Hi all!
My name is Cody from Charlotte, NC and I am starting up my very first reef tank. Ever since considering starting up a tank, I have done the vast majority of my reading on reef2reef. I thought it would be a fun adventure to join the community and begin with documenting my first tank experience.
I am starting my journey with a Waterbox CUBE 20 Gallon All-in-one system. THIS TANK WAS SO HARD TO COME BY. When first researching my options, I quickly narrowed my choice down to this tank. Did I ever even look to see if any single vendor, including Waterbox.com, had them in stock? NOPE! Waterboxs’ website said “in stock” but the typical shipping time is 6-8 weeks. Considering I was already eager to start the cycling of my tank, I was almost ready to settle for something else. Saltwateraquarium.com came to the rescue as I signed up for their back in stock notifications and it just so happened that they got a few in stock just a week after I began searching. Fast forward to three days later and my first tank came in shattered (bummer). They overnighted me a new one (A+ customer service btw and I was so happy they still had them in stock). The second one came in perfect and in an extremely timely manner.
So now here we are with a new CUBE 20 tank. I chose to go with the brand new AI Prime 16HD light with a fixed mount. I’m running a 75W Cobalt Neo Therm heater. As of right now, my filtration and pump are stock but I soon plan to upgrade the filtration a bit (ie. bioballs, maybe a three tier filtration system with filter floss instead of the felt sock).
I played around with the aquascaping for three days straight only to revert back to the design I came up with within the first five minutes of playing with my rock (I had to be sure of my decision). My substrate is Carib Sea Fiji Live Sand and my rock is dead (dry?), but soon to be live (let’s hope). I balanced two pieces of rock to make this formation and am extremely happy with the look (please don’t burst my bubble and tell me you hate it).
That’s where I’m at right now. I added a little mysis to the tank a couple days in to jump start the process and I have also been dosing MicroBacter7 (my hobbyist friend had a full bottle sitting amongst his sea of chemicals so I assumed I should try to save a bit of money when possible). But then again, what is a $20 bottle of live bacteria when my light costed more than my tank.
I’m trying to do this smart and take my time. I can’t wait to update this thread with my progress and I really want to hear from those of you with similar setups or scenarios. My goal is to debate and take in as much information as I possibly can. Any and all experiences/suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Cody
My name is Cody from Charlotte, NC and I am starting up my very first reef tank. Ever since considering starting up a tank, I have done the vast majority of my reading on reef2reef. I thought it would be a fun adventure to join the community and begin with documenting my first tank experience.
I am starting my journey with a Waterbox CUBE 20 Gallon All-in-one system. THIS TANK WAS SO HARD TO COME BY. When first researching my options, I quickly narrowed my choice down to this tank. Did I ever even look to see if any single vendor, including Waterbox.com, had them in stock? NOPE! Waterboxs’ website said “in stock” but the typical shipping time is 6-8 weeks. Considering I was already eager to start the cycling of my tank, I was almost ready to settle for something else. Saltwateraquarium.com came to the rescue as I signed up for their back in stock notifications and it just so happened that they got a few in stock just a week after I began searching. Fast forward to three days later and my first tank came in shattered (bummer). They overnighted me a new one (A+ customer service btw and I was so happy they still had them in stock). The second one came in perfect and in an extremely timely manner.
So now here we are with a new CUBE 20 tank. I chose to go with the brand new AI Prime 16HD light with a fixed mount. I’m running a 75W Cobalt Neo Therm heater. As of right now, my filtration and pump are stock but I soon plan to upgrade the filtration a bit (ie. bioballs, maybe a three tier filtration system with filter floss instead of the felt sock).
I played around with the aquascaping for three days straight only to revert back to the design I came up with within the first five minutes of playing with my rock (I had to be sure of my decision). My substrate is Carib Sea Fiji Live Sand and my rock is dead (dry?), but soon to be live (let’s hope). I balanced two pieces of rock to make this formation and am extremely happy with the look (please don’t burst my bubble and tell me you hate it).
That’s where I’m at right now. I added a little mysis to the tank a couple days in to jump start the process and I have also been dosing MicroBacter7 (my hobbyist friend had a full bottle sitting amongst his sea of chemicals so I assumed I should try to save a bit of money when possible). But then again, what is a $20 bottle of live bacteria when my light costed more than my tank.
I’m trying to do this smart and take my time. I can’t wait to update this thread with my progress and I really want to hear from those of you with similar setups or scenarios. My goal is to debate and take in as much information as I possibly can. Any and all experiences/suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Cody