A Clown's Reef, Waterbox AIO 35.2g

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Today we hit the 6 week mark of placing my WB order.
Still waiting on an ETA.

I pretty much have everything I need except the actual tank + supplies ordered from WB. So once that comes in, the rest of the progress should start flying by. ' v'
 
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Waterbox is slow but worth the wait. I have nearly the same setup as your list, with a few minor changes.
Sure hopes so! Slowly wondering if I should’ve ordered an IM instead so that I could’ve started by now.

But, I’m definitely on the impatient side lol
 
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Update from WB

Tank arrives to their facility 4/26
So, I’ll hopefully get it soon around early may
 
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It came!!! Arrived around 9:30a, fedex man was nice enough to move it up the stairs with my husband.
Once the RODI is hooked up (we don’t have a wrench ), I’ll be able to pour the sand and all that fun stuff.
 

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So, finally figured out the final hard scape because I hated how my previous scape looked once it was actually inside the tank. It was just too much rock, and looked really overbearing IMO.

Plan to lay down the sand and fill the tank up with water tomorrow. Been waiting to set up the RODI unit because apparently we don’t have the correct size wrench to remove the shower head fitting (even after going to Lowe’s and buying a set of wrenches). So right now, water is my biggest hurdle


No plans for fish until after the 19 because I’ll be out of town for a few days.

Aside from that, I wanted some feedback on how my AIO compartments are set up.

Left to right number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

1 - filter floss cup & biomedia balls
2 - inkbird dual sensor & 2 heaters
3 - return pump + ATO sensor, top off tube & light mount
4 - skimmer
5 - filter floss cup & biomedia balls

I don’t have plans to turn on the skimmer for the first couple weeks or so, if that matters.

My wb also arrived with like 6 pieces of wide spaced black foam, and 2 packs of carbon. I don’t even know where to place them and whether I’ll even need them. :/
 
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Tank still not filled with water cuz problems with my RODI unit TDS output & water pressure & pipe fittings.

I’m really frustrated about this.

I thought rodi would just be plug and run and it’s really just turning into a dumpster fire.
 
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Went to Lowes, finally got the correct fitting to connect my RODI to the shower (easiest place to connect it). TDS in is 1-2, TDS out is still 4-5 even after flushing for 5ish hours? Not sure if it means I need to add another stage or give it a few more days. Would love someone with experience to provide some guidance there.

Did go ahead and stop by LFS to just buy some RODI water to get the tank wet since I wanted to start the cycle. Photos tomorrow on scape. I'm still debating if I want to do a fish or fishless cycle. I originally wanted to do fish in, but my car got wet in the most recent rainfall that Louisiana had, so now I'm out 450 for that. o_O
 
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Day 1 being with water.
Took a while to get here, but that’s part of the journey of reefing right?

I fumbled with my scape because I really didn’t like how it looked once I got it into the tank, and instead settled for something a little lower than your recommended 2/3 rule so that I had plenty of room for coral growth instead later. Since I plan to keep this tank for at least 6 years, I need to be conservative with planning.

Lights are only on for photo, plan to turn them off until I get corals later to prevent algae. Aside from that, I did download the AB+ profile for my Prime and that's what I plan to use going forward. I know Saxby is another really popular one.

Salinity right now is 1.024 @ 78f. Will def get it up to 1.026 tonight if I get called off work. hehe

C3FD4A2F-A777-4F60-8325-3AE762C2AC64.jpeg
 
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Looks great! Looks like you have the Kraken Reef Nero 3 Nem guard. I have the Nero 3 as well and it came with a circular guard, so I never bothered to buy the nem guard (though plan to get a nem in the future). I'm wondering if you or anyone here knows if the Nero provided one is insufficient?
 
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Looks great! Looks like you have the Kraken Reef Nero 3 Nem guard. I have the Nero 3 as well and it came with a circular guard, so I never bothered to buy the nem guard (though plan to get a nem in the future). I'm wondering if you or anyone here knows if the Nero provided one is insufficient?
Not sure if I'm the best person to answer this question. I went ahead and ordered the kraken reef nem guard because I didn't want to pay for additional shipping later since I was already placing an order for the filter cups at the time.

But I think the one that's included is just a fish guard but someone should definitely correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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714964BE-CD9F-4B44-825D-490A4857F223.jpeg

Here’s a very poor comparison of the guard that came with the box versus the Kraken one. I don’t want to stick my hand into the tank to take it out since I have lotion on.
 
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We stopped by the LFS yesterday while we were running errands for some fun. I saw a cute little pair of mocha storm clowns that I liked.

Well my husband came back home from work, and he had a present for me. He gave me the mocha pair!! Apparently he had bought them on the way home from work bc he wanted to make sure no one else bought them. (Isn’t he such an angel?)

I just finished acclimating them, and now they’re huddled up in the corner. I did turn down the flow for them

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Their names are Cecil and Frederick courtesy of my husband.

I’ll be monitoring them pretty closely over the next couple weeks to make sure they don’t show any signs of disease, stress, or other sickness. But right now, they seem to be ok other than adjusting to the new tank.

I noticed they’re pretty small, and I can’t wait to see them grow. I’m also hoping they darken up a little bit more as they grow too.
 
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Thank you, thank you!

Tank got its first maintenance day & 25% water change yesterday. Learned a valuable lesson of having my salt water ready before draining the tank (oops). I've been keeping the lights off for now because I saw a little bit of algae on the sand bed, and I don't really have anything that benefits from having the light on at this moment.

Cecil and Fredrick are still doing well 1 week later. However, Cecil is being a giant turd to her husband, I noticed his ventral and anal fins were a little tattered. I'm wondering if I need to get a breeder box to let him rest and recover a bit? He seems to be hanging around the powerhead the most because she can't really attack him while he's there.

Aside from that, added 5 nassarius snails to help turn the bed.

I think going forward stocking wise, fish I'll probably just keep it to the clowns, and add a goby and just call it. Then fill it up with a crab or two, shrimps, a clam, nem, 1 or 2 urchins, and a conch.

Next time I go to the LFS, I'll pick up some frozen food as well! :) I was thinking of LRS if I can find it.
 
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Checked my parameters today since tank is 10 days old now.

Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 79.9
pH: 8.0
Alk: 10
Ammonia: 0-0.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 2-5ppm

Will probably do a water change soon to lower the ammonia some more. I've included the test card photos bc I felt the colors were pretty ambiguous.

9CA52E7C-1C7B-4131-A74B-00DFC507EA91.jpeg
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The nitrite looks dark, but it’s the lighting. When I was looking at it in person, it was clear on the white background.
 
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Went ahead and rechecked my ammonia this morning.

Came up at 0, so I think it’s safe to say I’m fully cycled. I’ll check again in a couple days and see where we lie again.

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