Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25 Build

[Gaspipe]

It's looking great! Special thanks for the quick reply to all of us. And in the States that stand is difficult to get or very $$$. It does fit perfect. I hate that I just learned from you that the Sicce 1.0 is loud. I just ordered it yesterday BRS is having a sale and I just bought my initial set up.

Guess we'll see what happens.

 

[Gary777]

For the light, you can tilt it with the two screws on the base

Hi. Thanks I have tried that but I can't make it sit totally horizontal. I think it's because the glass is only 6mm thick. I have bought a square of 5mm thick acrylic on Ebay which I am going to use between the light and the back of the tank. It might be a cheap improvement.

 

[Gary777]

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for the gramma - I'm just going to say my experience
Our clownfish killed the gramma and we found him lodged in a hole in a rock
but that's my experience
Happy reefing!
a snail

Thanks. My clownfish are so small they would only be even money in a fight with a large brine shrimp. I saw a Royal Gramma in my LFS yesterday. He has only just arrived there so I am waiting a week to pick him up. He is also pretty small.

I need to investigate your UK Reef Club Member badge.

 

[Gary777]

It's looking great! Special thanks for the quick reply to all of us. And in the States that stand is difficult to get or very $$$. It does fit perfect. I hate that I just learned from you that the Sicce 1.0 is loud. I just ordered it yesterday BRS is having a sale and I just bought my initial set up.

Guess we'll see what happens.

Hi

Yes aquarium cabinets are so difficult to find. This Aqua One is not too expensive in the UK at about £100 or $130. I did contemplate the DIY option but on a scale of 1 to 10 my DIY skills register about zero on a good day.

The Sicce 1.0 is fine for some people. You need it to not be touching the glass, and that is tricky. What also makes it hard to adjust are the suction cups on the pump. These make the pump stick to the bottom and therefore unable to be moved the tiny amounts you need to get it right. If you have trouble I would remove the suction cups and maybe cut up a piece of the sponge filter that comes with the tank and let the pump sit on that instead. Then you might be able to shift it around and get it just right.

 

[MarkyMark_]

Can I ask what you are placing the tank on? I have ordered this same tank and am racking my brain trying to find a suitable piece of furniture to place it on

 

[Gary777]

Can I ask what you are placing the tank on? I have ordered this same tank and am racking my brain trying to find a suitable piece of furniture to place it on

Yes it's an Aqua One Inspire 60. As discussed earlier it might be difficult to find and/or expensive outside the UK though.

 

[Poseidon's snail]

im back

 

[fluffyhobo]

So I had some problems with the Sicce 1.0 being incredibly loud. Today I swapped it out for the stock pump that comes with the Waterbox. I was pleasantly surprised. It is very quiet and has similar flow to the Sicce. I will probably return the Sicce for a replacement.

The next job is to try and get the Maxspect light to sit horizontally over the tank. Mine tilts downwards for some reason. Also I need to build the Jumpguard lid.

I have some Fritz Turbostart so will probably pick up a pair of clowns this week.

Hey I think you got a bad Sicce 1.0, I have a Peninsula Mini 25 and have been running a Sicce 1.0 for a week and it runs so quiet that you cant hear it unless you put your ear literally right next to the return chamber.

 

[Gary777]

Hey I think you got a bad Sicce 1.0, I have a Peninsula Mini 25 and have been running a Sicce 1.0 for a week and it runs so quiet that you cant hear it unless you put your ear literally right next to the return chamber.

Hi

I think you just made a better job of placing the pump in the tight space without touching any glass. The Sicce pump I have is not so noisy when it's just in a bucket of water. It is doing a good job of mixing salt and pumping water into the tank on water change days.

The Jecod pump I have in the tank now works better for me because as it's a DC pump it doesn't vibrate. That makes it the better product for a nano all in one in my experience.

 

[Gaspipe]

Hey I think you got a bad Sicce 1.0, I have a Peninsula Mini 25 and have been running a Sicce 1.0 for a week and it runs so quiet that you cant hear it unless you put your ear literally right next to the return chamber.

Does your pump touch any of the walls??

 

[fluffyhobo]

Does your pump touch any of the walls??

Ya, only one but it does

 

[fluffyhobo]

Hi

I think you just made a better job of placing the pump in the tight space without touching any glass. The Sicce pump I have is not so noisy when it's just in a bucket of water. It is doing a good job of mixing salt and pumping water into the tank on water change days.

The Jecod pump I have in the tank now works better for me because as it's a DC pump it doesn't vibrate. That makes it the better product for a nano all in one in my experience.

Hmm, I kinda just dropped it in there without thinking much about it lol, it does touch one side of the glass, maybe yours was in a weird position.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Hello

My name is Gary and I am based in the UK. I am returning to marine aquarium keeping after a really long break. Without giving away my age when I last had a marine tank it was fish only, used an under-gravel filter, and was filled with tap water. That was a very common setup at the time. I stumbled across some YouTube videos earlier this year and I was amazed at the improvements that have been made in technology and know how.

So after months of reading forums and watching more YouTube videos I have bought one of the new Waterbox mini peninsula aquariums for my home office.

