Late to the Game- Waterbox 15g Mini Peninsula Mixed Reef

[windslab]

Hello everyone! Windslab here.

 

A few months ago I happened into an established Waterbox nano that needed a rehoming. I was thrilled with this opportunity as it's been about 5 years since I had to leave the hobby (school, moving etc.) and was looking for an excuse to get my hands wet again (plus, the past two years in healthcare haven't been stressful at all, so I figured now was the perfect opportunity to immerse myself in the critical care of hobbies ;)). 

 

Well, enough rambling on that front. When I picked up the tank it consisted of:

 

Livestock-

• Percula orange clown
• Wyoming white
• Trochus snail x1
• Red-legged hermit x1
• Pale'd out Acan ~ 12 heads
• Leather
• Kryptonite Candy Cane ~ 4 heads
• Short tentacle torch ~ 3 heads
• Purple & green hammer ~ 2 heads
• GSP ~ 2 x 2 inches

Hardware-

• NICREW 30w HyperLED
• Bag of carbon
• Bag of plastic bioballs (still need to transition to ceramic media...)
• stock return pump
• 100w heater

 

Moving day went according to plan. Once home and settled, I made a new aquascape and let things settle out in the sandbed. I made sure to chisel the GSP off the top off the rock to create  a nice turf island up front.

 

A made a few changes pretty quickly. Water params were solid when I took it over, but I needed things like a lid, media housing etc. I'll list the breakdown below, but the big difference was adding an AI Prime. I started it on Saxby's at 60% (acclimating from 30%) and have since been increasing about 5% every week or two. I'm planning on dropping the whites as my blues nears peak of ~100%. Trying to find the balance between happy spa and happy lps has been a bit of a trial and error process. Anyways, here's the livestock that I've added (everything I picked up were very small frags. Trying to pack things in while not breaking the bank...)

• OG Mummy Eyes Chalice
• Green / Blue Ultra RFA
• 4x Red legged hermits
• 2x Trochus snails
• 3x astrea snails
• 1x skunk cleaner shrimp
• Blue hornet zoa
• Rainbow hornet zoa
• scrambled eggs zoa
• playboy bunny zoa
• sonic flare zoa
• spitfire zoa
• goblins on fire zoa
• Jawbreaker mushroom
• St. Thomas mushroom
• green/yellow ricordea
• Magician's zoa
• JF Lethal Leptoseries
• Flaming Phoenix montipora
• BigR Gumdrop Echinata
• Aussie Duncan
• Pink/ purple yuma
• Forrest Fire Digitata
• ASD rainbow Phoenix Montipora
• Poletti's yellow tipped austera
• Rainbow Acans

 

With all that typed out, here are the hardware changes I've made:

• AI Prime 16hd
• Kraken Reef lid
• inTank surface skimmer
• inTank media basket (chamber 1) + filter floss (change every other day), carbon + phosguard, bioballs
• inTank sump cover
• Aqumai KPS powerhead
• JBJ Nano AT

 

So far most everything is doing well. Surprisingly the most finicky thing are the magicians zoos. I've tried them in many different spots and they still aren't happy. I'm a bit worried about loosing them. Additionally the austera is up and down. Some days it looks better than others however it still has a ways to bounce back. I test Mg/Ca/Alk/Phos/Nitrates every two days and dose accordingly. My Mg has been a bit lower than I would like so I'm planning on switching to a salt with higher Mg (currently mixing redsea blue bucket).

 

Most recent params as of 3/25 were:

Mag- 1280

Calcium- 440

Alkalinity- 8.7dKH

Phos- 0.02

Nitrates- 6

 

Overall I'm happy with the water, but ideally I'd like a nitrate of 3-4 and a Mag of 1320-1350. Over the next months I'm planning on swapping out the KPS for a Nero 3 (if I can ever get my hand on one!). The KPS has been fine, but I haven't been overly impressed. Plus I'd like to run everything through one app, but that's just me being extra. Additionally, I plan to slowly sway the bioballs over to Marinepure gems. I've always preferred ceramic media and honestly should have begun this process right when I got the tank. I would like to add a Tailspot blenny at some point soon as well. If I add more livestock, I will turn the second filter area into a microfuge. Hopefully this will regulate phosphates and keep a nice home for a decent pod population. 

I plan to update this regularly as I add new inhabitants! 

 

I'm still trying to figure out the whole tank LED photography thing, any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

-Windslab

[debbeach13]

Welcome to NR.

Congratulations! That looks and sounds like a sweet set up. I hope you enjoy it for years.

[windslab]

April fools day was a big day for the tank! I caved to my lack of discipline and added a tiny tailspot blend. The clowns are sharing the tank nicely and he is already eating tank microfilm, mysis and nori. The other addition to the tank is a Croc Island Scoly from Rocky Mountain Frags. He's ~1.25-1.5 inches across and just enjoyed a first meal of a Mysis shrimp and a pellet the shrimp dropped in his mouth. I couldn't be more excited about these additions and the health they both appear to be in. 

