WaterBox 25 Gallon Peninsula - Addiction is back - Fish Added!!

[350DRVR]

After an 11 year break from my 120 gallon mix reef tank I have once again been bitten by the Salt Water bug. So we are remodeling our downstairs but I just couldn’t wait another 4-6 months to finish. So we decided to start back into salt water with the Waterbox 25g Peninsul.
our front entry way just happens to have a ledge that was 16 inches wide so I’m building the tank into this area.

I’ve decided to build a small enclosure behind it to contain all the cables and controller.

the build is including

- a modified Sicce 1.5 pump
- 150w Titanium heater with controller
- Vivid Creative Aquatics Random Flow Generator
- Neptune Systems Apex El
- AI Prime 16HD LED
- CaribSea Bimini Pink
- Tunze Nano ATO
- Rock from my original tank that has been sitting in Salt Water for the past 11 years waiting for the day to be revived.

I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible. Some filter floss on top of the filter sock. Using the included carbon bag and one bio sponge in the center compartment. I will also use a small cut piece of bio sponge to keep and small creatures or contaminants from getting down to the modified return pump.

I will also be adding a top to it to keep anything from jumping. Not sure yet which to go with.

Apex el is for monitoring while I’m on the road so that if I’m seeing issues I can have my wife and daughter take care of it for me.
I figured this will be a nice little tank to get back into salt water and many of the items may eventually be moved to our bigger tank once the remodel is complete.

 

[zukihara]

 

[350DRVR]

Only 4 days into the cycle. I have noticed the ph has dropped to 7.56 On the Apex prob. If I understand correctly I shouldn’t be as concerned at this point with the ph unless it drops below 7.0. Is this true?
I‘ll watch it for the next two days as I test and if needed do a small water change to see if that brings it back up.
Finishing up the back of the tank cabinet while I wait and see what happens. The side drops into a small grove to hold the side on and the top slides over both sides to keep everything in place. Next I’ll finish my main power cable routing. I have some white cable baseboard channel for that. I’m looking at using a small side table in the corner below the tank to house my RODI and ATO unit.

 

[350DRVR]

Looking for some feedback. So I’m nine days into my cycle and my ammonia is finally starting to drop below 2 on my Redsea tests. I’ve been using the Dr. Tim’s method and have noticed that it seems to be taking a little longer which is fine my concern now is how high my nitrites are, they are off the chart.

My pH has been on the low side from day one. It’s currently at 7.6, salinity is 1.026. Im cycling my tank with some of my old mixed reef tank rocks that have been sitting in large bins filled with salt water for the past about 11 years. Could this have any effect on the pH?
the other thing I’m wondering is with Covid and the family around the house all day and the dog maybe we are just creating that much more CO2 and that is a big cause of a low pH?

I started cycling the tank with Nature’s ocean Nitri-Seawater As I was waiting for back order on my RODI replacement canister. Has anyone had experience with prepaid water causing any issues. They say you can add fish right away but I was planning g on using it to do a normal cycle.

Any feedback is welcome.
Thanks

 

[jhensperger1]

Great looking build so far. Your ammonia must have spiked pretty high based on the nitrite level. Excess ammonia at these high concentrations could be lowering your pH. I dont know what I would expect from rock that's been curing for such a long time. Presumably anything would have decayed by then

 

[350DRVR]

Great looking build so far. Your ammonia must have spiked pretty high based on the nitrite level. Excess ammonia at these high concentrations could be lowering your pH. I dont know what I would expect from rock that's been curing for such a long time. Presumably anything would have decayed by then

Thank you for the feedback. I believe you are correct, I used two bags of live sand and did not think to test the ammonia levels before dosing Dr. Tim’s. I must have forgotten everything I once knew. I don’t remember it being so much work starting my cube and 120 gallon years ago. I’m not in a big hurry as I’m off for the next 7 days then I have a work trip to Hawaii for 7 days so I’ll have the next two weeks to let everything stabilize. The rocks look really clean and I’m not sure they have much of anything on them.

