The Savage Reality Tank - Waterbox Marine X 60.2

[Savage Henry]

Hi all, I am setting up a Waterbox Marine X 60.2 and this thread may become a journal. Let's just see how it goes...

 

At this stage the tank has three large pieces of cleaned natural live rock (I'll explain later how I cleaned up old live rock) and some cleaned gravel.

 

The rock weighs about 14Kg and the gravel is about 9.5 litres by volume.

 

So far, the tank has been cycling for about four weeks. I expect bacteria would have been introduced by the natural sea water I use.

 

I am expecting this tank is going to be very simple: heater, flow, light, skimmer, a little Seachem media, and Chaeto and Codium macro algae.

 

I am hoping to have a small refugium in the sump, where the Chaeto and Codium will live with the Seachem media.

 

 

 

 

[Savage Henry]

Here is a pic of the aquascape.

[Savage Henry]

Another angle

 

 

[Savage Henry]

My objectives are to keep the tank as low tech as possible, to make it as easy to maintain as possible, and to keep it as cheap as possible to run (low tech and low watts). I aim to keep mostly LPS and some softies. I aim to keep as few corals as possible - I want as little chemical warfare as possible in such a small tank and without using carbon and I want each coral to be able to grow reasonably large given the small tank area.

 

The corals I want to keep are (in no particular order): Hammers, Hydnophora, possibly a frogspawn, ricordea and green morphs/red morphs/star polyps/zoa (perhaps on isolated rocks yet to be added). The point is to keep what I have kept and what has done well in the past, but the best examples I can find of each.

 

I have broken down my old tank and currently have three branching green hammers, a ricordea, a toadstool, green morphs and red morphs, a monti frag, light blue zoa frag and a star polyp frag. The live rock I am using in this tank was previously covered with mind blowing palys, green palys, red morphs and green morphs. This time round I am going to limit the rock that the faster growing soft corals can access.

 

I will also have an anemone. I currently have a green BTA, which I have had for a few years (it has never split), which I'll probably sell as I'd like a rose BTA or similar.

 

The hydophora will reign supreme of course and will sit high up away from everything else. I had one before for some years and only sold it because it got too big.

 

The only fish I have left is a female Ocellaris clownfish that I have had for over twelve years so can't get rid of her. I also have a Strombus, which I have probably had for about eleven years so can't get rid of either.

 

So far, the equipment list will be:

 

Light: Reef Factory Reef Flare Pro M, which has a max 240 Watts.

Heater: Eheim Jagger 150 Watt

Return Pump: Aqua Medic DC Runner 3.2, which has a max return output of 3000 litres/hour (about 790 gallons/hour). I intend to run the pump at 60% as that is the minimum rate the instructions say to run the pump.

Wavemaker: This is something I am thinking about. The tank currently has a Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6045 running during the cycling period. It will probably be a Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6025 to start, but I may use instead, two Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6020.

Skimmer: Tunze DOC Skimmer 9410 - Water flow rate: 900 l/h - Air capacity: 600 l/h

Sump light: under consideration.

 

 

[Savage Henry]

Lighting

 

I am going to use a Reef Factory Reef Flare Pro M, which has a max 240 Watts.

 

The small tanks that I have had in the past that have had the best growth for hammers, a duncan and other corals, such as softies used a very basic Vertex Illumilux Marino Bianco 50/50 Royal Blue(450nm) – White(7000K). These lights have only 6 Cree XPE LEDs pro 300mm / per foot and the LEDs are run at 750 mA / ~2,5 W.

 

I would have happily run two of the two-footers over this tank, which would have been about 60 Watts.

 

Fortunately, it seems the Reef Factory Reef Flare also run the Cree lights and the royal blue on the Illumilux is about the same as the Indigo on the Reef Flare. So I am going to run the Reef Flare to match the Illumilux.

 

The Reef Flare has 72 LEDs:

UV 400nm x6
Violet 420nm x6
Indigo 450nm x18
Blue 470nm x18
Green 530nm x3
Red 660nm x3
White 5700K x18

 

I only intend to run the Indigo, Blue and White LEDs. This would give 54 LEDs at 2 watts = about 108 watts.

