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The Great Wave - Waterbox Peninsula 3620 - Alkalinity fluxing!


DevilDuck

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Display:
Waterbox Peninsula 3620 ~60 gal
40 lbs of CarribSea Fuji Pink "Live Sand"
20 lbs of live rock

DD JumpGuard netting

Octo Aquatics Feeding port and tube

3D ReefGear.com square feeding port

Avast Plank Automatic Feeder

Lighting:
2x Ecotech XR15 Pro Gen 5 on RMS rail

Powerheads:
2x Ecotech MP40wqd w/ Nemguard

Ecotech battery backup

Filtration:
Stock Waterbox Sump ~ 30 gal
Ecotech Vectra S2 pump
MarineDepot 4in filter cups with LR and floss
Simplicity 120DC Skimmer
Refugium with grape caulerpa and ulva 

Chihiros RGB Planted Tank Light

Controller:

Hydros Control X4 

pH & temp probe

 

Heating:
BRS 300w Titanium Heater
Inkbird ITC-308 Controller
 

Dosing:

Red Sea ReefDose 4

DIY Tropic Marin All-For-Reef 

Vodka dosing

Reef Moonshiners Method for trace elements 

Aiming for no water changes

 

Water Parameters: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iN3Rf4lT3LPh5AbnffVxuFtZTiW67okqIgRISsXmkKk/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

Livestock

Fish:

2 - Juvenile Percula Clownfish ("Barcello" & "Atami")

2 - Pajama Cardinal ("Pants")

1 - Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse, Wetmorella nigropinnata

1 - Springer's Damsel, Chrysiptera cf. springeri 

1 - Midas Blenny

1 - Diamond Watchman Goby

1 - Wheeler's Shrimp Goby

1 - War Paint Green Clown Goby

1 - Orange fin Tomini Tang

1 - Small Yellow Watchman Goby

 

 

Invertebrates:

CUC: Astrea Snails, Red Banded Trochus Snail ("Turbo"), Marginella snails, Red and Blue Leg Hermit crabs, ipsf Littorinid snails, ipsf microhermits, ipsf nerite snails, mexican turbo, ninja star

1 - Ultra Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone

1 - Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone

7 - Rock Flower Anemones

1-  Large Mini Maxi Carpet Anemone

1 - Tiger Sand conch ("Larry")

1 - Randall's pistol shrimp

1 - Tiger pistol shrimp

1 - Porcelain Anemone Crab

1 - Pencil urchin (in sump)

1 - Tropical Abalone

1 - Squamosa Clam

1 - Blue Tuxedo urchin

1 - Peppermint Shrimp

 

 

Corals:

GSP

Pulsing Xenia

Bam Bam, King Midas, Lazer Lemon, Blue Alien Orgasm Zoas, Super Saiyan, Greenbay Packers, Red and Green End Game, Rainbow Sakura, Rainbow Troll 

Superman mushrooms

Green Favia Coral

Galaxea coral

Green long polyp purple toadstool

Blue Ricordea mushroom

Rainbow Lobophyllia

Tan Candelabra gorgonian (Eunicea sp.)

ACC Neon Icon Micromussa Lordhowensis (Acan Lord)

ACC Green & Gold Goniopora

Pink Flamingo Micromussa Lordhowensis (Acan Lord)

Valentine Micromussa Lordhowensis (Acan Lord)

Red Blasto

TCN Weeping Willow Toadstool Leather
Chili Pepper Plating Montipora 
CCGC Aquacultured Red & Green War Coral

Mardi Gras Rhodactis

Blue Eye Neon Green Goniopora

Purple Tip Torch

Peach Hammer

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

Jade Green Torch

Branching Bright GSP

Green and Purple Bi-color Hammer

Blue Duncan

Blue Alveopora

Purple Sprite Blasto

Prairie Winkle Goniopora

unknown green Goniopora

Jack O Lantern Leptoseris

ACC Glitter Goni

Spongebob Cyphastria

Orange Ricordea mushroom

Red/white cynarina

Diamond Tip Staghorn Acropora

ACC Mellow Yellow Acropora

BioReef Green Goblin Anacropora

Bonsai Acropora

Golden Plume, Spiny, Corky Finger, Purple Plume, Purple Brush Gorgonians

Pagoda Cup

Red Goniopora

Inferno Bullseye Rhodactis

John Deere Leptastrea

Red & green plating Montipora Capricornus

Alakazam Goniopora

El Toro Acropora Millepora

Blue Tenuis Acropora

PC Rainbow Acropora

Pikachu Acropora

Button Scoly

Christmas Favia

Yellow Goni

Green Hairy Mushroom

Crimsom Tide Acropora

Skittles Mummy Eye Chalice

 

Introducing my follow up the the Fluval Evo 13.5 Somewhat Budget Tank is the new budget destroying tank, The Great Wave.