Here's my equipment list :

Waterbox Mini Peninsula 25

Light : Maxspect Jump MJ-L165
Wavemaker : Nero 3
Pump : Sicce 1.0
Heater : Aquael Ultra 100w
Temperature Controller : D-D Dual (For heater and cooling fan)

Rock and substrate is 20lbs of Caribsea Life Rock Shapes and 10lbs of Caribsea Fiji pink live sand.

Other bits and pieces I have picked up include:

Hanna Salinity checker (despite the mixed reviews)
D-D Jumpguard mesh lid kit
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt
A 3D printed filter cup replacement for filter floss to replace the filter sock.
A 75 gallon per day RODI system with a booster pump.
Maxspect nano-tech bio spheres
Test kits, etc etc etc

I will also pick up an ATO, not sure which yet. Maybe a protein skimmer too sometime in the future, but maybe not.


This Waterbox comes with a pump, which I don't think they used to in the UK. Anyway, it will be used to mix salt and be there as a backup. The Maxspect light is a new product so I am hoping people cleverer than me will come up with some settings and schedules as it becomes more widely used. It looks like a good alternative to the AI Prime HD. It costs a bit less and comes with a mounting arm in the box.

I really liked the look of the Caribsea life rock shapes. It looks like I got the most common selection: 2 arches, a cave and a smaller ring / doughnut (donut!) shape. I think the 20lbs box would be great for a slightly bigger tank. It's a shame it is not easy to buy these rocks individually. While I wait for everything to be delivered I think I have come up with an aquascape using the 3 biggest rocks without it being over the top for the tank size. Using the final rock would be too much I think.

Caribsea also sell a box of 'nano arches'. Arches that are about 8 inches long. These would be great but a box of 4 costs the same as the 20lb mixed box, which seems unreasonable to me.

I am looking to stock a pair of clowns and a royal gramma with a shrimp and then see how things progress ...

... and from the other side

Another photo that shows the 'spare' rock

The Maxspect LED ...

I am waiting for some vital things to be delivered, like a stand. I'll be back with more later.

Thanks for reading and any advice and opinions will always be welcome.

Nice build.

 

[Reef.]

An update on my return pump ... the Jecod DCS-1200 arrived today. You do have to modify it to get it to fit in the Peninsula 25. It has a forward facing screw threaded connector and you need to saw off a small piece of this. A few threads is enough. It’s very easy to do with a small hacksaw.

Anyway it’s pretty quiet and because it’s a DC pump you can alter the flow speed and it has a 10 minute feed mode button.

I hope it stays quiet. I’ve spent enough time reading about return pumps!

mine has, really quiet on low.

 

[Reef.]

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for the gramma - I'm just going to say my experience
Our clownfish killed the gramma and we found him lodged in a hole in a rock
but that's my experience
Happy reefing!
a snail

what clowns are they?

I have clowns and a gramma and they get on fine, the gramma is the one that goes for the clowns if they get too close to his cave, funny as the clowns pay no attention to the gramma when he headbutts them.

 

[Gary777]

Hmm, I kinda just dropped it in there without thinking much about it lol, it does touch one side of the glass, maybe yours was in a weird position.

No I tried it a number of times with no luck. It wasn’t in a weird position. Plenty of others have had the same problem. But it’s great you had more success.

 

[Gary777]

I did pick up the royal gramma on Friday and all is well. He swims around with the two clownfish every so often but mostly hangs around the various caves and crevices in the rock.

I might look out for one more fish. An azure damsel would be great but I don’t want to push my luck. Although putting that in last would be a good move.

Otherwise if I see something like a yellow clown goby in my LFS then I might give that a go as they stay so small.

 

[Gary777]

Here is a not so good latest picture, apologies for the quality, I need to learn how to take better tank pics, but you get the idea ...

Everything seems to be going well. I bought a Hanna phosphate checker and I got a 0.09 reading along with 5 ppm nitrate, but that was after a water change. Those would be good levels to maintain so I need to check just before the next water change to see how high they are getting.

My Nero 3 runs on a random pattern, up to 40% during the day and 10% at night. Three times a day it ramps up to 100% for 5 minutes to help get anything stuck on the rock or sand into the water column and the filter.

For lighting I have the Maxspect LED ramping up to 25% Violet / UV, Blue, Blue / Cool White and Warm White with both green and red at 0%.

I am starting to see some brown diatoms on the rock but not much on the sand. The Caribsea rock does a good job at hiding the brown patches.

 

[Reef.]

P04 will not have changed that much if at all with a water change, unlike nitrate which near enough exactly reduces by the same amount as the water change, remove 10% water, you will also remove 10% nitrate. PO4 can be absorbed by rock, so if removed from the water, the rock will release PO4 to replace it.

 

[Gary777]

P04 will not have changed that much if at all with a water change, unlike nitrate which near enough exactly reduces by the same amount as the water change, remove 10% water, you will also remove 10% nitrate. PO4 can be absorbed by rock so removed from the water the rock released PO4 to replace it.

That’s some good information that I didn’t know. Thanks.