ZiMbs Custom Waterbox 55 gal

mizimmer90 · Nov 12, 2023

Mikeltee said:
That's sweet bro. Why didn't you go a lot bigger? It appears that you have the funds. Bigger is easier and once you are over the initial investment, the cost is roughly the same.

I wanted bigger but couldn't get the 9ft tank plans approved with the spouse lol

Mikeltee · Nov 12, 2023

Your rock looks amazing! Please don't run GFO. I don't want to see you in the dinos threads.

mizimmer90 · Nov 12, 2023

Mikeltee said:
Your rock looks amazing! Please don't run GFO. I don't want to see you in the dinos threads.

Thanks!!

I already packed the reactor with carbon and GFO lol but i was just thinking about taking it out after reading some of @SunnyX builds! I like the sound (and of course looks) of their methods

Mikeltee · Nov 12, 2023

Bro you are running GFO already? That's a HUGE problem. Get it out of there immediately.

mizimmer90 · Nov 12, 2023

Mikeltee said:
Bro you are running GFO already? That's a HUGE problem. Get it out of there immediately.

Noooo I'm not running it yet, but I set it up in preparation lol

I'm currently re-cycling the tank with fritz ammonia but I'm too excited to not set everything up and at least play with it haha

I'll probably remove the GFO and keep the carbon (for when I'm done cycling and adding livestock)

Zaxh · Nov 13, 2023

Mikeltee said:
That's sweet bro. Why didn't you go a lot bigger? It appears that you have the funds. Bigger is easier and once you are over the initial investment, the cost is roughly the same.

I'm sure if he wanted he would, but his partner is limiting him :L

11/10 rockscape, love the ledge

PizzaIan339 · Nov 19, 2023

Looks awesome exited to see this build come along!

mizimmer90 · Nov 27, 2023

Soooo glass dosing bottles and a glass sump was not the brightest idea lol. I was putting the bottles under the tank and they made a loud clink against the glass sump wall (luckily nothing broke!!). So I found online that the bottles come with colored sleeves. They even happen to match the red sea dosing tubes I am using!! Nice color coordination here

Been getting the sump set up in preparation for the tank transfer.

My skimmer (UKB-120) is dead silent! I can't even tell its on unless I check for the bubbles

I added some chaeto to my refugium and love seeing it tumble already

.

mizimmer90 · Dec 29, 2023

I moved over all of the old tank inhabitants into my new tank! Moving day went reasonably smooth. I managed to save a bunch of my micro brittle stars too! Only hitch was that my lawnmower blenny did not take to the move and started bullying everyone in the new tank relentlessly, so I gave him a week time out in the sump; I think he's thoroughly traumatized from the experience but it solved the aggression haha...

Tank is running smoothly but is going through some ugly stage at the moment. I ordered some more CUC to tackle the algae and am so excited by my new strawberry conch! Definitely one of my favorite inverts.

I tried with my aquascape to make sure I could have 2 unique views into the tank; a front view and a size view. The front view will showcase a number of the corals but the side view is a cool window through an arch! I'm satisfied!

I plan on getting some more corals to fill out the rocks next week!

mizimmer90 · Dec 29, 2023

I think my sump is officially packed! I planned out every square inch to be utilized and it seems to have just fit! I built a small shelf out of 20/20 bars that I attached to the main frame in the back left to hold my dosing bottles. Currently running AFR and NP-bacto.

I am interested in an ATS, but I definitely don't have the room lol. I bought some knitting screen and threw it in my refugium, then pushed the outlet of my reactor to flow against it. It's kinda like an ATS haha. Maybe it'll at least give a little more space for microfauna!

Subsea · Dec 29, 2023

mizimmer90 said:
After a year of getting my feet wet in a 20 gal AIO (figuratively and literally), I can definitively say that I'm obsessed, arguably addicted. I've read multiple books on marine biology, and find myself spending all my free time on this forum/perusing websites for corals.. I am leaning into this addiction and upgrading my system! I want as big of a system that I can afford (or the true bottleneck, that my partner will let me buy lol). So here's the final plan:

Custom Waterbox 55 gal with metal stand and sump
Dimensions: 36" x 19" x 18" with internal overflow
Cabinet: 36" x 19" x 34" made with 20/20 aluminum frame
Sump: 30.3" x 16.5" x 15" with glass panels

Sump designed with 5 chambers: The inlet chamber, skimmer chamber, refugium, return, and ATO reservoir. For plumbing, I will have a manifold with 2 lines; one for a carbon/GFO reactor, and another as a possible UV light. Expected delivery date is end of October / Early November!!