The inspiration for the name came for the name while shopping at my LFS and came upon the "wave" shaped rock on the right.

 

Tank is a Waterbox Peninsula 3620 59 gallon display (36in x 20in x 20in) with a 29 gallon sump setup as a room divider between my kitchen and living room.

My plans are mostly move coral from my existing tank with additional colorful fish that will hopefully utilize the open area at the upper portion of the tank.

 

I'm going to attempt a no water change or very infrequent water changes, monthly water testing and supplementation per Reef Moonshiners Method.  

 

Currently, the tank is still cycling, still detecting some ammonia. I dosed a 4 oz bottle of Fritz TurboStart 900 and daily dosing MB7. 

Aquascape is purposefully sparse as I will be moving some live rocks from my existing tank.

 

20210626_191215_DxO.thumb.jpg.a97526c6caab255b121eac268d75ebe4.jpg

 

Took my best shot at cord management. The sump is huge and takes up most of the cabinet space!

Still waiting on some additional equipment for the sump, wifi power strip and skimmer.

 

20210626_190951_DxO.thumb.jpg.bf0bb66eadbe28b045f75e74b58a2dde.jpg

 

Forgive my messy living room. I moved my old tank to the living room also so make the transfer easier.

20210626_191223_DxO.thumb.jpg.b7ffc8126f770ef422c4e5a6b5b2d3aa.jpg

 

Looking from the living room side 

20210628_102636.thumb.jpeg.9b778c45811d2cd885b37bd23c9c1626.jpeg

 

DD JumpGuard netting. It was fun putting it together with the fiance. Tight fit with the Ecotech RMS light rail.

20210628_102650.thumb.jpeg.92cb9510b091731973d7313ed9f2a55a.jpeg

 

Took nearly 2 and a half days to fill using my RO Buddie 50 gpd RODI unit.

 

20210622_090028_DxO.thumb.jpg.9d18a01519c7e353a117e2c0a1f37eda.jpg

 

 

  • Like 7
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49 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

Display:
Waterbox Peninsula 3620
60 lbs of CarribSea Fuji Pink "Live Sand"
20 lbs of live rock

DD JumpGuard netting

Lighting:
2x Ecotech XR15 Pro Gen 5 on RMS rail

Powerheads:
Ecotech MP40wqd


Filtration:
Stock Waterbox Sump
Ecotech Vectra S2 pump
100 micro filter socks
Bubble Magnus Curve 5 Elite Skimmer (not yet arrived)
Chaeto Refugium (not yet setup)

Heating:
BRS 300w Titanium Heater
Inkbird ITC-308 Controller
 

Dosing:

Tropic Marin CarboCalcium for macro-elements via Kamoer X1 dosing pump

Reef Moonshiners Method for trace elements

Aiming for no water changes

 

Introducing my follow up the the Fluval Evo 13.5 Somewhat Budget Tank is the new budget destroying tank, The Great Wave.

The inspiration for the name came for the name while shopping at my LFS and came upon the "wave" shaped rock on the right.

 

Tank is a Waterbox Peninsula 3620 59 gallon display (36in x 20in x 20in) with a 29 gallon sump setup as a room divider between my kitchen and living room.

My plans are mostly move coral from my existing tank with additional colorful fish that will hopefully utilize the open area at the upper portion of the tank.

 

I'm going to attempt a no water change or very infrequent water changes, monthly water testing and supplementation per Reef Moonshiners Method.  

 

Currently, the tank is still cycling, still detecting some ammonia. I dosed a 4 oz bottle of Fritz TurboStart 900 and daily dosing MB7. 

Aquascape is purposefully sparse as I will be moving some live rocks from my existing tank.

 

20210626_191215_DxO.thumb.jpg.a97526c6caab255b121eac268d75ebe4.jpg

 

Took my best shot at cord management. The sump is huge and takes up most of the cabinet space!

