Shaggy's Waterbox Reef 100.3 +Plus Build

[NPD_289]

Congratz on getting your new tank! Looks great and can't wait to get mine now. Not sure if you noticed but it looks like they are now shipping the 28" long sump with the Waterbox 100.3. According to their website, the sump that comes with the 100.3 should be 24" long. I think that is a great improvement and hope mine comes with the longer sump since I have a large skimmer and that extra width would give me room to add a decent refugium section if I want to start one. One other thing, if you are planning on mounting the Hydra26s with the HMS mounts, leave yourself at least 3" from the wall for room to tighten the mounting screws...unless you mounts the lights first then slide the tank/stand closer. Keep up with the updates so I can live vicariously through you until I get mine...lol

 

[EmilyXLC]

Love love LOVE this! What's the plan for this weekend?

 

[NPD_289]

Love love LOVE this! What's the plan for this weekend?

He better get it wet by this weekend! Lol. Emily, are the 100.3s now coming with the 130.4 sumps?

 

[EmilyXLC]

He better get it wet by this weekend! Lol. Emily, are the 100.3s now coming with the 130.4 sumps?

Yes! The Reef 100.3 and 130.4 now come with the same sump-- you can find the diagram at the bottom of the page here:
https://www.waterboxaquariums.com/saltwater/reef/

 

[NPD_289]

Yes! The Reef 100.3 and 130.4 now come with the same sump-- you can find the diagram at the bottom of the page here:
https://www.waterboxaquariums.com/saltwater/reef/

Thank you Emily.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Congratz on getting your new tank! Looks great and can't wait to get mine now. Not sure if you noticed but it looks like they are now shipping the 28" long sump with the Waterbox 100.3. According to their website, the sump that comes with the 100.3 should be 24" long. I think that is a great improvement and hope mine comes with the longer sump since I have a large skimmer and that extra width would give me room to add a decent refugium section if I want to start one. One other thing, if you are planning on mounting the Hydra26s with the HMS mounts, leave yourself at least 3" from the wall for room to tighten the mounting screws...unless you mounts the lights first then slide the tank/stand closer. Keep up with the updates so I can live vicariously through you until I get mine...lol

Most excellent tips sir! So that’s why that sump looks so huge!!

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Love love LOVE this! What's the plan for this weekend?

Well the plan was to get the doors on tonight, but the whole arrival of the tank thing and a massively busy day at work, I’m drained!!! So I am gonna give it a rest tonight.

The water has been bubbling away in a hot garage for 4 days now. I might have to dump that and make a fresh batch .

It will be wet this weekend! I promise :)

 

[steelwrap]

Yes! The Reef 100.3 and 130.4 now come with the same sump-- you can find the diagram at the bottom of the page here:
https://www.waterboxaquariums.com/saltwater/reef/

Oh man wouldve loved that sump size. Oh well still happy with My set up

 

[ShaggyRS6]

New delivery today! The Hydra's arrived. WOW, things have moved on a bit in 20 years! I remeber not being able to life my Metal Halide lights!

 

[SkiCatTX]

Really impressed so far with my 10g Waterbox. Looks like the larger ones are HQ as well.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Really impressed so far with my 10g Waterbox. Looks like the larger ones are HQ as well.

Everything is top notch! Never seen an aquarium this good.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I just got the Waterbox 230.6 earlier this year and couldn't be happier. The quality of these tanks is top notch. Can't wait to see yours progress.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

I just got the Waterbox 230.6 earlier this year and couldn't be happier. The quality of these tanks is top notch. Can't wait to see yours progress.

Very nice! Something I can aspire too! I’ll subscribe to your build thread!

 

[ShaggyRS6]

I told you I would get the tank on. Couple of things. The sump, in my humble opinion is not a one man job. I had a helpful neighbor that I had already primed last week! If you worked out, or had good upper body strength you could probably do it, but getting it out of the main tank would be cause for concern, you may damage it. So just a word of caution on that.

The main tank. No way anyone is lifting that unless you are benching 300lbs :) You need some one to help. Also, there is rubber/foam on the base, that in itself is excellent, its also on the base of the sump. Be aware though, before you lift that main tank, grab all the white packing sheet out from underneath first.

Lets talk about that sump. HUGE, really HUGE. I took a shot (below) with a nasal spray bottle next to it for comparison. The only negative is it leaves little space for anything in the cab.

Note to WB if your listening. Would be great if you manufacture some custom shelving to go inside. Bit like those frag shelves. They don't need to be too wide, just enough to store various equipment on. Thinking about it further, you could use magnet attachments, that way no screws needed!

Onto the pics! I hope from the pics you can see why i chose this location. I am going to be able to see right through that tank.

Oh one more thing. The build quality. When we put that main tank on the cabinet. Not one creek. Not one squeak. Nope nothing!

 

[lpsouth1978]

I love the tank, but I can see that you will have to come up with a way to store things in it. I would have some melamine coated shelf cut and attach it inside there with some small "L" brackets or something.

Looking forward to seeing it wet.

PS - You are going to LOVE the AI Hydras. They can be a little bit of work finding the program and settings that work for you, but they are GREAT lights (IMO). :D

 

[ShaggyRS6]

It's wet! Well half wet. I had enough water to fill up about an inch of the overflow box. This work out perfectly as I am checking for leaks why I may another 30 gallons! No leaks found in the glass of the connections is the bottom of the overflow into the sump.

Next will be to let the overflow box fill and then flow into sump. Couple of points to note:

The Ehiem 250W heaters are too big. I am going to keep one for salt mix and return the other. I'll get something tomorrow from my LFS that will fit. For the time being I will run the heater in the main tank while I mix the salt.

If you order a Vectra return pump, BE AWARE, that there are no fitments with the pump or the WB aquarium. If I had opened the pump up when I received it I could have saved myself half the day driving around trying to get the right PVC connections. I guess there was a plus. I drove all the way to Nashville Aquatics (which by the way is awesome) and they had almost everything I needed.

Pics below:

These are the parts you will need, from left to right. The blue part comes with the pump, you will need to glue the next part into that. Then the next part into that, and then the part that's in the rubber hose to that!

Like so!

And it looks like this glues together.

It's wet!

 

[CheckeredPants]

Glad you found the parts you needed!!

 

[ImNemo]

I replaced my jager heaters with the finnex titanium. It would be a much better fit for your sump at 8". I'm running one 300 watt on a 160 and my temps stay at 78.

Amazon product ASIN B0036UMBVW

 

[NPD_289]

Looking good. I'm interested to see how you end up mounting your controllers and manage the cables. Love the larger sump Waterbox is using but leaves little room for anything else...lol

 

[LadyMac]

Very nice! I’m really loving all the photos!