therootcause's Waterbox Reef 180.5 and Fish Room Build

[therootcause]

Added a few pretty things from the frag tank.













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[therootcause]

Here's what I am currently adding to the tank and how the tank is being run. It's a week old and I'm loading it up - hate me  

 

I transferred 30 marine pure block and a few pieces of live rock over from the frag system.  

 

Daily:

10mL of easyreefs easybooster phytoplankton (this stuff really smells something fierce)

flake for the fish

 

Weekly-ish:

1 gallon of strained copepods

frozen marine plankton

 

Tank temp is 77 degrees F. The chaeto and other macroalgae is floating in the sump and illuminated over night. The COR20 is running at 30-33% throughout the day.  The two bulb T5's come on at 3pm and go off at 11.  The Viparspectra LED's come on at 4pm go off at 10pm, 50% Channel 1, 5% Channel 2.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by therootcause

[howaboutme]

On 3/3/2023 at 10:40 PM, therootcause said:

Added the following fish from my quarantine system.

Ocellaris clown
Neon Blue Goby
Dwarf Pygmy Angel
…and a bottle of bacteria for good measure.

The clown is exploring. The other two fish I’ll never see again.
 

 

Remind all us why we do this? Because we go into the hobby knowing stuff like this. Are we set up to fail? LOL!

[therootcause]

11 hours ago, howaboutme said:

 

Remind all us why we do this? Because we go into the hobby knowing stuff like this. Are we set up to fail? LOL!

 

Hahaha, I wish I knew.  Luckily all of the fish are doing well and exploring their new surroundings.  I didn't see the goby yesterday but the clown and dwarf pygmy angel are out and about, eating, and figuring out the layout of the system.

[therootcause]

Still skimmer shopping, but moved my Curve 7 into the tank for now. It’s a mess. Overflowing. Talking back. I raised it up and it settled down.



I started on the purple drywall. I’m going to use PVC/AZEK anywhere near the tank rim.





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[therootcause]

Here’s how some of the drywall work went this weekend. The edges on the top and right side are 3/4” AZEK PVC that I ripped to be a flush fit with the tank/stand and edge of the drywall. This was required because no matter how hard I tried the walls and the tank are not perfectly square/aligned. Measure…rip it…flip it…stick it. On the left side you can see some 1/2” plywood because the drywall is 1/2” thick and the AZEK is 3/4” thick. It all gets mud anyway…








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[Origami]

I like it. The white PVC trim carries the white of the stand very nicely. Well done.

[YHSublime]

Its looking great. 

[therootcause]

Tragic news and set backs.  If you have suggestions after reading or can offer help please DM, call, text, or fb message me. The tank is fine but we’re going through a really bad ich outbreak which is spreading like wildfire throughout the house.

Here’s the timeline so far…

March 7th I bought 5 pajama cardinals from Exotic Fish and Pets in Reading, PA. I didn’t inspect the fish adequately. Nothing wrong with this shop, everything that follows in this story is my fault.

I acclimated and tossed them in to the waterbox. An hour later, tank lights are on and I see ich on one of the fish. I yank all five, place them in to my hospital tank and medicate with API Super Ich Cure.

March 12th, Ich treatment ends, all fish look healthy in Hospital tank. Clowns in frag tank not looking good, symptoms that looked like brook. I wasn’t sure what to do. With the pajamas looking good and the clowns looking bad I water changed the hospital tank and swapped the fish. FW dip for the clowns, no flukes. Next day, clearly 3 of the four clowns have ich and all five of the pajamas that are in frag tank have ich. Now EVERYONE is in the hospital tank. Temp on both systems raised to 81 degrees.

Friday, 3/17, medicated hospital tank with prazipro just in case there are some other parasites.

Saturday 3/18, spots on the eyes of the big Sailfin tang in the frag tank. I’m not sure what to do. I yank all of the coral from the frag system, cut it off plugs, scrub, dip in revive, glue in to the waterbox just in case I have to medicate the frag tank.  Ordered a bottle of Microbe-Lift Herbtana and a bottle of Microbe-Lift Artemiss from Petco along with the Green Killing Machine suited for 120g.