Still waiting on some additional equipment for the sump, wifi power strip and skimmer.

 

20210626_190951_DxO.thumb.jpg.bf0bb66eadbe28b045f75e74b58a2dde.jpg

 

Forgive my messy living room. I moved my old tank to the living room also so make the transfer easier.

20210626_191223_DxO.thumb.jpg.b7ffc8126f770ef422c4e5a6b5b2d3aa.jpg

 

Looking from the living room side 

20210628_102636.thumb.jpeg.9b778c45811d2cd885b37bd23c9c1626.jpeg

 

DD JumpGuard netting. It was fun putting it together with the fiance. Tight fit with the Ecotech RMS light rail.

20210628_102650.thumb.jpeg.92cb9510b091731973d7313ed9f2a55a.jpeg

 

Took nearly 2 and a half days to fill using my RO Buddie 50 gpd RODI unit.

 

20210622_090028_DxO.thumb.jpg.9d18a01519c7e353a117e2c0a1f37eda.jpg

 

 

Planned Fish Stocking List:

In addition to the 2 existing Clownfish I am also looking into:

 

Pajama Cardinals

Yasha Goby / Tiger Pistol Shrimp pair

Suggestions on wrasses

Suggestions on a basselet

Suggestions on a dwarf angelfish

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good! I personally prefer benggai Cardinals over pajamas thats me. I have a flame angel and melanrus wrasse. Definitely very pretty and active fish. Caution on any angel though. I'm just lucky.

  • Like 3
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42 minutes ago, Matteo said:

Looking good! I personally prefer benggai Cardinals over pajamas thats me. I have a flame angel and melanrus wrasse. Definitely very pretty and active fish. Caution on any angel though. I'm just lucky.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into the flame angel and melanrus wrasse!

  • Like 1
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Looking good! That's a great start. I second the melanurus wrasse - they are my favorite wrasse, incredibly colorful, out all the time, and will devour any pests that aren't armored. Just be careful when choosing your CUC with them (or really any wrasse) because they will eat anything that is small enough to flip or can't fight back. That means everything that isn't a huge turbo snail or doesn't have claws will probably get eaten.

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49 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Looking good! That's a great start. I second the melanurus wrasse - they are my favorite wrasse, incredibly colorful, out all the time, and will devour any pests that aren't armored. Just be careful when choosing your CUC with them (or really any wrasse) because they will eat anything that is small enough to flip or can't fight back. That means everything that isn't a huge turbo snail or doesn't have claws will probably get eaten.

I keep my melanrus fat and happy. So far all inverts safe but yes with caution 

  • Like 1
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49 minutes ago, Matteo said:

I keep my melanrus fat and happy. So far all inverts safe but yes with caution 

Mine was fat enough where it couldn't eat the snails it killed, but killed them just because. He wouldn't even nibble them - just flip them, shred them, and go about it's fishy life. He went through phases.

 

My CUC was safe for the first 3 years (right after a move) before he killed the first snail and then just went on a rampage. Every couple years he would go on a murder spree. Even at 8 years old and fading he went on one last binge for old times sake. Never even ate a single one - the hermits and nassarius cleaned up after him. Strange fish.

 

Mine was a midget and was smaller than my clowns (which is the only reason I kept him), but my LFS has a monster of a melanurus that's gotta be 7" long and obese, but that thing tears through snails like nobody's business and eats them. Biggest and fattest melanurus I've ever seen. Lots of local reefers have no issues or only occasional and others do. Luck of the draw with their personality.

 

They are very smart for a fish too. Mine would suck up sand and spit it into my MP10 and then catch any worms or pods that got scattered before they hit the bottom.

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Murphs_Reef

Love the melanurus, though I went for a dusky. They are lovely looking fish and very active. You just need to sink cash into cuc every week... But it's worth it all the way.. wrasse are simply amazing fish. 

 

 

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10 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

Melanrus Wrasse seems to be beautiful but high maintance! 

I guess it depends on the personality of the fish 😜

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16 hours ago, Murphych said:

Love the melanurus, though I went for a dusky. They are lovely looking fish and very active. You just need to sink cash into cuc every week... But it's worth it all the way.. wrasse are simply amazing fish. 

