Home Office Centerpiece - Waterbox Marine X 60.2 Build

[FrontRangeReefer]

Tank is looking great so far! What did you end up deciding for your ATO? I personally haven't even used the internal ATO, there's way too much evap to make it useful. I'm thinking of just removing the glass and gaining that area as sump volume.

Also, what sort of stocking list are you looking at? I'm still tossing around ideas for mine.

Thank you! It’s definitely getting there. At least for now, I am using the stock ATO chamber with the XP Aqua Duetto ATO. It’s been lasting 4+ days for me (two full top offs since the tank has been running), so evaporation rate has been reasonably low. I will eventually go with a custom external ATO reservoir for when I’m on the road for extended trips.

Yesterday, my tests indicated zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and nitrates in the range of 2-5ppm. Water is crystal clear. Moved my two clowns over from their QT and started acclimating the tank to light - put the AI Prime 16HD on acclimation mode starting at 10%. Planning on starting to dose MicroBacter Clean weekly as a preventative stability measure and hoping that along with my UV I will be able to avoid outbreaks of the uglies. The clowns are flourishing and love their new home!

In addition to my ORA Snowflake Clowns, my current plans for livestock are listed below. I intend on being very conservative with stocking, working up from fish to corals.

Fish/Inverts:
- Yellow watchman goby (arriving Tuesday for QT)
- Tiger pistol shrimp (arriving Tuesday for QT)
- Exquisite firefish (x1)
- Royal gramma basslet (x1)
- Pajama cardinal (x3)

Corals (mostly set on LPS/softies):
- Indo torch
- Australian hammer
- GSP
- Sinularia leather
- Zoanthids (possibly)

 

[rhostam]

Hello from Aurora!

Nice setup and progress. I started my journey late summer 2020. Are there any nice local LFS you intended in shopping or all online?

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Hello from Aurora!

Nice setup and progress. I started my journey late summer 2020. Are there any nice local LFS you intended in shopping or all online?

Hello to a fellow Aurora neighbor! I’m actually in SE Aurora, over in the Southshore development. So far, I’ve mostly purchased equipment online, but I have been to Aqua Mart over in Lakewood a few times. If you have a recommendation for a better LFS, I’d love to check it out.

 

[rhostam]

Hello to a fellow Aurora neighbor! I’m actually in SE Aurora, over in the Southshore development. So far, I’ve mostly purchased equipment online, but I have been to Aqua Mart over in Lakewood a few times. If you have a recommendation for a better LFS, I’d love to check it out.

Hi again,

I live in the Central Park United development (formerly Stapleton).

I haven't been to Aqua Mart. I think it was opening way back when I learned of it, but I had to move out of state. I couldn't remember its name, but I definitely remember that layout - so thanks!

As for alternatives, I haven't found much worth noting. Certainly nothing along the lines of Aqua Mart in terms of the storefront, stock, or even apparent maintenance. There is Fish Den in Lakewood. It is an older shop and it seems to be having problems maintaining stock. Their offerings are anemic and the store is looking worse for wear, but they might fill a gap for others including Aqua Mart (?).

I've found lists of stores in the metro area online, but they are old and outdated as many stores no longer exist.

I've exclusively shopped online for my starting corals as a result.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Hi again,

I live in the Central Park United development (formerly Stapleton).

I haven't been to Aqua Mart. I think it was opening way back when I learned of it, but I had to move out of state. I couldn't remember its name, but I definitely remember that layout - so thanks!

As for alternatives, I haven't found much worth noting. Certainly nothing along the lines of Aqua Mart in terms of the storefront, stock, or even apparent maintenance. There is Fish Den in Lakewood. It is an older shop and it seems to be having problems maintaining stock. Their offerings are anemic and the store is looking worse for wear, but they might fill a gap for others including Aqua Mart (?).

I've found lists of stores in the metro area online, but they are old and outdated as many stores no longer exist.

I've exclusively shopped online for my starting corals as a result.

Ah, nice! My sister-in-law and her husband are over in Central Park off of 55th and . I’m over there all the time.

When I was in the early planning stages for this tank, Aqua Mart was by far the most helpful of the stores I visited in the metro. Before deciding to go with WB, I nearly bought a Red Sea Reefer from them. They have a great selection of fish, corals/frags, equipment and supplies and do weekly uploads to show new arrivals. One other important thing to mention was that it was also the cleanest store setup by a long stretch. Even though I QT everything (and plan on dipping every single coral down the line), my concerns are very minimal about bringing home aiptasia or some other pest with how clean their livestock tanks are maintained.

