Journal Waterbox Cube 10 complete beginner

[Deano3]

Hi everyone, I know many if you on here and wanted to share my new journey. After getting rid of the aquascaper 900 setup I wanted to try dipping my toe in marine.

Early warning I know Nothing about marine and I am brand new to all this so going to try learn on the go and keep it very simple. Been taking my time as in no rush at all and been very busy.

Purchased a nano waterbox cube 10 tank (due to space limitations and wanting to try marine without selling my house) along with a AI HD prime light and nero pump, a heater some media rock and some other bits i will make a list and put below, also planning on buying pre-made water to start.

I know i will need a lot of help on this journey and hope I can help others eventually, been months now and missing have a seup.
I will post a few pics below and any opinions on the scape would be great, I purchased a some rocks from the feed experience a great local shop, I came up with a sort of arch but tried some without arch, what tou think of height and scape itself as want this right, want room for corrals on sand and rock.

I will keep you all updated as things progress.

 

[seedoubleyou]

Scape looks nice mate. I’d be happy to help with any questions as I’ve Kept reefs myself. I’m always a PM away if need be.

First advice being, soak that rock for a few weeks in RO before using it.

 

[Deano3]

Scape looks nice mate. I’d be happy to help with any questions as I’ve Kept reefs myself. I’m always a PM away if need be.

First advice being, soak that rock for a few weeks in RO before using it.

Really appreciate that thanks so much 🙌 I may well take you up on that, joined a reef forum for advice but can't beat upaps In my opinion, the community and help and knowledge on offer in this forum, plus been a member so long thought I would do journal on here 😁

 

[seedoubleyou]

Really appreciate that thanks so much 🙌 I may well take you up on that, joind a reef forum for advice but can't beat upaps I'm my opinion for the community and been a member so long thought I would do journal on here 😁

Well I won’t pass comment on said forum as I don’t like to bash. But there’s a few on here who dabble or have dabbled with salt who’ll be more than happy to try and help.
Best of luck to you.
But please, if you really can, soak that rock for as long as your patience will allow. It will save so much trouble later on.

 

[Deano3]

Thought I would do a equipment list same as freshwater wanted decent equipment so hopefully only buy once.

waterbox cube 10
AI prime 16HD
AI prime Nero 3 powered
DD heating and cooling controller incase heater fails
Carab sea live sand
DD nano ATO
Aquael ultra 50w heater
DD refractometer
Marine pure media
Kraken corrals filter sock replacement
Filter floss
Fritz turbo start
Corral essentials FW dip
Salifert test kits for ammonia, nitrite, carbonate hardness/alkalinity, magnesium, phosphorus, nitrate , calcium.

Think that's it so far pics below, think I am pretty much ready to get started. And go buy some water, really want to keep this simple with easy corals but want to look good with clean up crew and maybe couple of clowns. Hope the sideboard we purchased will be OK with weight.

Thinking of this sort of scape aswel

Thanks dean

 

[seedoubleyou]

maybe couple of clowns

Clownfish get far larger than we give them credit for, they get larger than dwarf Mbuna.
(Well the female certainly will)
Buy the smallest pair you can find and once the saltwater bug bites you hard enough, you’ll soon have a bigger tank for them.

 

[Epiphyte]

I also had the hankering a few months ago for marine and bought this very same tank and light setup. I enjoyed the first few months of my experience but the last 6 weeks has been a nightmare. Watching a £150 lobophyllia dying in slow motion is not enjoyable in the slightest. Algae is persistent and grows like a weed.

All I can say is test test test test test and test a bit more. I can't tell you the last time I did a test in freshwater, years maybe, but in marine it's a must do. Salifert test kits are good but the PO4 one is useless for coral. Fine for FOWLR setups but it's not accurate enough for measuring below 0.1ppm. Get the Tropic Marin one, it's very good and bridges the price between Salifert and something fancy like the Hanna Instruments test kits.

It's great fun, but when things go wrong they go really wrong in my experience so far. My stocking is probably fairly heavy for a 10 gallon, 2 juvie ocularis clowns, dwarf blue hermit crabs and a Blood Red Fire Shrimp. So far they seem perfectly happy in the tank but I suspect as they grow they may need a little more space. This stocking doesn't even phase the filtration, I actually am looking into dosing nitrate as I can't get it to read more than 0.2ppm!

