2024 Waterbox 6025 Build - Mixed Reef

jmcdona6 · Sep 15, 2024

Hello everyone, my name is Justin. I don't normally like to do build threads but there was so little out there on the larger Waterbox peninsula tanks and newer stands. This made my purchasing decision process a challenge so I felt compelled to contribute.

A little about me before I get started. I've been in the hobby since ~2019. In 2023 I relocated from Atlanta to South Florida. To do so I had to shut down my tanks and have been on a break the last year while I got settled. This is my first peninsula and first major branded large tank. My first was a SCA 150 on a custom stand. I've also ran a IM 25 Lagoon.

Catching up to present...I decided to take advantage of the labor day sales to make my Waterbox purchase. It was delivered last week. Being in Florida I got the Waterbox truck delivery. Awesome customer service. The guy helped me unpack it, inspect it, made sure everything was there before signing. Way different from my SCA delivery that was basically left on my curb (albeit way less $$$). Also, even though I bought through BRS, Waterbox communicated with me as if I had bought from them. Nothing but great things to say.

I had two major concerns about the Waterbox 6025 and Waterbox in general while I was considering what to purchase:

(1) Stand quality. The few things I did find about Waterbox and the Peninsula's specifically was the poor stand quality. Structural issues. Needing extra reinforcement. Etc. I was nervous and even considered going with other brands because of it. My original tank had a welded steel stand...I appreciated it's sturdyness and didn't want a weak stand in the middle of my living room with young kids and animals running about.

That said, once the stand was complete...its sturdy. PITA to put together, but it doesn't budge. I do see how someone less handy could screw it up though and get a far different result. It has poor instructions (im pretty sure one picture is incorrect). It's definitely not over engineered but designed to do the job well enough if done right. You need to do it right and tight. I did have a few issues where holes didn't line up exactly, but overall it is a great stand.

(2) Poor storage. The sump provided is spacious compared to anything I've had before...but because of that there is virtually no storage under the stand. I included a picture to show how little space there is. It's even less in person than when viewed online. Maybe if you put shelves up above? But been there done that...I hated how that functioned.

To combat this, and to make my tank stick further out into the room for aestheic reasons, I built a cabinet (still a work in progress) that looks sort of built in with it. This will give me a space to keep all the controllers, cables, etc. and some room to store supplies without taking over half the kitchen drawers and cabinets. It will also allow me to keep the tank flush to the wall and still be able to mount powerheads on the back.

Next step, I have a mover coming tomorrow to lift the tank onto the stand. A little extra money but I'm not about manhandling 350lb tanks anymore these days.

After that...I'm taking it slow. Hopefully get it wet by the end of the month. Not even considering livestock until well after Christmas. Going mostly dry rock/sand but looking into adding some real live sand after watching what BRS and others have put out on it. Tackling equipment decisions as they naturally come up...will likely watch November sales closely to get most of what I need. With that said, equipment list below.

Tank/Stand: Waterbox 6025 (White)
Sump: Waterbox Included Sump
Controller: have always used Apex but heavily considering giving Hydros a try.
ATO: Hydros Triple Optical ATO
Skimmer: TBD
Lights: Kessil A360X on HMS rail. Might do some light bars or other supplemental lighting later.
Pump: Maxspect DC 12K. Way oversized but basically got for free so I made it work. I had to install a reducer to work with the Waterbox plumbing. Between that and head/bend friction...I can just run it at setting 2 out of 20 without overflowing the box. Bright side, its super quiet!
Flow: 1x 4K IceCap Gyre, 2x 2K IceCap Gyre and the Hydros WaveEngine V2 Controller

mythesis · Sep 25, 2024

Very exciting! Do you have your aquascape in with water yet?

jmcdona6 · Sep 25, 2024

mythesis said:
Very exciting! Do you have your aquascape in with water yet?

Thanks for asking!

