Sapling's Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25

[sapling]

Hello all, 

 

I have been running an ADA 60P Freshwater tank now for a couple years since I was last here regularly, and that's been fine. But lately, I started missing saltwater tanks. After a while, I decided well, why not, and so here I am haha! It's been a hot minute since I last had a saltwater aquarium, so I'm a bit rusty, and not too aware of the changes since, but hoping to have fun with it again. Since I've been more active here recently, I figured create a journal here to help document this tank and it's progress. 

 

 

Equipment List:
Current Equipment

Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25

Stock Pump

Fluval 100w heater

Reefbreeders Prism ATO

AI Prime 16 HD

Previous Equipment
Nicrew a30 Reef LED
 

Stocking List:

Fish

~

 

Inverts

Trochus Snails 

Cerith Snails

 

Corals

Ricordea Yuma

Candy Cane

Leptoseris

Hammer

Alvepora

Acan Lord
Duncan
Cyphastrea
Blasto
Montipora

 

FTS

5/15/23

 

[ml86743]

Following along, excited to see the progress. 

[sapling]

This post is on the longer side, but just catching up here!

 

The tank is a Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25, now called a Cube 25 Peninsula. Similar to my DIY AIO tank I built around 6 years ago. Much better craftsmanship of course, lol 

 

Tank came from a cichlid guy on Offerup dipping his feet into saltwater, but he didn't have a good run with it keeping a pair of clowns and a condy anemone, and broke the tank down. 

 

In the deal I was able to get the following:

the tank

the stand

NF-1 Skimmer

Automatic feeder

stock filter sock 

stock pump

Fluval Heater

Nicrew a30 Light

Aquatop cps-1 powerhead 

some rock

fiji pink sand

many salifert test kits

a couple seachem kits

some brightwell bottles

portable refractometer

 

 

Unfortunately there were issues with most of everything ! But what I cared most was the tank and it looked great structurally so I went ahead with it. 

 

Some of the fun issues I've had setting it up:

• Tank and stand were very dirty, sand and salt creep everywhere. Took a long while to clean, and unfortunately the surface of the stand has some raising from water damage. 
• All the test kits are at least 6+ months expired. I still tried to use them but when I saw the first expired kit come out chunky brown instead of red, I just threw them out. 
• All the equipment was very dirty and needed TLC to clean, but looks to be in working order now. 
• Heater seems to not stay where it is set to, I have it in the right temp checking with thermometer but I just don't trust it long term. 
• Stock pump makes just enough noise to be annoying when the room is quiet haha. 
• Nicrew Light works but is missing both the gooseneck and a lighting kit. Nicrew on amazon does not offer those parts separately, I have been unable to find substitutes for it yet.
• Stand actually did not fully support the tank in a way I'm comfortable with, it does not support the front glass.  
• A lot of cat hair in the tank, like way more than you'd expect. Started wondering if he was keeping clownfish or catfish.

 

After cleaning then testing the tank for leaks, brought it to the area I want it, beside my desk. I work from home and my personal gripe with my freshwater 60p is that its in the living room so I don't get to enjoy the tank for long while working. Having it beside my desk in the bedroom seemed ideal. While cleaning, something the Seller didn't mention, but he actually had some coral, I found this out while cleaning the sand, multiple Coral skeletons and frag plugs, felt like I was in a forensics team. 

 

Some things I bought at that point:

• A 3/4" 4x2 project plywood board to place on the stand to both get the tank off the raised surfaces on the stand, and also properly support the front of the tank. 
• Shims
• Instant Ocean Reef Salt, its tried and true for me
• Dr Tim's Ammonium to get the cycle going along with BIO-Spira
• Refractometer Calibration Solution

 

The tank was filled, and started chugging along. I decided to have a lot of negative space with this aquarium, at least for now. The scape is not noteworthy, but I like it personally, feels nice.

 

maybe a little controversial, but I used the same sand and rock that came with the tank since it seemed it would be a waste to not use it and I figured the dead material on them would be good fuel for cycling, with maybe even some of the bacteria still being alive in the parts of the sand still moist.

