Fez's slice of the Reef aka the Waterbox 70.3 Build

Fezbearer

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Now that the school year is done, I'm finally starting my build thread. I ordered the tank March 31st, on the last day of the WB sale. Tank was set to arrive in mid May, but arrived the first week. UPS guy asked me what was in the crate before the black plastic wrap was taken off. Told him it was my new aquarium, and he got all excited. He started telling me about the aquarium he used to have about 10 years ago. He asked me what I planned on putting in it. Truthfully, told him I wasn't quite sure. Anyways, he was cool enough to help me get the crate down a small flight of stairs. Rolled the crate into my apartment and stated working on assembling the stand.
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As others have mentioned, the directions are somewhat lacking, but it was easy enough to build if you've built any Ikea furniture. Took a bit longer than I thought it would, but then again I was watching one of my favorite films.

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Figure that I'm going to be taking this slow and steady since supply chain for everything is messed up. Started leveling it. Got it leveled and then had the bright idea to move the stand a few inches. Big mistake since I had to relieve everything. Decided to quit for the day.
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Congrats on the new tank. Word of advice...get a piece of plywood / MDF to put under it. Once the tank is on the stand and full it'll sink into the carpet and you won't be able open the doors.
 
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After a bit of fiddling with the leveling legs, managed to get it level. Had one of my buddies come over to help me lift the sump and display tank out of the crate and into and on the cabinet. unfortunately, he wasn't able to stay long, so we didn't get the tank plumbed. I'm working on my rocks right now, so other than that, nothing much to report. In the meantime, the zombie orchid is chilling in it's temporary home.
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Not much to report at the moment. Installed the plumbing in the tank earlier. Getting the bulkheads ended up being a two man job, but the rest of it was easy enough to do by myself. One of the things that I noticed with the sump is that it's bigger than specs list it for the Marine 70.3. According to the website, the sump is supposed to be 24" long, when in reality it's 28.5".

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View of the drains and return. Took a small break and then filled up the tank to check for leaks.
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The light I'll be using for the tank is the Aquamaxx Nemolight. Nothing too fancy, but it has a day/night timer which is really the only thing I wanted in a light. Going to work on the rock tomorrow.
 
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Worked on the rock last night. Got to a point where I'm happy, though I'm going to continue to mess around with it for the next couple of days. I have to wait for Friday to order my sand. I'm going back in forth between Carib Sea Bimini Pink and Special Grade Reef Sand.
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Quick update. After checking the LFS, I didn't see the sand that I wanted, so I ordered it online. I'm going with 20# of Special Grade and 10# of Bimini Pink. I like the special grade, but I wanted a bit more pop with the color. I'm going to be using the Varios 4 as my return pump. After reading up on them I decided on a DC pump.
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In addition, I have a Viper 5.0 as a mixing pump, but I figure this can double as a back up pump if/when the Varios gives up the ghost. I know, a bit of overkill, but better prepared than not.
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Put the skimmer into the sump while I‘m waiting for my sand to arrive. I’m using the Aquamaxx FC-80. I have a question for the hive mind. I’m goin to have extra room available.
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I would eventually like to put a refugium in there as well. Do I partition the sump into left/right sections, or front and back sections?
 

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Do you have a front shot of the cabinet with the sump inside? Just wondering how much of the cabinet it takes up, and if I can manage to add a shelf above it, to keep stuff..
 
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Over the weekend I ordered a cabinet from Ikea to put all my controllers in and out of the way. That should arrive in a few weeks. I also ordered a project panel from him depot to mount inside said cabinet. I also ordered some cable management items to help combat the snake pit of wires that come with all the electronic devices involved in an aquarium. Pics will follow. As far as the aquarium is involved, the ATO has been installed and managed to get the ball valve dialed in. Water level has been holding steady for the past two days.
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I also dropped a bit of tonight's dinner in the tank to start the cycle.
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Bimini Pink sand came in. There's a lot more of the pink chunks than I thought there would be. Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. I like the shell that got packed in. Since I ultimately want a goby in there, I'm planning on skimming a good portion of the chunks in the center of the portion of the tank and depositing them around the edges and back of the tank to discourage him from making his home there.
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Had a busy week with the fish tank. I went to Home Depot to get a faucet adaptor so I could make water inside the apartment. On the 4th I did the tank's first large water change. I did, however make the mistake of draining the tank before the water was completely done mixing so lesson learned. Since there was't anything I could do, I took the opportunity to fiddle with the rock. While I was happy with it, after getting in the tank my gut told me it needed a little bit of work.
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The scrap of halibut continues to provide ammonia and a bit of amusement as it has ballooned up to about twice as big as it was when I dropped it in the tank. I know that a lot of people buy ammonia to speed things up, and to control bacteria levels, but with the disruption in the supply chain, I'm not in any real hurry.
 
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I originally planned on starting the cycle by letting a piece of seafood decay in the tank, I ended up deciding to dose ammonia. I dosed this morning before my coffee, and came back to check on the tank a few hours later and noted that I have a few specks o life that seem to be forming. If I am correct, I'm starting to enter the diatom phase of the cycle correct?
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Sorry about the resolution of the pics, but they were taken with my iPhone.
 

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Nice! I got the same system. I really like it so far. Yeah you may be getting some diatoms now. Keep testing your water and hold off on any water changes until its complete. Looking good!
 

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Now that the school year is done, I'm finally starting my build thread. I ordered the tank March 31st, on the last day of the WB sale. Tank was set to arrive in mid May, but arrived the first week. UPS guy asked me what was in the crate before the black plastic wrap was taken off. Told him it was my new aquarium, and he got all excited. He started telling me about the aquarium he used to have about 10 years ago. He asked me what I planned on putting in it. Truthfully, told him I wasn't quite sure. Anyways, he was cool enough to help me get the crate down a small flight of stairs. Rolled the crate into my apartment and stated working on assembling the stand.
IMG_0540.jpg


As others have mentioned, the directions are somewhat lacking, but it was easy enough to build if you've built any Ikea furniture. Took a bit longer than I thought it would, but then again I was watching one of my favorite films.

IMG_0550.jpg


Figure that I'm going to be taking this slow and steady since supply chain for everything is messed up. Started leveling it. Got it leveled and then had the bright idea to move the stand a few inches. Big mistake since I had to relieve everything. Decided to quit for the day.
IMG_0571.jpg
Following along you got the sumped version of my tank I would’ve loved the 70.3 but the 50.3 was more suited to my needs no sump=no place for the kids to crash the system
 
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Following along you got the sumped version of my tank I would’ve loved the 70.3 but the 50.3 was more suited to my needs no sump=no place for the kids to crash the system

I understand, I went back and forth between the two. Mine's grown, but if I had a little one I'd have gone with the AIO as well.
 

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Nice and following along on the journey!
 
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Nothing to report. Waiting for the next paycheck so I can grab the cabinet for my testing kits, and eventual controller. With school out and nothing to do, I've noticed that drinking my coffee and running my tests has become my favorite time of the day.
 
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Heading off to Ikea to grab a cabinet for some of my fish stuff and eventual controller panel. I'm also going to check out another LFS. Diatoms are going their thing making the rock work look nasty.
Here are my current parameters. I'm using the Salifert kits
Temp: 76.1
SG: 1.025
Ph: 8.3
Ammonia: 0.00 mb/L (It looks more like a cloudy version version of the white background than the lowest color <0.15)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (same situation)
Nitrate: 25-50 ppm (midway between the two, color is closer to 50, so 40ish?)
 

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