Tank was lifted onto the stand as planned last Monday. Scaped throughout the work week while I waited on a few plumbing items to come in, had it wet late Friday.

My first large tank several years ago I made a very elaborate and large scape with mortar, drilled in supports, etc. While it looked cool, by the time I had corals growing you couldn't really see much rock anyway and there actually wasn't a lot of vertical room for coral growth. This time I went with a simpler stacked method reinforcing with super glue in key spots to keep it secure. I also used less rock than I might have previously. I did this to avoid creating a wall effect (wanted my house to feel open still), retain room for sand bed fauna (wife's mandate), and keep some open space for fish. The idea I am going for is to make it look like a finger coming off a larger shelf that erodes into the open sea floor. SPS/LPS on the main rock structure. Nems, Softies, Zoas, etc. islanded off on the other side of the tank where they are less likely to cause trouble.

So right now I am cycling lights off using the shrimp method. I have a small order of gulf sand/rock coming mid-October from Tampa Bay Saltwater to help further seed the tank.

Likely targeting first fish after I come back in town after Thanksgiving. That way I avoid worrying about new livestock while I travel and its far enough out I don't have to worry about the ammonia testing game people like to play for whatever reason (impatience).

In the mean time...my next major decision is what to do about fish sourcing. Historically, I self-quarantined then transitioned to buying pre-quarantined fish from places like TSM aquatics but prices have ballooned over the years. There are a lot of great unquarantined deals even compared to a few years ago at LFS and online...but do I really want to get back into self-quarantine game? My wallet and my work ethic are at conflict...

jmcdona6 · Sep 25, 2024

Also updated my equipment selections.

Ended up going with IceCap Gyres for the pumps. Going to put two of the 2Ks at the overflow side, one on each side oriented vertical mid-tank. Then have a 4K gyre at the top of the far end pushing back towards the box horizontal. Controlled using the Hydros WaveEngine V2 Controller. Haven't done this layout (or a Peninsula tank at all) before so interested to see how it does.

I also bought the Hydros ATO and X2 Control package. I have used Coral Vue products before and was not impressed with the Hydros app. However, they have really improved it and I love it so far. Very reliable and much more intuitive than some other controller brands I have used in the past. Have yet to have to go to a certain website to learn how to code for example...

jmcdona6 · Oct 17, 2024

So a little bit of a snag in my timeline. My plan was to start my no lights cycle in September, finish cycle by mid-October, add live sand/rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater (scheduled to ship October 16th), continue no lights to allow non-photosynthetic diversity to build up to around Thanksgiving, go on Thanksgiving vacation out of state, return then start lighting and adding livestock in early December.

Of course plans are born to be ruined. I got the notification from TBS, understandably, that due to Helene and Milton they were not going to be able to ship as planned and it would be well into November until I got my shipment of live sand/rock. A date I am skeptical of because they are also moving locations...good luck...again plans are born to be ruined.

So I was looking at a cycled tank with nothing in it for the foreseeable future. I didn't really want to ghost feed to maintain the cycle while I waited so I ended up buying two clowns, a Black Storm and a Snow Storm, direct shipped from ORA. Plus got the wife and kids off my back who were complaining about the lifeless vessel of water in our living room.

Which brings me to my quarantine strategy. I mentioned that I had done self-QT before and used QT vendors successfully as well. I put a lot of thought into it and I just don't think I want to get into self-QT again. I can afford QT fish now and its just such a hassle...and its not cheap to do right either. QT supplies/medications have gotten really expensive in recent years.

So I am going to stick with QT vendors or direct ship from captive breeders (ORA/BIOTA). Seems to be the best middle ground between wanting to be responsible/protecting my pets and not wanting to become a marine zoologist/biologist/chemist again...

jmcdona6 · Nov 24, 2024

A few updates.

