Home Office Centerpiece - Waterbox Marine X 60.2 Build

[FrontRangeReefer]

What is your programming you have on the AI Prime currently?

I am running a custom program on the Prime 16HD. After I got through the “ugly” stages (in my case primarily diatoms), I haven’t had to deal with too much nuisance algae other than a little bubble algae and some GHA, which has cleared up with nutrient control. For cool, late night viewing with all other ambient lighting off, I’ve been running 2% UV/Violet/Royal from 9:30-10P and 1%. UV/Violet/Royal from 10:30P before shutting off. All my corals have been showing significant growth, but especially my euphyllia, kryptonite Caulastraea, and zoas (there are 4 different types in the tank now).

Here are a couple recent shots of the tank for reference:

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Other than coralline growth and the addition of a beautiful, new warpaint scolymia, there haven’t been any major updates on my tank since my last check in. Everything is stabilizing nicely. Coral growth has been quick with a nightly regimen of AB+. As someone new to reefing, it’s been amazing watching everything mature.

The only setup change I’ve made has been to mount the UV sterilizer directly to the cabinet. The original setup was getting in the way of routine maintenance.

The only major update to announce is my new venture - fragging and propagation. Last week, I received my 36” frag tank from Advanced Acrylics in LA. The build thread for that will be up very soon, but for now, I’ll leave everyone with some eye candy:

 

[rhostam]

How are you liking your Waterbox? Which UV is that?

I just got the final rock for mine and once I compete the rockscape I’ll just need to figure out how to best make water and they get that water into the tank. The mixing station won’t be online for about another month based how my schedule has been as of late. . I can’t wait it’s already been so dang long.

I love the frag tank!

 

[Tonycass12]

Everything looks great! Can't wait to see that frag system up and running.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

How are you liking your Waterbox? Which UV is that?

I just got the final rock for mine and once I compete the rockscape I’ll just need to figure out how to best make water and they get that water into the tank. The mixing station won’t be online for about another month based how my schedule has been as of late. . I can’t wait it’s already been so dang long.

I love the frag tank!

Hey Rho! So far, I’m loving basically all aspects of my Waterbox. I think they are built very well and have all the features that one needs to succeed. My fish and corals are all pretty happy for now. I’ve noticed spawning behavior from my clowns, so I’m doing something right, at least.

The UV is a Coralife 3x 9W. I have it plumbed separately with a Nyos Viper 3.0 pushing the water. It seems to be working sufficiently well on this current setup and helps to keep the water crystal clear.

In some respects, I do wish that I would have went slightly larger for my first tank. But, for now I’m just going to let it ride and build a bigger one when the time is right.

I’ve been following your build and can’t wait to see it up and running here soon. Definitely interested in seeing how your mixing station turns out. I do have my own RODI, but have been mixing new batches in 5 gallon buckets. With two tanks, I’m wanting to increase my efficiency and ease of mixing.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Here is the link to the frag build for those who are interested:

Altitude Aquaculture - AA Frag Build

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Wishing my tank it’s first half-birthday! It officially turned 6 months old back on August 26th. I love this thing! Overall, it’s been smooth sailing since my last update. The only change to the equipment that I made is the addition of a small wavemaker (Hygger Mini) for a little extra flow on the side opposite the Octo Pulse 2. I’ve also added a couple SPS pieces (red Montipora Digitata and green Seriatopora) in the center directly under the light. I’ve continued auto-dosing of Seachem Reef Fusion 1/2, Reef Trace, and daily Red Sea AB+. I have moved to testing once per week and have found my parameters to be spot on…cruise control!

Sorry for the poor picture quality - still waiting on my coral lens filters to arrive from Coral’s Coral!

 

[rhostam]

Wow, six months already!

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Quick hump day tank shot - wanted to try my new Coral’s Coral lens filter kit.

 

[Gedxin]

Whew, fun build thread read through. Thanks for sharing all the detail and progress photos! I see some serious coral growth, and things are looking very colorful and happy.

Hoping my office cube tank looks as nice as yours at the 6mo mark (if I can get rid of this cyano, I think I have a chance!)

 

[RDK63]

Tank is looking great so far! What did you end up deciding for your ATO? I personally haven't even used the internal ATO, there's way too much evap to make it useful. I'm thinking of just removing the glass and gaining that area as sump volume.