 

[350DRVR]

So for the past few days I’ve been watching and trying to adjust my pH level due to higher co2 in the house. I think this isn’t culprit but time will tell. I’ve been on a work trip to Hawaii for the past 3 days and won’t get back till the 17th but the last three days I’ve had my wife keep the windows open all day long even with cooler weather to experiment at the cost of them being cold while working and school at home.
ao over the past three days the pH had increased by at least .05 starting at low of about 7.62 after it came back down from a water change. It’s slowly trending upward day by day so I’m thinking g between the three of us and the dog home all the time we are just expelling to much co2.
so I think it’s time for a while house fan that can help change and kee all of us a little healthie.

when I had my 120 gallon up and running in this house over 10 years ago I don’t recal any of these issues but a lot has changed and I’m sure the skimmer and sump help kee things in balance.
pocture of the trend upward: it sure is nice having the Apex to help me
monitor everything while away at work.

 

[350DRVR]

I recently added a Tunze Nano ATO. I’m using a 3gallon bucket hidden inside an Ikea I believe small end table. I filled it up prior to leaving g for Hawaii for 8 days and came back to a half full bucket. I think this will be A great addition to the setup. Less for the wife to worry about while I’m away for work.

 

[350DRVR]

So a small update to the tank. It’s been up and running for nearly two months and doing good so far. Im noticing plenty of coralline growth which I attribute to the rock was from an established tank even thou it was in a closed submerged saltwater brute container.
Im noticing plenty of green on the rocks as well and it’s only noticeable under white lights. It doesn’t seem to have any length to it and it doesn’t blow or even brush off. I’m thinking this may also be green coralline starting?

Plenty of Zoas were added to give it some color and will eventually be combined into two different rocks. I added a small GSP on a isolated rock so that I can control its growth.
I also added a small galaxia to the front open area of the tank. It’s again mounted to a smaller rock that can be moved if needed. It has plenty of space so that it doesn’t eventually cause issues.
we also just started a Quarantine tank that has been running for the past two weeks and will run for another while on a work trip for the next week.
as soon as I get back the daughter and I will go pick up a pair of clown fish of her choice to start the quarantine process.

How long do many of you suggest quarantining your new fish?

it’s been over ten years since I was in the hobby and I just don’t remember what I one did.
sorry for the inverted image. Not sure what happened.

 

[Craigk]

Looks good. What type of QT process are you going to follow? I’d suggest reading some of Humblefish’s content to guide you to the best decision here.

 

[350DRVR]

I picked up an

Aqueon LED 10 Gallon Aquarium Kit from Petco on sale for $80​

Just did a water change so I used 5 gallons of water from the change along with 5 fresh mixed water. Added two of my used cut filters from the tank filtration as well. im gone for the next week so I’ll check everything when I get back from work. I have added a small power head but I may add a air bubbler.

I haven’t herd of Humblefish so I’ll have to do some searching and reading up this week.
placing an order for a Kraken Lid As I remember a few jumpers back in the day.

 

[Pêcheur]

0

Neat tank! However did you get that ice cream cone shaped rock on the right to stand up light that???

 

[350DRVR]

I sanded the bottom flat and used a smaller flat piece with some epoxy which you can see in the picture. Then covered the base with sand. I need to add a little glue and sand to the epoxy to cover it up.

 

[350DRVR]

Decided to make my own lid for now. Used some PVC trim pieces and clear mesh netting with some gel CA glue to hold it all together. $32 total.
i still like the clear acrylic lids but I’ll order that down the road. $32 vs $180 works for me.

I did order a feeding port so that will add another $15 or so.

 

[350DRVR]

Our first fish added to our 25 gallon WaterBox peninsula. I took my daughter to pick out a pair of clown fish for our tank and I think she did a good job. I was looking at many of the designer fish and while I was looking she found a tank with just two fish that she said looked happy and we’re swimming together all the time.
so rather than grab two random fish from a tank with dozens of fish she wanted these two.
Two ORA Clowns. I won’t mention what the are but she was very clever with the names.

Each fish has a open bar on the tail and one open on the right side and one on the left side. That’s how we remember the names.

one is named Cara and the other is named Mel.

any idea what type of clowns they are?

 

[OldRed1]

Would you mind sharing what equipment you have in your three rear chambers?