 

During Black Friday I made some more purchases some basic stuff like buckets specifically for salt, air pump, etc. some notable ones being; 

• Reefbreeder Prism ATO
• Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit
• Hanna Alkalinity Reagent

 

Fast forward, My tank seems to be in a good spot, alk and ph in range, 0'd my ammonia and nitrites, decent amount of nitrate in the tank. 

 

I went ahead and put in my fish order sunday, and am excited to get my first 2 fish with some snails hopefully Wednesday!

 

I then quickly after put in an order with Waterbox for a lid!

 

 

 

[sapling]

Busy past few days! Work and birthday, didn't come around to updating this, 

 

in anticipation of the order, I left the light on purposely to trigger a diatom bloom for them to eat. Looks like for the most part, besides a few areas on the rock and sandbed, the snails cleaned up very quickly!

 

 

I also noticed these tiny hair thin black little worms on the rockwork. They aren't very active, but they are there. In retrospect there is more of them than before. Ive seen some people try to ID them here and other forums, but nobody has successfully ID'd. Seems like from the couple threads I found they disappear once fish are in the system and can be considered harmless? 

 

 

I have a pretty haphazard setup here with the lid and light lol! My order from Waterbox is still in the mail and was being delivered later than what was quoted. I decided the most economical way to get this done instead of blowing money for a decent DIY frame and netting, was at walmart, they sell a netting for like 97 cents a yard in the fabric section, so I just grabbed a couple yards of the 2 I thought would work and Plastic Clips. It's tricky to tighten it without a clip popping off, but it works to keep these snails in!

 

 

Note; the light shows its only 30w and with the size of the unit, it just doesn't get hot enough to be a risk against the wall, never is hot to the touch. I do hate that I'm doing that though, but its sturdy and dry there, so I'm fine with it for now. 

 

Params looked good so in the snails went, drip acclimated. 5 ceriths and 5 trochus! I have decided I will not get hermits this time around as my last go with them, as fun as they were to look at, they were extremely rude walking on my corals and killing snails for shells, with the only snails left being stomatellas and my 2 trochus.

 

 

Note: I was hoping for coralline on the shells but the cerith shells were clean and the trochus has some kind of red and green algae on them instead. I picked off the big stuff on them, but if it spreads Ill probably just blackout.

 

It was very unfortunate for me but my fish were not added to the order, it was a bummer to not receive them, but just gives the tank more time to age I suppose. its odd as the fish show available on the site but they just didn't pack them.

 

At my LFS, there is an interesting product called Reef Stew that's delivered weekly. I decided Thursday to grab a cup for 2 bucks. Its a mix of brine shrimp small and large, rotifers, copepods, and phytoplankton. I am hoping because of my relatively dry start this can help boost the microfauna in my tank. I will be frank, I can recognize a few of the copepods in general, but I could not see any in the bag. I tried doing some research into reef stew, and they do say it has copepods, but nowhere I have found they list WHAT copepods(tisbe , tig , apoc , etc.) I am hoping maybe they are just young and will appear later.

 

on a related note, I am considering purchasing some copepods from algaebarn. I know seabass has a guide regarding phyto, but does anyone else culture pods? anything to recommend? 

 

[Gsepanik]

Looks good, will be following along! Sorry if I missed it but what were your lighting plans? About the pods, I have not purchased them or used them but the only place I ever hear about people ordering them from is algaebarn.

[sapling]

On 12/13/2022 at 12:18 AM, Gsepanik said:

Looks good, will be following along! Sorry if I missed it but what were your lighting plans? About the pods, I have not purchased them or used them but the only place I ever hear about people ordering them from is algaebarn.

originally I was shooting for a t5 setup, but I just couldn't really find a 4 bulb ballast at a price I'm happy with. I should have the more permanent light soon though. The Nicrew a30 light I'm using in the meantime Doesn't seem bad from what I've seen, I'm just not willing to buy another entire unit to get the gooseneck haha. 

 

 

[sapling]

copepods in the tank! 

 

 

specifically ecopods from algaebarn; I was cautious since people on other forums weren't happy with the copepod density or being DOA, but mine arrived fine and the phyto had good color to it. 

