Mrpontiac80’s Waterbox 65.4 AIO

[mrpontiac80]

It’s been a little bit since last post. Figured I’d share some of the new residents. The tank currently has a bristletooth tang, royal gramma, yellow tail damsel, orange banded goby, two clowns, an urchin, cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, and some new corals.

 

[mrpontiac80]

So I finally got an ATO. I went with reef breeders and after running for 2 weeks, I am so happy I have it. I’m using a 10 gallon Petco tank as a ato reservoir. I also used the waterbox packaging panel board and a 2x4 to make a very simple control board. Basic I know, but it does the job. I simply cut grooves like a slide puzzle to work cords in and out so that I do not have to unplug anything should I need to move something.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Just some close up pics of the tank waking up this morning

 

[Oldsman]

Looks great !
Nice Pontiac too, we just sold our 71 Cutlass convertible after the body was showing major hidden bondo work from previous owner.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Looks like my last update was back in July…. A lot has happened and a lot has been learned since then!

I think I’ll post a few updates in sections.
Not long after the last update my fish came down with a disease. I’m thinking it was brook or velvet. I lost half of them and the survivors went to a buddies house and he quarantined them for me. Meanwhile I bought a 30 gallon Petco tank to use as a holding tank while the display began a fallow period.
the survivors were one clown, one pj cardinal, melanurus wrass and my two spot tang.
Quarantine with copper and etc just seemed very overwhelming to me and as I researched and learned, I decided to implement hybrid tank transfer qt by humblefish. So I acquired 2 identical 10 gallon tanks heaters and etc.
since then I have also been restocking my display after a 90+ days fallow using this httm method and introducing the fish in a proper order if aggression and such. I currently have one more round of fish to go through httm after the current stock finish this week.

 

[mrpontiac80]

So in august 2021 I was able to go on vacation to Orlando FL. My tank was fallow and my fish survivors in qt. I was able to visit World Wide Corals and Top Shelf Aquatics…. Awesome. During that trip I found and purchased a Tunze 9004 skimmer and a second maxpect xf330 gyre. And of course a lot of corals!

 

[mrpontiac80]

So as of today, my tank is in the process of being restocked. I also won a 3rd Ai prime 16 hd light from BRS during the thanksgiving giveaways!

I bought a par meter and was extremely shocked at how Little par my lights were putting out. So I redid my schedule and program and was able to get about 190-260 par at the high points of the rocks. My torches and hammers and such are around 140 average. The biggest problem I have with this tank is the front to back display width of around 15”. I think the lights bounce off the glass and in order to get higher par for any sps, I can’t really get a low level for most of my sand bed. But I’ve got it where I’m happy for now.
I have also learned about rock scape. I love the way mine looks but unless I want shaded areas, the swim through caves leave little for coral placement unless I want less than 90 par or more than 160

 

[mrpontiac80]

Here are a few updated pics

current fish including the ones yet to finish qt are
3 pj cardinals
2 bangi cardinals
3 zebra bar dartfish
1 firefish
1 Midas blenny
1 foxface lo
2 clowns
1 melanurus wrass
1 two spot Bristletooth tang
1 purple tang

 

[VinceS265]

Looks awesome!

 

[primalpete]

Great build page. Since you built your own stand, where you able to buy the tank without the stand?

 

[mrpontiac80]

Great build page. Since you built your own stand, where you able to buy the tank without the stand?

Originally the 65.4 aio could be bought without the stand. After a couple weeks from my purchase I noticed it is only available with a stand now.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Just some pictures of the tank waking up as the lights ramp up for the day while the snow is piling up outside.

 

[mrpontiac80]

So I have upgraded my lights. I switched to a reefbreeders photon V2+ and added the Nexus app control and back of tank mounts. So far so good and I think I might going to have much better coverage and higher par for my sps.

 

[Nigel35]

Looking absolutely stellar Mr. Pontiac. Keep up the good work.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Just a small update on the tank. Had an ICP test done and everything looks great but a little low on iodine, so I adjusted that. I am finally starting to get some acros to encrust after starting my 2 part dosing.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Some top down pics as I was doing my water change last night

 

[mrpontiac80]

So I thought I’d update since it has been a little while.
about a month or two ago my phosphate which had always averaged between .10- .06 ppm had started increasing pretty quickly. It got up to .53 ppm at its highest. My nitrates always seemed to range between 16-22ppm.
so I decided to upgrade my skimmer to an icecap k1-50. It took a little bit of ingenuity as I had to build a stand out of acrylic. This thing works fantastic!
I also started vacuuming my sand bed again. That helped lower phosphate down into the .3s ppm for a day or two but they were rising back up quickly.

so I bought a brs reactor and have been using that since the start of this week. Do not start off with a reef calculator dosage!!!! I went from .47 ppm to .09 ppm phosphate in 24 hours using 12 Tbsp of gfo. I just redid the media last night with 3 Tbsp gfo mixed with 5 Tbsp carbon. We will see what happens.
I also decided to attach my reactor to a piece of old plastic from a aquarium lid using push plugs so that it hangs off the back. It’s not the prettiest but it is not mounted to my wall or anything this way since it is an all in one tank.

 

[mrpontiac80]

The tank is finally starting to settle in so that acros are encrusting and growing faster all the time. Here’s a few pics.

 

[mrpontiac80]

It’s update time. I was trying to sell the waterbox setup but didn’t want to “give it away” so after a few months of limited interest, it’s back in action.

EDIT: I should say that back in January or February I upgraded this tank to a 180 gallon. So I never tried to exit the hobby…. It just got bigger!

My buddy has multiple systems and has bubble tip nems and they are escaping his box he keeps them in and with his frag tank plumbed into his reef tank, he is finding escaped nems throughout the system. So he’s wanting them gone. So the new service for the waterbox is a bubble tip tank with a couple clowns and leathers that my wife likes.

Gonna try to keep this on the cheap and simple plan. I ordered cheap Smatfarm lights and not much else that I don’t already have. I already had extra rock and still have more to add from my 180 gallon sump. Currently making more water now and my buddy has 15-20 nice nems as of now when the tank is ready.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

It’s update time. I was trying to sell the waterbox setup but didn’t want to “give it away” so after a few months of limited interest, it’s back in action.

My buddy has multiple systems and has bubble tip nems and they are escaping his box he keeps them in and with his frag tank plumbed into his reef tank, he is finding escaped nems throughout the system. So he’s wanting them gone. So the new service for the waterbox is a bubble tip tank with a couple clowns and leathers that my wife likes.

Gonna try to keep this on the cheap and simple plan. I ordered cheap Smatfarm lights and not much else that I don’t already have. I already had extra rock and still have more to add from my 180 gallon sump. Currently making more water now and my buddy has 15-20 nice nems as of now when the tank is ready.

Glad to see you were able to set it up!!