JoJo's Irvine Office Tank

[JojosReef]

Figured it's time to work on a real build thread. Some of you may have known my previous office tanks: my 10g desktop AIO TBS tank, my 40g AIO upgrade and wrasse playground, my 83g upgrade with sump wrasse resort (+foxface + CBB), the 25g clown prison/macroalgae tank...

For the foreseeable future I will be running just the Waterbox 25g peninsula AIO repurposed as a mixed reef with nano fish. Keeping it (relatively) simple.

Tank: Waterbox 25g peninsula AIO
Light: Nicrew Gen2 Hyperreef 100
Rock: "Rejuvenated" Marshall Islands rocks (previously real reef live rock, dried out for a long long time, cemented together into an arch structure, and seeded in a Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock system)
Sand: Mix of mature arragonite sand from 83g system and TBS live sand
Heating: (pending upgrade) IM Helio titanium primary; Inkbird + Eheim secondary
Cooling: (pending upgrade) nano size chiller
Control: Hydros Minnow + Hydros XP8 collective: sensing temp, volume of dosing container
Flow: Hygger 12v gyre (display), (pending upgrade) Hygger 396gph vertical return pump
Filtration: Chamber 1: InTank filter caddy with carbon baggie, occasionally UV and floss as needed; Chamber 2: (pending) Santa Monica Drop 1.2 algae scrubber; chamber 3: return only
Dosing: All For Reef from Hydros Minnow; occasional manual dose of Chaetogro and Iodide
Maintenance: Occasional (~3+ months) water change; weekly glass scraping; Weekly ALK testing (Salifert); as needed/desired NO3 (Salifert) and PO4 (Hanna) testing.

Stocking

Fish:
Male pink streak wrasse (QT'd locally)
Male Biota mandarin dragonet
Biota yellow banded pipefish
Biota royal gramma
Dr. Reef red firefish
Dr. Reef court jester goby
Dr. Reef green clown goby

Coral:
Zoas
Shrooms
Meaty LPS (scoly, trachy, lobo, symphilia, acans)
Gorgonians
Macroalgae (string of pearls)
Scroll coral (Turbinaria)
Space invader chalice
Platygyra
Pink Nepthea
Fuzzy yeti leather
Branching GSP
Trumpet coral
Fat head Dendro
Pink branching cyphastrea
Mint potato chip Pavona
Green heliofungia plate
Multicolor Diaseris plate

Anemones:
Aiptasia spp.

Other inverts:
Blue Squamosa clam

Clean-up Crew:
Trochus snails
Astreaes snails
Money cowries
Ninja star nerite
Nassarius vibex
Ruby Mithrax crab
2 Kukenthali shrimp
Fire cleaner shrimp
Bristleworms

My goal with the tank us to keep the clam alive and well, create interesting Zoa and shroom "mounds" interspersed between fleshy meat corals in the sand bed, grow "easy" Acros like garf bonsai, TGC creamsickle, PC rainbow, etc., and to make the entire tank as automated as possible so I can travel worry free-ish.

 

[bakbay]

Love it!! Following along for the ride.

I gotta love your anemones collection. Let me know if you managed to propagate them?

 

[JojosReef]

Love it!! Following along for the ride.

I gotta love your anemones collection. Let me know if you managed to propagate them?

My attempts to manually split them seem to be working.

 

[JojosReef]

A few coral shots to get this thread started.

 

[thresher]

Nice lens work!

 

[bakbay]

Ditto - I’m super jealous of people with digital cameras. I suck at photography! One of these days… (keep telling myself).

 

[JojosReef]

Ditto - I’m super jealous of people with digital cameras. I suck at photography! One of these days… (keep telling myself).

That's a Pixel 9a with clipon Orphek lens. One of the joys of a small tank that in no way compensates for lack of a large tank is that you can get nice close up coral shots!

 

[bakbay]

That's a Pixel 9a with clipon Orphek lens. One of the joys of a small tank that in no way compensates for lack of a large tank is that you can get nice close up coral shots!

Woah - that’s one anazing job though!

 

[ndrwater]

Love the build!! I am also also the proud owner of a Pixel 9 so I hope there's hope for my pic taking skills, which to this point, have been garbage
Definitely following along too!!

 

[drexel]

I love nano tanks, it's where I got my start decades ago and I'm still fascinated by them and what people can do with such a small space. Well done!

 

[JojosReef]

I love nano tanks, it's where I got my start decades ago and I'm still fascinated by them and what people can do with such a small space. Well done!

They fill up quickly, though. I've learned through running 4 nanos that selecting manageable coral is key. No seriatopora/stylophora/montis in this tank. Goal is to add easy, slow-growing Acros on the top rock next to the clam. Likewise for softies, no GSP (except branching), no Kenyas, Xenias or toadstools (too big). I love euphyllia, but my last hammer grew to the size of a volleyball, and the stinging becomes a problem. Meats and sand bed zoa/shroom colonies are relatively easy to manage. Gorgs and certain macros are easy to keep trimmed. Wish I could have another black widow nem, but my last one grew to the size of a serving platter and don't want to risk the stings to corals/clam and the nano fish.

