Waterbox 15g Peninsula Mini Build Thread!

[rishma]

Update! Not good news!

My 15 g is doing HORRIBLE … I been in the hobby for 7 years and I still can’t figure out how to turn it around … I can’t get rid of algae on the rocks I think they are leaching nitrate and phosphate which is feeding the algae and not leaving anything left over for the corals. There was 0 nitrate and 0 phos in my water I had Dino’s that I recently got rid of because of the low nutrients… so I started dosing NP plus by Tropic Marin to add nitrate and phos … the tank looks horrible the corals looks terrible but are still alive. it’s 7 months old I should be past all this crappy stuff idk what to do anymore. I been staying away from waterchanges because it will jus bottom out my nutrients again. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. This sucks.. I might have to start all over… trickiest most pain in the A** tank I ever had =(

Sorry for the troubles. I have been doing this a long time and have had periods when it felt like work and didn’t bring much joy. You’ll get past it. The tank that gave me the most problems was the only one I started with dry rock. I think current BRS discussions around the reef biome are on to something. If I was in your shoes I’d focus getting a diverse bacterial biome established. Wish you the best of luck.

 

[Chrisv.]

+1 add some live rock or rubble

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

Update:
My pair of Storm clowns arrived and they are BEAUTIFUL .. although for some reason they randomly rest on the sand playing dead which is a concern .. if anyone has ever seen this let me know..but they are eating and look healthy. Anyway I am going to add my first coral. I want this tank to only have THE best of the best corals out there. Quality over quantity! I am thinking about starting with zoanthids . Any thoughts on the most popular zoa heads out there today ? The tank is coming along nicely. Once I get a phone camera filter I will take more pictures and videos !
Happy reefing

pic of the new @reefglass skimmer ! I was going to go skimmerless but I do want SPS in the future so I went very minimal. Fits perfectly and looks great. Curious in how effective it is I will keep you guys updated!

Let me know what you think of this, I made a small fuge in the back of mine. I’m going torches and RFA tank, so I don’t have to be AS picky, but definitely a good option

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

Quick video update.

was fortunate to get some great deals on RFA and pick up a few torches. It’s coming together!

 

[Chrisv.]

Quick video update.

was fortunate to get some great deals on RFA and pick up a few torches. It’s coming together!

Looks great. Love that black clown.

 

[shadow_k]

Update! Not good news!

My 15 g is doing HORRIBLE … I been in the hobby for 7 years and I still can’t figure out how to turn it around … I can’t get rid of algae on the rocks I think they are leaching nitrate and phosphate which is feeding the algae and not leaving anything left over for the corals. There was 0 nitrate and 0 phos in my water I had Dino’s that I recently got rid of because of the low nutrients… so I started dosing NP plus by Tropic Marin to add nitrate and phos … the tank looks horrible the corals looks terrible but are still alive. it’s 7 months old I should be past all this crappy stuff idk what to do anymore. I been staying away from waterchanges because it will jus bottom out my nutrients again. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. This sucks.. I might have to start all over… trickiest most pain in the A** tank I ever had =(

Have you thought about doing a rip clean ? It works wonders on small tanks I’ll show you an example.

my tank went down hill as well dino/cyano battle for months… this was my tank last month

And this is my tank now

very stable now corals are doing amazing

 

[rishma]

Have you thought about doing a rip clean ? It works wonders on small tanks I’ll show you an example.

my tank went down hill as well dino/cyano battle for months… this was my tank last month

And this is my tank now

very stable now corals are doing amazing

Never heard of a rip clean

 

[wasi99]

I have a nuvo 10 cube, I also started with dry rock. personally I used microbacter start to cycle and then I used microbacter7 and would do a squirt every few days, and microbacter7. I got Dinos but very minimal amount, its also bare bottom so I was able to really turn up the flow. I am using a Nero 5, overkill yes but I love it and the tank has a great wave movement and keeps the detritus from setting all over the tank. just do some small water changes and you should be golden. what are your current parameters?

 

[Polyp Punk]

Update on the tank

I figured out that I am battling nutrients as well as faulty salt from Tropic Marin. I have been in the hobby for over 8 years now and I never had as much trouble as I do with this tank. It all makes so much sense now that I know their batches have been contaminated!!! I lost my green slimer and a 24k lepto from TSA because of this I am also battling my nutrients which I am starting to get a nice foothold on. They don’t want to seem to settle in the middle it’s either too low or too high. I have gotten rid of my Dino’s and upped my nitrate and phos. The GHA is starting to come back but I have a ORA sea urchin and eco pods coming this week. I also added marine pure gems as well as a tray of miracle mud ! My fingers are crossed ! The tank is looking much clearer as it’s approaching 1 year old. I’m glad I stuck with this tank. I will now hopefully have bulk reef supply replace my salt I ordered with a new brand. I will update some pics tomorrow even though my tank is basically still empty.

Happy reefing

 

[Polyp Punk]

UPDATE:

NOT good news. Dinos are back AGAIN. i have tried ABSOLUTELY everything under the sun and this tank just wont settle in. my last ditch effort is a HOB UV sterilizer from bulk reef supply. ill do a 3 day blackout for the 10000000 time and the start the UV treatment. If this doesn't work im sad to say i will be breaking this tank down. I have never in my 8 years saw a tank so dam stubborn in my life. it really hurt my love for this hobby. its 2022 i am disappointed where the hobby is as a whole in the tech department. we should not be battling dinos anymore like its 2001. Nothing on the market works i tried everything. lets hope i didnt waste more money on a useless treatment method and pray i have the strain of dinos that respond to UV. stay tuned.

 

[Chrisv.]

UPDATE:

NOT good news. Dinos are back AGAIN. i have tried ABSOLUTELY everything under the sun and this tank just wont settle in. my last ditch effort is a HOB UV sterilizer from bulk reef supply. ill do a 3 day blackout for the 10000000 time and the start the UV treatment. If this doesn't work im sad to say i will be breaking this tank down. I have never in my 8 years saw a tank so dam stubborn in my life. it really hurt my love for this hobby. its 2022 i am disappointed where the hobby is as a whole in the tech department. we should not be battling dinos anymore like its 2001. Nothing on the market works i tried everything. lets hope i didnt waste more money on a useless treatment method and pray i have the strain of dinos that respond to UV. stay tuned.

Have you tried the Dr. Tim's dino treatment protocol? I had great luck with the following combination. 1) uv sterilizer, 2) raise temp to 81.5 temporarily, 3) black out, 4) dr.tims dino protocol, with waste away and refresh.

This really did it for me. I wish you luck.

 

[Polyp Punk]

Unfortunately dinos got the best of this tank. I broke this tank down and started up a new 6.5 gallon bookshelf. I least it was a lesson learned. i will never ever ever start with dry rock EVER again!!! The lack of biodiversity in the tank reaalllllly hurt the tank and it just could not catch up to the dinos no matter what i tried! I am excited for this new build. I am starting this tank with KP aquatics live rock which should make a world of a difference! I will start a new build thread! stay tuned !

 

[melbournedan]

ah bugger, shame you couldn’t keep this tank going, i started the 15g peninsula with carib sea life rock, (assuming its dry rock), i seeded the tank with some marine pure balls from my local LFS, apart from the ugly stages, it’s doing pretty well. running just on 1 year.