last night. This thing is dead silent. I decided to keep the slip fittings for the return nozzles. Switching to threaded would be a chore every time I need to service the pump.

 

When I bought the JBJ 45, I brought home all of his water because it included fish and coral and I didn't want to shock anything with fresh new water. I'm going to do a 100% water change tomorrow with what I have left of a bucket of Tropic Marin Syn Biotic salt because the nitrates are really high and the calcium/magnesium are both a tad high as well. The fish have been moved to a different tank so no worries there. Moving forward, weekly water changes will be with Aquaforest Reef salt.

 

After the water change, it's time to drop the new rock in. I somehow ended up with a big volcano-looking rock structure. I think it looks good. I might place a green slimer at the top. They tend to have a funky growth pattern. Maybe it will resemble a green lava explosion. :lol:

 

Pictures to come. 

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I got the rock placed in the tank. Now that it is in, it looks more like a Mayan temple. Atlantis seems like a good name for this tank. :lol:

 

My original plan was to keep it bare bottom but I have a Yellow Watchman goby and Randalli pistol shrimp that resides in one of the tanks I'm taking down so I have no place else to put them, so sand it is. I picked up a few 5lb bags of Caribsea ocean direct sand from Petsmart and mixed it with a 5lb bag of Caribsea aragonite dry sand that I had on hand. I ended up with a nice mix of different grain sizes. 

 

Hopefully, this weekend I can start moving some things over to it. I'm going to toss in a few corals that I have multiple frags of and see how they do. 

 

The tank came with a pair of Sustainable Aquatics Fancy clowns and I also have a pair of Sustainable Aquatics Snowflake clowns that I've had for over 4 years. I'm not sure yet which pair I am going to keep. I like the look of basic wild-type clowns but I've had my little a-hole snowflakes for a while. It's going to be a difficult decision.

 

 

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A little better angle to show what the scape looks like. 

 

I dosed some ammonium chloride a week ago to be sure the tank will support life. The ammonia has depleted since and I never saw a nitrite spike so I assume it's good to go. It has a few sacks of established Seachem matrix in the rear chambers which will help seed the new rock over time. 

 

I did a full round of testing to make sure the tank is in good order so I can begin to stock it. I'm not sure why the pH is high other than the possibility that the cement I used on the rocks is buffering it. I've also been dosing phosphate daily until the rock/sand reaches its saturation point. It's been testing 0 daily and I buffer it up to 0.15 daily. I use monopotassium phosphate so it is supplementing potassium as well which is okay. I usually run higher than normal potassium anyway. 

 

Temp: 78.4

Salinity: 35ppt

pH: 8.4 

Alk: 9.1

Cal: 475

Mag: 1350

Nitrate: 2

Phosphate: 0.15

Potassium: 420

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

 

DSC_0657.JPG

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3 hours ago, Lebowski_ said:

I’m curious and I may have missed it - why the switch from Nero to MP-10?

The issue I was having with the Nero 3's is anytime they detected the slightest bit of resistance, they would shut off. Small limpets would get inside of them and cause them to shut off. Often I wouldn't notice that they were off for quite a while so the tank would go many hours without any flow. Nothing other than a red flashing light on the controller to indicate they were off which is tucked away out of sight. They are programmed to do this and I understand why but it is annoying. My Nero 5's have been great, however. 

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I transferred my pair of clowns and shrimp/goby to the new tank. I also moved over all of the frags that were in the frag tank and went ahead and dismantled it. The frag tank is no more. One less tank I need to keep up with. Most of the coral is going to the LFS when I get the chance to make the hours drive.

 

I transferred my other Radion XR15 so I now have two of them over the JBJ 45 which should provide a nice blanket of light. I had a 30.5" RMS track laying around so I decided to place the two mounting arms on the side of the tank and use the track. It's a bit long for this tank but still looks okay. When I get around to it, I'll cut a few inches off of it on the chop saw and touch up the end with some black paint. This will allow plenty of space in the rear chamber area for a skimmer which I still haven't decided which to get just yet. 

 

I also transferred the two Nero 5's to this tank. Along with the random flow generators, there should be no shortage of flow. Over the next week, I'll add the three Versa dosing pumps. I'm going to keep an eye on the calcium level to get an idea as to when to start the kalkwasser drip. It will likely be a while before the corals settle in and start consuming the elements. By that time, they will probably all be gone to the LFS anyway. :lol:

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