 

Not sure it was best practice with copepods but I waited for the lights to turn off and turned off the return before just dumping them in. I see they are in the tank and kicking this morning so I assume that went without issue. 

 

also as a pet project, took a few ounces of the pods and put them in a 32 oz or so container with a small air pump. will be just dosing 5-10mls of phyto to that and see where that takes me. 

 

 

[sapling]

tank lid upgraded!

 

I had a bit of an issue with my waterbox lid when I received it, I could assemble it, but it did not sit flush. in fact, 2 corners wouldn't fit at all. I've built a few frames before so I have the general idea on making them, but it was like the short frames were cut too long. A few years ago, I'd just cut the frame to size and be done with it, but this time I wanted it good to go and look good from the start, as DIY can look pretty ragged sometimes, working, but ugly.  

 

well I contacted their support, and I was able to get a new one sent out to me! 

 

Finished it and can confirm, this one does fit! it seemed like the replacement also used a thinner metal clip instead of acrylic and I think personally that might have been the issue. I don't know what these are called exactly? 

 

Just need to trim off the extra netting from the edges and it will look pretty smart I think.

 

Picture with the new lid 

 

[sapling]

good news and bad news since last post 😞 

 

the good news first!

 

• I received an AI prime and am pretty happy with it! my camera does not! here is a pic currently!

 

 

 

• copepod culture still going, the bedroom is a bit chilly since we do not use heat in the winter so I was unsure how they would do but they are kicking still, I added more water volume, but did not have the foresight to doing a density count before and after
• all the snails are doing great it seems, I broadcast feed phyto, a couple pellets of seaweed extreme, and a tiny bit of mysis currently to try and supplement their food. 

the so-so news

• my tank seems to have developed a green dust algae. I really don't consider this a very bad thing, and I'm sure the snails appreciate it. There is much more unattractive algae I could have. I will 100% be happy with green dust over bubble any day no question! a case of knowing when to pick your battles haha. I do need to go ahead with a scrapper for the glass however.

 

onto the bad

• I lost my CB court jester goby yesterday on Christmas day. I had it in quarantine for a while now, but that morning, I went to feed it, but it never came out for food that day, which is unusual. I waited a while and decided I'll have to invade it's privacy for a wellness check in its pvc homes, but sure enough, motionless. I checked params which looked fine, and tried doing a good look over, but I could not see anything strange with its gills, body, eyes, fins, etc. the only thing to note was it was how emaciated it was. I was really sad as I've kept court jesters before, so I am aware of their general care and I've also got them to start eating too, but I never had one as small as I was given. I supplemented with live copepods, BBS, adult brine shrimp, rotifers, seaweed extreme, marine-s, mysis, masstick, diatoms, even tried giving the small black worms from the main tank's sand bed. I noticed although it would come out to forage during feeding time, it ignored the food, and I never actually saw it eat something. I can only conclude that I should have treated prophylactically general cure for internal parasites or conclude that the goby was not properly accepting common foods, as I was told it would. I'm unsure I will try a CB court jester goby again I cannot see eat before purchasing, as much as I love the fish.  

 

 

 

[sapling]

busy week, but some things I've been doing;

 

• I've been unhappy with the used Fluval titanium heater. Every time I check the temp, it reads 80-81.5f regardless of temp in the room. It sounds like temp is in spec, but that's until I tell you how much I've adjusted it down and it stays at that temp. the ambient is low 60s, so something is just wrong with the heater where it seems stuck, but thankfully not catastrophically wrong. I'm glad my Eheim 125w has been received as I have had good experience with them in the past, although I will mention I forgot how long the unit is. Have not got around to getting it up and running just yet!

 

• I got another piece of equipment I'm happy to receive, a flipper scrapper. forgot what its called off hand exactly but being 18" long is a really good match to this tanks height, and I like how well a plastic card can clean, I was a bit skeptical as I've always used either razorblades or ADA scrapers but this plastic one does a fair job with only a little more effort and even lets you use any credit card shaped plastic as the blade. I decided to go with plastic here my razor blades rusted real bad quickly after cleaning, and didnt want to use my FW scraper as my ADA is way too expensive a gift to chance corrosion from the harsher saltwater. 