Sunday 3/19, lunch at JoJo’s pizza in Mechanicsburg, PA…shout out JoJo’s. Swing by Mechanicsburg Petco, pick up the supplies. Now…I have to decide what belongs where.

The waterbox had cloudy water from bacteria, but I know that will equalize as the tank is new. Glass covered in copepods, microfauna really taking off. I’m feeling good about this tank, but remember the pajamas were in the tank momentarily on 3/7. I decide to put the UV on this tank. It might not have any bearing on ich development.

With temperature increased in the hospital tank the ich life cycle can be observed throughout the day. In the morning fish are covered in parasites. By afternoon they have all fallen off. Heavy breathing, they are having a rough time. I have another 10g I can move fish to as the ich cycle progresses.  I know there is advice online about swapping fish back and forth throughout ich lifecycle.  I ran out of time yesterday and just couldn't get it set up.

Current state as of Monday 3/20:
Deaths so far: 2 of the new pajamas.  There have been no treatments made to the frag tank. There have been several rounds of Super Ich Cure in the hospital tank along with Prazipro. I don’t have “copper” or a hanna checker for Cu and that is what I really need. :(  The waterbox has no signs of ich and an undersized UV sterilizer (max 120g) on the tank that I added yesterday.

Sad photos below…







Spots on the sail fins eyes.


Equipment update for the COR-20. Added this 3D printed screen from “printedbydave” that I bought on Etsy for $20-$25.





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Edited March 20, 2023 by therootcause
cleaning up the post

[cpeguero]

DM’d you. Sorry to hear your having to deal with this.


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[therootcause]

There have been heavy losses. Ich took the pair of naked clowns, pair of gladiator davinci clowns, and five pajama cardinals. The blue/yellow stripe damsel was unscathed.

It sucks. I tore down the hospital tank last night and binned up all of the equipment to bleach clean this weekend.

Despite the set backs in QT and hospital tank, the Waterbox is looking spectacular. The green killing machine (120g model, undersized for this tank) has clarified the water and the glass is still clean even after five days. I will likely install this on the frag system as well.

The Sailfin tang is loving her new home. One of my zombie clowns has paired with a larger ocellaris. All other fish look healthy. Softies are open and growing.



Feeding time.




Sailfin always photobombing



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[therootcause]

Hands on with the WAMAS PAR Meter! Readings to follow…



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[therootcause]

The tank is officially three months old!

Thank you to all of the vendors at That Fish Place this weekend for some sweet new corals at a great price, especially Reef Nerd Aquatics and Tyler Zink. I bought from several other vendors but screwed up in not remembering their names.

Picked up a few toadstools, branching nepthea, a BTA, some dragons breath macro, hairy mushroom, etc. for about $100.

First things first, a few tank shots. My project #1 for this week is to finish the drywall work.










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[therootcause]

This week I relocated my skimmer hose outside and hooked up diy CO2 reactor, recalibrated pH probe and salinity probe, and started dosing All for Reef at 50mL per day on the 180 gallon system. Estimating 160 actual gallons after considering displacement by other objects.

The numbers are what they are…

Sampled on 6/5/2023

Alkalinity - 5.8
pH - 8.1-8.38
Salinity - 33.5ppt
Temp - 77.8
Phosphate - .129ppm (42 ppb phosphorous sampled)


Now let’s document some growth!
















A little cyano, no worries.






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[YHSublime]

Picked a heck of a week to run the skimmer tube outside, your skimmer must be taking big ol' smokey rips, make sure it hasn't fallen asleep! 

 

Are you dosing at all? Looks like it's time to start if not! 

[therootcause]

Picked a heck of a week to run the skimmer tube outside, your skimmer must be taking big ol' smokey rips, make sure it hasn't fallen asleep! 
 
Are you dosing at all? Looks like it's time to start if not! 

