Johnny's Waterbox Peninsula 15G

[johnnyvega252]

Hello Everyone,

 

I have decided to get back into the hobby... Last time I bit a lot more than I could chew and ended up destroying a beautiful 20 gallon IM Fusion to upgrade to a RedSea Reefer... I ended up losing a lot of the corals and some fish. Out of frustration I sold everything I had and decided to call it quits. After trying to find another hobby for several years I realized I didn't enjoy any of them as much as I enjoyed my tank not my violin, not my Gunpla, not my drawing, or even my drone which I still use from time-to-time. This time around, I am going to start out a bit different and try to make the whole process as uninvolved as I possibly can. The mistakes I committed during my last tank were out of greed and wanting to chase parameters and changing my rock-scape numerous times rather than just letting things be. I didn't stick to my plan and I went from an off-brand AIO tank that worked well, to a IM Fusion 20, to finally a RedSea reefer that I ended up selling. This time around I will try to remain consistent and bring stability to my tank. While chasing parameters I would do water changes left and right, I would change lighting, feeding schedules, etc... etc.. It never dawned on me how all these changes were affecting my fish and corals and in the end as we say in my country, "The remedy turned out worse than the disease!"

 

Hopefully you guys will enjoy this build as much as I look forward to sharing it with all of you. Bellow you will find my equipment list... Much of it is still on order and on its way. Waterbox was sold out of the tank I wanted with the Ai HD Prime combo but, I still ordered it and its now on backorder so we will see. No rush this time, plus I became a father last year and as we prepare to celebrate my son's upcoming birthday I want to focus on that in the meantime so I don't mind the wait... The equipment list is as follow...

 

Hardware

Waterbox Peninsula 15gallon AIO 

Ai HD Prime Black with 12inch mounting arm

Ai Nero 3 

Fluval 50W heater 

Sicce .05 return pump

XP Aqua Duetto ATO 

Ink Bird Temp Controller 

Advanced Acrylics slim ATO reservoir

 

Filtration

Going to get the overhang piece from inTank with their filter floss ( Their media rack didn't convince me! ) They should really find a way to make a rack that works without having to cut up the tank just my opinion.  

Going to run ChemiPure blue 

 

Rock & Substrate

Caribsea Fiji Pink

Marco Dry Rock not the purple one. 

 

Future Inhabitants

2 Designer clowns still deciding which

1 Cleaner Shrimp

1 Bicolor Blenny 

Zoas, Softies, I really want an octo-spawn coral, and I might try some acans and some easy bird's nest or montipora. 

 

If you are done reading this whole thing I am wondering if you guys think I can get away with 10lbs of rock instead of 15lbs. Let me know!!! Thank you for reading this thread. 

 

 

[johnnyvega252]

So some of the stuff has started coming in. Still waiting on the Ai Prime, gooseneck mounting arm, Marco rock, and ammonia starter. Some stuff will be coming in tomorrow. I'm hoping to get this project started sometime this week. As mentioned in another post I am going for a negative space aquascape and will be supergluing the rock together. I am still looking for a lid for this tank. My hope is to add water sometime next week to begin the cycle. 

 

 

[Tritone]

On 8/3/2021 at 7:05 AM, johnnyvega252 said:

Hello Everyone,

 

I have decided to get back into the hobby... Last time I bit a lot more than I could chew and ended up destroying a beautiful 20 gallon IM Fusion to upgrade to a RedSea Reefer... I ended up losing a lot of the corals and some fish. Out of frustration I sold everything I had and decided to call it quits. After trying to find another hobby for several years I realized I didn't enjoy any of them as much as I enjoyed my tank not my violin, not my Gunpla, not my drawing, or even my drone which I still use from time-to-time. This time around, I am going to start out a bit different and try to make the whole process as uninvolved as I possibly can. The mistakes I committed during my last tank were out of greed and wanting to chase parameters and changing my rock-scape numerous times rather than just letting things be. I didn't stick to my plan and I went from an off-brand AIO tank that worked well, to a IM Fusion 20, to finally a RedSea reefer that I ended up selling. This time around I will try to remain consistent and bring stability to my tank. While chasing parameters I would do water changes left and right, I would change lighting, feeding schedules, etc... etc.. It never dawned on me how all these changes were affecting my fish and corals and in the end as we say in my country, "The remedy turned out worse than the disease!"