Perhaps, once I’m up and running with corals we could meet up and swap some frags? Would be fun!

 

[99problemsandatankisone]

Ah, nice! My sister-in-law and her husband are over in Central Park off of 55th and . I’m over there all the time.

When I was in the early planning stages for this tank, Aqua Mart was by far the most helpful of the stores I visited in the metro. Before deciding to go with WB, I nearly bought a Red Sea Reefer from them. They have a great selection of fish, corals/frags, equipment and supplies and do weekly uploads to show new arrivals. One other important thing to mention was that it was also the cleanest store setup by a long stretch. Even though I QT everything (and plan on dipping every single coral down the line), my concerns are very minimal about bringing home aiptasia or some other pest with how clean their livestock tanks are maintained.

Perhaps, once I’m up and running with corals we could meet up and swap some frags? Would be fun!

Hello from lone tree!

It’s a drive from aurora but you should really consider going to aquatic arts in Littleton, it’s right around Santa Fe and 470. My favorite reef shop in the area! If you are looking for coral that’s where I would go.There is also the fish reef out near centennial airport that looked in pretty good shape but they were low on stock on a Sunday afternoon the one time I have been. Definitely interested to see if there are any other good recommendations on the area!

oh also someone on here mentioned elite reef in Westminster or mile high tides near downtown, but I have not made it to either yet.

 

[rhostam]

Hello from lone tree!

It’s a drive from aurora but you should really consider going to aquatic arts in Littleton, it’s right around Santa Fe and 470. My favorite reef shop in the area! If you are looking for coral that’s where I would go.There is also the fish reef out near centennial airport that looked in pretty good shape but they were low on stock on a Sunday afternoon the one time I have been. Definitely interested to see if there are any other good recommendations on the area!

oh also someone on here mentioned elite reef in Westminster or mile high tides near downtown, but I have not made it to either yet.

Thanks for the new options. I need to look up Mile High I didn’t know they were operational and I can’t say why I ever doubted it was hehe.

As for driving, I put 80k on my ole car when I first moved back to Denver just exploring (okay also committing between Denver and Boulder) for two years. I can handle Littleton if it means checking out a new shop!

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Hello from lone tree!

It’s a drive from aurora but you should really consider going to aquatic arts in Littleton, it’s right around Santa Fe and 470. My favorite reef shop in the area! If you are looking for coral that’s where I would go.There is also the fish reef out near centennial airport that looked in pretty good shape but they were low on stock on a Sunday afternoon the one time I have been. Definitely interested to see if there are any other good recommendations on the area!

oh also someone on here mentioned elite reef in Westminster or mile high tides near downtown, but I have not made it to either yet.

Lots of updates to provide my R2R family today!

@99problemsandatankisone I just wanted to thank you for recommending Aquatic Arts over in Littleton. They will be my go-to for everything reef-related from now on. Their inventory of swimming livestock, frags, colonies, and supplies is incredible. Their customer service team was friendly and extremely helpful. Their facility and tanks are extremely clean and prices are very reasonable. Buy three get one free frags are killer. My first visit on Friday was so nice that I couldn’t resist making another stop on Saturday right before the big snowstorm!

Admittedly, I think I got a little carried away with adding corals last weekend, but they are all looking beautiful and have opened up very nicely over the past few days. Placement and flow seems to be suitable for now, but I have not glued everything permanently in case I need to rearrange. On Saturday, I got my dosing pump calibrated and set to dose 15mL of Seachem Reef Trace every third day, and have been manually dosing Reef Fusion 1/2 as needed. Water parameters are looking solid so far and *knocks on wood* I haven’t encountered any issues with nuisance algae to date. For feeding, I have began targeted feeds with a small amount of Reef Roids every other day and have seen good response to that regimen. I am currently running the Prime 16HD lighting profile below (modified Leon Tan profile with less cool white and shorter photoperiod) with a 30 day acclimation starting at 70%:

So far, I’ve added the following softies and LPS:

- GSP colony (isolating these on the front island)
- Green Tip Torch colony
- Blue/Green Hammer colony
- Red/white Lobophyllia
- Zoanthid frags (2)
- Orange Rhodactis Mushroom frag
- Red/purple with green centers Favites Pentagona frag
- Neon yellow Caulastraea frag (five heads)
- Red/purple Chalice frag
- Neon yellow JF Signature High Voltage coral (LPS, species currently unknown)

Pictures below - I apologize in advance for the sub-par photo quality.

