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Hurdbird88
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Sean's Waterbox Platinum 130.4 Build
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Hurdbird88
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Awesome, congrats! Let me know if you need help with anything. Enjoy!
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Hurdbird88
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The first SPS are in! Recent live sales from Jason Fox, Top Shelf Aquatics and WWC sucked me in big time but super excited to start the stick journey haha. It’s been a long wait... Got some really nice frags in so far and TSA shipping a few more next week!
Beautiful build so far! Look forward to following along.
Thanks for the thread! I'm planning for a 130.4 build as well and this is super helpful. I have a few questions about your build.
Re: your ATO...
How did you plumb your ATO? It appears you have RODI in the Waterbox sump ATO section so are you filling that reservoir from your RODI holding tank every few days/weeks? I was thinking I could put my ATO pump directly in my RODI holding tank and re-use that ATO reservoir in the WB sump for a fuge. Any reason why you didn't do that or why I shouldn't?
Re: socks/roller...
What are your thoughts on this with this tank/sump setup? I am not interested in socks as well and short of performing surgery on the sump to fit a Clarisea, the Klir seem to be the only option but the reviews are far from stellar.
Re: flow...
I am considering the gyres as well. How happy are you with them? Do you have them integrated with Apex at all? Do you have them on a battery backup?
Re: your control board...
I love it, and will likely steal your design!
One question I have is how did you attach it to the back of the stand so it stays in place? Did you just screw it into the back wall?
Sorry for all of the questions! Beautiful reef and I'm following for sure!
Re: your ATO...
How did you plumb your ATO? It appears you have RODI in the Waterbox sump ATO section so are you filling that reservoir from your RODI holding tank every few days/weeks? I was thinking I could put my ATO pump directly in my RODI holding tank and re-use that ATO reservoir in the WB sump for a fuge. Any reason why you didn't do that or why I shouldn't?
Re: socks/roller...
What are your thoughts on this with this tank/sump setup? I am not interested in socks as well and short of performing surgery on the sump to fit a Clarisea, the Klir seem to be the only option but the reviews are far from stellar.
Re: flow...
I am considering the gyres as well. How happy are you with them? Do you have them integrated with Apex at all? Do you have them on a battery backup?
Re: your control board...
I love it, and will likely steal your design!
One question I have is how did you attach it to the back of the stand so it stays in place? Did you just screw it into the back wall?Sorry for all of the questions! Beautiful reef and I'm following for sure!
Letterkenny
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I am about to embark on my own 130.4 build and thought I would stop in for advice. Where did you get the templates for making your controller board? Also, how many pounds of each Marco Rock did you get?
Any updates on your awesome build?
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Hurdbird88
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Thank you. I look forward to having you along for the ride! Life has been a little crazy but I'll be catching back up on the thread.
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Hurdbird88
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Thanks for the thread! I'm planning for a 130.4 build as well and this is super helpful. I have a few questions about your build.
Re: your ATO...
How did you plumb your ATO? It appears you have RODI in the Waterbox sump ATO section so are you filling that reservoir from your RODI holding tank every few days/weeks? I was thinking I could put my ATO pump directly in my RODI holding tank and re-use that ATO reservoir in the WB sump for a fuge. Any reason why you didn't do that or why I shouldn't?
- Tunze ATO is mounted on a suction cup stand I got off ebay. Worth the money all day long and the Tunze ATO is by far the best ATO I've ever used. I am using the Waterbox ATO chamber as my main ATO. It lasts about 2-3 days for me but that is very tight. I top it off everyday with a large OXO 5g watering pale and pull over a 10-20g tank in front of the cabinet for longer trips away from the tank. You certainly could use the ATO chamber as a fuge but I wanted a bigger fuge and didn't want to worry about light spread causing algae on other equipment. If you go this route, I would suggest an AI Prime Fuge with the Reefdudez light directors to control the lighting from leaking into the surrounding chambers. See link below:
https://vividcreativeaquatics.com/shop/alv-ai-visor-prime-led-light-shaping-visors/
Re: socks/roller...
What are your thoughts on this with this tank/sump setup? I am not interested in socks as well and short of performing surgery on the sump to fit a Clarisea, the Klir seem to be the only option but the reviews are far from stellar.
- I have been testing a Klir filter roller in the second chamber because I as well was completely sick of using filter socks. With the updated parts / pieces and motors they made to the Klir, mine has worked perfectly. I have the Klir sitting in the second chamber with a filter sock / filter media cup in the front sock chamber and I am getting 4-6 weeks off a roll easily. The front chamber sock / media is just to catch the larger detritus and keep the sump clean so I will swap that out every 2-3 days. If it loads up and overflows, you are adding a small amount of additional water into the system.
Re: flow...
I am considering the gyres as well. How happy are you with them? Do you have them integrated with Apex at all? Do you have them on a battery backup?
- My gyres are used for secondary flow only and for cleaning out detritus below my rocks more or less but I do love them. I run them on alternating ramp settings and run a clean out mode at night when the MP40's are on lower settings. My MP40's are on battery back-up so the gyres are not.
Re: your control board...
I love it, and will likely steal your design!
- I attached the control board to the side walls with cabinet door magnets from Amazon. They work perfect for this application. 3-4 of them will hold your control board in place perfectly. Leave 6" or so behind the board for power blocks and wire management if you'd like.
Sorry for all of the questions! Beautiful reef and I'm following for sure!
- Sorry for the delayed response and I am happy to help! Keep the questions coming! Thank you!