 

Hopefully you guys will enjoy this build as much as I look forward to sharing it with all of you. Bellow you will find my equipment list... Much of it is still on order and on its way. Waterbox was sold out of the tank I wanted with the Ai HD Prime combo but, I still ordered it and its now on backorder so we will see. No rush this time, plus I became a father last year and as we prepare to celebrate my son's upcoming birthday I want to focus on that in the meantime so I don't mind the wait... The equipment list is as follow...

 

Hardware

Waterbox Peninsula 15gallon AIO 

Ai HD Prime Black with 12inch mounting arm

Ai Nero 3 

Fluval 50W heater 

Sicce .05 return pump

XP Aqua Duetto ATO 

NICREW TC-321 Temp Controller

Amazon Hang on Aquarium Fans

 

Filtration

Going to get the overhang piece from inTank with their filter floss ( Their media rack didn't convince me! ) They should really find a way to make a rack that works without having to cut up the tank just my opinion.  

Going to run ChemiPure blue 

 

Rock & Substrate

Caribsea Aragalive Special Grade

Caribsea Dry Rock not the purple one. 

 

Future Inhabitants

2 Designer clowns still deciding which

1 Cleaner Shrimp

Zoas, Softies, I really want an octo-spawn coral, and I might try some acans and some easy bird's nest or montipora. 

 

If you are done reading this whole thing I am wondering if you guys think I can get away with 10lbs of rock instead of 15lbs. Let me know!!! Thank you for reading this thread. 

 

 

Hi

I have 20lb of rock in a 32 gallon tank, so my personal answer is yes you can.

 

How are going to cycle the tank? With dry rock it will take a long time unless you dose ammonia and add nitrifying bacteria in a bottle.

 

 

[M. Tournesol]

The following video could inspire you for a negative space aquascape 😉

 

without forgetting seafriendlyreef Chanel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBt7Zjzc3ItuGEPMIbxP_2Q/videos

 

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by M. Tournesol
added another inspiration link

[Tritone]

PS,

Johnny Vega, THE Johnny Vega?

 

Welcome either way.

[johnnyvega252]

1 minute ago, Tritone said:

Hi

I have 20lb of rock in a 32 gallon tank, so my personal answer is yes you can.

 

How are going to cycle the tank? With dry rock it will take a long time unless you dose ammonia and add nitrifying bacteria in a bottle.

 

 

Patience is key lol but, yea I will be dosing ammonia to the tank. First tank I ever did I was told to cycle with a damsel and boy was it hard to catch that thing once I wanted to introduce my clowns. 

[johnnyvega252]

5 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

The following video could inspire you for a negative space aquascape 😉

 

 Those are amazing tanks!!!

[Tritone]

3 minutes ago, johnnyvega252 said:

Patience is key lol but, yea I will be dosing ammonia to the tank. First tank I ever did I was told to cycle with a damsel and boy was it hard to catch that thing once I wanted to introduce my clowns. 

Poor Damsel! 
First intoxicated then chased around. X

[Rehype]

Looking forward to seeing this progress!  Have you unboxed the tank yet?

[johnnyvega252]

49 minutes ago, Rehype said:

Looking forward to seeing this progress!  Have you unboxed the tank yet?

Thank you I look forward to setting it up too. Actually I haven't had time I want to go ahead and check it out sometime tomorrow Its just I have so many deadlines this week that I have not had the chance. I will keep you guys updated! 

[MisturrTinnie]

Following this for sure! I just started a 10g AIO also.

[johnnyvega252]

So this is the scape I came up with. However the aquarium I received had an issue and I am waiting for the replacement tank to arrive. Waterbox customer service has been great so far! I just have to wait a bit longer! 

[johnnyvega252]

Okay so this thing finally has some water in it. Well as of Friday of this week. I did add some Brightwell Ammonia and a whole bottle of Instant Ocean BioSpira. I went ahead and did my first test today and the ammonia showed up. My results are as follow. 

 

Ph 8.0

Ammonia .50ppm

Nitrite 5.0ppm

Nitrate 20ppm

 

Now its just time to wait and then go from there. 

[Murphs_Reef]

Going well so far

[johnnyvega252]

So I'm kind of stuck now I guess... I don't know what to do the ammonia looks more yellow in person. I did this test a few moments ago... What are my next steps?

 

Ph 8.0

Ammonia .125ppm <- This is me being scared and holding off but it really does look yellow in person.