Everyone appears to be really happy including my new Tailspot Blenny. The only other planned livestock addition is a purple firefish which will be arriving later this week. After that, it’s time to move into the maintenance phase and simply let things grow. So far, so good!

 

[99problemsandatankisone]

Lots of updates to provide my R2R family today!

@99problemsandatankisone I just wanted to thank you for recommending Aquatic Arts over in Littleton. They will be my go-to for everything reef-related from now on. Their inventory of swimming livestock, frags, colonies, and supplies is incredible. Their customer service team was friendly and extremely helpful. Their facility and tanks are extremely clean and prices are very reasonable. Buy three get one free frags are killer. My first visit on Friday was so nice that I couldn’t resist making another stop on Saturday right before the big snowstorm!

Admittedly, I think I got a little carried away with adding corals last weekend, but they are all looking beautiful and have opened up very nicely over the past few days. Placement and flow seems to be suitable for now, but I have not glued everything permanently in case I need to rearrange. On Saturday, I got my dosing pump calibrated and set to dose 15mL of Seachem Reef Trace every third day, and have been manually dosing Reef Fusion 1/2 as needed. Water parameters are looking solid so far and *knocks on wood* I haven’t encountered any issues with nuisance algae to date. For feeding, I have began targeted feeds with a small amount of Reef Roids every other day and have seen good response to that regimen. I am currently running the Prime 16HD lighting profile below (modified Leon Tan profile with less cool white and shorter photoperiod) with a 30 day acclimation starting at 70%:

So far, I’ve added the following softies and LPS:

- GSP colony (isolating these on the front island)
- Green Tip Torch colony
- Blue/Green Hammer colony
- Red/white Lobophyllia
- Zoanthid frags (2)
- Orange Rhodactis Mushroom frag
- Red/purple with green centers Favites Pentagona frag
- Neon yellow Caulastraea frag (five heads)
- Red/purple Chalice frag
- Neon yellow JF Signature High Voltage coral (LPS, species currently unknown)

Pictures below - I apologize in advance for the sub-par photo quality.

Everyone appears to be really happy including my new Tailspot Blenny. The only other planned livestock addition is a purple firefish which will be arriving later this week. After that, it’s time to move into the maintenance phase and simply let things grow. So far, so good!

I’m glad to hear that you have had the same experience I have! Welcome to the “I go both days aquatic art is open” club haha!

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Hope everyone had a great weekend! My tank has been doing pretty well since the last update. Experienced a small breakout of diatoms over a week as is expected in a new tank. Initially, I had tried siphoning these out and turning light intensity down but decided to just let them run their course. I added a small clean up crew of 5 trochus snails, 5 astrea snails, and 5 small hermits which have done a great job cleaning. Other than a few spots on some of the rocks and small areas on the lower part of the glass which I continue to manage, they have disappeared.

A week ago, I added my Purple Firefish received from Blue Zoo Aquatics after a quick 14 day observational QT. It quickly found a hiding spot under the front rock pedestal for the first few days, but has been out and about and is looking good since then.

My corals (fancy rocks as my wife has affectionately referred to them ) seem to have adjusted well so far. I am feeding Reef Roids from Polyp Lab every few days and have seen noticeable growth, especially in my Favites, Zoas, Calaustraea, and Euphyllia. Of course, the GSP has exploded without any attention. I continue to dose Seachem’s Reef Trace and Reef Fusion 1 and 2 with positive results.

Even though the stock ATO reservoir has been lasting ~4-5 days, I will be adding a custom Synergy Reef 5 gallon ATO reservoir in the next week or two.

Last but not least, here are the obligatory full tank shots:

 

[biocube40]

Looking good! I'm due for an update on my thread. Things have come along nicely.

 

[rhostam]

Finally made it out to Aquatic Art in Littleton. Great staff, busy as hell, and a super impressive inventory.

They even warned me to dip if I was going to pick up a torch. A LFS has never warned me or asked me anything about my tank, QT procedures, or preventative measures.

I ended up pickup a torch and a goniopora. Dipped, and sure enough tons of flatworms jumping ship and meeting their demise. Let’s just hope I didn’t miss eggs.

Thanks for the reference it was hard not to pick up more than a few specimen! I wish I had known about them before my tank finished cycling. I would have loved to have shopped local for aquaria and equipment.

Aquatic Art Inc, Littleton, CO

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Finally made it out to Aquatic Art in Littleton. Great staff, busy as hell, and a super impressive inventory.