I've already started buying equipment for the tank and here is the plan.

Equipment (purchased already)
Lights: 2x Radion XR15 Pro 6th gen with tank mount arm
Wavepump: 2x Redsea Reefwave 25
Fleece roller: Redsea Reefmat 500
Return pump: Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 wifi
Dosing pump: Kamore X1 pro wifi
Reactor: BRS mini reactor
Heater: 200W BRS titanium
Temperature controller: Ink bird ITC 306a

Equipment (desired)
Skimmer: Akula UKS-160
Refugium light: Neptune GRO light
Monitoring: Hanna pH/Temp/Salinity monitor (does anyone have one of these? Does this track changes in an app or is it all just instant viewing only?)

I am starting with dry rocks and have been cycling them using Fritz ammonia in a 10gal brute for the past month. I have a 75W heater in there with 2 AC pumps (though the water doesn't seem to be moving around much because of the rocks obstructing flow ). Been testing the water regularly and it looks like it's cycled!! I added a couple bottles of coraline algae; no idea if this will help seed the rocks but figured it's worth a shot lol.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want as far as corals/inverts/fish inhabitants. Corals will be mostly LPS, Zoas, a RBTA, and mushrooms (carrying over a hammer, cristata torch, Duncans, acans, trumpets, and leptastrea, a variety of zoas), but I’m interested in getting into some more SPS (other than a small monti frag I’ll be carrying over as well). My current livestock that will be carried over will be:

Livestock (current CUC)
2x turbo snails
3x Cerith snails
5x hermit crabs (3 red legs, 1 blue legged, and 1 scarlet)
1 emerald crab
Mico-brittle sea stars
Bristleworms (to me, these guys are pests though and I wouldn’t mind something to eat the jerks!)

Livestock (current)
2x clowns
1 lawnmower blenny
1 yellow watchman goby / candy cane pistol shrimp pair

As far as new inverts, I like the idea of a cleaner shrimp, or either an arrow crab or coral banded shrimp! I actually really love the arrow crab but am scared it will nibble my CUC (anyone successfully keep one without it bothering smaller hermits/snails?).

For future fish, my top pick is a Mandarin goby! I’m hoping the refugium will supply enough copepods for this guy once the tank is established (I will wait ~6 mo to a year until I make this addition). Another possible peaceful fish would be a clown goby! I would love a wrasse, but similarly to the arrow-crab, I don’t want it eating my CUC . Perhaps a fairy wrasse or flasher, but these seem less exciting to me. I also want a type of schooling fish. I am between 2 options for future additions:

Definite stocking
2x clowns
1 lawnmower blenny
1 yellow watchman goby
1 mandarin goby
1 clown goby

And either

Option 1
4-5 cardinal fish
Fairy wrasse

Or Option 2
4-5 blue-green chromis
1 orchid dotty back (will this be aggressive enough to put a school of chromis in line yet peaceful enough to not bother other inhabitants?)

There will not be much room for storage, so I have been planning to add baskets on the inside of the doors, along with hooks to hold foods/equipment. I have been drawing up sketches (everything is to scale!) to lay out the position of baskets/controllers. I also have fish in the tank for these sketches to get a feel for how it might look!

I’m so excited and absolutely can’t wait to get this thing up and running! I’d be interested to hear if anyone has comments or suggestions on the build!

Wow! Impressive fist post on your build. Kudos to the adventure.

For marine reef aquariums books that focus on how marine ecosystems function as a holibiont which is interconnected & dependent on each component, consider Reef Fundamentals by Angel Cegarra. Angel has threads on this website which articulate the holistic nature of the coral holibiont.

THE CHEMICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN SPECIES AS A HYPOTHESIS FOR A MATURE TANK

Angel, I read introduction section of Reef Fundamentals. Your acknowledge section is an impressive list of who’s who. I agree with stellar achievement and found an interesting ethos: What is Stellar ecosystem? Stellar empowers builders to unlock human and economic potential. It combines a...

www.reef2reef.com

This was posted recently and reflects science instead of technology.

post #41
Angel,
I read introduction section of Reef Fundamentals.
Your acknowledge section is an impressive list of who’s who. I agree with stellar achievement and found an interesting ethos:

What is Stellar ecosystem?
Stellar empowers builders to unlock human and economic potential. It combines a powerful, decentralized blockchain network with a global ecosystem of innovators to create opportunities as borderless as ideas.