It's a fun project, seeing what works and doesn't!

 

[JojosReef]

Left side view:

Front view:

Right side view:

Notes:
1. The magnetic frag rocks are meant to go on the back wall, not the glass, but waiting to get the rest of the back chambers sorted (algae scrubber, new heater, etc) before putting them in their permanent spots
2. Zoas need to be reorganized. Some are on magnetic frag rocks and need to go to the sand bed.
3. Cyphastrea and mint pavona are getting relocated to the back of the main rock. to grow outwards.

 

[JojosReef]

Bit of backstory on this tank and historical development...

This was my 83g pride and joy:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dXVwnrkfWxCk7mYt5
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fUMdLKgq4KWzScXH9

The clowns had to be removed, and they ended up in my desktop 10g cube:

Got a little tight in that tank, and I started to feel bad for the murderous clowns, so I picked up a Waterbox 25g Peninsula AIO, which perfectly fits the width of my office desk:

Moved out the clowns and drained down the 10g:

Trimmed back the macros and the toadstool/softies and gave the clowns some breathing room:

Oh, I also got a dog:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1y8rK6heh3zRSwXR9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/APzAc9SSzhq8oyHF7

Then came the great breakdown of 2025.

I was graciously given the green light to keep the 25g up and running, so I decided to build the tank around my mandarin, Waldo:

First thing was to upgrade the rock in the 25g to something with more structure, so I transferred the SPS arch from the 83 after adding some base rock:

I used the superglue + baking soda method.

Next, I wanted to keep the squamosa clam, but it needs more light, so I had to put it on top of the arch. I took a large half-shell and cemented it to the top as a cradle. Also cemented my large trumpet coral to the front of the rock:

And the dendro:

Saved some of my select corals from the 83g:

Still had all those zoas and shrooms from the partially broken-down 83:

Moved over everything I could and got the tank running smooth before the Xmas holidays:

To be continued...

 

[moondoggy]

Do you have any emergency power back up for the tank?

 

[Jimbo327]

Your photo of the flame tip rainbow plate is awesome. It definitely captures it way better than my phone.

 

[JojosReef]

Do you have any emergency power back up for the tank?

Not yet. Office has generator backup, so if I get notifications from Hydros that control is down I can go in and check on it. Lots of other things on the upgrade list, though!

 

[JojosReef]

By mid-January 2026, the tank was progressing, and it was about time to start thinking about new tank-mates for Waldo!

First, I went back to Dooly's and picked up my male pink streak wrasse, who had been under supervision and treatment for a potential bacterial infection in a bitten area of its side. All healthy now, added him back with the mandarin. I also picked up a sweeeet warpaint scoly while I was there

A Biota royal gramma and Biota yellow banded pipefish were next!

Pipefish hanging out with the scoly and the ever-growing green plate:

He is very hard to keep focus with the phone camera:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bdKV6spz9HDszNgX9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pbk85rc7TNhmHn1v8

Also, that blue squamosa looks MUCH better from a top-down view!

Also, I have a secret weapon against bubble algae...

And I don't know what this is.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mH6RNGHSrxtAVvyy6

Then came the Kukenthalis, who are meant to take care of the Aiptasia. But there's a slight problem in that the fire shrimp keeps them away from the main rock, so it's fair game for the Aips in the center of the tank...

Also, I have a secret weapon against anything growing on the sand bed: 3 of these guys

Speaking of overgrowing corals, the trachy is getting absolutely massive

By late February, the tank started getting visibly full.

And the clam is showing some pretty decent shell growth:

About time for some new friends:

And the ruby Mithrax found the very last bit of bubble algae hiding on a branch of gorgonian in the display:

That's when I got the new haul from @Jimbo327 !

Rainbow diaseris (truly rainbow!), pink diamonds, AOIs and GMKs!

Trouble in paradise:

And I'm calling this guy the Cyano-Destroyer:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JfbgxFgtFE9peoXz8

And that brings us to the end of February:

 

[Dooly]

Awesome write up, everything is looking healthy and happy. how do you like the gyre? Also, what kind of lid is that?

 

[Jimbo327]

The dog cracked me up....haha.

 

[JojosReef]

Awesome write up, everything is looking healthy and happy. how do you like the gyre? Also, what kind of lid is that?

The gyre is a Hygger 12v, the smallest they have. I started running it at 5%, which almost seemed too much. Now that there are more corals breaking up flow and a Nem guard on it, I can run it at 25% on random, and it works pretty well for the gorgs and LPS. Only complaint with gyres is how often you have to clean them to keep them running.

Lid is a D-D diy screen lid with cutout for the plank. It's temporary until the polycarb lid from Etsy (PropLidz or something) arrives.