Jim's Waterbox MarineX 110.4 Build

[jimmyPx]

From 1995 until 2010 I had 3 successful reef tanks, a 90 gallon, a 60 gallon cube and a rimless 120 gallon. In the 1st two I had zoas and LPS. In the last one I had a few LPS but mostly SPS.
Then life (and my ex-wife) struck, I went through an ugly divorce and was forced to sell my home, my tank, my reef gear and most of my things and was broke as a joke for several years.

Fast forward 10 years. I am happily remarried, have a beautiful new home and have financially recovered and it is time for my dream tank. While it would be nice to have a massive tank, my goal for this tank is that as I get older I can still easily care for it (I'm in my 50s).
I also have a nice built in office in my home that I want the tank in but space is limited. I really wanted a 120 gallon like my last tank but space is tight in my office and a tank width maximum of 20 inches is all that will fit.

I researched and researched tanks and found that I really like the quality, looks and functionality of the Waterbox aquariums and the MarineX 110.4 was the perfect size.

So, I researched every component and made a list, checked it twice , and then slowly bought everything over the last year. Finally during their sale last month it was time to buy the tank and I ordered it.

My goal for this tank was to use automation as much as possible, have the best quality gear that I can find that will last and I can trust and finally fit into what I like (and I am really picky).

Thus, the tank's equipment will be so:

Tank: Waterbox Marine X 110.4
Sump: Trigger Systems Platinum 26in with built in fleece roller
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 150 Elite with neck cleaner
Heater: Helio PTC 400 watt heater
Refugium: Custom made Refugium (12in x 16in and 22in tall) on left side of stand
Controller: Neptune Apex with extra energy bar 832
Powerheads: 4 Ecotech MP40s
Neptune gear: COR 15 return pump
Trident - Marine Aquarium Water Analyzer
Apex Display Module
WXM Module for Ecotech control
GRO Refugium Light
ATK V2 Auto Top Off Kit
Neptune Systems Custom Controller Board - Adaptive Reef
2 DOS & DDR Dosing System Packages
SKY Light

Water treatment: BRS 7 stage RODI system along with a Tunze RO Water Controller
55 gallon plastic drum for RO water
large wheeled Rubbermaid "trash can" for salt water mixing
Tropic Marine Pro Reef Salt
Python water change system with extra length hoses.

Plenty of Marco Dry rock, glue and epoxy for the aquascape.

Tank comes tomorrow so let's get going.

 

[jimmyPx]

Waterbox tank has arrived:

 

[jimmyPx]

With the stand, "some assembly required". Beware that the stand instructions that came with the tank are not correct, go to the Waterbox web site and use those.

 

[VermontReefs]

From 1995 until 2010 I had 3 successful reef tanks, a 90 gallon, a 60 gallon cube and a rimless 120 gallon. In the 1st two I had zoas and LPS. In the last one I had a few LPS but mostly SPS.
Then life (and my ex-wife) struck, I went through an ugly divorce and was forced to sell my home, my tank, my reef gear and most of my things and was broke as a joke for several years.

Fast forward 10 years. I am happily remarried, have a beautiful new home and have financially recovered and it is time for my dream tank. While it would be nice to have a massive tank, my goal for this tank is that as I get older I can still easily care for it (I'm in my 50s).
I also have a nice built in office in my home that I want the tank in but space is limited. I really wanted a 120 gallon like my last tank but space is tight in my office and a tank width maximum of 20 inches is all that will fit.

I researched and researched tanks and found that I really like the quality, looks and functionality of the Waterbox aquariums and the MarineX 110.4 was the perfect size.

So, I researched every component and made a list, checked it twice , and then slowly bought everything over the last year. Finally during their sale last month it was time to buy the tank and I ordered it.

My goal for this tank was to use automation as much as possible, have the best quality gear that I can find that will last and I can trust and finally fit into what I like (and I am really picky).

Thus, the tank's equipment will be so:

Tank: Waterbox Marine X 110.4
Sump: Trigger Systems Platinum 26in with built in fleece roller
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 150 Elite with neck cleaner
Heater: Helio PTC 400 watt heater
Refugium: Fiji Cube Large Hang On Back Refugium
Controller: Neptune Apex with extra energy bar 832
Powerheads: 4 Ecotech MP40s
Neptune gear: COR 15 return pump
Trident - Marine Aquarium Water Analyzer
Apex Display Module
WXM Module for Ecotech control
GRO Refugium Light
ATK V2 Auto Top Off Kit
Neptune Systems Custom Controller Board - Adaptive Reef
2 DOS & DDR Dosing System Packages
SKY Light

Water treatment: BRS 7 stage RODI system along with a Tunze RO Water Controller
55 gallon plastic drum for RO water
large wheeled Rubbermaid "trash can" for salt water mixing
Tropic Marine Pro Reef Salt
Python water change system with extra length hoses.

Plenty of Marco Dry rock, glue and epoxy for the aquascape.

Tank comes tomorrow so let's get going.

Welcome back to reefing!