 

 

 

[Savage Henry]

Skimmer

 

I am going to use a Tunze DOC Skimmer 9410 - Water flow rate: 900 l/h - Air capacity: 600 l/h.

 

I also have a Tunze Comline DOC Skimmer 9001, which I was using on a three foot low bio tank and that I felt did the job quite well. So, if it seems the 9410 is overkill, I could drop down to the smaller skimmer.

 

But, I intend to use covers on both the display and sump tanks. So, the bigger skimmer might compensate for the lack of oxygen exchange by having covers.

 

The flow rate through the sump is probably going to be around 1000 l/h so it will be a little faster than what the skimmer can get through. I would reduce the flow rate, but for the fact the specifications say not to run my return pump any less than at 60%.

[Savage Henry]

Stock

 

As stated above, I have an orange Ocellaris clownfish and a Strombus snail. I also have little critters in my holding tank that I am considering whether to add to the new tank. These include tiny limpets and spaghetti worms. I also have some turtle grass, which most would want to exclude, but I could live with it on a few small rocks.

 

Fish

 

I intend to add a baby Ocellaris. I am not sure if it is going to be an orange or black fish.

 

I am still deciding on the other fish to add, aside from having a pair of Ocellaris clowns hosting an anemone.

 

I am conscious the clowns might become more territorial being in such a small tank, but the one I have is pretty placid.

 

I like yellow, so thinking several yellow assessors. I kept these previously and they bred multiple times. I would consider them if I could find really good quality and small specimens for sale.

 

I am also thinking of a dwarf angelfish. It will depend on what becomes available. I love lemonpeels, but know they can be problematic. I am looking into the Herald's Angelfish.

 

I am also considering a Flame Angelfish, but they are not so easy to get these days.

 

I am also considering a Tiger Blennie as I kept one some years ago and they are awesome.

 

Also, an Orchid Dottyback would be great, but not if I have the Yellow Assessors.

 

Other organisms

 

I cleaned the live rock I have selected for this tank, which meant that everything that was on it is now gone. So far, the only source of organisms has been through the natural seawater I've added. I intend to be careful adding my existing corals, as I have a number of organisms that may or may not be beneficial, but which I am not sure I want in this tank. For instance, those little worms that form the white spirals shells, spaghetti worms that have the two tentacles and that burrow in the sand, the other worms that form little pin-like spikes etc. Inevitably, some are going to get in.

 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

2 hours ago, Savage Henry said:

Another angle

 

 

Welcome!

 

nice rocks, wouldn't have guessed the top-down shapes given the front shot.  simple approach is often the best way, it should be a hobby and not a chore.  Look forward to see this tank progress. 

[Savage Henry]

Thanks.

 

Yes, the top down shot shows the little Juliette balcony that is in full light at the very back of the structure, that is, on that flat rock. At that spot I could put a lower-light-demanding LPS or I wouldn't be surprised if the anemone found it's way there. It would look great having something colourful to look at through the archway.

 

There are also a lot of holes in the rock work from burrowing clams or whatever and these would make ideal homes for assessors. There is also a tunnel going through that top rock. The tunnel has three exits and my 'ol Coral Beauty always swam through there and pushed out any fish hiding in there.

[Savage Henry]

Another thing about this aquascape is that none of the rocks are bound together, so I can easily pull them all out. They are balanced. The left can stand as a stand alone rock. The bottom rock obviously cannot move. The right rock is leans on the left rock and if it was shifted too the right, it falls into a groove in the bottom rock. My intent is to not allow corals to grow in such a way that would bind the rocks together. 

[Savage Henry]

I removed all the water and also stopped the return pump. For the next while I intend to run the display tank only while the tank cycles with livestock. I am doing it this way as I don’t require a sump at the moment (not running a protein skimmer yet or trying to keep a refugium) and I think having a smaller volume will make it easier to do water changes etc.

 

I added a heater (was cycling without one at room temperature).

