keywestreefer's Waterbox 130.4 Ultimate Dream Build

[dwair]

What cycle method would you use for a QT?

What I did when I went through all of that on my 180g I had 2 QT's set up. 1 For Fish, 1 For Coral. I had set them up way in advance though. No rock/sand in either, thats important. Put a Seachem ammonia badge in the Fish QT. Can just be like a 20L, which is what I used. Go to Home Depot/Lowes and get some like 2" PVC Couplers or Pipe and cut to size so the fish have somewhere to swim through and hide. Throw a decent filter and flow and heater on there and you are set. Can throw a cheap light on if you want if you don't have great ambient.

I understand you are going like ALL out on this build. But on QT there isn't really anything to go all out on. Like seriously. Cause you don't want most of that stuff on there. Whole point of it is to get it cycled normally, I recommend Bio-Spira, then dose ammonia until it is cycled. Throw your new fish in there for 30-60 days, however long you feel is best. Mine was always 14-30 days. 14 if they showed no signs of anything and fed good. 30-60 if they showed Ich or anything else.

I personally did preventive treatments. They were always in Copper. I only dosed other meds as needed to treat w/e I found. I did all of this under the guidance of @Humblefish as I'm lucky enough to have been in his home state and he was only an hour from my house lol.

With all that being said, on this tank/build Im doing now. I'm not doing any of that. I plan on ich management. QT Process is safer and I highly recommend it, but I'm doing something different after tons of research. GL.

 

[keywestreefer]

What I did when I went through all of that on my 180g I had 2 QT's set up. 1 For Fish, 1 For Coral. I had set them up way in advance though. No rock/sand in either, thats important. Put a Seachem ammonia badge in the Fish QT. Can just be like a 20L, which is what I used. Go to Home Depot/Lowes and get some like 2" PVC Couplers or Pipe and cut to size so the fish have somewhere to swim through and hide. Throw a decent filter and flow and heater on there and you are set. Can throw a cheap light on if you want if you don't have great ambient.

I understand you are going like ALL out on this build. But on QT there isn't really anything to go all out on. Like seriously. Cause you don't want most of that stuff on there. Whole point of it is to get it cycled normally, I recommend Bio-Spira, then dose ammonia until it is cycled. Throw your new fish in there for 30-60 days, however long you feel is best. Mine was always 14-30 days. 14 if they showed no signs of anything and fed good. 30-60 if they showed Ich or anything else.

I personally did preventive treatments. They were always in Copper. I only dosed other meds as needed to treat w/e I found. I did all of this under the guidance of @Humblefish as I'm lucky enough to have been in his home state and he was only an hour from my house lol.

With all that being said, on this tank/build Im doing now. I'm not doing any of that. I plan on ich management. QT Process is safer and I highly recommend it, but I'm doing something different after tons of research. GL.

So I suppose I just need to figure out my cycle method and go through it. My coral QT I will keep the MP10 and XR15 to ensure success there. I may add the other MP10 and XR15 to the display tank and get a cheapo light for my fish QT.

 

[dwair]

So I suppose I just need to figure out my cycle method and go through it. My coral QT I will keep the MP10 and XR15 to ensure success there. I may add the other MP10 and XR15 to the display tank and get a cheapo light for my fish QT.

Yea frag tank is different from Fish QT. You will good equipment there obviously. Ya if you have enough ambient light from the room, you don't even need a light. Fish don't need hardly any. Just abit.

 

[keywestreefer]

Shipment 1 has arrived. Tank will be here Thursday. Hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day!!!

 

[Letterkenny]

Following along - I am in the process of doing a very similar build but just about a month behind.

 

[PSU4ME]

You don’t need to dose ammonia after adding the biospira. Get the QT setup ASAP, Persians the sponge with biospira and then let it run. The bacteria will colonize. You can lightly feed it if you want but they hold out a while. The fish wil add the ammonia. Just watch the badge and dilute out any raising ammonia!

 

[keywestreefer]

Following along - I am in the process of doing a very similar build but just about a month behind.

Awesome. I look forward to seeing it

 

[keywestreefer]

Today is delivery day!!! @Blue Seas Aquariums heading to Key West with a van full of goodies.

 

[keywestreefer]

We have good news- and we have some... well... not so good news.

First- The good news-
Tank has arrived!!! Yipppeeee!!!

Now some of that not so good news-
Sump was chipped so they are getting a new one I will be able to pickup next week.

Some more good news-

Almost all of the APEX equipment arrived. Just waiting on the Trident which will be next week.

200 lbs of Marco Rock- Will go through and create a scape this week and the awesome guys @Blue Seas Aquariums will let me return the unused rock so this gives me lots of options to work with. Mixture of Shelf, Reef Saver, and Foundation.

6 Stage RODI-

Salt-

The 2 XR30 Pro's

Substrate- More than enough, but still thinking about putting Sand in QT's. Will see, what I don't use I might do as a giveaway on my Instagram @keywestreefer.

