Auflyfish’s Waterbox Frag 145.5 build

[Auflyfish]

Just a little update as I have had Covid this past week, tank is up and running finished cycle about two days ago. I ended up using mostly dry rock as I didn’t want to over do it with rock in this aquarium. Currently breaking in the skimmer so have micro bubbles everywhere but other than that I’m super happy with it

 

[Maxcmo]

It looks like you may need to lift your skimmer up a little bit. I was not able to let mine sit directly on the floor without having issues with it just fyi. I put a brightwell aquatics export media brick under mine and it ran a lot better.

 

[Auflyfish]

Good point I’ll move those bio blocks I have next to it under it

It looks like you may need to lift your skimmer up a little bit. I was not able to let mine sit directly on the floor without having issues with it just fyi. I put a brightwell aquatics export media brick under mine and it ran a lot better.

 

[Auflyfish]

So lifted the skimmer a inch and it’s working great. I think the combo of running a little carbon in the nyos reactor also helped as it removed any unwanted residue from the new tank and equipment. Everything looks good been adding clean up crew slowly. Had a ton of algae growing at first but it’s slowing down as is expected. I have my little blond Naso in here for now he’s fully qt’d and from one of my other many tanks so he was a good first fish only 3 inches and eats like a pig so he’s helping on the algae front. He won’t be a forever addition as he’ll get to large and will go to my dads 180 as he grows. I did pick up a powder blue only 2 inches so really small and he’ll be in QT for some time but he’s eating well and looks great. I’ll have him a gem tang, 5 purple fire fish, a mandarin, and either a blue spotted jaw fish or a watchman pistol shrimp duo as my stock. I don’t want many big fish as I’m going for quality over quantity and really want the coral to pop

 

[Auflyfish]

Been a little bit but powder blue is doing great in QT getting close to being done! I finally got my dream fish the Gem tang. She came in looking super healthy and is in the QT process now so in a few weeks she’ll be ready. Been going through the ugly phase and now finally stabilizing and cleared up. I have put a few corals in there and just honestly taking it slow, as I have learned before nothing good happens fast! I’m wanting to find a good large acro colony for this tank as I will lean more sps heavy.

 

[Auflyfish]

Alright time for a update! Been a wild few months personally with work so haven’t been on here much. Since the last update the tank has matured more had a small cyano outbreak as I bounced between high and low nitrate and then suddenly everything just clicked, stabilized and now really the only thing I have to worry about is Alk as the tank is now consuming it(not a bad thing) seeing tons of new growth. One of my torches has added 4 heads in the last 4 months so that’s cool! Additions have been a lawn mower blenny to assist in algae control when that was an issue. 3 cardinals, a copper band have had him for months now eating great! And my wife got a small long horn cow fish. He’s been a model citizen and has become one of our favorite fish! Ornate leopard wrasse I’ve owned was moved over to this tank and is doing well! Sad thing is my Blonde Naso has been growing like a weed I’ve had him for two years and if he hits another growth spurt I’m afraid I’ll need to move him out and to my fathers tank at his house. He’s hitting the 7 inch mark. That brings up the question of what I’ll replace with. The powder blue ended up staying in a frag tang and he’s doing well there so I don’t want to bring him to my display. I’ve contemplated getting an Achilles juv. But the fear of a battle between my Gem and it has me worried. What do y’all think? Another option would be a white tail bristle tooth or a purple tang? Feel free to leave your opinions.

 

[abrand]

What led’s did you go with in your cabinet?

 

[Auflyfish]

What led’s did you go with in your cabinet?

It was off of Amazon called Govee it was the 32.8 ft I wanted to have plenty and it was able to be cut if I didn’t need it all. I spent roughly 25$ I think. Pretty nice app controlled and can choose the colors to fit your need

 

[C4Rez]

Love the development of your tank! Also have a WB 145.5. Just in the cycling phase. Trying to dial in the overflow noise. I see you have a pair of MP40s as well. I have to run the Vectra M2 return and the MP40s at minimal speeds to control the turbulence of the waves into the overflow to minimize noise. What modes and % are you running the MP40s? Have you been able to quiet the system by just fine tuning the dial on the main drain? Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[Auflyfish]

Love the development of your tank! Also have a WB 145.5. Just in the cycling phase. Trying to dial in the overflow noise. I see you have a pair of MP40s as well. I have to run the Vectra M2 return and the MP40s at minimal speeds to control the turbulence of the waves into the overflow to minimize noise. What modes and % are you running the MP40s? Have you been able to quiet the system by just fine tuning the dial on the main drain? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Thanks! It’s been a fun time watching it mature. I run the MP40’s at 30% using the Gyre mode with them in parent mode at night for 20 minutes it goes to 50% nutrient export. I have seen great growth with the flow pattern. The main drain took a few weeks of small adjustments and then it finally got quiet I run the return pump at 52% it took playing with that and the drain adjustment valve to finally get it silent. You’ll get it I remember it was the most frustrating thing in set up. You have a build? I’ll follow along!

 

[C4Rez]

Thanks @Auflyfish ! I’ll definitely give Gyre mode a try.

 

[Auflyfish]

Decided to order the Reef Mat updates will follow after I figure this thing out lol! @C4Rez you get credit for this. Seeing how well it played out for you was the final straw for me as I was looking since I set this tank up to get away from socks. The klir 7 DI reviews freaked me out and the clarisea was too expensive.

 

[C4Rez]

Good for you @Auflyfish ! I wouldn’t recommend modifying the sump wet. The black silicone would just be floating everywhere. Think it would have doubled or tripled the time modifying it wet. I would stop the return, close it off, and drain the sump dry. Clear out the equipment that would be in the way. Take your time cutting into those side glass panels; they are tight! Good luck with the project! I’ll be following along!

 

[Auflyfish]

Good for you @Auflyfish ! I wouldn’t recommend modifying the sump wet. The black silicone would just be floating everywhere. Think it would have doubled or tripled the time modifying it wet. I would stop the return, close it off, and drain the sump dry. Clear out the equipment that would be in the way. Take your time cutting into those side glass panels; they are tight! Good luck with the project! I’ll be following along!

Yeah I’m actually going to pull the sump out and clean it completely then reassemble everything after the install

 

[Auflyfish]

Pulled the sump out. Cleaned all my pumps and stuff it had gotten gross down there cut all the panels in the left side out and used the adapters from Red Sea. This thing went in like a dream however I took a long time doing it since I wanted to clean everything man the sump is crowded but the tank just got a thousand times quieter.

 

[C4Rez]

Nice, man! One less thing to do every 3-4 days lol.

 

[Auflyfish]

Nice, man! One less thing to do every 3-4 days lol.

Yeah looking forward to that! I’m having to redial the overflow in did yours finally get quiet?

 

[C4Rez]

It’s getting there. Still getting that trickle in the overflow here and there. Not gonna sweat it too much. This cycle is taking longer than my previous tanks. So I’m just impatiently being patient. Lol.

 

[STEEZY]

Is this tank still going? Update would be amazing at this point!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Any updates on your tank?