 

I have now added three small hammers. I’ll write later about how I split three hammer clusters up. But, two of these three hammers ended up with breaks so I glued them back together. So, hopefully they’ll all make it. I glued each into holes in the rock I had bored out beforehand. I’ll also write later about how I bored holes into the rock. I left very little “stork” on each hammer. I’ll just have to see if this was a good thing or not.

 

I also set up the Reef Factory Reef Flare Pro M. 
 

I expect the tank will now go through a cycling process so I am carefully adding small amounts of livestock.

 

 

[Savage Henry]

As you can see, the wave maker is pushing the gravel about. Previously I have kept deeper sand beds and found that as the tank has become established, the gravel hasn’t moved much as it is kept in place by biomaterials. But, this time I am using a shallow gravel bed and it is being moulded by the current. I actually don’t mind if this happens as I will probably vacuum the gravel anyway. I am hoping the gravel supports aerobic bacteria only. Plus, the moulded look looks natural. This ain’t no valley girl tank.

[Savage Henry]

I am currently running a Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6045 wave maker. I am quite happy with the current it has created around the rock work. I think with more corals it will be fine, so maybe I won’t go for two smaller pumps as originally planned.

 

The 6045 pump apparently does about 4500 litres/hour. I have about 96 litres of water in the display tank at the moment. So, that about 47x turn over/hour. It doesn’t seem such a strong current and the hammers are quite happy with the current.

[Staticmoves]

On 8/13/2024 at 8:59 AM, Savage Henry said:

Here is a pic of the aquascape.

love that rock!

[Savage Henry]

I have now added the remaining three hammers. I also purchased a Ocellaris Clownfish. It’s only 3.7cm and really cute. I’ll let him settle into the tank and then will add an anemone and finally my female Ocellaris Clownfish. Hopefully they’ll get on.

 

I’ve also added a few other frags and am deciding where to place them.

 

I have brown algae growing that came off that Monty frag. But, there’s also a lot of little white specks running about on the glass. I think these are the same bugs I have had before, which my clowns eat. 

[Staticmoves]

little white critters are most likely copepods.

that's really unique rock, and a great scape.

hammers look nice and healthy.

[Savage Henry]

The hammers are doing really well and now that I broke the clusters apart the hammers are spreading. These are branching hammers and if they are happy will form more branches. I’m really happy that the two hammers that ended up cracking are doing fine.

 

Once I have corals growing over the scape, the structure will disappear, but the covered area will be a proper cave. I think a flathead anthias would look very pretty sitting in that area.

 

i have been looking at a mini maxi anemone as a potential to sit on the lower spot that can be seen through the enclosed area. Apparently they don’t move much so maybe I could sit it there and it will stay.

 

I’m on the hunt for a hydnophora to sit on the very top of the rocks and hopefully to expand horizontally and a little vertically.

 

i’ll probably cover the rock areas around the hammers with red and with green morphs (rhodacti) and in some darker spots I want to glue some orange sponge I saved from my old live rock (it survived for twelve years).

[Savage Henry]

The aquarium glass has become quite dirty and there are copepods everywhere. When I turn the wave maker off you can see them swimming about everywhere.

[Staticmoves]

Hmmm....... maybe a small video clip could help the ID.

[Savage Henry]

So, I have added an anemone, a small frogspawn frag (or torch), a monti frag and a toadstool frag. I have also added a damaged orange hammer, which I bought cheap hoping it will recover.

 

And, I cleaned the glass and changed about 25% of the water. The water is still a bit cloudy.

[Savage Henry]

5 minutes ago, Staticmoves said:

Hmmm....... maybe a small video clip could help the ID.

Thanks, I did actually make one, but the bugs are difficult to see. They are the same ones my Clownfish were eating previously. They learnt to eat them after I’d left them for about a week without food.

[Savage Henry]

Here is a short video of the bugs. There are much bigger ones too.

[Savage Henry]

The BTA I added has stayed put in the little hollow I placed it in.

[Savage Henry]

It’s shrunk at the time of the photo.

[Savage Henry]

I’ve got this algae growing everywhere. I don’t mind, but I will start to remove it manually.