They even warned me to dip if I was going to pick up a torch. A LFS has never warned me or asked me anything about my tank, QT procedures, or preventative measures.

I ended up pickup a torch and a goniopora. Dipped, and sure enough tons of flatworms jumping ship and meeting their demise. Let’s just hope I didn’t miss eggs.

Thanks for the reference it was hard not to pick up more than a few specimen! I wish I had known about them before my tank finished cycling. I would have loved to have shopped local for aquaria and equipment.

Aquatic Art Inc, Littleton, CO

I was up at Aquatic Art today, as well - it’s been a weekend routine for me lately. Picked up a few new frags for a rack I just installed. Will take some pictures soon. AA’s buy 3 get one free frags is just too good of a deal, and the customer service and guidance is second-to-none in the area.

 

[Indy_Reefer]

Looks like you are off to a great start. Excited to see how the tank matures.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

My custom five gallon ATO reservoir arrived from Synergy Reef late last week - build quality is excellent and it looks great! The volume markings are a nice touch. I installed it on Thursday and left home Friday for a weekend ski trip followed by a business trip and returned Tuesday night. Went through roughly two gallons in that four days which would have exhausted the stock reservoir. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the vacant space left in the sump and am considering putting in some sort of reactor...more to come on that later.

For now, the tank is in grow out mode. My torch, frogspawn, and candy cane have grown noticeably larger since my last check-in. I am running a primarily blue spectrum without much whites/reds/greens to minimize algae growth. The sole piece of livestock I am thinking about adding (in a few months) is a bubble tip anemone for my clowns. This morning, I noticed that the female appears to have some hyper-melanization (black blotches) from attempting to host my torch and getting stung...still eating like a pig and swimming around like normal, though.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Just a quick update for today. I picked up a 3D printed diffuser from 3D Reefing for the AI Prime 16HD. It’s a great addition to the lighting setup for those who are using the Prime. For only $26, it serves its purpose well - quality construction and cuts down heavily on the “disco ball” shimmer effect and light bleed into the surrounding room. I haven’t done a PAR test on my tank...yet, but the manufacturer states that it lowers PAR by ~10%. I simply bumped my levels up by around that much and my corals are doing well.

These can be purchased here: https://3dreefing.com/products/prime-diffuser

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Happy Cinco de Mayo R2R family! Wanted to provide you with a couple quick updates. The first is that I received a new, 3D-printed, 4” filter cup to try from Octo Aquatics. I’ve been running it with some floss and although it seems to be a tad “noisier” than the socks, it has been removing a ton of detritus. One thoughtful feature is that it has a clip on the top which can be used to secure media bags.

The only other update for now is a really positive one. Check out this crazy coralline growth on my rocks...gradually looking better day by day and especially now that the diatoms have come and gone.

The beautiful rainbow acan was a pickup from another reefer local to Denver.

Last but not least, I have to share the obligatory full tank shot, as well:

 

[Devaji]

dang that tank went up great! looks like it was smooth sailing for you and the tank!

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

dang that tank went up great! looks like it was smooth sailing for you and the tank!

Thanks! It’s been relatively smooth sailing so far and I have had a lot of fun putting it together. This couldn’t have been done without all the advice and expertise here on R2R. For now, the tank is basically on autopilot growth mode. I don’t plan on adding any new livestock for the foreseeable future. I’m dosing with the regimen below and am still testing parameters every couple days:

• RedSea NO3 PO4-X - 4.8mL daily
• RedSea Reef Nutrition AB+ - 10mL daily
• Seachem Reef Trace - 15mL every third day
• Seachem Reef Fusion 1 and 2 - 8.5mL each daily

Yesterday, I recorded these water parameters:

• Alkalinity dKH: 7 (KH: 125.3)
• Calcium: 420mg/L (ppm)
• Nitrate: 8.0ppm (slightly high, but no adverse effects seen so far)
• Phosphate: 0.05 ppm
• pH: 8.2-8.3
• Salinity: 1.024 (I am gradually raising this 0.001 with every water change, with end goal of 1.026)

Performing 7.5 gallon water changes every other Saturday. At this point, the water is crystal clear and everything appears to be thriving, so I fully intend on keeping stable and not implementing any significant changes.

In unrelated news, I am in the early stages of planning a small frag tank build for coral propagation. My addiction to this is full blown. I’ll start a build thread on that soon.

 

[ttorrone3]

What is your programming you have on the AI Prime currently?