Waterbox 6026 Peninsula

[Cali-Saltwater-1st-Timer]

Odd placement for a peninsula style tank. Kind of deafeats the purpose doesn't it?

 

[hobbyreefer]

Just didn't have the room in my office for a true Peninsula layout. I also liked the fact that the overflow was not on the back wall and I prefer how the tank looks with glass on the back instead of it being black. It forces me to keep it cleaner... Just my personal preference. However, the main factor was Waterbox putting the tank on clearance. It was actually cheaper than the non-peninsula version for the same size.

 

[hobbyreefer]

It's been a while since my last update. The tank had several setbacks and I've really had a hard time getting this tank going. My first 3 reef tanks were all under 30 gallons and I never ran into any issues with fish disease or algae. It seems like the big tank has been hit with everything. I do think I rushed things and that is probably the cause.

I had marine velvet and lost several of my favorite fish. I lost my regal angel, kole tang, Naso tang, Golden Nugget clown and probably few others.

I had to remove all rock from the tank in order to capture the remaining fish and QT. I think this lead to a terrible Dino and hair algae outbreak. Literally the entire tank was covered (see pic below). I ended up purchasing a Pentair 40watt UV and COR 20 pump and I ran this DT to DT. I blacked out the tank for 4 days and this resolved the Dino issue (fingers crossed). This was actually a big to-do. I'm not very good at plumbing and I had a major leak the first time I turned on the UV. Ended up dumping several gallons of water on the floor....

I also purchased a couple of fish to make up for some of the big losses. I figured since I had a QT tank running with copper power it was a good time to add a fish or two. I ordered a Moorish Idol, Copperband Butterfly and a Shallowtail Angel from Reef Beauties. I've always wanted a Moorish Idol (dream fish) even with their difficult reputation. I guess I got lucky but everything has gone perfectly with the order. All fish arrived healthy and started eating immediately. The Idol eats anything I put in the tank and is now grazing the rocks all day. I recommend ReefBeauties 100% and I'm sure I will purchase future fish from their site.

Due to some unfortunate circumstances I ended up shutting down the QT tank after 45 days and moved everything back into the DT. My original plan was to go the full 72 days, so I'm praying I actually had Velvet and not Ich... Hopefully the large UV will help keep any remaining parasites down. I also moved the UV out of the DT and into the sump. This is probably not the ideal setup, but I can't imagine having the COR 20 in the DT full time. It's just too big. The fish have been back in the DT for a week and so far so good. No spots on any fish and all are eating and behaving normally.

I also decided to place another order with Adam at @Battlecorals. Needless to say everything went perfectly and I'm blown away with the selection. He sent me 12 frags and they all look awesome. I'm praying I can keep everything stable so these grow out. Here's a rough list of the order. Please forgive the spelling and I'm sure I've written a few of these incorrectly.

BC pink cigarette
Cheries Voodoo Majick
No name orange
Honeycomb
Poison envy
Rose Millie
Pumpkin pie
Crickets spine
Rainbow loom
Nero table
Lemon peel
Rocket saule 

For some reason my DKH has creeped upward 1.5 to 2 points. I'm striving for DKH 7 - 7.5 but mine is currently 8.5 to 9. I have no idea how this is possible. I'm using Tropic Marine Reef Pro salt which should be ~7 DKH. I'm not dosing any 2 part and I've checked my top-off water (0 TDS) and my new salt mix (~7). Just not sure how/why it's raising. I'm kind of paranoid this is going to cause my new sticks to RTN, but so far so good... Here are some pics over the last few weeks.

Dinos after pulling out the fish for QT

short term UV setup DT to DT

new UV placement

Updated FTS after Dino's cleared and fish added back (sorry so blue)

Battlecorals frags (so awesome!!!)

Happy fish!

unrelated...

 

[hobbyreefer]

Finally my tank seems to be going in the right direction. In April my dkh was rising on a daily basis and all my corals were browning out. I decided to remove all of the sand and do a couple of 100% water changes. This appears to have resolved a lot of the issues I was originally having. Over the last 2 1/2 months all of my frag’s are keeping their color and I’m seeing small amounts of growth. That is a huge win considering everything originally just turned brown and died.
Here is an iPhone video showing the new aquascape and bare bottom.

