20 Gallon Reef Build - A Waterbox Cube 20

[muffinmanXL]

Great start! Live rock gives you such a leg up on dry + bottled bac

@jpmazzone I noticed you had your WB20 on carpet; any issues opening the Waterbox cabinet door?

 

[X-37B]

I'm amazed he's not getting algae issues as I had a similar setting to brs that you had, but dropped the 118% down to 100% and ran for 8hr peak with 2hr ramps, and started getting algae on glass every day. Changed to nano Karen's schedule and no more algae and coral is looking great . Nano Karen's signature schedule below

Yea thats a pretty weak schedule, imo. Their is more to reefing than algae on the glass, lol.
But if that works great!
Wait till you get some red turf algae. Been keeping it at bay for years now. Same with bubble algae.

Everyone gets algae in this hobby.
Learning how to control it is not a simple function of turning down the light intensity. It can help but does not address the issue, imo.

I feed heavy and practice heavy in/out nutrient control.

 

[Rocktron1]

Thanks for info mate. Your tanks look amazing!!!

I would love to use a higher intensity but every time I try it messes with my system and I was also getting a film across the surface. But like mentioned above every tank is different

Is there a reason no sand in any of your tanks?

Sorry for the highjack of thread JP

 

[X-37B]

Thanks for info mate. Your tanks look amazing!!!

I would love to use a higher intensity but every time I try it messes with my system and I was also getting a film across the surface. But like mentioned above every tank is different

Is there a reason no sand in any of your tanks?

Sorry for the highjack of thread JP

My 45 frag has sand about 1".
My 30g remote has a 3+" sandbed.

I like Barebottoms in small systems and 80g growout.
Super easy to maintain and clean.
My 120 was also a BB.

 

[jpmazzone]

 

[jpmazzone]

No montis, 95% sticks.
Tall ones are stags.

Lights are 8" above the surface.
No algae issue in my 45, I run 4, and my 30, I run 2.
You can get a shade that helps light spill and leakage when sitting.
This is what they look like on my 30g.

Hey 90's, I've been meaning to ask, what type of corals are called "sticks"? BTW, I've been running your lighting schedule for a while now and the tank already looks better!

 

[X-37B]

Hey 90's, I've been meaning to ask, what type of corals are called "sticks"? BTW, I've been running your lighting schedule for a while now and the tank already looks better!

Sticks can be any sps that have upward growth patterns.

 

[jpmazzone]

Great start! Live rock gives you such a leg up on dry + bottled bac

@jpmazzone I noticed you had your WB20 on carpet; any issues opening the Waterbox cabinet door?

Sorry I missed this post! A little friction when opening but not enough to cause concern. I did go out of level when it was filled. I wished I had put on a piece of plywood when I set it up. However, I releveled it with wood shims during a large water change. It seems to be staying level now. Given that it is only 20 gallons I am not overly concerned.

 

[jpmazzone]

UPDATE - So at this point I am about 2.5 months in.

Water
The stability in the water has been surprisingly easy. However, there is a caveat in that I have a very light fish load (only a small clown and a possum wrasse). I enjoy doing water changes on a small tank. It keeps me from tinkering and I feel like I am doing a good thing. I actually change out 25% - 30% each week. Because it is a small tank, the salt costs of this are very low. I do not dose anything as I only have a few small frags in the tank.

Live Rock
The Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock ("TBLR") is a gift that keeps on giving. I have numerous shell-less limpets, 4 porcelain crabs and a sea urchin. Here are a couple of pictures!

I also have a good sized and diverse CUC. As you can see, things are pretty clean in this tank. The sea urchin is especially effective. He has grown so fast that I am worried he will run out of food and die. I allow the algae to build up on the glass to give them more to eat. I clean my glass when my next door neighbor comes over. He has a reef tank as well and I lie to him that I never have to clean/scrape algae off the glass. It drives him nuts as he thinks I have some sort of secret to keep the aquarium clean! He's such an idiot!

Corals

I will probably post a question in the Zoa section but two out of my four frags are doing something weird. They are midway in the tank and struggling. The highest and lowest placed zoas are thriving. Flow is not to high but they appear to be moving as if there is too much light for their type of species. Here are a couple of pictures so that you can see what is happening.

I don't plan to tinker with them and I will let nature figure it out. My long range plan is for this to be a montipora only tank. I plan to mix up digitata and cap. I need a harmonious tank that can be fragged easily as this is only a 20 gallon tank. With that said, if you are on the South Shore of Massachusetts and want a baseball sized neon green torch, ping me and it is yours in exchange for advice or monitpora frags!

That's all for now. I hope people enjoy these updates and I am always grateful for free advice!

 

[CallMeChris]

Hope an urchin or porcelain crab shows up for me too! Cool critters.

 

[jpmazzone]

UPDATE - The tank is now approaching 4 months old.

TBS Hitch Hikers

I don't think I've written about another interesting hitch hiker; a bivalve. It is really interesting to watch surprisingly. I read that these are very difficult to keep but, mine seems to be thriving. You can see him (not sure what its pronouns are) at the bottom of the picture just to the right of the orange coral.