 

[Deano3]

That's my plan 2 clowns and a clean up crew, going to get the smallest ones possible.

Any help on light setting he great as no presets 😊 also power of my AI nero 3 ?

Your waterbox 10 have a journal ?

 

[Epiphyte]

There is a video that BRS did on AI Prime settings, it's treated as the bible on the AI Prime on reef forums as they went full on with a PAR meter. I've gone for this, but Christ knows if it's right... Link to my settings on Google drive

Can't help on the Nero 3, I'm looking at getting one myself, but you'd be surprised just how much flow you need. I found when my first clown went in he was tiny, so I had my powerhead on the lowest setting. As he has grown I've cranked it up and they just shrug it off.

Here's my tank though, late in the eve with the lights full blue

That's my plan 2 clowns and a clean up crew, going to get the smallest ones possible.

Any help on light setting he great as no presets 😊 also power of my AI nero 3 ?

Your waterbox 10 have a journal ?

 

[Deano3]

There is a video that BRS did on AI Prime settings, it's treated as the bible on the AI Prime on reef forums as they went full on with a PAR meter. I've gone for this, but Christ knows if it's right... Link to my settings on Google drive

Can't help on the Nero 3, I'm looking at getting one myself, but you'd be surprised just how much flow you need. I found when my first clown went in he was tiny, so I had my powerhead on the lowest setting. As he has grown I've cranked it up and they just shrug it off.

Here's my tank though, late in the eve with the lights full blue

View attachment 204726

Wow looks great , link doesn't work so I will have a look thanks for that, also order the test kit you recommend.

Going to get water in this week and get bacteria in and couple of clowns as need to just get on with it. Love your scape by the way.

What is the normal temp to set for marine 28 ? Or 26 ?

Also need to tet the tenp controller up etc and ATO , going to add that in the pump chamber.

Thanks

 

[Epiphyte]

ATO is the number one most important thing to have on a marine tank. Consistency is key and varying salinity is a great way to kill everything quite rapidly. Temp, I've set to 25C with the D-D temp controller and the 150w Titanium heater.

Here's my light settings. In the daytime I ramp the white up a bit to enjoy the fish.



Half hour ramp up and ramp down, 11hrs photoperiod.

 

[seedoubleyou]

What is the normal temp to set for marine 28 ? Or 26 ?

For a mixed reef 25
LPS actually like it a little cooler at around 23
If you’re doing soft corals, 25 will be fine as this will suit most fish.

 

[seedoubleyou]

There is a video that BRS did on AI Prime settings, it's treated as the bible on the AI Prime on reef forums as they went full on with a PAR meter. I've gone for this, but Christ knows if it's right... Link to my settings on Google drive

Can't help on the Nero 3, I'm looking at getting one myself, but you'd be surprised just how much flow you need. I found when my first clown went in he was tiny, so I had my powerhead on the lowest setting. As he has grown I've cranked it up and they just shrug it off.

Here's my tank though, late in the eve with the lights full blue

View attachment 204726

I would remove that skeleton on the bottom left as dead or dying corals can kill everything else in the tank.
It looks like you’re suffering pretty bad with some serious algae too,
Dosing phytoplankton, upping the copepod population and lots of manual labour should clear that.

 

[seedoubleyou]

dosing nitrate

Small fish won’t raise nitrate, contrary to popular belief, they just don’t produce enough waste. Large fish in a larger system will.
The best thing to add to a small tank for both your algae and No3 issue is an urchin.

Don’t be disheartened on the Lobo, they’re a tricky coral and you added one far too soon. The others you have in there are a great start, if the trickier ones in your tank like the frogspawn and hammer coral do well, then you’re heading in the right way.

I can’t be overly sure from the image. But it looks like you have aiptasia in there too?

 

[seedoubleyou]

That's my plan 2 clowns and a clean up crew, going to get the smallest ones possible

Can I suggest a stocking option?

2-3 Astrea snails (I find these to work best)
Pair of small clowns (take your pick, go for natural clowns or designer)
2-3 hermit crabs (they need additional shells)
Later on, add a pistol shrimp and goby pair (this will add some interest to the tank, and they occupy the lowest regions)

Do not add;
Starfish (tanks too new)
Cleaner shrimp (in a tank that small they can be real bullies, i.e they soon learn that harassing corals causes them to regurgitate. Free and easy meal for the shrimp, not great for the coral)

 

[Epiphyte]

Small fish won’t raise nitrate, contrary to popular belief, they just don’t produce enough waste. Large fish in a larger system will.
The best thing to add to a small tank for both your algae and No3 issue is an urchin.