Media Reactor-

Dosing Container with Apex integration-

Misc test kits-

And one final shot of the tank in it's final resting place.

Waiting for some PVC to arrive from @AquariumSpecialty. Hoping @AquariumSpecialtyMatt has an update. *wink wink

Also waiting on a large order from @Bulk Reef Supply but my understanding is they are quite back logged and I had to cancel my first order because I ordered the wrong size of something so partially my fault there.

Recieved the Metric to Standard Bulkhead adapters from Coralvue, some ancillary items from Amazon, Etsy, and a few great members here on the marketplace. Make sure to follow along as it's bound to be a good ride to get this baby wet! Happy to answer any questions or listen to any recommendations.

Hoping to have a scape for input by this weekend sometime.

 

[Bulk Reef Supply]

Also waiting on a large order from @Bulk Reef Supply but my understanding is they are quite back logged and I had to cancel my first order because I ordered the wrong size of something so partially my fault there.

Congrats on the new build! Looks like you're off to an awesome start Our warehouse is just about fully caught up with the backlog/holiday weekend, so I'd expect your order to ship very soon. If you shoot us a PM with your order number, I'd be happy to see if I can look into the status of your order.

 

[keywestreefer]

Congrats on the new build! Looks like you're off to an awesome start Our warehouse is just about fully caught up with the backlog/holiday weekend, so I'd expect your order to ship very soon. If you shoot us a PM with your order number, I'd be happy to see if I can look into the status of your order.

Thanks @Bulk Reef Supply- message sent.

 

[keywestreefer]

Thoughts?

 

[keywestreefer]

And- rock is in.

 

[keywestreefer]

Take 2 on the scape.

 

[keywestreefer]

More good news... and well... bad news..

Good News- Both QT tanks arrived today. Coral and Fish QT will be IM Nuvo 25 lagoons.

More good news- Wife let me move furniture in the living room, so I was able to center the 130.4 between the windows and will now be the centerpiece of the room. I also needed to rescape during the move so ended up a little different.

Good-ish news- I finally got ahold of someone @AquariumSpecialty. By the way, do not attempt to message them on the forum, you will get a very blunt and to the point reply they are not interested in helping via forum messages. Also, do not attempt to email them, it will be days of follow up emails to get a reply... Also, do not attempt to facebook message them, similar results to email... But, pick up the phone and talk to someone. I should have just done this a long time ago (my fault), but I have been working long hours as our re-boot post COVID19 has been a treacherous one. Therefore phoning during business hours really wasn't on my priority list. Given my trip up to Miami to pick up what was supposed to be the new sump, allotted time to be able to speak to @AquariumSpecialtyMatt to gain tracking #'s for my PVC that shipped today. YAYYYY

Here comes some of that bad news... My replacement sump, that I rented a truck and am currently in transit to Miami to pickup, came in busted. This was sump #2. Apparently @Waterbox Aquariums is going to ship a new one to my house directly this time. Extremely frustrating to say the least.

Enough for today. Hoping to have some water in the QT's on Sunday to begin those cycles. Next weekend the plan is to build out the control boards and get some plumbing done. Hope everyone is staying healthy and well.

 

[keywestreefer]

The sump has arrived.

 

[keywestreefer]

Today we begin mixing saltwater. Quarantine tanks are ready to get wet. Turbo start 900 will be here by Wednesday. Hoping to have fish delivery on Thursday or Friday to begin the fish Quarantine process. I am cycling the 3 tanks with 3 different methods. I have created a sub thread HERE, to follow that process if anyone is interested.

The RODI system I received came with a hose bib adapter. Being on the 2nd floor (Key West, flooding, hurricanes, enough said) I did not have a hose-bib in the house and the washer was a bit to difficult to tie into. I ended up with a sink to hose-bib and hose-bib to 1/4 quick connect for the RODI system. I hooked it up and found the main input was missing the connect part so another trip to the hardware store. Unfortunately my apartment water pressure measures around 40 PSI. I will be getting a Booster Pump to install on the system to get my PSI closer to 70 PSI. Total TDS out of the tap was a whopping 220. After the membrane I was reading about 60 which made me believe I needed to increase my pressure. Regardless, I am getting 0 after my first set of carbon blocks and still reading 0 after the 2 DI chambers. I am finding that only 20 gallons into the mix and my first DI is about 1/8th used up. I am sure this has to do with the low water pressure.

Current status of Display, Fish QT, Coral QT, and the RODI running to mix some salt.

 

[Peach02]

Looking great!

 

[keywestreefer]

We have some water in the QT's and XR30's are mounted. I was planning on adding 2 MP10s to go along with he MP40's on the DT, but it appears the glass is just too thick. Oh well. Maybe I will use them for giveaways on here and instagram. Follow #keywestreefer.

Coral QT- Follow my QT thread linked above..

Fish QT

Waterbox-

 

[keywestreefer]

About to get that Apex control board built and the 130.4 plumbed.