Also, what sort of stocking list are you looking at? I'm still tossing around ideas for mine.

Can you tell me what you used for the UV sterlizer? You have it with its own pump and circulates in and out in your skimmer section? i am wanting to install one and dont believe i have physcial room in install it inline the return pump line.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Can you tell me what you used for the UV sterlizer? You have it with its own pump and circulates in and out in your skimmer section? i am wanting to install one and dont believe i have physcial room in install it inline the return pump line.

I used the Coralife Turbo Twist 3x 9W sterilizer plumbed to/from the skimmer chamber and ran off it’s own Nyos Viper 3.0 pump. I carefully drilled very small holes in the left side of the cabinet and used tiny screws to attach the mount. It’s worked well for me so far.

 

[RDK63]

I used the Coralife Turbo Twist 3x 9W sterilizer plumbed to/from the skimmer chamber and ran off it’s own Nyos Viper 3.0 pump. I carefully drilled very small holes in the left side of the cabinet and used very small screws to attach the mount. It’s worked very well for me so far.

Thanks , i will check it out

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Nearing the 10 month mark on my tank. For the most part, everything has been on autopilot and seems to be growing well. The only change to my dosing regimen has been the addition of an iodide/iodate solution, which seems to have perked up my zoanthids…the colony at the top of the rock structure has exploded! I also introduced an emerald crab which has cleaned up a small bit of bubble algae. The sole negative thing to report is the disappearance of my purple Firefish about a month ago. I tried adding another, but my female clown was not having it, so I had to return it to my LFS.

Parameters:

• Nitrate: 8-10
• Phosphate: 0.05
• Calcium: 420
• Magnesium: 1300
• Alkalinity: 8.5
• Salinity: 1.025
• pH: 8.2
• Temperature: 78.5

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

A couple of quick hump day shots under the blues. Tank has been on auto-pilot and in some ways, slightly neglected being that it’s ski season. Corals seem to be growing well and parameters have been looking decent, but back on my water change regimen for the time being.

 

[Rey "deep sea" Manta]

Awesome build! The DT is very beautiful, and the sump complexity really pushes the cabinet capacity to the limit.

I also have a Marine X 60.2 tank, and hope my tank can be as successful as yours. If you don't mind, I have few questions:

1. You mentioned you have a watchman goby and a pistol shrimp pair, and you also let the tank running auto-pilot, because you travel a lot. How do you auto feed the YWG and the pistol shrimp? I thought they only like target feeding?
2. How do you like the Viper 3.0 pump? It is an AC pump; I am curious how quiet it is?
3. Could you roughly explain how you mount the devices in the cabinet? I want to do the similar thing, but I am worried that breaks the cabinet structure...

Thank you!

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Awesome build! The DT is very beautiful, and the sump complexity really pushes the cabinet capacity to the limit.

I also have a Marine X 60.2 tank, and hope my tank can be as successful as yours. If you don't mind, I have few questions:

1. You mentioned you have a watchman goby and a pistol shrimp pair, and you also let the tank running auto-pilot, because you travel a lot. How do you auto feed the YWG and the pistol shrimp? I thought they only like target feeding?
2. How do you like the Viper 3.0 pump? It is an AC pump; I am curious how quiet it is?
3. Could you roughly explain how you mount the devices in the cabinet? I want to do the similar thing, but I am worried that breaks the cabinet structure...

Thank you!

Thank you so much! I’ve been slow to update lately, but everything has been smooth sailing on my tank. It’s pushing 14 months old now, so it’s stabilized a lot in terms of water chemistry. With the exception of a couple small Zoa colonies, all my corals have grown significantly. I haven’t added anything new in several months which has contributed to the tank staying hitchhiker free.

To answer your questions:

1. I don’t target feed any of the fish or the corals. For corals, I am dosing Red Sea AB+ once every evening, along with Seachem Reef Trace. For the fish, I am mainly feeding New Life Spectrum Marine Pellets and occasionally Hikari Mega Marine frozen food, and typically only feed once every day in the evening. My YWG and TPS scavenge the leftover food that falls to the sand…they have both grown to a good size (3.5-4”+) and are quite active, so I know they aren’t starving.