Don’t be disheartened on the Lobo, they’re a tricky coral and you added one far too soon. The others you have in there are a great start, if the trickier ones in your tank like the frogspawn and hammer coral do well, then you’re heading in the right way.

I can’t be overly sure from the image. But it looks like you have aiptasia in there too?

Ah sadly I posted that photo from my mobile and didn't realise it was an algae filled mess. Yes hair algae is growing faster than anything I've ever seen in a tank before. I had a big PO4 spike at the beginning but I've got it down to 0.02ppm but it grows and grows and grows. I've actually just sent an IPC test off this morning to see if there is anything underlying that could be causing it. It's hugely disheartening and has taken my enjoyment for the reef side of this hobby and honestly ruined it. If the IPC comes back clear I guess it can only be lighting. I've had a rapid growth of coraline algae too recently so something must be going right.

Amusingly my clowns have taken to hosing the thickest patch of hair algae, silly fish. Here's the tank before it started going to blahblahblahblah:


No aptasia, there's a peppermint shrimp in there and since adding I've not seen a single one.

Believe it or not I think the lobo has turned a corner. Here's how it started, isn't it just beautiful?


In the process of getting the PO4 down over a few weeks it sadly shrunk back, gaping mouth and then bleached. But only today I found the coloured speckled areas on it have returned. The purple hasn't but it's showing signs of colour. I'm going to give a feed when the lights start dimming and keep tending to it. I refuse to let a £150 coral die!

Would a tuxedo urchin be okay in a tank this size without knocking everything off?

 

[seedoubleyou]

Would a tuxedo urchin be okay

Yes, that’s exactly the urchin you’ll want. If everything is secured down properly, then it shouldn’t knock anything off or take it for a ride.

Vibrant by Underwater creations is a great product too, BRStv actually done an in-depth test on it.

But as I say, the best thing for that algae is an urchin, lots of phyto and upping your pod population, then it’s down to elbow grease.

You could also try draining the water down below the worst of it and hitting it with H2O2

 

[Epiphyte]

Yes, that’s exactly the urchin you’ll want. If everything is secured down properly, then it shouldn’t knock anything off or take it for a ride.

Vibrant by Underwater creations is a great product too, BRStv actually done an in-depth test on it.

But as I say, the best thing for that algae is an urchin, lots of phyto and upping your pod population, then it’s down to elbow grease.

You could also try draining the water down below the worst of it and hitting it with H2O2

Vibrant looks interesting, but ouch that's not a cheap product! I've often wondered why nobody in the reef world has tried some good old Excell, only seen one report of it and they claimed it worked well, but I've spent far too much on corals to risk it. Sadly every square inch of the tank has algae on it so no chance of dropping the water level.

I'll nip to Maidenhead tomorrow see if they have any urchins. I'm getting fed up with this algae, I'd really love to go back to enjoying the tank again as it's just so interesting to watch. Fingers crossed it works as well as people say they do.

Thanks for the help and apologies Deano for hijacking your thread!

 

[Deano3]

Can I suggest a stocking option?

2-3 Astrea snails (I find these to work best)
Pair of small clowns (take your pick, go for natural clowns or designer)
2-3 hermit crabs (they need additional shells)
Later on, add a pistol shrimp and goby pair (this will add some interest to the tank, and they occupy the lowest regions)

Do not add;
Starfish (tanks too new)
Cleaner shrimp (in a tank that small they can be real bullies, i.e they soon learn that harassing corals causes them to regurgitate. Free and easy meal for the shrimp, not great for the coral)

This sounds great and had exactly same advice today from Howard at the reef experience, can't quite to get started hopefully get level and water in tomorrow or Thursday, still need to watch videos about lights tomorrow.

Thanks dean

 

[seedoubleyou]

lights tomorrow

They don’t have to be complicated, the trick to lighting is to set and forget, don’t touch them again and let the tank adjust.
There’s plenty of presets out there for download, I’ve seen many on ultimate reef. Find a tank that’s doing well and ask for their schedule.