Build Thread/Journal: 180 gal & the next day, 265 gallon. Now Waterbox 20 cube tester!

dpforlife · Oct 20, 2023

Hello All, new here but I’ve been reading threads trying to learn for sometime . Never did a build thread before but I figured what the heck! To explain, I am very use to fresh water and had some aggressive tanks over the years, mainly piranhas. I use to help my mother with her saltwater tanks when I was a kid back in the 80’s but it was water mixing and simple HOB filters back then. That time was special for us, “our time”. Fast forward to today, I have a six year old and I want him to have that same time and experience that I had. I’ve always wanted a saltwater tank and recently I was practically gifted 2 tanks, a 180 gal that’s drilled and a 250 gal that is not drilled. When I say gift I mean I paid for them but the price was so low that it feels like it was a gift! I also received 300 lbs of liverock from a frag system with no fish. The 180 holds water and was in use but one of the inner seals looks like it could use a fresh seal so thinking of redoing the inner seals. The 250 gal holds water also just needs a good cleaning, it also came with a metal stand but it was out in the elements so it needs some work. Not sure what type of fish I want but I do I want a mixed reef.
180 gal

250 gal

dpforlife · Oct 20, 2023

After doing more research I realize how expensive this hobby is so it got me to thinking, what if I don’t enjoy it? I see so many tanks for sale that come with fish of people giving up on this hobby. So I decided to get a small tank to “test” the waters. I first purchased a Fluval 13.5 on sale at Petco for $140 but decided to take that back after finding the Waterbox 20.

coralnutz · Oct 20, 2023

I remember when my daughter was little, she loved reef tanking. Going to pick out stuff at the lfs together. Good times. Wasn't great when she was real little and would throw pennies in the tank or sump though haha. Best of luck with your setup.

dpforlife · Oct 20, 2023

Today I tweaked my back trying to move the 250 and after reading a thread on here where someone corrected another on their tank size based on measurements so I decided to measure. I discovered something that is not correct, the seller told me it’s a 250 gal but based on the measurements it’s actually a 265 gallon with 1/2 thick glass. More to come tomorrow!

dpforlife · Oct 20, 2023

coralnutz said:
I remember when my daughter was little, she loved reef tanking. Going to pick out stuff at the lfs together. Good times. Wasn't great when she was real little and would throw pennies in the tank or sump though haha. Best of luck with your setup.

Thank you, my son is really excited, if marine biology paid that’s what it would be but…

dpforlife · Oct 21, 2023

Wow that was quick! Thanks Saltwater Aquarium.!

dpforlife · Oct 30, 2023

Picks up a few items for the cube:
40lbs of Fiji Pink
Syncra 1.0
Green Killing Machine UV
Fluval Sea PS 1 Protein Skimmer
25 gallons of Ocean Water
2 Fluval CP2’s

dpforlife · Oct 30, 2023

Stand came out pretty good but still a work in progress.

Gumbies R Us · Oct 31, 2023

dpforlife said:
Stand came out pretty good but still a work in progress.

Stand is looking great!

dpforlife · Oct 31, 2023

Gumbies R Us said:
Stand is looking great!

Thanks, means a lot especially because I was the kid that got A’s in everything except wood shop so I’m pretty proud at the moment lol.

dpforlife · Oct 31, 2023

Getting everything in the small chambers of the cube was going ok until I tried to but the protein skimmer with the UV sterilizer in with the middle chamber so I picked a eshopps cube medium. Thinking HOB overflow….