 

 

I've never seen one close to that bad and I've only ever seen a handful that were big enough to flip over fully grown and healthy turbos and that was after 5-6 years of growth, which is about the average lifespan anyway - and that was in a huge LFS system with a whole load of other wrasses. Even after 8 years, mine wasn't even big enough to touch astreas. Plus, the stuff they can't kill are by far the most productive members of the CUC, so who cares about ceriths and those tiny margarita snails anyway! It's been more than a year without a wrasse and I still don't bother with any of those little snails that do a half-assed job. I 100% agree with the second half though - totally worth it and wrasse are incredible fish!

29 minutes ago, Matteo said:

I guess it depends on the personality of the fish 😜

Definitely, but they are never that bad and the little CUC members are overrated anyway.

 

10 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

Melanrus Wrasse seems to be beautiful but high maintance! 

They are super low maintenance. Just choose a larger sized CUC and you are good to go. It'll take 3-4 years to get big enough for them to threaten even medium sized snails. They are incredibly easy to keep, absolutely beautiful, and inexpensive. Definitely go for it!

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Murphs_Reef

Yeah I like a stocked cuc so do replace them Ina one in one out fashion. mine is most definitely a flipper but I don't mind at all.  

My sandbed is littered with most types of snail shells but it's fine and all part of it... It especially loves Nass as he can pull on their trunks... Very aggressive little beast, mine.. 

 

You where lucky maybe .. or unlucky?

PXL_20210629_151220025.MP.jpg

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Murphs_Reef

Oh @DevilDuck I forgot to say.... Whoop! Lovely tank.. that will be about the same size as mine just shy of 95gallon?. People say it's still a small tank.. if that's the case I don't want bigger after a 10% water change.. back breaker !!! 🤣

Congrats... And can't wait to see where the journey takes us......

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6 minutes ago, Murphych said:

Oh @DevilDuck I forgot to say.... Whoop! Lovely tank.. that will be about the same size as mine just shy of 95gallon?. People say it's still a small tank.. if that's the case I don't want bigger after a 10% water change.. back breaker !!! 🤣

Congrats... And can't wait to see where the journey takes us......

@Murphych Thank you so much! The tank is around 88 gallons total water volume. I am not looking forward to water changes, hence I'm going to try a water change free method similar to the Triton method called Reef MoonShiners Method. Except for the post cycle nitrate removal water change and emergencies, I will only be topping off this tank with RODI going forward.

 

- Alk, Cal, and Mg will be tested and dosed as usual (I use Tropic Marin CarboCalcium for now)

- ICP water testing will be done monthly for trace elements levels. Each element will be supplemented individually as needed

- Nitrates/Phosphates will be exported via protein skimmer and Chaeto refugium

- I also have Seachem Phosguard if the phosphate get too high from feeding

 

I've been curious about Red Sea NoPox dosing too, if necessary. Anyone have experience with it?

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
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Murphs_Reef

To be fair.. mine has been running for 5 months and its only had 4 x 10% water changes.

 

The rest is ato which is to be honest is 2 litres a day in the summer. So I have a perspex lid I put over the top when I'm out of the house (as the windows are locked shut so no ventilation) and most of the sump is covered as well. 

 

Mate.. you'll live it though.. it becomes so much more than looking after the animals. There is a big hardware / software element to tinker with now as well 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

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I just tested the water (API test kit) and it looks like the ammonia has dropped 0 ppm.

Nitrites are around 1ppm for now, I'm expecting it to rise a bit more in the next couple of weeks.

 

For years now, the toxicity of nitrites in saltwater has been debated. Several vocal members of R2R have theorized that nitrites are not toxic except at very high levels (> 100 ppm) in a marine environment. Some of argued that marine tank cycling practices should be changed so that nitrites no longer need to be tested, only ammonia should be tracked.

 

Sources: 

(4) The official nitrite conference 2021 | REEF2REEF Saltwater and Reef Aquarium Forum

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

(4) The importance of nitrite measurements in a reef aquarium | REEF2REEF Saltwater and Reef Aquarium Forum

 

This is a good opportunity to run an impromptu experiment. Most of the articles and posts I've been reading have to do with nitrite toxicity with fish and inverts but no mention of coral.

This may be due to lack of formal experimentation and the fact that there are too many varieties of coral to make a blanket statement.

 

I have a bunch of very fast growing pom pom xenia in my tank. Normally, when it grows too large or starts to migrate off its island onto the sand, I remove and dispose of the excess.

