Sean's Waterbox Platinum 130.4 Build

Hurdbird88 · Jun 3, 2019

Tanks been cycling for a month and a week or two. I have been running and cleaning the skimmer and changing the filter socks / filter media in cups every 4-5 days or when dirty. Lights are still off and have the clean up crew in now for about a week so I started ghost feeding every other day. My nitrates have been around 5-10 and then jumped up this week after ghost feeding to the 10-20 range. Should I slow the ghost feeding down and do heavy water changes to try and get the nitrates lower? I just did my first 10 gallon water change this week but am planning on starting up my DOS this weekend for weekly water changes going forward.

coronarex · Jul 8, 2019

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Hurdbird88 · Jul 8, 2019

It’s been a while since I posted so catching up... tank has been up for 2.5 months or so now. All levels have stabled out nicely. Clean up crew and blood shrimp still going strong on ghost feedings. Whitetail Bristletooth Tang has completed quarantine and will be going into the DT this week!

Few changes and tank updates:
Added a set of gyres to the back wall to take care of dead spots below the rock structure.

Added an older iPad I had and a new mount in the controller side of cabinet for easier adjustability and control while working on the tank. Cut a piece of acrylic to keep the salt creep at bay above the filter socks. Still working on a better way to level it off.

My new lid is cut and shipping out this week. Fabio and the guys at Safe Top Lids were great to work with! I’ll post more pictures when the final product comes in.

Can’t wait to get another round of fish into QT and keep this going forward. Slowly but surely... enjoying the ride!

Hurdbird88 · Jul 8, 2019

coronarex said:
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Welcome aboard!

Hurdbird88 · Jul 31, 2019

So after 3 months of cycling with the lights off and quarantining the clean up crew, lights are on! Levels are testing out really well with ghost feeding.

My first fish, a Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, has been moved over from quarantine as well. He’ a lot of fun to watch already! Added an AFS for as well for some automated feeding while I’m away from the tank.

New Safe Top Lid has been installed. Fabio and the team was awesome to deal with and I’m super happy with this lid. Definitely worth the wait!

Time to start another batch of fish in quarantine and wait for my Geo calcium reactor setup and secondary chamber to come in! Let the fun begin!

coronarex · Aug 1, 2019

Hurdbird88 said:
So after 3 months of cycling with the lights off and quarantining the clean up crew, lights are on! Levels are testing out really well with ghost feeding.

My first fish, a Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, has been moved over from quarantine as well. He’ a lot of fun to watch already! Added an AFS for as well for some automated feeding while I’m away from the tank.

New Safe Top Lid has been installed. Fabio and the team was awesome to deal with and I’m super happy with this lid. Definitely worth the wait!

Time to start another batch of fish in quarantine and wait for my Geo calcium reactor setup and secondary chamber to come in! Let the fun begin!

Epic setup man, honestly. I was really thinkin about getting the waterbox 100 but i think I have changed my mind and will go with the redsea 250 as i want a 4 foot tank. Ill be following your build closely as I planned on copying a lot of what you've done. lol thanks -Keith

Hurdbird88 · Aug 4, 2019

coronarex said:
Epic setup man, honestly. I was really thinkin about getting the waterbox 100 but i think I have changed my mind and will go with the redsea 250 as i want a 4 foot tank. Ill be following your build closely as I planned on copying a lot of what you've done. lol thanks -Keith

Thanks buddy. Much appreciated. Good luck with the new build and post up your build thread link!

Hurdbird88 · Oct 21, 2019

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted. Life’s been busy but here’s a full update to get back up to speed.

Added an older iPad I had to the control section of the cabinet for easier control while working on the tank.

New Geo calcium reactor / secondary chamber came in and I’m super happy with the color scheme! Geo quality is awesome.

New pair of Onyx C-Quest clowns have went through QT and into the display tank. Working on another set of fish in QT now. Thinking some Anthias or Chromis next and then another tang.

Lights have been on for about 2.5-3 months now. Tank has been up for almost 6 months. Had a bright green algae develop all over the rock but it has started to subside. Starting to get some hair algae or something going all over. Seems likely they are growing out of dark brown / red spots. The purplish tint is the hair algae popping up.

Should I just wait it out on the hair algae too or start trying to get rid of it? I have some red wiry type algae growing in a few areas too.