 

• Still feeding phyto daily, but I will say I don't believe my copepods have gotten as dense as Id like them to be in the tank. maybe I need to feed more? I think I've lost all of the largest species, I just don't see them zooming in my water column, I imagine maybe the mesh 225 filter sock may be catching them or they are very good at hiding in the rockwork. My Trochus and Cerith snails are all kicking and I've been happy with that. seeing the Trochus snails dogpile in a corner is always weird to see before they break up, not sure if it means anything

 

Maybe someone can help me out, I've been using filter socks as I don't mind them, but something I've been stuck on deciding is a reasonable way to clean them without using a washer/dryer, can anyone give recommendations? these are mesh if that matters,

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Koleswrath]

Really like the dimensions of this tank, nice find!

Dosing phyto is also what I'm trying nail down at the moment. In an otherwise empty tank I don't want to overshoot too much but I always wonder if the copepods can really find the 0.1ml per gallon or whatever the particular supplier recommends to dose. I think Algae barn says to dose enough to just tint the water green? Not a fan of those instructions. You've also got to consider how many of the phyto cells are still alive, what the concentration of your phyto is,  etc.  

Keep us updated if you find a good balance!

Great work so far!

[sapling]

Thanks @Koleswrath ! I think in retrospect the copepod culture as cute as it is, is a bit annoying with the airpump, even if muffled. I'm going to probably strain the culture out and call it. I do hope overall the copepods thrive in the tank with the phyto dosing. 

 

~

 

Not too much of a tank update in terms of stocking, as no fish or coral yet. I have been waiting for a pair of bonded Banggai cardinals, but have not seen it yet. The tank definitely is aged enough I think, besides that I have a mix bag of news. 

 

• the bad news; I believe the trochus snails, with the hitchhiking algae that was grown on them, appears to have short grasslike red algae, and what also appears to be bryopsis, it come on suddenly, but the tiny bits of green developed a long stalk and has what looks like a feather end to them. I tried a blackout for a week, but it did not eradicate it, and it bounced back pretty quickly. It hasn't propagated to my rocks or sand as far as I can see, but it makes me uncomfortable seeing it on the backs of 2-3 of the snails. I am considering Fluconazole but haven't researched enough to commit. from what I have read, bryopsis did give me some concern cause it seems to be pretty aggressive to corals. Would anyone have a treatment they would recommend for bryopsis? I tried manually picking it off shells out of the tank, but I can't seem to remove it all, and worry about getting rough with the snails. I am unsure if the red algae is something to worry about too.

 

• the good news; first Trochus babies spotted today! I noticed 4 on the back wall of the tank, at first I thought it was maybe specks of sand stuck to the wall, but no, they are clearly tiny tiny versions of the other Trochus, banded shells minus algae haha. I would guesstimate they are approximately 2-3 millimeters diameter, about the size of a hikari pellet s for reference haha. It was funny cause yesterday I was wondering if I'd ever see babies, considering my last few times I had trochus, I never did, but I guess this time was the one!  

[sapling]

Big update! 

Tank is over 5 months old now, finally splurged and finally got some corals. Yesterday was a bit of a headache getting them all acclimated, but we got there and they're in. Out of the online order, a couple look a bit spotty when I got them, but otherwise I think they were very clean looking frags, no algae I could see on the plugs, and dips didnt reveal much nasty critters, most I saw was a baby bristleworm, an isopod, and vermetid snail I just scratched off haha. 

I'm hoping all of them make it and can enjoy their new life in the tank! I haven't worked out their final positions in the scape but I do have some general ideas. 

I have the corals all set on the sandbed for now and trying out the acclimation option on my ai prime, 30% strength over 3 weeks. This is probably the best time ever to use this option since all the corals will benefit from the acclimation. I'll photodump the haul later haha,

Just some other smaller updates; 

 

• The Trochus snails have surprisingly established themselves, I now have my original trochus, half inch size trochus, and the tiny sized trochus running about. I do notice there are a few empty baby trochus snails, usually on the top of the aquarium, so I assume they did an Icarus and dried up from getting too far from the water. the water quality has been pretty stable, with no major disasters, but you can see a difference in the growth pattern on the juvenile's shell after a certain point. I should take a pic of one soon. 
   
