The Project: Waterbox 60.2 Marine Plus

[S.Pepper]

Day 3 with my new corals (14) and all are doing well. Really liking the neon green gsp. I plan on gluing these to the back glass and hopefully they grow like weeds and cover it.

 

[S.Pepper]

Breakfast with the Beatles.

 

[S.Pepper]

Here, there, and everywhere. The ubiquitous song.;Smuggrin

 

[S.Pepper]

9 corals from 2 different vendors received today and all are doing well. 5 more tomorrow. I was trying to hold with any pictures until my filter lenses came in, but.....


These look so much better in person. Neon tip purple torch, and orange ricordea.

Here's the orange ricordea with the filter for my phone camera. What a difference.

 

[PacoPetty]

I never glued any of mine , I don’t like doing it as you never know what the flow will do, how it will push the sand and normally moving the rock around can help with that. Looks good!

I am the same way. I always wait to see what the structure does in water but I still never glue.

 

[S.Pepper]

The song of the evening. yeah, it's the Stones. Enjoy!

 

[sveOne]

Pepper, I have a question. I also have a WB 60.2 and is having a bit of a issue with the ATO when the filter clogs up.
I run filter floss in Octo cups. Tank is new, so the amount of dirt in the filter floss makes it almost impossible to
have 100% clean all the time. When they clog, my ATO gets triggered and dumps a lot of fresh water in. Kinda hard to
maintain salinity this way. Got this issue? Or any tips?

 

[SirRoot]

Pepper, I have a question. I also have a WB 60.2 and is having a bit of a issue with the ATO when the filter clogs up.
I run filter floss in Octo cups. Tank is new, so the amount of dirt in the filter floss makes it almost impossible to
have 100% clean all the time. When they clog, my ATO gets triggered and dumps a lot of fresh water in. Kinda hard to
maintain salinity this way. Got this issue? Or any tips?

I too have this issue on my 60.2 (I use a 3D Printed Cup from Reefway.org) with only a pair of clowns and regular feeding. It also happened alot when I was dosing NOPOX apart of the RedSeaMatureCycle kit but from what I read this wreaks havoc on mechanical filtration. I resorted to only leaving one cup in leaving the other completely free to deal with the rising water level in case the other one gets blocked (leaving sump waterlevel / ATO intact). So far water is still crystal clear and anything that makes its way to the sump will find its way to the skimmer.

I too would be interested on how Pepper deals with it.

 

[S.Pepper]

I'm running the dual density media from inTank--the white and blue filter floss. I have had issues with the floss getting clogged up after one day and the water getting backed up a little, but I just change it out. I haven't notice any issue with the ATO being affected by this, but then again, I will change the filter floss out daily. However, if I were leaving for a few days, I probably wouldn't use this filter floss while I was away. I would probably use socks or nothing.

 

[S.Pepper]

The song for the evening/morning. A little Warren Haynes and Stevie Nicks: Gold Dust Woman.

 

[S.Pepper]

After 3.5 months I am finally at the ugly stage. Diatoms have turned into green algae. From what I've read the next stage is coralline algae--I hope. All of my corals (14) aren't just surviving, but thriving: hammers, torch, ricordea, paly/zoas. I did 10% water change this past Saturday and checked my parameters before doing it. They are as follows:

Salinity: 35ppm
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5ppm
PH: 8.2
Alk: 9.8
Calc: 460
Mag: 1560
Phosphate: .02

I've been dosing 10mls of Tropic Marin All-for-Reef daily.

Here's a few pics.

 

[smiley_riley]

I'm not sure how all of this got started, but I believe it was a late evening while I was perusing YouTube and I saw a link to a Biocube 32. I decided to click the link and was immediately hooked. While I have always been fascinated by having a SW tank, I always considered it, for some reason, out of the realm of possibility. I spent the next several weeks watching Utube videos and reading information on forums like this gathering information on how to make the dream a reality. During this time of research, I came upon other tank builds and manufacturers but nothing that interested me enough that said, "yeah, u want to spend more $$ for that." That was until I came upon WaterBox.

So, I have spent the last 2 weeks learning more about the hobby and configuring the equipment I needed for a 45.2 Marine Plus. All-the-while I kept looking at the 60.2. It was only $100 more, but I kept saying to myself that I had to cut it off some where. Welp, you know the moral of the story, I'm buying the 60.2.--Because bigger is better.;Smuggrin

It looks like hardware that I have configured for the 45.2 is transferrable to the 60.2. The real question is whether I have made the right choice in the first place.

I'm at that point that I need to bounce my ideas, thoughts, and choices off those who have a lot more experience than I do. A month ago i didn't have a clue how an aquarium sump system worked (not saying I do now), much less the names of any of these vendors. Heck, I would be ashamed to tell anyone how many hours I've spent watching videos and reading about protein skimmers alone--and i'm still not sure which one i want/need.--a little tongue and cheek.

