Nick's Waterbox 100.3

[nickkohrn]

Question...why are you scrubbing your structure? Is this to remove algae? I would try and keep it going to build up the beneficial bacteria and use a CUC to maintain algae control

Yeah, it’s mainly to keep the brown algae at bay. I currently have only Trochus snails, and they are only interested in the algae on the glass. The Tomini Tang eats a good amount of it, but only at a few places; it has a preference for three spots at which it grazes. My Forktail Blenny eats only a little bit of it as it prefers TDO pellets and Mysis. I don’t have crabs in my system, so I’m looking at other options to handle it as the system matures.

 

[Hella_Reef]

Yeah, it’s mainly to keep the brown algae at bay. I currently have only Trochus snails, and they are only interested in the algae on the glass. The Tomini Tang eats a good amount of it, but only at a few places; it has a preference for three spots at which it grazes. My Forktail Blenny eats only a little bit of it as it prefers TDO pellets and Mysis. I don’t have crabs in my system, so I’m looking at other options to handle it as the system matures.

Sea urchins have done a good job for me in the past.

 

[nickkohrn]

Sea urchins have done a good job for me in the past.

I’ve thought about getting one, but all of my corals are small, and none of them are glued down since the bonsai shelves have holes for plugs. I’m afraid that I’ll have frags being misplaced every day. Ha-ha

 

[count krunk]

your display barely has anything in it!

just a very different look from what I am used to seeing.

I would let the algae run its course. I would think removing the corals like that is not good for their growth.

I think it will be peachy if your WC temp is not an exact match. I aim for a few degrees.

 

[count krunk]

Hello @nickkohrn !

Just checking in. How goes the waterbox?

 

[Serum153]

Did u ever purchase the lid from ClearView? I just ordered a 100.3 this weekend and researching lids at the moment..my jbj has one by octoaquatics and I am a little hesitant ordering one for my waterbox from them and hoping ClearView is a real precise fit with no frayed netting.

 

[nickkohrn]

I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been battling a lot of brown hair algae because I feed heavily, and I forgot to change my GFO for a while.

Onto the updates:

• I added a third MP40 to my display.
• I have been adding more SPS to my display, and I have attached photos below.
  • Again, please excuse the algae.
• I re-homed my Six-Line Wrasse because it has been a jerk to one of my new additions.
  • I added a Royal Gramma and a Blue Sapphire Damselfish.

I'd like to add a few more pieces of equipment before sitting back and letting things grow:

• I will be adding a fourth MP40 at the beginning of July. It has been nice to be able to have more pumps turned down to lower intensities because I can vary the flow patterns throughout the day. Detritus seems to be swept into the overflow much more easily now.
  
• I want to add more light to my display, so I am deciding between the second generation of Aquatic Life's T5-LED hybrid (due to be released any day) and three more Radion XR15 units.
  • Some of my bonsai structure's shelves are shaded, which results in PAR as low as 100, and I want to be able to add SPS corals to any of the shelves.
  • I like the controllability of the Radions, but I like the price of the hybrid fixture. I am still struggling with this one. The hybrid fixture, bulbs, and mount will cost nearly the same as a single Radion. However, I have never had T5s, so I don't know what bulb combination I would like best, and I don't want to be stuck with bulbs that I don't truly like; I like being able to adapt the color temperature of the light that the Radions provide and tweak it until I am satisfied.
• I want to add a Trident to test and adjust my dosages, leaving me the responsibility of manually testing only phosphates and nitrates, which I do twice each week.

I ordered some frags from BSA Corals, and they arrive this week. I picked up a BSA Shocktart, UC Dippin' Dots, BSA Aventador, and a BSA Acid Rain:

BSA Shocktart (image from BSA Corals)

UC Dippin' Dots (sample image of colony above, image from BSA Corals below)

BSA Aventador (sample image of colony above, image from BSA Corals below)

BSA Acid Rain (sample image of colony above, image from BSA Corals below)

I also picked up a Walt Disney and a Pink Lemonade. The Pink Lemonade is quite green right now; I don't think it was getting enough light in the frag tank that it was previously in.

