Supercounter's Waterbox X 60.2

[Supercounter]

Hey everyone,

After 8 years of nagging my girlfriend, I finally got permission to start my own marine aquarium.

I'd been looking at a RedSea Reefer 200 for years, but I started having second thoughts after all the RedSea horror stories these days.
I didn't want to take the risk, so I went for the Waterbox X 60.2.

I ordered it at the end of August from Coralandfishstore in the Netherlands, but due to production, it couldn't be delivered until early November.
Plenty of time to do a lot of research and planning.

I opted for the following setup:

Aquarium:
- Aquarium: Waterbox X 60.2
- Pump: Jecod DCP-5000
- Heater: Eheim Thermocontrol E 150W
- Lighting: Ecotech Marine Radion XR15 G6 Pro
- Lighting arm: Ecotech Marine RMS Single Radion Tank Mount XR15 G5/G6
- Refugium lamp: Tunze LED Eco Chic Refugium - 8831.000
- Flow pump/gyro: Maxspect Gyre Jump flow pump GF308
- ATO: Tunze Osmolator 3
- ATO container: Red Sea ReefCan 18 Liter
- Sand: CaribSea Ocean Direct Original Grade 18.14 kg
- Rocks: CaribSea Life Rock Reef Tree
- Live rock : Dark cured rubble in the sump
- Glass scraper: Tunze Care Magnet Long

Saltwater production system :
- Osmosis unit: OsmoPure 100 GE deluxe
- Container: 25L + 50L tank
- Heater: Eheim Thermocontrol E 150W
- Mixing pump: Tunze Nanostream 6015 (overkill, but can be used in the aquarium for additional flow if needed)
- Water pump for emptying and filling the tank: Sicce Ultra Zero
- Salt: Tropic Marin Pro-Reef Sea Salt 25 kg
- Salinity tester: D-D H2Ocean Refractometer
- Salinity calibration: Nightsun Refractocheck - liquid
- Simple test kit for basic checks: API Saltwater Liquid Master Test Kit

Quarantine aquarium:
- Aquarium: Superfish Aquarium Start 50 Tropical Kit Retro LED 39L
- Flow pump: Eheim Air Pump Air400
- Heater: Eheim Thermocontrol E 50W
- Amoniak check : Seachem Ammonia Alert
- Thermometer : Dupla Thermometer

For the tank's first cycle, I opted for the 90/10 biome cycle from Serious Reefs (Ryan, ex-BRS).
This method performs the first cycle as naturally as possible:
Caribsea Ocean direct sand + ultra live sand or dark cured live rock from an existing setup.

 

[Supercounter]

Cat's were pretty happy with all the new boxes to play with

 

[Supercounter]

After some tinkering, I finally found a setup I liked.
The plan is to place the Reefcan to the left of the cabinet and build a cabinet around it using walnut-colored insulation panels (I still had a few pieces of these lying around).

 

[Supercounter]

Week 1: Day 1
Sand in the tank and live rock in the sump.
I added an extra piece of glass to the left side of the sump to create a refugium.
I then attached a piece of grafting grid to the top.



The quarantine tank is also completely ready for the first fish.


For the quarantine, I used the Serious Reefs method, the SRQT method.

 

[Supercounter]

After collecting the fish, first allow the water temperature in the bag to equalize with that of the tank.

After that they got their first 6 hours of Tremazol bath for the Flukes.

After which they are allowed into the quarantine tank to which Copper Power and Metroplex have been added.

 

[kevgib67]

Looks like you are off to a great start!

 

[Supercounter]

First water check after 1 week of the cycle :

Ammonia

Nitrite


Nitrate


PH


Those results are better than expected after 1 week in the cycle
Is it normal that they are almost ideal after 1 week?

 

[Supercounter]

2 weeks have past and Clowns are in the Main tank
They have been exploring for a few days now, and it looks like they finally found their home in the rocks

Also bought a Tomini Tang, which is now undergoing his QT phase

 

[Supercounter]

Cabinet around ATO reservoir also done :)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! Your stand and aquascape look great!

 

[a_reefer11]

Def following along

 

[Supercounter]

1 month of progress

- Added Tomini Tang
- Added Cleanup Crew
- Added Copepods.

No major ugly stage yet.
The algae that forms is being cleared away pretty quickly by the tank itself :)
All values are excellent, and I'm currently only using filter sock for filtration.
I'll let it run for a few more weeks and then add the first corals.

Overall, pretty happy with my first tank :)
Big thank you to @Ryan - Serious Reefs for his Biome Cycle guide at Serious Reefs!

 

[Supercounter]

5 Weeks in, and ugly stage has arrived.
Overall not too bad. A little brown film on the sand and some green algae growing on the rocks and in patches on the bottom.

 

[bubbgee]

Hi, do try to look into a small dose of aquaforest life source. This is pretty good for accelerating tank maturity in my experience.

 

[Supercounter]

Update after a few months

Current tank inhabitants:

• 2 Clownfish
• 1 Tomini Tang
• 1 Yellow Watchman Goby + Pistol Shrimp combo (live together in the left rock)
• 1 Midas Blenny
• 1 Cleaner Shrimp
• 1 Hermit Crab
• 4 different types of snails

Coral:

• 1 Hammer Coral – Green
• 2 Clove Polyps – Green and Purple
• 1 Leather Mushroom
• 3 Chalice frags
• 1 Lobophyllia (Brain Coral)

Parameters:

• Temp: 25°C
• Salinity: 1.025
• Phosphate: 0.8
• Alk: 7.0

Additional equipment added:

• Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 150-S
• Rollermat: Red Sea Nanomat
• Autofeeder: Eheim autofeeder

I used 3 TP-Link Tapo smart plugs to automate the autofeeder for the following devices:

• Return pump
• Wavemaker
• Skimmer

Programming:

• All three devices switch off
• Autofeeder turns on. Pellets remain floating on the surface for a while
• After 10 minutes, the wavemaker turns on. Pellets now go underwater
• 10 minutes later, the return pump turns on
• 5 minutes later, the skimmer turns back on

Future plans:

• Add an autodoser together with Nyos 2-part system