 

[jimmyPx]

Stand complete and in its final space:

 

[jimmyPx]

To the right of the stand, the support gear. I'll be adding probably an Ecotech board above the Neptune one before the tank goes live. The thin stand is good to hide things. This is still a work in progress and nothing is hooked up yet.

 

[Reef_prop88]

Glad to see you were able to get back into a nice tank setup! I am thinking about going with the same tank next year when I upgrade, so I am very interested to see how smoothly the setup and everything is. Do you plan on starting the tank with only marko rock or live rock also?

 

[jimmyPx]

Glad to see you were able to get back into a nice tank setup! I am thinking about going with the same tank next year when I upgrade, so I am very interested to see how smoothly the setup and everything is. Do you plan on starting the tank with only marko rock or live rock also?

I'm actually going to do both. On the left smaller space in the stand, I am having a 12in x 16in and 22in tall refugium built. I need the height because I am going to have a Xaqua overflow and return at the top.

I will have a pump in the skimmer section of the sump feeding the refugium then have it return to the fleece area of the sump. I know that will stop some critters from getting to the main tank but since I am putting Florida live rock in the refugium, there will be some unwanted hitchhikers in there. It's also why I'll wait at least 2 months from adding live rock before stocking fish. Any fish parasites should be dead in that time.

In the main tank, I am using dry marco rock and am working on the aquascape now.

I am hoping doing these things I will have the best of both worlds but limit the bad hitchhikers getting into the main tank.

 

[Reef_prop88]

I'm actually going to do both. On the left smaller space in the stand, I am having a 12in x 16in and 22in tall refugium built. I need the height because I am going to have a Xaqua overflow and return at the top.

I will have a pump in the skimmer section of the sump feeding the refugium then have it return to the fleece area of the sump. I know that will stop some critters from getting to the main tank but since I am putting Florida live rock in the refugium, there will be some unwanted hitchhikers in there. It's also why I'll wait at least 2 months from adding live rock before stocking fish. Any fish parasites should be dead in that time.

In the main tank, I am using dry marco rock and am working on the aquascape now.

I am hoping doing these things I will have the best of both worlds but limit the bad hitchhikers getting into the main tank.

Where are you getting your live rock from? I saw somebody post a link to gulfliverock.com and it looks really nice on their site. I am in the process of cycling with base rock only. Wish me luck lol.

 

[jimmyPx]

Where are you getting your live rock from? I saw somebody post a link to gulfliverock.com and it looks really nice on their site. I am in the process of cycling with base rock only. Wish me luck lol.

I'm going to get some Florida Keys rock from https://www.kpaquatics.com/ and since I'm only a few hours away from Tampa will go down to TBS https://tbsaltwater.com/ and get a little Gulf Rock from them.

My last tank that I built 15 years ago was all TBS and the life on the rock was incredible. The only bad thing is that you get some bad hitch hikers like gorilla crabs, mantis shrimp, maybe some bad worms and fish parasites like isopods.

Some people dip the rock in hyper saline water for a minute but I think you might harm some of what you want along with the bad. Having a separate refugium makes it difficult for hitch hikers to get into the main tank but the good bacteria, corraline, copepods, etc will. I never had an easier cycle and very few "new tank" issues as I did when I had that all live Florida rock tank. I'm hoping my method will give me the best of both worlds.

Good Luck with your tank !!

 

[jimmyPx]

Trigger Systems Platinum sump 26in with built in fleece roller built and ready for duty:

 

[jimmyPx]

2 new UPS for tank and gear installed. I live in Florida and in my area the main issue is the power going out for 15 minutes or less, so these will keep the tank running during that time. In addition these UPS filter the power so my Apex and gear is protected from dirty power especially if there is an extended power out tage and I need to crank up the generator.
To make the UPS last as long as possible, I have a power plug going from the Apex controller to the surge only side of one of the UPS. That way the Apex can detect a power out tage and shut everything down except the heaters and power heads. It can then detect when the power comes back on and kick everything back on.
Eventually I will also have the Ecotech battery backups for the MP40 powerheads.

 

[jimmyPx]

Today I'm working on cabling and hooking up all of my reef gear.

In my opinion an important thing to have is a label maker. I learned long ago working in data centers that EVERYTHING should be labelled and that is especially true of all of the wires and connections on your reef tank.

If it is 2am and an alarm goes off, you want to be able to trace cables as quickly and accurately as possible. Also if you have a reef sitter, it makes it easy for them to read the labels and help you trouble shoot something going wrong.

Trust me on this, labelling everything is worth the time and effort.

 

[jimmyPx]

Adaptive Reef's Ecotech board arrived and installed.

On that board will be the controllers for 4 Ecotech MP40s as well as the controller for the Helio PTC heater.
The power plugs on the top will be for the MP40s as well as the Neptune Sky when I get that.

 

[jimmyPx]

I'm sorry that my reef tank build was interrupted for almost a year. Sadly I had some serious health issues hit me late January last year which put a halt on my tank build. I am better now and back to my old self so I'll resume the build this month.