Big smokey rips indeed! Smoke has gotten a lot worse since mid day today here in the Lebanon Valley (PA).



I started dosing 50mL of All for Reef yesterday so I’ll do a week of samplings for alk and calc to dial it in.


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[YHSublime]

14 minutes ago, therootcause said:

Big smokey rips indeed! Smoke has gotten a lot worse since mid day today here in the Lebanon Valley (PA).

 

No lie detected. All my friends in NYC have some really crazy photos. 

 

14 minutes ago, therootcause said:

I started dosing 50mL of All for Reef yesterday so I’ll do a week of samplings for alk and calc to dial it in.

 

Nice. I'm sure you'll see a big uptick in growth, that alk was looking a little low! 

[lynn.reef.nerd]

Great seeing you again! 

[therootcause]

I had two containers of Nano size Chemi-Pure Elite/GFO that I had been holding on to for a while so I added them. Hopefully it will bring down phosphates to a level that the Kamoer AWC can manage.

I also pulled out 3 gallons of chaeto and left 3 gallons in the refugium. Neptune Gro light is no joke.

Chemi-Pure Elite



I wonder if this Gorgonian is growing. Old photo on top, new photo on bottom. Looks to be similar.






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[therootcause]

Added the following livestock from Reeftopia:
350 blue legs
100 astrea
1 yellow phase sea cucumber
1 harlequin serpent

And for fun, a red tree sponge and a feather duster.

Parameters….
pH: 8.26 on a 7-day average (Min: 8.12, Max: 8.39)
Alkalinity 7.7
Calcium: 470
Nitrates: 10
Phosphates: 0



Waxy leather about to shed. It’s like a wrapped Christmas gift!











SPS…





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Edited June 19, 2023 by therootcause

[therootcause]

Added a few acros and a big birdsnest from local reefers. pH is stable between 8-8.2 and alkalinity is around 8. I’m dosing All for Reef and measuring Calcium then adding Fritz Alkalinity as it seems to be consumed faster than the calcium.

Hawkins enchinata
Green slimer
A few other acros that I forget the name of…

Really excited for the basement to be finished in August so we can enjoy this tank in a finished space.










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[ArmyVetReefer]

Looks good man! Happy to see it up and running and doing good

[therootcause]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:38 AM, ArmyVetReefer said:

Looks good man! Happy to see it up and running and doing good

 

Thank you.  Has been running great so far.  Picking up a few pieces and some fish today in Baltimore.

[therootcause]

Added a new pajama cardinal and psychedelic mandarin from a Baltimore reefer. The mandarin found food to peck at within a few minutes and the cardinal schooled up with his tank mates.





Along with the fish came corals that are in QT. Monti caps, frammer, hammer, cabbages, branching softies, and this OG bounce. Looking forward to everything opening up after a day or two in the new tank.








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[therootcause]

This week we welcomed several new friends. Baby peppermint shrimp and flatworms. 🥹 Yayyyy!

Microscopic images at 100x. Flatworm length is about 1mm. Fast moving under microscope and responds to stimulus (prodding) on glass.


On glass with phone and sally Sailfin photobomb for scale. Two trailing points on the “tail” end of the flatworm.


It’s possible that these are two different types of flatworm. I have had the typical “rust” flatworms in the past as well as ghost flatworms. These are smaller. I don’t know how many are on rocks but I am going to remove a piece of rubble and dip it to get an idea as to how widespread the worms may be. I believe the worms are eating the copepods / copepod eggs as the population on the glass has dropped drastically. The refugium has an abundance of copepods and isopods still visible.

Peppermint shrimp from Vossen trap below. I believe this shrimp to be 36 hours old. The trap has been in the tank with no air or light driving the larvae to the trap for the past few days, but it somehow manages to collect 40-50 of them just through the tanks flow.



Here is a larvae that is 5-12 days old. Unsure of the age as I have collected several times over the past two weeks. The eyes and legs are much more developed as well as the darkening of the exoskeleton.