Waterbox Cube 20

[Takito]

Hello everyone, here is my Cube20. I am in day 5 of my cycle.

I'll start with my set up and numbers.

Aqua Knight V2 (not on yet)
Jebao SLW-10
Eheim 75w Heater
Aquatic Life RO/DI Buddy
Duetto ATO XPA
Marco and Staxx rock 15-20lbs (pretty proud of my aquascape....I plan to make a mini Cuthulhu out of rock/sand)
Marine Pure Spheres (20 balls subbed for plastic bioballs)
Special Grade Arag-Alive 20lbs
Fritz Salt

I used Dr. Tim' s one and only with his Ammonium Chloride.

07/11
Ammonia: 1-2 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 7.8
Salinity 1.018

7/12
Ammonia: 1 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 7.6
Salinity 1.016

7/13
Ammonia: 1 ppm
pH: 7.8
Salinity 1.018

7/14
Ammonia: .5 ppm
Nitrite: .25 ppm
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
pH: 7.8
Salinity: 1.018

7/15
Ammonia: .5 ppm
Nitrite: .5 ppm
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm
pH: 7.8
Salinity 1.017

7/16
Ammonia: 1.0 ppm
Nitrite: .5 ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm
pH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.017


Mistake #1 (7/11)
I added 2ppm of ammonia instead of 4ppm.

Mistake #2 (7/12 and 7/15)

I added marine pure balls a day after I added bacteria, so I scattered and buried them in my sand bed for 3 days. Then I took out the plastic bioballs and placed the marinepure balls in the media bag and placed them in my middle chamber. This made me stir up the sand bed a bit when I placed and removed the marinepure balls.

Mistake #3 (7/15)

After re-watching Dr. Tim's MACNA presentation on Cycling. I noticed he said 18-20ppt instead of 1.018 and that Temp should be around 84. So I dumped 1-1.5g tank water and replaced it with RO/DI water. This brought my salinity to 1.017 and I turned up the temp from 78 to 80.

I'm thinking of just letting it go on it's own from now on. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Takito]

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[Melanie Fish]

Looks good! I have the same tank. I do 1.026 for salinity and 78 degrees. They are great tanks. Intank makes a pretty good media basket for them.

 

[Takito]

Looks good! I have the same tank. I do 1.026 for salinity and 78 degrees. They are great tanks. Intank makes a pretty good media basket for them.

View attachment 1682718

Looks nice!
I'm doing lower salinity for the cycle to make it easier on the bacteria. Dr. Tim recommends 1.015 and I had it at 1.018. I dropped it to 1.017 but am worried about doing any further changes to parameters at this time in the cycle.

 

[revhtree]

Looking good and congrats!

 

[Super Fly]

Liking the rockwork.

 

[LagunaGlide]

Looks good! I have the same tank. I do 1.026 for salinity and 78 degrees. They are great tanks. Intank makes a pretty good media basket for them.

View attachment 1682718

I’m planning to pick one up today (blue friday) what are you using for a stand there?

 

[Melanie Fish]

I’m planning to pick one up today (blue friday) what are you using for a stand there?

I found one at my target on sale for 100 bucks. It was one of the only cabinets i could find that was deep enough.
I didn't use the wheels.

 

[LagunaGlide]

I found one at my target on sale for 100 bucks. It was one of the only cabinets i could find that was deep enough.
I didn't use the wheels.
View attachment 1868086

Awesome. Thanks for the reply.

 

[LagunaGlide]

Am I correct in assuming the 20 marine pure spheres are in the middle chamber? What else in that chamber? I imagine with 20 spheres there is still a lot of room.