I almost forgot. It probably will help it I told you what kind of tank I am looking to have. I'm looking to have LPS and soft corals, along with some fish and clams. I know i'm not dealing with SPS corals at this point.

The first part of this is going to deal with the hardware than runs and maintains the system. Ancillary stuff like testing kits, etc., will come later.

If a choice I've made will work well, let me know. If a choice I've made will work, but I might want to consider something else, let me know. Or Whatever you do, Don't do that.

Thanks for any help one wants to contribute.

1) Return Pump: I really focused here first. I started out trying to conserve $$ and going with a pump by Jebao from China. It got nice reviews, but in the final choice I decided to go with something premium... because I had a premium tank. I chose the Reef Octopus Varios 2 ( I was going to post a link, but it appears the system won't let me) From all accounts this is an awesome pump and should fit my system nicely. I did speak with a guy online that was using this pump in a Waterbox 70.3.

2) Protein Skimmer: As I mentioned earlier, this was a tough one for me. 3 skimmers in consideration: 1) Red Sea RSK 300; 2) Reef Octopus Essence S-130; 3) Reef Octopus 110 Space Saver. I'm leaning towards the RO 110 Space Saver. It has the smallest footprint of 6.1" x 7.87". I am considering doing a refugium in my skimmer box (10.2" x 14.6). I don't know if that'll leave me enough room, but if I have a chance this is the one that will do it. I would luv to hear any thoughts others have, as this is way out of my league at this point. Additionally, I have spoken with 2 individuals online that have the RO 110 and they claimed it worked well and would recommend it.

3) Powerheads: I cannot believe the prices of these things. I may end up spending as much for my powerhead as I am for my return pump. I have 2 in mind: 1)Reef Octopus Octo Pulse 2 Wave Pump; 2) Icecap Gyre Flow Pump. The Octo Pulse gets rave reviews and looks like it will do well for my tank. It's on the pricier side, but if it will do the job... here's my credit card. I love the whole concept behind the Icecap Gyre and the coverage it will give my tank, but it looks like it has some real dependability issues. If I knew this thing would work dependably, I would definitely buy it. I've watched and read a lot of reviews that give this powerhead a good rating, but I've also read too many reviews on this thing breaking down. I threw this in here because I would be interested in what others had to say.

4) ATO: I haven't spent a lot time on this, but one that stuck out at me and came within a price point I was comfortable with is the XP Aqua Duetto. By almost all accounts this should get the job done, but I am open to suggestions.

5) Aquarium Rock: I know I said I was going to keep this to hardware at this point, but this one has been bothering me. The whole curing thing just didn't appeal to me and I didn't want to spend 6-10 weeks dealing with it. So I think I found a solution... because i'm willing to pay for it. Arc Reef Rock offers fully cured rock at $2.99 lb. I figure i'll need about 45lbs. it's about double what I was going to spend initially for uncured rock and it's worth it to me. The reviews have been great. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I would luv to hear them. Also, I think I am going to use their Purple Helix Coralline algae during the cycling phase.

6) Lights: As far as lights go, I am going with the lights that come with my package: AI HD Prime. I am told this will work for my tank with the livestock I plan on keeping. AI HD Prime have good reviews. If I need to add another one, I will on down the road. If I find they don't work well, i'll change them out... on down the road. This was an edit. I forgot to include this with my original post.

Thanks for your help in advance.

wow, what is "Precured Rock" is that "dryrock"

 

[S.Pepper]

wow, what is "Precured Rock" is that "dryrock"

You can go here and read all about it: https://arcreef.com/product/dry-live-rock/

 

[S.Pepper]

I have really been getting into cyphastrea, lately. Jason Fox, cornbread bling bling. Killer looking piece.

 

[S.Pepper]

I would have loved to have been there. I would have given my left...…………………..pinky toe for it. ;Smuggrin

 

[S.Pepper]

I have a feeling Jason will be getting some of my $$ soon. Atlantis Original Meteor Shower Cyphastrea Ocellina.

 

[S.Pepper]

Munching some LRS. Wow! LOL. Made the video and added music. I never stop amazing myself.

 

[S.Pepper]

An oldie but goodie. The Smiths, Girlfriend in a Coma.

 

[S.Pepper]

The uglies really are ugly. I can't stand looking at my tank at this point. Hope this gets over soon.

 

[S.Pepper]

It looks like the this build project is going to come to an end. I tried to do everything I could before purchasing so I didn't have to do this, but i'm going to have to do this. This tank just isn't going to do it. I can't keep the fish I want in this system, so why have the system. I convinced myself I could be happy concentrating on corals for this build and having a pair of clowns and what not. Nope, I can't do it. I want my wrasses!! Along with a few other fish that won't work for this system.

So I am upgrading to a Innovation Marine 75 gallon ext, or a Mode Aquarium Infinity Series 75 gallon. Both of these systems come with a aluminum cabinet, which was a requirement for any new system. I have a thread asking for some help with the new system. We'll see what happens.