(1) Livestock - Placed an fish order with Dr. Reefs and received those fish a few weeks ago. 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Hippo Tang, 1x Midas Blenny and 1x Yellow Watchman Goby. There was originally a wrasse but it did not pass final health check at shipment. Dr. Reef was great at handling that whole situation. Placed another large order with Dr. Reef for December including anthias, bengai cardinals, a few wrasse, cleaner shrimp and a pistol shrimp to go with the watchman goby. Dr. Reef has been great to work with so far, mostly replacing TSM Aquatics as my go to for QT fish. Only negative so far is that the hippo tang has been few and far between since introduction. It was small but healthy on arrival. Came out of the rocks a few times the first week, but it has been 4-5 days since I have seen it at this point...I know they like to hide in general and especially when they are small but starting to wonder.

(2) Live Sand/Rock. Finally got my order of seed sand and rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. No fault on them because of the hurricanes but very late for my start-up obviously. Their stuff I can't recommend enough. The sand was very alive, mixed it into my existing aragonite sand bed giving it a more natural seafloor look to my tank. I only ordered a couple pieces of live rock rubble for additional diversity and because the package deal was what was available with I ordered (I was mainly after the sand). Came with a few corals and sponges attached, a lot of coralline, a rather large type of decorator crab, several misc crabs (too small to identify yet). Good stuff.

(3) Skimmer. Picked up a Open Box Reef Octopus Classic 200-INT on early black friday sale for Coral Vue. ~$400 retail, got it for half off. Nice deal, especially considering they did a great job repackaging everything....wouldn't have known it was open box without them labeling it as such. Shipped and arrived fast. It has only been in system for a day, works awesome so far though.

(4) Testing. Pulled the trigger on the Hydros X10/IV Pro today as my solution for alkalinity testing/dosing. I was/am apprehensive due to the lack of solid reviews/materials out there, but ultimately didn't want to go with the other options or backtrack to the Neptune environment after my positive experience so far with Hydros.

At this point, waiting for my ugly phase to start. Kicked up lights from low power to 50% intensity last week. Hopefully get through that and start introducing coral early spring.

mch1984 · Nov 24, 2024

Great looking tank. The shelf you built fits well. I am hoping to add some Tampa bay live to my tank as well. I flipped the switch on my tank about the time they had to close it down. They are saying they will reopen this week so hopefully I can make an order. Just going to do the jar package, just a little bit of rock and sand to help get some more diversity in the tank.

rogueshrimp88 · Nov 24, 2024

Super cool! I'm a huge fan of peninsulas. In fact it's my dream to have the Waterbox 7225, but I don't have the space or the money :grinning-face-with-sweat: . I also love the scape concept. This is the first time I've seen the stand without the tank on top! I had a question, so how is the bottom supported, it looks like it's just open under the tank? Definitely following for more!

jmcdona6 · Feb 21, 2025

rogueshrimp88 said:
Super cool! I'm a huge fan of peninsulas. In fact it's my dream to have the Waterbox 7225, but I don't have the space or the money :grinning-face-with-sweat: . I also love the scape concept. This is the first time I've seen the stand without the tank on top! I had a question, so how is the bottom supported, it looks like it's just open under the tank? Definitely following for more!

Hey sorry missed this. Yeah, just supported with what you see and a leveling pad pre-attached to the tank. It was odd to me to as any stand I had built myself was fully supported underneath.

Not an expert, but as I understand it, as long as the glass is thick enough all the required support is along the edges. If you think about it, a braced aquarium you buy at Petco isn't supported all along the bottom either. I imagine there is a complicated formula out there for distance unsupported, thickness of glass, weight/volume...seems to work.

My biggest annoyance is I have in the past used the roof of the sump to do cable management, mounting, etc. I can't screw into the bottom of the tank obviously and the leveling pad on the bottom isn't a great surface for command strips. I made it work...but still.

jmcdona6 · Feb 21, 2025

mch1984 said:
Great looking tank. The shelf you built fits well. I am hoping to add some Tampa bay live to my tank as well. I flipped the switch on my tank about the time they had to close it down. They are saying they will reopen this week so hopefully I can make an order. Just going to do the jar package, just a little bit of rock and sand to help get some more diversity in the tank.