2. I bought the Nyos Viper 3.0 (two of them actually - one as a return pump and another for the UV) on the advice of Waterbox. They are very quiet and do not produce any noticeable noise. My one qualm about this pump is that the stock nozzle does not fit the standard Waterbox return hose. I had to zip tie the hose to the nozzle to ensure it didn’t come loose. In the distant future, I will probably upgrade to a DC pump like the Reef Octo VarioS-4 for the return, but for now it’s “don’t fix what ain’t broken”.

3. The sump is indeed very tight. It’s been a slow evolution of sorts to get everything situated in the space. I mounted the UV sterilizer and WiFi dosing pump to the cabinet using short/thin wood screws, being especially careful not to screw them in so far that they puncture the outside of the cabinet. The controllers and electronics are mounted to the cabinet surface using 3M command strips. Here are a few pictures of the sump as it stands:

Here are a few new tank pics to show the growth of the corals:

 

[Connorw]

What a great looking tank! I really enjoyed reading through your build thread.

 

[Rey "deep sea" Manta]

Thank you so much! I’ve been slow to update lately, but everything has been smooth sailing on my tank. It’s pushing 14 months old now, so it’s stabilized a lot in terms of water chemistry. With the exception of a couple small Zoa colonies, all my corals have grown significantly. I haven’t added anything new in several months which has contributed to the tank staying hitchhiker free.

To answer your questions:

1. I don’t target feed any of the fish or the corals. For corals, I am dosing Red Sea AB+ once every evening, along with Seachem Reef Trace. For the fish, I am mainly feeding New Life Spectrum Marine Pellets and occasionally Hikari Mega Marine frozen food, and typically only feed once every day in the evening. My YWG and TPS scavenge the leftover food that falls to the sand…they have both grown to a good size (3.5-4”+) and are quite active, so I know they aren’t starving.

2. I bought the Nyos Viper 3.0 (two of them actually - one as a return pump and another for the UV) on the advice of Waterbox. They are very quiet and do not produce any noticeable noise. My one qualm about this pump is that the stock nozzle does not fit the standard Waterbox return hose. I had to zip tie the hose to the nozzle to ensure it didn’t come loose. In the distant future, I will probably upgrade to a DC pump like the Reef Octo VarioS-4 for the return, but for now it’s “don’t fix what ain’t broken”.

3. The sump is indeed very tight. It’s been a slow evolution of sorts to get everything situated in the space. I mounted the UV sterilizer and WiFi dosing pump to the cabinet using short/thin wood screws, being especially careful not to screw them in so far that they puncture the outside of the cabinet. The controllers and electronics are mounted to the cabinet surface using 3M command strips. Here are a few pictures of the sump as it stands:

Here are a few new tank pics to show the growth of the corals:

Thanks for the detailed reply! This definitely helps me plan my tank!

I was really hesitated to have the YWM and TPS because I am also a frequent traveler. Now I can really considerate this option.

I am also thinking upgrade my AC return pump to DC, but I am more leaning towards Vectra S2 than Reef Octo VarioS-4, because I want to schedule the return pump feeding mode with the auto feeder synchronous in time.

Thanks again for the reply.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Quick check-in for my R2R fam! My tank is almost 1.5 years in at this point, and everything is doing really well. My torch started the process of splitting over the last few weeks, so it’s been slightly smaller, but appears to be going from 3 heads to 5. Lots of other corals have added new heads recently, as well…the micromussa, acanthophyllia, various other euphyllia, favia/favites, and even my blastomussa. My Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris has encrusted the rock up front and has probably tripled in size!

For reference, I’ve been maintaining the following parameters:

Alkalinity: 9 dKH
Magnesium: ~1350
Calcium: 400 ppm
Nitrate: ~5 ppm
Phosphate: ~0.01 ppm
Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.3

I have dropped to testing about once every 2 weeks (gotten a bit lazy), and have been doing a 10% WC every 2-3 weeks.

Lately, the only problem I’ve run into has been equipment-related. My original AI Prime 16HD started making a weird grinding sound, which I presume it was the fan motor failing. I reached out to AI who kindly shipped me a complimentary warranty replacement. Kudos to their CS team for making it easy.