My SPS Dominated 50G AIO Cube

[Perry]

Tank: 50 gallon 24x24x21"high AIO Waterbox Cube
Return Pump: Ecoplus 350GPH(whisper quiet)
Skimmer: Aquamaxx WS-1
Powerhead: Tunze Nano Stream 6040
Lighting: Hamilton Cayman Sun Pendant with 250watt Radium SE, and Kessil A160 Tuna Blue Supplement
Additional Filatration: BRS Reactor with 2 liter Life Bio Fil
ATO: Pacific Sun Sentry
Doser: Eshopps Twin Doser and Bubble Magus Single Doser using AF Comp 123
Monitor/Controller: Digital Aquatics Lite

Paramters:
*S.G.- 1.025
*KH- 8.0
*CA- 420
*MG- 1380
*K- 400
NO3- Undetectable (Salifert)
PO4- Undetectable (Hannah Handheld)

This tank has been running for a few months using one single piece of Fiji live rock(air freighted) and a few miscellaneous pieces of rubble. Only a total of around 20lbs. The sandbed is 1" and was pulled from my old system and rinsed several times in saltwater to keep as much micro life as possible. The style of this tank as of now is a single low lying bommie, with emphasis on simplicity and minimalism. I will likely add a few smaller pieces of rock with more sps attached as time goes by. I have some zoos and shrooms and will likely add some lps down the line once the sps grow and provide more shade. I am starting with a couple of mini colonies and frags, and all of them came from a radion lit tank with mainly blue spectrum, so the corals are morphing now underneath the halide. The tank houses a pair of True Percs, an ORA Black Cardinal, and a female Melanarus Wrasse, as well as snails, hermits, fighting conchs, and a Blood Shrimp. I am using mainly the Probiotic system from Aquaforest, as I have many supplies still around from my sponsored 120 gallon reef, but now I am just back to being a plain old hobbyist, and not working in the industry, so as the AF products expire, I will be switching some of the products for Zeovit down the road. A few days ago I decided to move the Life Bio Fil from passive in a mesh bag, to active in a reactor. I knew this would lower nutrients, but I went from 10ppm to 0.00 in 3 days on NO3 and from 0.04 to 0.00 PO4. In my old 120 gallon tank, I never could get this low on nutrients, and am very surprised to see the biological media pull nutrients so low so quickly and stay there. That said, I am now feeding 2 times per day to my 4 fish, and with nutrients this low, I will add more fish, likely 3-5 more. Also, I will back off bacteria and carbon source for now as it is not needed. I will be happy to share my schedule should anyone be interested, but for now, here are some pics, not the best, but will give the general idea, forgive my brown corals, lol...Thanks!

 

[Rickyb1982]

Pics ?

 

[Perry]

 

[Perry]

 

[Perry]

sorry, for some reason my old 120 gallon tank was added to the bunch of pics, tried to edit out, but owell, that is not this tank, lol

 

[Second Shot]

How much flow do you have running through the reactor? How much pro bio s and np pro are you dosing? The Hamilton fixture is one I'm looking at as I don't think my old sunpod will be lasting much longer [emoji51]

 

[Perry]

I have been dosing 2 drops daily of each, but now that the reactor has pulled nutrients so low, I will probably go to every other day at 1 drop to see where things go. I am using a maxijet 600 at 2/3 open, I would imagine at around 150gph. I may throttle that down if I can not get a color change on next nitrate test. I am surprised how much moving from passive to in a reactor has influenced the decline in nutrients. Hamilton has a great reputation, this one took a couple of weeks to get from online supplier, but well worth it. I am running the halide for 6 hours a day, and the Kessil at 11 hours, ramping to 80% blue only.

 

[Rickyb1982]

Clean looking setup

 

[Perry]

Clean looking setup

Thank You!
We just did an overhaul on our home, doing floors, painting, new furniture, etc. This also involved bringing down my clunky 120 gallon reef. When we finished the main room, my wife just emphasized that if I set up a tank, to have it be as clutter free as possible. I knew I did not want a large reef, the AIO captivated me for 2 reasons, one, the filtration is limited, you get what you get, lol. Also, I wanted to showcase a smaller tank with eventually large colorful acros, and sometimes this can be tricky in an AIO or smaller tank, the mere challenge is what is my second reason. I am very pleased with the setup, I see no major needs for expansion with equipment as the tank grows, so for now, I just sit back and enjoy the ride

 

[Anirban]

I thought your 120 was pretty much clutter free. This will be interesting to watch.

 

[Perry]

I thought your 120 was pretty much clutter free. This will be interesting to watch.

It was outside the tank, I should be more specific Inside the scape was simple and minimal, but the outside is what drove the Mrs. crazy, lol... I do not think there is a way to add too much more to this setup, maybe another powerhead in a year or so. Thanks for watching, hope to see improvements soon

 

[VP616]

sorry, for some reason my old 120 gallon tank was added to the bunch of pics, tried to edit out, but owell, that is not this tank, lol

#humbleBrag That was a sweet 120!

 

[Perry]

#humbleBrag That was a sweet 120!

Thank you for the kind words, hopefully I can achieve something as nice on a smaller level

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

@Perry we need some updates when you get a few minutes.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Love that 120 man, what happened to it? The scape looks great!

 

[Salty1962]

Nice!

 

[AydenLincoln]

Do you still have this tank? This is the oldest build thread I’ve found for a Waterbox…since they are still a relatively new company I’m wondering how well the tank lasted or if you still have it up?

 

[Perry]

Do you still have this tank? This is the oldest build thread I’ve found for a Waterbox…since they are still a relatively new company I’m wondering how well the tank lasted or if you still have it up?

Hello,
That tank was a prototype, and to my knowledge, last I heard, a couple years back, it was still running. That tank was a beast!!! .5" glass, it was heavy duty for an AIO. They over-built that one, newer versions were thinner glass. As far as WB, basically a similar product as RS. I worked for them, and frankly would rather hold my tongue
If I decided for a new tank, I would go Innovative Marine if cookie cut, if not Glass Cages

 

[AydenLincoln]

Hello,
That tank was a prototype, and to my knowledge, last I heard, a couple years back, it was still running. That tank was a beast!!! .5" glass, it was heavy duty for an AIO. They over-built that one, newer versions were thinner glass. As far as WB, basically a similar product as RS. I worked for them, and frankly would rather hold my tongue
If I decided for a new tank, I would go Innovative Marine if cookie cut, if not Glass Cages

So this wasn’t your tank? And yes I will never get a Red Sea tank…too many horror stories about them leaking and bursting!

 

[Perry]

So this wasn’t your tank? And yes I will never get a Red Sea tank…too many horror stories about them leaking and bursting!

I took this one home from the office, it even had the prototype logo, that ended up changing to the current one. So, yes, it was given to me by them, it was headed for the dumpster, lol, so I decided to use it and actually loved that tank
They use whacker silicone, or at least did, which is high quality German made silicone. They didn't originally use a corner reinforced seam of silicone, just to attach one glass panel to the next, this scared the crap out of me. I would say however that I haven't seen many nightmare threads like with RS.