• The Cerith Snails have starting laying eggs, weird brain looking pattern on the glass but usually its gone in a day or few. As far as I know, the eggs aren't staying around long enough for them to hatch, they kinda just slough off, not sure if the snails are eating them or just aren't viable. 
   
• my copepod population has really come down, they just dont seem to be anywhere as prevalent as before. may be a food issue as I dropped off on the phyto feedings. I do expect there should be a residual population in the rockwork,
  
  
   

 

[sapling]

A few pics, apologies for quality, I'm mega rusty haha, 

a trochus born in the tank, notice the shell pattern change! 



A Ric yuma! love them, also with a trumpet in the back!

 

This hammer getting really extended! If anyone could possibly help me ID the algae on that trochus, is it some kind of macroalgae? 

 

[Koleswrath]

Lookin good! Love that Yuma. I can't seem to find any around here. My Astrea snails looked like little walking gardens they had so much algae on them. I tried picking it off with tweezers but I couldn't get it completely and it grew back slowly but surely. Last weekend I finally grabbed them both and scraped the shell gently with the tip of a steak knife until there was no more green. They seem fine and are still scraping the glass (poorly). My boys are pretty tough though (assuming they're boys). 

[Lebowski_]

We need an updated FTS 😄

[sapling]

@Lebowski_ soon! 

A few more pics of the corals !

A Lepto from the back, I assume the white part is the skeleton, but im unsure what the darker center is, is that also bone structure or just rock it was on? a bit of a new coral for me, not too familiar with them personally. its more orange than red irl.

 

 

Pipe organs, they remind me of gsp but im hoping with slower invasive growth haha, also a new coral for me to keep. pretty color accurate here

 

an old favorite, Acans. The cut here looks gnarly, but I am hoping it wont be an issue, they are a little more orange than red like this picture is showing. Love the feeding response they have, and I can remember my last acan colony I grew from a single polyp to 20+!

 

And a Alvepora! they just extend more and more every day, not sure how much longer they can extend the polyps! I remember during acclimation they did start throwing a few pieces of the white tips from their polyps around during acclimation, but they have not in the tank since. I assume they are happy here. also note the unknown to me algae from the trochus behind the frag lol. Pretty color accurate here 

Nothing dead yet, so good sign! Ive been having some debate what to start feeding as a broadcast feed for the corals since the tank currently isn't fed. I've used reef chili before, but I'm not keen to almost spend more on the shipping than the item lol, 

[BadCrab]

Great tank, dig the coral selection.  If I had to guess, under the lepto looks like exposed skeleton with algae or sponge growth (nothing to worry about.)

Bob Bittner is a local clownfish breeder and the Reef Stew is his creation.  It's delivered fresh to all the local stores.  Although it was designed for rearing fish fry, it's also a fantastic food for broadcast-feeding coral.  Just remember: like every other broadcast food, a little goes a long way.  Overdosing and getting a nutrient spike is unfortunately easy.

[sapling]

yeah I've tried the reef stew more than a few times, tried seeding this tank with the copepods mentioned to be in it, but nothing really came of it but dead brine shrimp in the filter lol, I did use it more when I had feather dusters and a mystery hitchhiker fish in another tank a few years ago.  

 

speaking about the local stores in phx, what local store do you usually hit up @BadCrab ? I've seen a few around phoenix, but I've felt so-so about them.

[BadCrab]

I wish I could tell you I found the secret stash for coral out here, but I'm still looking.  About every weekend I drive around to different parts of the valley and get a frag or two.
I don't keep fish currently, so I don't pay much attention to them at stores.  I live in Chandler so I mostly visit the stores in Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert area.

Reef Monster in Mesa is the cleanest public store with the largest selection of coral I've seen.  They must know a carpenter, too, the cabinetry throughout the store is really classy.  A nice varied selection of species and price ranges.

Although Shane doesn't keep public hours, Southwest Aquaculture is maybe the oldest facility now.  I know they've moved once, but that place was around when I was first dipping into the hobby a decade ago.  I think they mostly do aquarium maintenance, installation, and online coral sales.  Worth mentioning because the quality of coral here is exceptionally high.

