5120 Oz of Water in a Glass Box

SofishticatedREEFER · Jun 24, 2020

It was the morning of June 8th ill never forget the wife an my 2 boys standing over me holding coral tongs forcing me out my bed and into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. No coffee had been brewed my mug laid barren dry hanging above the sink. with haste they rushed me through the door and into "Glady" VROOOOM and we are off on the road. Not knowing where I'm going or what's going on until about 2 hours later I see a familiar sign and 2 really familiar work vans with the logo to Ocean State Aquatics (OSA). My excitement at that point was uncontainable I was ready to burst at the seams with joy. I KNEW IT MEANT ONE THING I WAS GETTING A TANK. Why else would they force me out of bed at tong point and go through all that trouble to be as secretive as possible. So now into the store I go and out I come with a Waterbox 50.3 (I contemplated the 70.3 & the 100.3 but with a 18 month old wild child I felt safer going no sump)

there it is loaded in the back of Glady, strapped in ready to make the journey home. A big thanks on the assembly it would have been nearly impossible to accomplish with the little ones awake n running wild. after about 5 minuets of having the tank in house the decision to go sumpless proved to be the best decision in the world seeing as how the kids have turned the inside of the stand into a fortress of fun and joy THE JOY OF HAVING KIDS RIGHT!!

So to my Build thread
Tank: Waterbox 50.3
Rock:38lbs Caribsea Life rock Arch
Sand: 48lbs Caribsea Natural Reef
Salt: Aquavitro Salinity
Bio Cycle: Fritz Turbo Start, Fritz Saltwater9, Aquavitro Seed, Aquavitro remediation, brightwell aquatics microbacter 7 & brightwell aquatics quickcycl
Light: 36" aquaticlife Hybrid, 3x Ai Prime 16hd, Bulb Combo Ati blueplus & Coral plus
Flow: 2x Ai Nero 5, CoralBox DCA4000 (1000gph)
Controller Apex EL, 1 eb4, Atk, vdm
UV: undecided
Skimmer: undecided
Heater: finnex 200 watt heater
Reactor: Paxbellum N18

SofishticatedREEFER · Jun 24, 2020

6/8
this was my first attempt at a rock scape with the arches I was momentarily content but as I put more n more thought process into the coral I want to keep an placement I decided to modify it

6/8
So came the second scape inspired by the Carib sea life rock tree well I fell in love with the right side an not the left back on to modifying by aqua scape for the 2nd time

6/9
So at this point 2 changes later and I’m in love with how it came out time to considering that’s all the rock I brought home time to get it in the tank an get it wet

6/10

4 hours later An the water is all clear but now i feel as if the two tree shapes are not enough so to to hunt for another piece of caribsea arch rock but at this point why not start my cycle right!! Since I have weeks to go to finish getting everything together installed and finished to perfection.

6/22

Waterbox Aquariums · Jun 25, 2020

This was such an enjoyable little adventure-- keep up the great work! You have so many wonderful memories in store for you. Please keep us posted. : )

Happy fishkeeping!

Reefpuck · Jun 25, 2020

That's a lot of ounces!

SofishticatedREEFER · Jun 25, 2020

Reefpuck said:
That's a lot of ounces!

That’s after the displacement of rock n sand of course

SofishticatedREEFER · Jun 29, 2020

6/29 20 days since the start my lights have been addressed 100% the 36” t5 has been hung the 2 primes are here waiting for the hanging mount n diffuser to arrive but it’s been ordered so as far as I’m concerned it’s complete.

My concern now is plumbing the pax bellum reactor an maintaining a cleanlook considering it’s a all in one tank I don’t want unsightly ugly huge bulky piping and fittings running over the back of the tank I’m also contemplating plumbing a uv

Fezbearer · Jun 29, 2020

I like the rockwork. I never thought of making "trees" out of the rock.

SofishticatedREEFER · Jun 29, 2020

Fezbearer said:
I like the rockwork. I never thought of making "trees" out of the rock.

There’s a good top down it gives a lot of room for light loving sticks up top

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 6, 2020

#MODS

can I get my build thread moved over to the all in ones with the other waterbox 50.3’s please and thank you

dbl · Jul 6, 2020

SofishticatedREEFER said:
#MODS

can I get my build thread moved over to the all in ones with the other waterbox 50.3’s please and thank you

As you wish.

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 6, 2020

dbl said:
As you wish.

Thank you much appreciated

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 13, 2020

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted any updates originally I planned to use 2 primes with my 36inch hybrid fixture but I’ve since added another I figure better coverage better par happy corals (excuse the makeshift lid lost a pintail fairy wrasse due to my lid taking for ever to get here)

2 primes vs 3 primes

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 13, 2020

Time to work on building the false walls to hide my wires behind and then on to moving all of my equipment that isn’t controlled by the apex off(WiFi or wireless controllability) off ofthe 832 energy bar and onto a eb8 n then onto setting up my pax bellum( sad I’m going to have to modify it to fit within the space I want it to go) literally 1.3 mm to tall

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 13, 2020

After searching for the picture that Inspired my rock scape I found it not sure who’s tank it is to give credit to but that’s my drive behind the tree scape

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 16, 2020

Time for a in-depth update while I enjoy my morning coffee and hide from the kids.

Clean up crew
*5 astrea snails
*4 nerites snails
*4 ceriths snails
*3 Tonga nassarius snails
*1 strawberry conch

Resident Fish
*C.rubrimarginatus (pink margin)
*P.filamentosus (filamented flasher)

slowly but surely progress is being made a lot of reasearch fore thought and planning has gone into this build. In my previous years of reefing I’ve noticed the bare bottom trend take hold and also the shallow sand beds 1” n under. And then there’s me with my sand bed that ranges from 1.9 -2.2 inches.

Time to be proactive with my thought process I need to think about inverts that will play multiple work roles in my reef metropolis. I know first hand conches love to bury their entire body in the sand during the day and forage algae an food at night ( slowly I will end up with 3 conches once there is suitable food and micro fauna to sustain the 3). nassarius snails make for better hunters of uneaten food and will dive under and emerge multiple times during the day but due to the depth I have to stay away from the little ittybitty ones only super Tonga monsters allowed. And then there’s my work because inverts are just ment to be the first line of help beyond my flow keeping detritus suspended in the water column. I plan to vacuum the sand in small quadrants during my weekly 4 gallon water change
Also due to the long wait for my lid an the utter lack of communication on behalf of the builder I cancelled my order went out bought a Red Sea lid kit and my 6 year old got a lesson in building things your self

Fezbearer · Jul 16, 2020

Also due to the long wait for my lid an the utter lack of communication on behalf of the builder I cancelled my order went out bought a Red Sea lid kit and my 6 year old got a lesson in building things your self
[/QUOTE]

Who did you originally go with?

SofishticatedREEFER · Jul 16, 2020

Fezbearer said:
Also due to the long wait for my lid an the utter lack of communication on behalf of the builder I cancelled my order went out bought a Red Sea lid kit and my 6 year old got a lesson in building things your self

Who did you originally go with?
[/QUOTE]
Safetop lids they make some awesome lids it’s just the turn around time is terrible an customer support is equally as bad I still want the fusion vent lid but now that I have the Red Sea lid on there I’m in no rush to place my order an I can use the funds in another part of my build maybe for Xmas I’ll buy my self the fusion lid