Super late reply...not sure why R2R didn't notify me...or maybe I suck.

Still super happy with the TBS. I haven't had nearly as much uglies as I have had in previous tanks. Still some, but either TBS made a difference, I got lucky (knock on wood), or I just have gotten better with every tank start (this is my third). I guess all of the above.

One thing I will say is be watchful of bad hitchhikers. Of course, disclaimers abound on their website. But even on the handful of small rock I received, and inspecting carefully on introduction, I got probably 8-12 non-reef safe crabs in my tank. I caught one eating a kenyan tree coral red handed. Have gotten all but one I have spotted out. I also have a ton of good stuff too...but a downside all the same that I personally discounted. Lucky it was only a $20 frag.

jmcdona6 · Feb 21, 2025

It has been a while since I updated. The tank is coming along. I have been focusing mostly on introducing fish and slowly testing the waters with coral. Also did a lighting upgrade and added an algae scrubber and UV.

(1) Fish. Have added several fish all from Dr. Reefs or from Biota direct. Many doing well, some didn't work out unfortunately...my least favorite part about the hobby. Had a Midas Blenny jump unnoticed while the lid was off, another not ship/acclimate well, and currently on my third but doing really well. Unfortunately my Hippo tang from Dr. Reef initially did well for first day or so, started to hide for days on end and then didn't come back out one day. Not sure what happened. I saw that Biota had their hippo's on sale again and placed a order. I was SHOCKED at how small/young it was. I did not think it would make it in my tank. Kept it in an acclimation box for a a few weeks before introducing. However, it is thriving. Probably 3-4 times the size in the few months I have had it.

(2) Lighting. I originally started with 3x used Kessil A360X lights. I always knew I would have to upgrade eventually, on a tank my size 4-6 are recommended depending on what you are trying to grow. Since I started added coral, I cranked them up to near max to delay having to upgrade. Unfortunately, one of them burned out and forced my hand. 3 was under lit, 2 is just not sufficient.

I ended up doing something I have wanted to try for a while, a LED/T5 hybrid setup. Purchased the 48" Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture and two Nicrew 100's to augment my two remaining kessils. I attached the aquatic life fixture directly to my HMS rail. It looks and functions quite well. My only annoyance is that the LED's sit below the fixture. Unfortunately, the Nicrews have their cables on the side and in combo with the fixture are too wide to fit flush between the T5s. The Nicrews seem to be great, impressed so far for the price, but definitely something to consider. ~600Ws of total well-spread light now...shouldn't have anything to worry about.

I am considering expanding my side cabinet upwards and adding a cantilever/floating hood to help hide some of this. I don't think its that bad, I can clean up some of the cables to make it better. Wife hates it though...plus I am constantly having storage/cable issues in the cabinet so I wouldn't hate going taller/having more room.

(3) IceCap Small Internal AGS-1INTPRO Turf Scrubber. Purchased an IceCap algae turf scrubber. Not much to say. Undersized for my tank but fits and works well. Easy to setup and use. Silent. I extract about a cups worth of algae every week from it. Very little to no algae in the tank. Feed heavy but nitrates stay between 2-3. Winning.

(4) ReeflexUV 2000 UV Sterilizer. Purchased one of the Eheim UVs. This is the largest one. Not sure if a UV is worth it, or if its even doing anything, but I have had success with using UV in the past to fight dino's in another tank, this one was on steep sale, so I said why not. Rather have it than not at the price. Only thing I will say is do not waste money on the wifi version. The vendor ran out of the non-wifi version I ordered and were so kind enough to send the wifi version in its place despite it costing 25%+ more. Haven't been able to figure out a single benefit...especially if you already have a controller.

You can see the scrubber here and the UV shoddily mounted behind on a piece of PVC board...definitely need to do a round a cable management in my sump.