Nitrite 2.0ppm

Nitrate 40ppm

[Tritone]

On 8/30/2021 at 9:38 PM, johnnyvega252 said:

So I'm kind of stuck now I guess... I don't know what to do the ammonia looks more yellow in person. I did this test a few moments ago... What are my next steps?

 

Ph 8.0

Ammonia .125ppm <- This is me being scared and holding off but it really does look yellow in person.

Nitrite 2.0ppm

Nitrate 40ppm

Have you dosed any ammonia in tank to start the cycle?

Did its reading spike? 
When returned to zero the liquid will look like clear piss. Pardon the word. The nitrite will take a bit longer to go back to its light blue. Forget about ph for now.

 

*Sorry, I reread your post and you did dose. Did it get to 2ppm?

 

[Tritone]

PS, don’t put any fish in until it’s properly cycled or you might end up crashing and/or killing the fish.

[WormLicker]

I really love that rockscape! Can't wait to see more 

[Seadragon]

On 8/10/2021 at 5:43 PM, johnnyvega252 said:

First tank I ever did I was told to cycle with a damsel and boy was it hard to catch that thing once I wanted to introduce my clowns.

Yeah, damsels can be evasive and fast.  Best to do it in the middle of the night after the lights have been off for awhile.  Then go in with a net and it’ll wake up not knowing what just happened.

[johnnyvega252]

18 hours ago, Tritone said:

Have you dosed any ammonia in tank to start the cycle?

Did its reading spike? 
When returned to zero the liquid will look like clear piss. Pardon the word. The nitrite will take a bit longer to go back to its light blue. Forget about ph for now.

 

*Sorry, I reread your post and you did dose. Did it get to 2ppm?

 

I should have probably tested the ammonia but by the time I tested four days had passed and with BioSpira added it might have brought the ammonia down a bit. 

[Tritone]

3 hours ago, johnnyvega252 said:

I should have probably tested the ammonia but by the time I tested four days had passed and with BioSpira added it might have brought the ammonia down a bit. 

Hi Johnny

i don’t mean to sound patronising but remember what happened last time when in frustration you gave it all up.

it is important that a new tank gets seeded/cycled properly. It is the foundation for all the effort, hard work and money you’re going to put in later which in turn will give you great satisfaction and joy.
Having said that, for what it’s worth, my personal suggestion is the following. Dose more ammonia to take it to 2ppm. Wait for it to go to zero (remember the clear piss colour I mentioned before. I use the API test too). Keep an eye on Nitrite which will take a bit longer to go down. Leave ph and Nitrate test alone for now. 
Be patient. 

[johnnyvega252]

13 minutes ago, Tritone said:

Hi Johnny

i don’t mean to sound patronising but remember what happened last time when in frustration you gave it all up.

it is important that a new tank gets seeded/cycled properly. It is the foundation for all the effort, hard work and money you’re going to put in later which in turn will give you great satisfaction and joy.
Having said that, for what it’s worth, my personal suggestion is the following. Dose more ammonia to take it to 2ppm. Wait for it to go to zero (remember the clear piss colour I mentioned before. I use the API test too). Keep an eye on Nitrite which will take a bit longer to go down. Leave ph and Nitrate test alone for now. 
Be patient. 

Understood will dose to 2 parts per million today. Also my refractometer broke do you guys have any suggestions for any good ones my old one was from Marine Depot.

[Seadragon]

Here’s what I purchased from Amazon.

Amazon’s Choice, very high positive reviews, relatively cheap and never gave me an issue — I use it every week during my water changes.

I also bought the calibration fluid just to make sure it’s spot on.

[Tritone]

2 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

Here’s what I purchased from Amazon.

Amazon’s Choice, very high positive reviews, relatively cheap and never gave me an issue — I use it every week during my water changes.

I also bought the calibration fluid just to make sure it’s spot on.

I use something that looks identical and happy with it. 

10 minutes ago, johnnyvega252 said:

Understood will dose to 2 parts per million today. Also my refractometer broke do you guys have any suggestions for any good ones my old one was from Marine Depot.

Do you mix or buy your water?

[johnnyvega252]

1 minute ago, Tritone said:

I use something that looks identical and happy with it. 

Do you mix or buy your water?

I currently buy my water. My tank is so small. I might end up just buying distilled water and mixing my own. The LFS I go to is highly regarded and they use Tropic Marine Marine Pro Reef Salt.