bmkid1997 Waterbox 50.3

[bmkid1997]

Hey everybody! Excited to start my first build thread! I joined R2R a few months back after being in the hobby for ~2 years now. From 20>36>55>75 gallons, im ending up with a solid waterbox 50.3 AIO. Ive mainly kept softy/LPS, as I tended to make changes to fast for SPS and just the beginner itch to always tinker. Ive gotten over that for the most part, and with moving soon I decided to upgrade my equipment and tank, though to a more comfortable size tank for apartment living. Im still waiting on my tank to arrive, and black friday sales on some equipment, but I have everything planned with picutres to come!

Method - This tank will be primarily SPS only with the mindset of K.I.S.S. I had a tendancy to change things / "improve" before with quick fixes, and those only cause issues. So this time ill only be running Bare Bottom with live rock (2 years ive had the rock), heavy flow, and T-5 hybrid lighting with a skimmer and a bag of carbon in the back chamber. Reading WWC method about it seemed the most fool proof and "easiest" to keep and more to enjoy the tank.

Equipment -
Tank & Stand : Waterbox 50.3 with black stand, Kraken lid
Flow : Maxspect gyre XF330 & XF350
Lighting : Aquatic life 36" T5 with Kessil 360X
Heater : BRS titanium (inkbird controller possibly)
Skimmer : Tunze 9004
ATO : Tunze 3155
Filtration : Filter socks (might look into filter cup in future)

Stocklist -
This plans to be a wrasse heavy tank if I can find some that can be okay with no sand. Will be moving my juvenile fox face into this tank, plus my domino & midnight clown pair. Might try a biota yellow tang til it outgrows, or go tomini/kole tang.
As for corals, will start with easier SPS as montis, birdsnest, stylos, etc. Id like to get into easier acros aswell, nothing too too crazy! As for lower parts of the tank probably going to fill with zoas.

That about covers it! Looking forward for my equipment to roll in and cover this build, I cant find many 50.3 builds so excited to document!

 

[blaxsun]

Sounds exciting! Can't wait to see pictures...

 

[OU812Reefing]

Let’s see

 

[Keztrel99]

I am also about to start up a 50.3 with much of the same gear.
Super excited to watch your build.

 

[bmkid1997]

Let’s see

Id love to show but shipping is taking forever right now, ordered the tank on blue Friday and still no movement on anything

 

[bmkid1997]

I am also about to start up a 50.3 with much of the same gear.
Super excited to watch your build.

Thanks! It will be a fun one, first set up not run on canister so learning experience!

 

[bmkid1997]

Been a little while, but finally able to get some updates! I got the tank a bit over a month ago, but with holidays and such was just able to set it up this last weekend. Building it really wasnt that bad, only like an hour or so for me to have the stand up plus the tank on top. I was still waiting for some more equipment so just did a bunch of research and info on how to use all my new stuff coming!

But this last weekend we were finally able to set up. I thought it wouldnt be too long, but my first time using t5 had alot of issues mounting and took quite some time. once the tank was moved and lights installed it wasnt too bad after! Just alot of time tearing down my old build and moving the fish & rocks around. Overall took 8 hours for everything to be moved into the correct spot, and I still have some more work to do (birds nest of wires in the cabinet, hence no photos ).

Next step is to find some tester SPS coral and see how they fare. All my rock in here is live rock from Florida so hoping not much a "cycle" per say as they were also in my old tank for about a month handling any die-off. Fish are all doing well and eating, and actually a big fan so far of the sandless look. I thought I wouldnt like it too much but with the amount of flow im pushing it had to be left out, but I hated the gross sand in my previous tank. Nice when clean, but that was hardly ever.

But I think thats all up to date so far! Just going to be following the WWC method and keep is simple and stable. I look forward to watching this grow and hope to get some nice SPS coral photos soon!

 

[ReeferDad93]

Curious to know how the tangs are doing? I am waiting on my 50.3 to arrive and currently working on a stock list. I would love to add a tang but all the research is telling me 70gls or more for tank size.

 

[bmkid1997]

Curious to know how the tangs are doing? I am waiting on my 50.3 to arrive and currently working on a stock list. I would love to add a tang but all the research is telling me 70gls or more for tank size.

They are doing well! Blue tang is getting a bit big I’ve had for 2 years now, I’m moving in a few months and plan on trading in for a smaller blue tang / kole eye. Some nipping here or there on the smaller tang probably for hierarchy but no issues other wise! Both fat and active

certain tangs need a bigger foot print for sure, and some would disagree with what I have. I downsized from a 4 ft 75 gal

 

[bmkid1997]

Been a little while since I updated things. Things are settling in nicely, love the new maintenance compared to running canister before this. I ended up grabbing some more live rock, didn't feel I had enough in the beginning. Plus it makes more swim throughs for the fish and I enjoy the look much more!

Grabbed some tester SPS, 2 Monti caps 1 green 1 orange. Nice and vibrant when the lights are on. Also this time I am only testing daily DKH, sitting at 7.7 daily. I test the others monthly, but don't put much weight into them as compared to when I first started this hobby. I'm looking to add a wrasse but need some research to find some suitable for bare bottom tanks. Ill update with some more blue/white photos when lights go on!

 

[bmkid1997]

Well this past weekend attended a coral show with a buddy. Of course I had to get some pieces! Picked up acro frags, a lot of cheaper/ no names to see how they do in the tank. My monti caps are doing well, figured I’d give these a shot; had some really good deals for these pieces!

As for equipment I added a tunze powerhead to the lower back, I’m having great wave action with pulsing plus my gyres on opposite pulse mode.

finally to testing, DKH is stable since set up at 7.8 Dkh. Calcium is running at 400, the rest I don’t test often at all.