Corals

I added some montipora cap and digitata corals about 20 days ago. I purchased half from Tidal Gardens and World Wide Corals. I would say after 20 days, half of the cap corals are struggling while the digitata appear to be doing very well. A couple of the cap corals lost their color overnight and are struggling to come back. My water is very clean and I test it weekly so I ruled that out, especially since everything else looked great. My next thought is that maybe they bleached so I lowered my settings. I am skeptical that it is bleaching as I did not think that an AI 16HD LED (single) had an output capable of bleaching a coral. I am not going to stress over it though. I did increase the flow a little bit. My flow is varied between two Nero 3s. The pump on the right fluxs between 5% and 47% flow and the pump on the left fluxs between 5% and 30% both with a high rate of variance. They are not synchronous to ensure chaotic flow.

There was a coral death. I had a toadstool that was doing well but, one day, it just shriveled up and detached. Perhaps one day I will find it blooming from the live rock in a different position.

I do think my digitata are starting to grow now but, I have no context as I am completely new to SPS. I have no immediate plans to dose as I change out 30% of the water weekly. I also run Chemipure so I don't know if that would wipe out anything I dose.

Filtration

I do not run a skimmer and I also pulled particle filtration. I honestly did not see the point behind filtering out particles other than aesthetics. I found that my nitrates would come up higher as the filter sock would get clogged, so I just don't use it. Between the four porcelain crabs, the bivalve and coral, I thought it would be best to allow those nutrients to travel around the water column. It could be in my head but, I believe the corals already look better and that was one week ago that I made the change.

Updated Pictures

I'm obviously not a photographer but I hope you enjoy looking at these photos. As always, I'm grateful for any advice the experienced reefers have!

 

[CallMeChris]

Cool looking tank!

 

[X-37B]

What are your current patameters and what ranges did you set for them?
I do 10% water changes a month on all systems. No need for more, imo.
I run 1 powerhead in my 20 and do not see the need for more. Too much flow can cause stress to lps, soft corals, and many acros.

My 20 now is 4 months old and I run a K7V3 now as I sold my halides.

 

[jpmazzone]

What are your current patameters and what ranges did you set for them?
I do 10% water changes a month on all systems. No need for more, imo.
I run 1 powerhead in my 20 and do not see the need for more. Too much flow can cause stress to lps, soft corals, and many acros.

My 20 now is 4 months old and I run a K7V3 now as I sold my halides.

Hi 90's! You seem to be doing A LOT better than I am! My water parameters are as follows: ammonia and nitrate 0; Phosphate is .03ppm, KH is 8, salinity is 1.025 and temp is 78. I don't test for anything else at the moment. I test weekly. With respect to flow, it peaks at around 1,000 GPH. The polyps on the SPS are fully open, the zoas are fully opened, the sand is not blasted and the fish seem happy so I feel fairly confident that my flow is not too strong.

I just looked up your light. I am surprised how affordable it is. Do you think that has more PAR capability than the AI 16HD? Do you think I am correct that a single AI 16HD does not have enough mustard to bleach corals?

 

[X-37B]

Hi 90's! You seem to be doing A LOT better than I am! My water parameters are as follows: ammonia and nitrate 0; Phosphate is .03ppm, KH is 8, salinity is 1.025 and temp is 78. I don't test for anything else at the moment. I test weekly. With respect to flow, it peaks at around 1,000 GPH. The polyps on the SPS are fully open, the zoas are fully opened, the sand is not blasted and the fish seem happy so I feel fairly confident that my flow is not too strong.

I just looked up your light. I am surprised how affordable it is. Do you think that has more PAR capability than the AI 16HD? Do you think I am correct that a single AI 16HD does not have enough mustard to bleach corals?

I have been doing this 30+ so its alot different than just starting out.
The 16 wont bleach the coral, imo.
The NP K7V3 is a spectral copy of the Radion gen 4 so they say.

Par is higher on the K7 than the 16. I ran 2 16's on my old 20.

On my 24x20x18 remote Nem tank running 2 16's I get 200 par at the Nem about 6-8 inches down. The 16's work very well, imo.

8 month growth on the green slimer a d Nem for reference.
My zoa rock has done well too.

 

[jpmazzone]

I have been doing this 30+ so its alot different than just starting out.
The 16 wont bleach the coral, imo.
The NP K7V3 is a spectral copy of the Radion gen 4 so they say.

Par is higher on the K7 than the 16. I ran 2 16's on my old 20.

On my 24x20x18 remote Nem tank running 2 16's I get 200 par at the Nem about 6-8 inches down. The 16's work very well, imo.

8 month growth on the green slimer a d Nem for reference.
My zoa rock has done well too.

In your opinion, do I need a second AI Prime 16HD to grow simple montipora? I do not plan to every keep any other type of SPS Coral. I am still running your program with the white light turned down to 30% as I thought I might be bleaching? My plan is to keep zoa at the bottom and montipora at the top.

 

[X-37B]

In your opinion, do I need a second AI Prime 16HD to grow simple montipora? I do not plan to every keep any other type of SPS Coral. I am still running your program with the white light turned down to 30% as I thought I might be bleaching? My plan is to keep zoa at the bottom and montipora at the top.

No one will work and you can add another later if needed. You will get some shadowing with only one.
Thats the one thing thats nice about the 16 as you can always add another.

 

[jpmazzone]

UPDATE - So at this point I am about 8 months in. Here are some pictures of it. I'm pretty bad at photography (please refer to photos below!).