Walt Disney

Pink Lemonade

Below is a comparison of my PC Rainbow when I first picked it up a few months ago and nearly a month ago. The image on the left is when I acquired it, and the image on the right is of last month.

Below is the PC Rainbow now.

Below are some more top-downs when the blues were on.

More photos will be uploaded in the following post since I hit the limit of 20 images in this post.

 

[nickkohrn]

I picked up the following frag from a local friend in the hobby, so I am looking forward to seeing how it does in my system.

Here is how my carbon dioxide scrubber is connected.

Below shows the crap that my skimmer pulls out with ease.

If you would like to see more frequent updates, feel free to follow my Instagram account, which is @nickkohrnsreef.

 

[nickkohrn]

Did u ever purchase the lid from ClearView? I just ordered a 100.3 this weekend and researching lids at the moment..my jbj has one by octoaquatics and I am a little hesitant ordering one for my waterbox from them and hoping ClearView is a real precise fit with no frayed netting.

I did not purchase a lid yet. I have been using a standard light diffuser panel (egg crate), but I removed it because it was blocking too much light; I already have lost ~20% PAR output by using the diffusers on my Radions. I do plan to get a nice lid, but I want to see which lighting route I choose first. If I go with the Radions, I will need a second RMS, so I would need cutouts for two sets of RMS arms (front set and rear set).

 

[NY_Caveman]

Tank is looking great @nickkohrn ! Those colors are sick.

 

[PaulPerger]

You need to put up a new FTS...

 

[nickkohrn]

Tank is looking great @nickkohrn ! Those colors are sick.

Thank you! I’m enjoying watching my corals color up from when when I acquired them. A few of them have surprised me.

You need to put up a new FTS...

I will definitely do that once my plague of brown hair algae has subsided. It’s to the point at which I don’t like looking at my tank. ;Yuck

 

[count krunk]

The corals do look nice! Don't worry about the algae, it will go away with time.

We don't bite [emoji16]

 

[Patrick Fox]

Those frags all look great Nick! Im envious of the rainbow of colors you have going on. Sorry about the hair algae - itll pass eventually. im sure you are on top of it.

I looked into those clearview lids just for the heck of it. they are really nice looking and i would almost be into it...but i have more important items to spend money on before buying a $100 lid for my Nuvo... at least the mesh lid i have now is better than the stock one (which would have REALLY killed PAR).

Any plans to make any of those frags semi-permanent? or are they still growing out pretty well as they are? (it looks like the orange and green montis have grown a lot.)

 

[Spanky05]

Nice looking tank!

I have dealt with the algae you are battling currently and besides the obvious water changes/clean water preventative, the best thing that dealt with it was a pincushion urchin. Most others inverts won't touch it from my experience.

 

[nickkohrn]

Nice looking tank!

I have dealt with the algae you are battling currently and besides the obvious water changes/clean water preventative, the best thing that dealt with it was a pincushion urchin. Most others inverts won't touch it from my experience.

Thanks!

The algae has finally passed. I now have the standard brown algae growing, but my Tomini keeps it well contained. I still have more algae than I want, but it’s nothing when compared to what it was before.

I am due for an update, but that won’t be today. In the meantime, here are some images of my display-turned-grow-out and what that room now looks like.

 

[Mark Gray]

Wow looks Great following along

 

[Fudsey]

Hey Nick, any updates?

 

[ReefDuke]

Hi awesome build thread! I’m recently diving back into the hobby and purchased my own 100.3 water box however I want to replace the stock sump with a sump that’s 34” long. Judging off some picture I’ve seen it looks like it would fit but can’t tell for sure. Do you mind putting a tape measure to your stand at the two shortest inner points?

 

[count krunk]

@ReefDuke you could wait until your waterbox arrives and measure yourself to be 100% sure.

Or in sure waterbox support could help you out