Waterbox Cube 20

[eliphant]

Hey all- It’s been almost 10 years since my last reef tank. I decided to get back into the hobby with a 20 gallon Waterbox cube. A lot of improved tech has come out since I last checked, and I caught the bug again seeing the new equipment.

Thanks to several members on this board, I was able to get most of my equipment secondhand in great condition, to soften the $ blow. I got the tank with a AI prime 16HD but found a great deal on the 1month old Hydra 32HD on CL and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend more money

I’m looking to keep a mixed reef, predominately softies and lps, and maybe a nem down the road.

Tank: Waterbox Cube 20 gallon
Stand: Landen aquarium stand (Amazon)
Light: AI Hydra 32HD
Pump: Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 turned down to about 75%
ATO: Reef Builders Prism
Heater: Aquatop 100watt with controller

The Landen stand is nearly identical to the Waterbox stands ($409) for about half the price. I wish I had the space and tools to build a stand but living on the 3rd floor of an apartment makes any DIY impossible.



I’ll pick up a phone camera lens. Can’t see anything under all this blue!

 

[eliphant]

FTS now that the water is clear and daylight/lights off.

I will likely add a little bit more rock for filtration purposes.

has anyone has any experience using Fritzzyme Turbo Start 900? After doing some research, it seems the opinions on cycling a tank has changed in the recent years. Bacteria in a bottle is now viable? Add turbo start and add 2ppm ammonia and tank, in less than a week, do a water change and bam ready for fish. Supposedly nitrite/nitrate testing is not as important anymore than just checking to see if ammonia can go to 0 in under 24hrs. Can anyone attest to this?

I can find the article I was reading about this a little later today.

 

[eliphant]

added an InTank chamber 1 media basket and InTank filtration cover.

fyi I added 2oz of fritzzyme turbo start 900, and fishless fuel as an ammonia source. Ammonia got down to 0 in just a few days. Dosed ammonia again after that and ammonia back to 0 in about 24 hours. I guess it works. I started to get a minor diatom bloom over the last few days. I’ll be doing a wc soon and will be ready to slowly stock the tank.

 

[Sooj]

looks clean!

 

[civics14]

love how clean WB tanks look and it pairs really well with that stand. I never even heard of Landen stands until now.. as far as speed cycling, I used bio-spira in all my tanks with great success, but I believe any of the brands work fine, which in your case turbos start 900.

If you're starting to get diatoms, i would start adding a snail or two, I prefer astrea. They do great work. I started to steer away from hermits because they end up killing all the snails for their shells.

Keep up with the updates! Looking good!

 

[eliphant]

Awesome, thanks for the input! I am planning on adding a cuc this week. Not sure how many I really need. Maybe 1-2 nassarius (once I add fish), and 2-3 astrea? I was planning on adding maybe 1 blue leg just to have something else to look at lol.

Im planning on adding 2 clowns and maybe 1 clown goby or some other small fish.

 

[Sooj]

Yeah, I think I would put like larger astrea and smaller hermit. haven't had issues with them trying to steal shells as of yet or that I can tell.

 

[andrewjjones1212]

Welcome back, great start! I loved mine before I sold it, those tanks are pretty clean.

 

[eliphant]

Added my first and possibly only two fish that will inhabit this tank. I was surprised because as soon as I placed the 2nd clown in on the other side of the tank, the first clown immediately rushed over and they have been stuck side by side ever since. They are approximately 1” in size

 

[andrewjjones1212]

they are funny like that, good looking pair

 

[eliphant]

Update:

Battled dinos for a few weeks. Reduced photoperiod and intensity. Manual removal from rocks and sand bed. Increased nutrients. Nothing seemed to work.

Then I got a cheap $20, 11-watt UV sterilizer from Amazon and threw it in the return chamber of the AIO (the kind with no housing around the bulb). I threw a piece of filter floss to block most of the light that shined threw the tinted back glass, and ran it for 6 hours a night for 5 nights, vacuuming the remaining dinos off the sand once during that time, and now the tank is spotless, dino free. Just in case I dosed Microbacter7 on day 4 of running the UV- not sure if it did anything but ever since dosing I had a ton of pods all over the glass all the time. Clownfish have been going to town snacking on them.

just in case anyone is also fighting dinos, try a UV sterilizer after lights out.

 

[eliphant]

Now I’m starting to see small spots of cyano, noticed some from a frag that I didn’t clean off well enough after dipping. Brushed off most of it with a toothbrush that I could see in the tank. Any tips on battling cyano if it starts to get out of hand?

 

[eliphant]

Just a few new frags I picked up today. Can we just fast forward and have them be big colonies plz.

 

[civics14]

Now I’m starting to see small spots of cyano, noticed some from a frag that I didn’t clean off well enough after dipping. Brushed off most of it with a toothbrush that I could see in the tank. Any tips on battling cyano if it starts to get out of hand?

I used an airline tube and sucked as much out as I can then did my normal water change. I did this weekly until I had it under control.

Glad your clowns paired up right away. My maroon is a mean butt head that murders any other clown... right from the start. Now he will live a solitary life.

 

[hzheng33]

Time to upgrade!

 

[eliphant]

Time to upgrade!

stahpppp dont put ideas into my head!

 

[Trizzino]

stahpppp dont put ideas into my head!

@hzheng33 means time to upgrade to a supporting member.

 

[Reefplumber13]

stahpppp dont put ideas into my head!

The best $30 you will spend