 

For Dry Goods and well-done retail space check out the Kona Reef locations (I go to Chandler frequently, Phoenix occasionally (today!), but I've yet to visit the Suprise location - just too far away.)

Limited Edition has some awesome displays, but again most of their business is focused on maintenance and I think the shop reflects that.  Tons of dry goods and colonies from tank breakdowns or client's trim-backs.  Discount Aquarium is the place for used hardware and they stock a ton of tanks - but it's not a place I'd look to for livestock.  
Aquarium Arts and OnlyFins are the two LFS closest to me so I frequent them regularly.   OnlyFins is severely limited by a small footprint.  For me, Aquarium Arts can be a homerun or a strike-out on any given week.  We're blessed with a number of decent fish stores here in the valley (lots of mostly freshwater stores, too, if you're into that.)  We've also got a pretty active garage reefing scene here and I know a number of hobbyists aquaculture or import as a side hustle.  There's also the monthly FRAG meetings with coral auctions.

 

[sugar]

Loving those corals! You are giving me inspo! 

[SLA10]

Off to an amazing start, you'll get it dialed in!

[sapling]

More Pics today! 

 

I went ahead and added a FTS to the main post. I also updated the stocking a bit, I'm hoping maybe I can hear on some placement ideas. I have my own ideas, but waiting for the corals to all look settled before considering any real placement.

Some more pics of the corals in the tank!

A Blasto and Cyphastrea in the front, Colors arent too correct here, but mostly. The Cyphastrea was sold as a rainbow variety, but I haven't seen what's rainbow about it. looks like a meteor shower to my eyes. I'm assuming there was some loss of color from the acclimation. There's a confusa montipora in the background, further in the background is a more red blasto and clipped off, a branching cyphastrea,
 

A couple more hammers! this one on the right is a little more yellow than the picture is suggesting, 

[ml86743]

Diggin all the negative space. 

[sapling]

some news for this tank;

I got my order from BRS, nothing crazy, some RODI filter media, as compared to where I was before, Phoenix water is incredibly high in tds, usually 600+. Need to look into when its time to replace the RODI Membrane, as I only replace the other components during maintenance.

I used to have a pair of very long tongs I used to manipulate in the tank and I'm just not keen to use my ADA ones in SW. So this acrylic stick I got has already been helpful in flipping some of the baby snails and prodding. its at about the right height to keep my hands out of the tank so I've been happy so far. 

Also in the order was some reef chili, Was stoked to try it again, however, the corals had no response to it at all really. closest thing I got was a very weak feeding response from the Acan. I'm hoping with time more of the corals show interest in the food, as I'm not sure the benefit of reef chili is for them if they don't attempt to eat.

I will say that the food must have caused a population boom or encouraged the copepods to come out, as I can visibly see some very small ones on the glass now. 

~~~

Coral wise, besides a few frags, everyone is looking good with extended polyps, I can see the acan growing flesh on the raw side of it, the monti showing a growth ring and some good growth. No weird critters I've seen at night on them either. 

The few I've been keeping my eye on; 

• pipe coral - showing new polyps at the base, but has been a bit temperamental about being open, or just open at weird times like at night. I didn't think they are a type of coral to do this at night? 
   
• red blasto - unlike the purple/green, this one has bleached the outside rim of it. I am unsure how it'll do long term, polyp opens and the center still has color. 
   
• purple ric yuma - this one I don't expect to do well, somehow the rock it was on in transit was broken, so its foot was on 2 separate pieces of rock. I'm thinking it was injured in transit by this. I thought I could coax it off one of them with flow when i was dipping during acclimation, but it was not about it. it finally let go of the broken piece a day ago. I am hoping it tries to attach itself to its rock again, or just let go and find a home, but worried it may just shrivel away anyways. 

~~~

water quality wise, things have looked good. I have been watching my alk at 5pm afternoon daily, but it just doesn't really change at all, sitting at 10.5-10.6 for a while now. I wondered if my hanna checker was wrong, but my red sea kit also confirmed. I am guessing these corals are still too small currently or recovering from acclimation to make any big changes to the alk yet,