This time I'm going to plop some of it into the new tank with nitrites reading > 1 ppm just to see if it survives. If it does, it will mean that nitrites may not be as toxic to xenia. If it dies, I was going to dispose of it anyway, no big loss.

 

Big clump of xenia in the Fluval evo

20210629_123843.thumb.jpg.e058ba89e22ef2ff75a491580a58ea4f.jpg

 

Oyster shell with some xenia moved to the right.

20210629_124040.thumb.jpg.4a34af5aefa3de142b1c0269096bef44.jpg

 

Tossed in the new sump.

20210629_124636.thumb.jpg.8f4db8d12b2d9d503bced3f97ceb3185.jpg

 

Anyone want to take some bets?

 

1. Xenia is indestructible, it will survive and come for you.

2. Xenia will die, the universe is safe...for now.

3. I don't know, but The Truth is Out there!

 

 

  • Like 5
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I just re-tested ammonia and nitrite today and now the test is showing 1 ppm ammonia! wtf API!

Salinity is on the high side around 1.028 sg. I'm going to lower it by replacing some salt water with RODI.

 

Xenia isn't showing any distress right now. 

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On 6/29/2021 at 6:30 PM, DevilDuck said:

Anyone want to take some bets?

 

1. Xenia is indestructible, it will survive and come for you.

2. Xenia will die, the universe is safe...for now.

3. I don't know, but The Truth is Out there!

 

 

I'm hoping option 1 myself 

  • Like 2
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On 6/29/2021 at 10:30 AM, DevilDuck said:

Anyone want to take some bets?

 

1. Xenia is indestructible, it will survive and come for you.

2. Xenia will die, the universe is safe...for now.

3. I don't know, but The Truth is Out there!

#1 for sure; you will wake up and it will be growing in your coffee cup, on your bathroom mirror, on the pillow you sleep on... it will be after you and there will be nothing you can do.

 

Sweet tank by the way! I like the setup a lot, and I can't wait to see how it comes together. 😁

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Simplicity 120DC skimmer arrived, and it's currently breaking in. This is my first skimmer, hopefully i'm doing this right. I'm just running it for a week or two without the lid on, not sure if it will skim anything since there is nothing creating significant waste in the tank.

 

I'm pretty impressed by Simplicity's customer service. I actually had some trouble putting the skimmer together and called the customer support phone number. To my surprise, a real live person answered the phone and helped me out. They also answer emails within a few hours. 

 

 

20210701_093712.thumb.jpg.60314ae06e0f23553911cd0871f4ba44.jpg

  • Like 3
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Finally, the day has come! Over the weekend, I tossed in 2.5 more lbs of live rock into the sump and move over a big wad of chaeto.

Ammonia is now reading close enough to 0 ppm, we can now start transferring the livestock over into the tank. 

 

Forgive the horrible quality of the photos. I couldn't get my phone adjusted to the mix of the new Ecotech Radion spectrum mixed with some natural sunlight coming in through the apartment windows.

 

First thing was to move the xenia onto it's own island. In case your wondering, xenia didn't care about detectable ammonia. It survived the shorten cycle without a scratch.

 20210706_132732.thumb.jpeg.01e3aec384654fbb8d4af44c11c67bf9.jpeg

 

Next up were the zoas, frogspawn, hammer, favias and gorgonians.  The zoas and the gorgonian immediately opened up as did the frogspawn.

 

20210706_132922.thumb.jpeg.5c2f13b43ca6193aa07747bede30b26d.jpeg

 

FTS for now:

20210706_132958.thumb.jpeg.e866a587c9e9287330227d4bda173b8b.jpeg

 

Also moved about half the rock flower anemones.

 

There are only two large pieces of live rock left in the old tank. Both will be moved tomorrow since I will be treating some hair algae on them with a toothbrush and hydrogen peroxide.

 

I accidentally tore a piece my the superman mushroom trying to move the rock it was attached to. I guess I now have 2 Superman mushrooms...

 

The main arch rock is home to several anemones and the blood red cleaner shrimp, so i'll have to be extra careful with that piece.

 

Fluval now looking a little empty...

20210706_133045.thumb.jpeg.ea03baca8e92242bd12ccb23a5eaa09b.jpeg

 

 

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  • DevilDuck changed the title to The Great Wave - Waterbox Peninsula 3620 - Alkalinity fluxing!

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