First saltwater / Waterbox 20 build

[zuggrug]

Figured since I’ve spent so much time researching & looking at builds here it was my turn to contribute now that I’ve finally pulled the trigger!

I’ve had high tech freshwater tanks for about 3 years now & it’s finally time to take the leap into salt. I ordered a Waterbox 20G cube six weeks ago & now that it & almost all the equipment is here I’m planning to fill it up this weekend!

Attached a picture of the tank as it looks & a picture of my impressive (for me) cord management underneath.

Current Equipment List:
Waterbox 20
Ai Prime 16
Nero 3 Wavemaker
Inkbird for temperature control
Tunze Nano for the ATO

Stoked to share more as I build it! Never actually kept a good record of any of my tanks until now!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Congratulations on starting your Build Thread... All top-notch gear you have assembled there. Like my Italian Grandfather used to say, "Use it in good health!"

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[ozreef88]

Pretty much the same setup and equipment as me! Good luck with the tank, very keen to see more updates.

 

[zuggrug]

Update time:

Tank is wet,

Picked up some rock from the LFS on Saturday & got to work. Ultimately not full blown live rock but it’s what they had & still better than completely dry.

Had a bit of a time on Saturday while scaping. AquaStik epoxy does not work as well as I assumed it would so everything is instead stacked in a nice stable position. But If anyone has any suggestions for something I could use to attach it all while it’s in the tank I would love to hear it!

Also had to drain & relevel the tank after I got it all filled up which was annoying but what can you do.

This is how the scape is looking currently. It’s being viewed from two sides so I didn’t want to go for a full blown cove design. It sits in this weird little spot in our apartment where I can see the front panel from my desk & the side panel from the living room/bar area.

 

[zuggrug]

I also upgraded the filter sock to a media chamber from printed reef so I can run filter floss & carbon in chamber one + it has room for anything else I may want to run for filtration in the future.

 

[zuggrug]

The tank finally has its first inhabitants. Everything is all cycled & I got some Trochus snails & Hermit crabs to start the bioload & clean the algae up for few weeks before I get my first fish

 

[zuggrug]

First real things finally happening in the tank! Picked up a few frags while my LFS was having a good sale. Some zoas, a really nice looking mushroom & a couple gorgonians that I’m adding to the back of the tank so they can get nice & tall.

I also added the first fish! Picked up a
Randalli goby & a tiger pistol shrimp to go with! It took a few days for them to actually find each other but they’ve settled down in the PERFECT spot where I can see them on the two viewing sides of the tank.