Nitrates - between 0-5
Phosphates - between .08 - .1 (RODI filters got a little dirty and pushed this up I believe)
Alk is around 7 because I haven’t started running Calc reactor yet
Running AWC through DOS at 10 gallons a week
Haven’t started up fuge yet but plan to soon
Starting to get good coralline algae growth

Peach02 · Nov 20, 2019

I just found this thread, mate the tank is looking awsome! I'm looking into the same tank myself but won't have the luxury of a mechanical room. How much rock did you use?

Hurdbird88 · Jan 20, 2020

It’s about time for an update! Tank levels have starting really settling in but I am still dealing with the green film algae all over the rock work and nitrates are staying too low, between 0-2 no matter how much I feed. I have been feeding Neptune pellets from auto feeder twice a day and frozen at night. Phosphates have been staying steady around .08-.1 After a lot of back and forth, I have decided to start a vibrant treatment to hopefully help clean up the algae issues because manual removal isn’t realistic at this point.

Other updates: Added some bangai cardinals and have some anthias and a yellow tang coming in. Calcium reactor is up and running and working on dialing it in now. Very glad I decided to rinse the two little fishies media out a few times because I got a lot of dust and particles off. The Kamoer dosing pump, geo main / secondary chamber and Carbondoser regulator have made the process pretty simple so far. Fingers crossed... haha.

First few corals are in and doing very well. Have always loved euphyllia! Coralline algae has been growing rapidly over equipment and bare bottom. Waiting for a PAR meter rental from BRS to come in this week so I can test levels and hopefully get my first few SPS testers in.

Enjoying the journey everyday of this tank and hoping 2020 brings a lot of new, healthy fish and coral into this system. Maybe even a frag tank...until next time. Happy reefing everyone!

Hurdbird88 · Jan 20, 2020

Peach02 said:
I just found this thread, mate the tank is looking awsome! I'm looking into the same tank myself but won't have the luxury of a mechanical room. How much rock did you use?

Sorry for the late reply! Missed this one come through. Thank you! I love the Waterbox set up. My only complaint is I wish I would have changed some things to try and get a filter roller in because I hate socks. I used around a 80-90 lbs of dry Marco rock of different types. Good luck with the tank!

swvahawker · Jan 27, 2020

Hurdbird88 said:
It was like Christmas morning when I got home from work!

Custom cut piece of King Starboard arrived. Already cut out for overflow. The CNC cuts from BoatOutfitters.com shows no cut lines and they were great to work with.

Super impressed with the Nyos skimmer quality. They’ve come a long way since I last had a tank. Can’t wait to test this thing out! Great option for anyone with a tighter sump as well.

Control board is all cut and ready for paint. Used standard 2” or so desk grommets for wiring pull through and a 6”x3” desk grommet box at the bottom to enable the Vortech drivers to be pulled through and out for maintenance without any dissassembly (MP40 drivers are hard wired to motor assembly). Bottom will house the 3 drivers side by side. The control panel is fully removable by using cabinet door magnets hidden behind panel.

What did that piece of starboard cost you? Thanks!

Hurdbird88 · Jan 27, 2020

swvahawker said:
What did that piece of starboard cost you? Thanks!

$110 shipped for 1/4” thick. Super happy I did it.

swvahawker · Jan 28, 2020

Hurdbird88 said:
$110 shipped for 1/4” thick. Super happy I did it.

Great! Were you happy with your measurements? I actually called the supplier and they still have the drawing you sent .

Hurdbird88 · Jan 28, 2020

swvahawker said:
Great! Were you happy with your measurements? I actually called the supplier and they still have the drawing you sent .

Yes, measures worked out just like I wanted to. I snugged the front tight and allowed for small gap around the (2) sides and the back around the overflow. It is tight enough that you don't want to test fit because it will not want to come back out. Good luck and let me know if you have any additional questions! I put a thick bead of silicone about 1" in from all edges to seal edges for detritus and then put a good sized bead about every 4" all the away across in a zig zag pattern and it secured pretty well. I let weight sit on it for 48 hrs after.

Hurdbird88 · Jan 28, 2020

I got the BRS PAR meter / Apogee 510 in this week and completed my testing at levels between 60%-100% on SPS AB+ settings. Super happy with the BRS PAR meter rental service and the Apogee meter. Super easy to use. I will be looking to fill the top shelf with Acro's over time and work in some Monti's to start filling out the bare bottom and surrounding rocks.

Looks like I will be working my levels up from 60-75%ish to start and start to add some tester Acro's finally! Let the Acro garden adventure begin!

60% / 70% / 80% PAR Levels