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Hurdbird88
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Follow the link below for the templates. If you search the Neptune systems site you can find templates for all of their products including the Apex head unit, powerboards, modules, DOS, etc.
https://www.neptunesystems.com/downloads/docs/Apex_Module_Mounting_Template.pdf
I believe I bought 60 lbs of base rock and 60 lbs of shelf rock but I would have to go back and confirm. I'll look into it tonight. I had a little extra.
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Hurdbird88
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I'm realizing it has been an awful long time since I updated the build thread with everything else going on so wanted to check in and give an update. The last 3-4 months have been crazy to say the least.
I have added about 40 frags, mostly SPS, to the system over the last 3-4 months and everything has been going really well. I am seeing really good growth on all corals and a steady increase in Alk uptake which is always a good sign. Making that Geo CRX reactor work finally!
I had some major fish disease hit which must have come in on a frag of some sort even though I was extremely careful to dip and not transfer any water when adding corals. My Whitetail Bristletooth started showed signs of small white dots on fins and was riding / scratching the glass. I noticed it pretty quickly but it spread very fast. I ordered a fish trap and moved my fish over to QT as soon as possible. After reviewing everything with the guys on the Humeblefish forums, it was determined that I was probably dealing with Uronema, Brook and possibly velvet. I tried a few different treatments but eventually went with a freshwater dip and 30 days of copper, prazi in water column every 48 hours and fed prazi / focus infused frozen twice a day during the month and it has cured all problems. Fish were moved to a sterile QT tank for 30 day observation after treatment as well. Lost a lot of my fish to this outbreak but was able to save my Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, yellow tang, (1) anthias and my bangai cardinal. All fish are back into the DT and doing very well. See link below for additional information.
https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/disease-identification-help.940/#post-14288
I am still battling the red turf algae. At this point, I had tried Vibrant for 3 months as step #1 with no luck against it. Water parameters are perfect and have stayed perfect throughout. Step #2 was to add (5) Mexican Turbo snails / restart refugium. Step #3 was to try Tuxedo urchins. Update videos to follow.
I added in a Klir 4" filter roller about 2 months ago at this point and have been testing different configurations since. Overall, I am very happy with it so far. Update videos to follow.
I have been working on setting up a custom frag tank that will be connected into the main display sump. Update videos to follow.
With all that said, I have been working on setting up and launching a YouTube channel called Hurdbird's Reef to track progress of the tank, build projects, etc and will be looking into expand some other areas as well. Stay tuned for more information on the channel and for some channel launch raffles over the next few weeks! Follow along on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram.
See below for a quick time lapse I ran on the tank last week. I have wanted to do this for a while. I love to see the movement of the reef and the lights ramping down.
Happy reefing!
I have added about 40 frags, mostly SPS, to the system over the last 3-4 months and everything has been going really well. I am seeing really good growth on all corals and a steady increase in Alk uptake which is always a good sign. Making that Geo CRX reactor work finally!
I had some major fish disease hit which must have come in on a frag of some sort even though I was extremely careful to dip and not transfer any water when adding corals. My Whitetail Bristletooth started showed signs of small white dots on fins and was riding / scratching the glass. I noticed it pretty quickly but it spread very fast. I ordered a fish trap and moved my fish over to QT as soon as possible. After reviewing everything with the guys on the Humeblefish forums, it was determined that I was probably dealing with Uronema, Brook and possibly velvet. I tried a few different treatments but eventually went with a freshwater dip and 30 days of copper, prazi in water column every 48 hours and fed prazi / focus infused frozen twice a day during the month and it has cured all problems. Fish were moved to a sterile QT tank for 30 day observation after treatment as well. Lost a lot of my fish to this outbreak but was able to save my Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, yellow tang, (1) anthias and my bangai cardinal. All fish are back into the DT and doing very well. See link below for additional information.
https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/disease-identification-help.940/#post-14288
I am still battling the red turf algae. At this point, I had tried Vibrant for 3 months as step #1 with no luck against it. Water parameters are perfect and have stayed perfect throughout. Step #2 was to add (5) Mexican Turbo snails / restart refugium. Step #3 was to try Tuxedo urchins. Update videos to follow.
I added in a Klir 4" filter roller about 2 months ago at this point and have been testing different configurations since. Overall, I am very happy with it so far. Update videos to follow.
I have been working on setting up a custom frag tank that will be connected into the main display sump. Update videos to follow.
With all that said, I have been working on setting up and launching a YouTube channel called Hurdbird's Reef to track progress of the tank, build projects, etc and will be looking into expand some other areas as well. Stay tuned for more information on the channel and for some channel launch raffles over the next few weeks! Follow along on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram.
See below for a quick time lapse I ran on the tank last week. I have wanted to do this for a while. I love to see the movement of the reef and the lights ramping down.
Happy reefing!
count krunk
Valuable Member
is waterbox glass somehow more susceptible to scratching then other aquariums? I have found glass tanks to be very difficult to scratch accidentally.
big bummer about the fishes. What sort of food are you feeding them?
big bummer about the fishes. What sort of food are you feeding them?
was hoping this was an option!! Thanks for the through build documentation.Got the final metric conversion fittings in! It’s finally go time on plumbing this tank and getting salty. Bought (1) 25mm and (2) 32mm slip by slip unions and used only the bottom half of the unions to adapt to Waterbox plumbing. Then used BRS conversion fittings between 25mm and 3/4” return and 32mm to 1” for drains.
I was hoping this was an option!!! Thanks for the well documented build.Got the final metric conversion fittings in! It’s finally go time on plumbing this tank and getting salty. Bought (1) 25mm and (2) 32mm slip by slip unions and used only the bottom half of the unions to adapt to Waterbox plumbing. Then used BRS conversion fittings between 25mm and 3/4” return and 32mm to 1” for drains.
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