Post #44 is where I am at. Both John Tullock, The Natural Reef Aquarium and from my point of view, the most relevant for todays audiance:

Science, Art and Technology

Post #44

I'll tell you what happens, the corals themselves change the environment to their liking. Each coral colony has an ecosystem around it, completely seperate to the main water column, like a halo. For example through the release of hormones it can actually switch on/off genes in certain bacterium within that ecosystem. It can also farm particular strains that provide benefit. When we drill down further to a corals mucus layer there is yet again another seperate microbial ecosystem, consisting of archea, fungi, bacteriophage's, bacteria, viruses and a whole cast of microscopic organisms

@mizimmer90

I have been addicted for 53 years. It can be consuming. Go for the Gusto!

mizimmer90 · Dec 29, 2023

Subsea said:
Wow! Impressive fist post on your build. Kudos to the adventure.

For marine reef aquariums books that focus on how marine ecosystems function as a holibiont which is interconnected & dependent on each component, consider Reef Fundamentals by Angel Cegarra. Angel has threads on this website which articulate the holistic nature of the coral holibiont.

THE CHEMICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN SPECIES AS A HYPOTHESIS FOR A MATURE TANK

Angel, I read introduction section of Reef Fundamentals. Your acknowledge section is an impressive list of who’s who. I agree with stellar achievement and found an interesting ethos: What is Stellar ecosystem? Stellar empowers builders to unlock human and economic potential. It combines a...

www.reef2reef.com

This was posted recently and reflects science instead of technology.

post #41
Angel,
I read introduction section of Reef Fundamentals.
Your acknowledge section is an impressive list of who’s who. I agree with stellar achievement and found an interesting ethos:

What is Stellar ecosystem?
Stellar empowers builders to unlock human and economic potential. It combines a powerful, decentralized blockchain network with a global ecosystem of innovators to create opportunities as borderless as ideas.

Post #44 is where I am at. Both John Tullock, The Natural Reef Aquarium and from my point of view, the most relevant for todays audiance:

Science, Art and Technology

Post #44

I'll tell you what happens, the corals themselves change the environment to their liking. Each coral colony has an ecosystem around it, completely seperate to the main water column, like a halo. For example through the release of hormones it can actually switch on/off genes in certain bacterium within that ecosystem. It can also farm particular strains that provide benefit. When we drill down further to a corals mucus layer there is yet again another seperate microbial ecosystem, consisting of archea, fungi, bacteriophage's, bacteria, viruses and a whole cast of microscopic organisms

@mizimmer90

I have been addicted for 53 years. It can be consuming. Go for the Gusto!

Thanks for the references, I'm excited to give them a read!

When I first started practicing reef keeping, it was recommended to me on these forums to pick up both Delbeek and Sprungs books, so I read them cover to cover. It was a great primer to the practical aspects of Reef keeping and how a lot of people in the hobby think of things!

I've also enjoyed some intro textbooks into marine biology and chemistry of the ocean.

I'm a theoretical biophysicist by training; I have experience in things that are very small (proteins, membranes, upto the scale of small viruses) and how these things regulate larger processes, but reef keeping has been a fun adventure into dynamic processes on a different scale! I've also had a love for reefs/the ocean since I was a kid and there is so much to learn in this sphere.

It's a lot of fun learning about how organisms, both big and small, interact with one another! For example, a
s I'm writing this, I'm also looking at my YWG and pistol shrimp doing some home improvements lol

Even though its not always practical for reef keeping, I'm also super interested in learning more about the molecular biology of corals, reefs, and the types of viruses that infect ocean organisms. I'm learning though that this research is very sparse! Makes sense, because many aspects are not even well understood in the medical fields, which have orders of magnitude more funding. I've been thinking of ways I could contribute to the community, either through some theory or model building (things I could do at home on the weekends haha)!

I have recently been diving into reading about AOA, which has had a lot of research in the past decade! Might also have some applicability to our home aquarium (I think the first strains were even found in someone's tank haha).

I appreciate the article/book references!! Keep them coming!