 

I think that these will be the last additions for a while. I'll be heading out of town in May and I don't want to stock anything else until I get back. 

 

As far as the rest of the tank goes, mostly everything is happy and starting to grow. All of my zoos minus the rainbow and blue hornets have grown an extra polyp or two and my jawbreaker dropped a baby(!). Sadly I think the magician zoos have melted away. I tried them everywhere and they weren't quite happy anywhere. I think I'll replace them with some utter chaos.

 

Another note- with this build I'll be trying to keep everything well trimmed and happy. I'm guessing that in a half year or so I'll have some frags ready to go. If anyone see's anything they are interested in just shoot me a pm. I'll let stuff go for a deal as I've gotten some steals in this process.

 

Here's a pick of the blend and the Scoly.

 

-windslab

[windslab]

Hello again!

 

Back for another update. Some good news, and some sad news. 

 

Sad new first- three or so days after adding the blenny I saw my red-legged crabs enjoying an expensive snack. This broke my heart. I'm not sure what happened- he was eating and swimming around happily. I drip and temperature acclimated him over two hours. I guess that's just part of the hobby, but it is pretty dang sad. I don't think I'll add another first for a long time, or maybe ever to this tank.

 

Turning a page, all of my corals seem to be happy. The zoa's new polyps are extending and open most of the day, the Scoly is fitting in well and eating a nice meal twice a week. Perhaps the best news is a tie between my grape coral (previously thought to be a short tentacle torch) splitting a new head and my rainbow Phoenix Monti encrusting onto my LR. I'm really happy with these pieces and overall excited to see things grow. I hope to be able to keep providing a happy and healthy home for all of these different species. I also picked up some CB El Corazon zoos (zoo garden is complete!) from Sunnyside Corals. Jeff is the man and they have some killer pieces. 

 

Lastly, I've had a difficult time raising my Mg level. Does anyone have any tips? My salt mixes at 1280, and my tank sits around 1260 (shooting for 1300-1320). I also dose accordingly but it doesn't seem to make a difference really. I think that I'll mix a different salt once I use this bucket up. Anyways, let me know if you have any tips.

 

Well, happy Friday everyone! I hope you're able to enjoy the weekend and spend time doing whatever makes ya happy.

 

Cheers,

-windslab

[johnnyvega252]

Awesome work so far I too lost a clown early in the game and have been pretty successful besided the fact that I took an expensive vacation and came home to a bleached acro and nearly dead candy cane coral. Keep it up! Dont let a fish death ruin the hobby for you! 

[windslab]

Hey Y'all! Checking back in for the last time for a month- I'm headed on a ski/kayak trip to Alaska and will be out of country for the next little while.

 

The past few weeks have been mostly quiet with a few small changes here and there. The stock pump was buzzing, and no amount of tinkering on my end had any effect. I swapped it for a sicce synchra silent 0.5 and couldn't be happier. Its dead silent and provides better flow. I'd recommend this upgrade to anyone with a nano Waterbox. 

 

On the ugly side of things I've had a bit of a Cyano outbreak. I wouldn't describe it as an infestation (yet) and hopefully it should be under control. I've siphoned the sand, done water changes x2 (20%) per week for two weeks and have nutrients in range (Phos 0.02, Nitrates 4). Yesterday I pulled the carbon, dosed some chemiclean and added a small sicce powerhead to just hit the dead spot where the Cyano seemed to like the most. Between nutrients in check, more flow and a dose of chemicals- I'm hoping to be in the clear. 

 

Anyways, have a good weekend!

 

-windslab

[TrevorNight]

On 4/29/2022 at 7:11 PM, windslab said:

 

Hey Y'all! Checking back in for the last time for a month- I'm headed on a ski/kayak trip to Alaska and will be out of country for the next little while.

 

The past few weeks have been mostly quiet with a few small changes here and there. The stock pump was buzzing, and no amount of tinkering on my end had any effect. I swapped it for a sicce synchra silent 0.5 and couldn't be happier. Its dead silent and provides better flow. I'd recommend this upgrade to anyone with a nano Waterbox. 

 

On the ugly side of things I've had a bit of a Cyano outbreak. I wouldn't describe it as an infestation (yet) and hopefully it should be under control. I've siphoned the sand, done water changes x2 (20%) per week for two weeks and have nutrients in range (Phos 0.02, Nitrates 4). Yesterday I pulled the carbon, dosed some chemiclean and added a small sicce powerhead to just hit the dead spot where the Cyano seemed to like the most. Between nutrients in check, more flow and a dose of chemicals- I'm hoping to be in the clear. 

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Anyways, have a good weekend!

 

-windslab

I'm looking for the best pump myself, because the Sicce Synchra Silent 0.5 never worked properly for me. Maybe you can suggest something else?