Current Equipment
5 Kessil 360x running 7am-8pm
4 T5 (2B+, 2C+) running 8am-3pm
4 MP40s running 100% nutrient transport mode
40W Pentair UV Sterilizer
Nyos 160 skimmer
AI Prime Fuge Light
Vectra M2 return
Cor 20 pump for the UV

Dosing ~100 ML of soda ash and 100 ML of calcium daily via cheap Jebao dosing pump

Salinity 35 ppm
Temp - 78-80
DKH 7.8
CA 440
Mag 1275

I would love feedback/suggestions on anything - The plan is to just wait it out and see if I can finally get the sticks to fill in.

 

[ajjw0828]

Love this build! Super jealous of your Moorish idol and butterfly fish. Did you order the butterfly from Reef beauties as well? Feed them anything special? Love the layout, thinking I need to add some caves/ arches to my new build. Do you have your MP's hooked up to an apex or just control them with the included controllers?

 

[Arabyps]

It seems like you have been through a lot from the beginning.... you kind of deserve a medal for perseverance! I have a Waterbox 5526 peninsula. I took the long cycle 4-month BRS program and thus far very stable. I turned the lights on a month ago. Getting some green film algae growth on rocks (see picture) but nothing crazy and I need the algae to feed the CUC and tangs. Now starting to add coral (so far GSP to grow up the overflow wall), Xenia for effect (will isolate on an island), Duncan frag, and some others. Good luck to you.

 

[hobbyreefer]

Love this build! Super jealous of your Moorish idol and butterfly fish. Did you order the butterfly from Reef beauties as well? Feed them anything special? Love the layout, thinking I need to add some caves/ arches to my new build. Do you have your MP's hooked up to an apex or just control them with the included controllers?

Thanks so much for the response. Yes, I ordered the Idol and Butterfly both form Reef Beauties. The Idol has eaten everything from day one. I feed a few different flake and pellet foods as well as Rod's Frozen. I also hang Nori on a clip when I remember. I used frozen clams from my grocery store as a way to feed the butterfly when in QT but I've stopped buying these since COVID. I've never actually seen the butterfly eat prepared food in my display tank. He just pokes around the rocks all day, but he doesn't go after the flakes or pellets.

It seems like you have been through a lot from the beginning.... you kind of deserve a medal for perseverance! I have a Waterbox 5526 peninsula. I took the long cycle 4-month BRS program and thus far very stable. I turned the lights on a month ago. Getting some green film algae growth on rocks (see picture) but nothing crazy and I need the algae to feed the CUC and tangs. Now starting to add coral (so far GSP to grow up the overflow wall), Xenia for effect (will isolate on an island), Duncan frag, and some others. Good luck to you.

Appreciate the reply. Your tank looks great. I love the powder blue. Saying I've been through a lot feels like an understatement. Ich, Dinos, GHA, lost most of my best fish, I've flooded my room twice!

I think I finally have things locked in and my tank seems to be looking better every day. I'm so happy to see my sticks keeping colors and actually growing a bit. Hopefully I'm past the "new tank" stage at this point.

Here's a birthday gift I picked up a couple of weeks ago. The tank was intended to be 100% SPS but I couldn't resist.

 

[kenchilada]

Hey I came here from your lighting thread you posted months ago. Glad to see you stuck with the lighting and everything settled down. It looks great!

 

[hobbyreefer]

It's been almost 2 months since the last update. The tank is still moving in the right direction. Almost all of my frags are colored up and I'm seeing growth (slowly). November will be the 1 year mark, so I'm hoping year two goes much more smoothly.

I finally picked up an APEX and Trident and my initial impressions are 100% positive. It's only been a week, but I love how I wake up to new parameter readings without having to pull out the test kits. I also picked up a few water detection sensors for added peace of mind.

Here is an Updated FTS and a few random growth pics. These were just randomly snapped on my iPhone using the PolypLap lens. Without the lens, everything looks way too blue.

 

[hobbyreefer]

Picked up a medium sized haddoni carpet today. A little stressed during shipping but I hope it makes it. I plan on getting a Clarki pair to hopefully keep other fish out!

 

[hobbyreefer]

Updated FTS. I lost the carpet anemone

Just trying to track progress (or lack of) here.

Parameters very stable since adding the Apex Trident and DOS.