Water box 90.3 marine x new reefer

[7gsreef]

Just sealed the deal at tank it easy in Chicago. Starting with a 90 gal system. My boss/friend is a guru in the hobbie so ill be following his advice on a lot of things.

Basic rundown of my planned system:
Sicce return pump
Kessil light (forgot the size. But its the size that covers 36x24inches ) getting a couple strips later to accommodate sps
A couple Mp 40s (i want to do more research to make sure i have my flow correct
Mechanical ato (100 bucks i think)
100 dollar heater (forgot the brand)

i plan to keep lps and sps and when i get the tank i will be coral cycling the tank to avoid the ugly phase and algae. Reefbuilders uses this method a few times.

i cant wait for this to start rolling

 

[7gsreef]

Reef octopus as the skimmer

 

[7gsreef]

I need to post updates but here’s what i have now.

 

[7gsreef]

I want to figure out a better flow pattern for my gyre too

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I'd spend a little more and get the Tunze ATO, its the only 'top of the line' that I would absolutely recommend. Probably the more reliable piece of equipment you can buy, and a ATO failure can be pretty costly to thing outside your tank.

 

[7gsreef]

I'd spend a little more and get the Tunze ATO, its the only 'top of the line' that I would absolutely recommend. Probably the more reliable piece of equipment you can buy, and a ATO failure can be pretty costly to thing outside your tank.

I actually got a jbj mechanical auto top off. Ive been running it for the last week and i really like the function of it. Definitely on a future setup i want to run more tunze equipment.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

JBJ has been around for a while so I’m sure they’re dependable too.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

If I may ask:

1. Did you lfs give you a discount on the Waterbox?
2. What made you buy from them vs the Waterbox website?
3. Do they deliver and install?

The reason I ask is because my lfs sells Waterbox at the same price as the website and does not deliver nor install. I’m trying to figure out what is the advantage of buying from the lfs when I can just buy it from Waterbox and have it delivered to my door.
Thank you and congrats.

 

[7gsreef]

JBJ has been around for a while so I’m sure they’re dependable too.

Sweet

 

[7gsreef]

If I may ask:

1. Did you lfs give you a discount on the Waterbox?
2. What made you buy from them vs the Waterbox website?
3. Do they deliver and install?

The reason I ask is because my lfs sells Waterbox at the same price as the website and does not deliver nor install. I’m trying to figure out what is the advantage of buying from the lfs when I can just buy it from Waterbox and have it delivered to my door.
Thank you and congrats.

My lfs let me go in 60% down. And I just finished paying off the rest last week before Reefapalooza Chicago.
So i bought from them for the same reason. And I just want to build a relationship with those at my LFS.
They Delievered to the LFS which im so happy they did because I didnt have space in my house to put the stand and tank properly somewhere.
I assembled the stand in a couple hours and went back to the lfs to get the tank.

 

[7gsreef]

Just some build photos

 

[7gsreef]

We encounter our first problem today.

I had a salinity swing in my 90.
Started at 35ppt now im at 34.3. The ato added a few gallons of fresh water. i had originally put the mechanical float too deep so the ato refill really dropped the salinity i guess.

just mixxed up a few gallons of 35.6ppt water to help bump up the ratio slowly

 

[7gsreef]

Starting to create a cadence with my ato. My water was too salty because the digital salinity meter from hanna was off. I floated the calibration bag for 15 mins then calibrated the device.
After doing so. I found that my water was 1
too salty now.
Im going to get a secondary way to measure salinity that way i can maintain an accurate measure.
Ive also reconnected my ato to top off my tank, upon doing so my ato dumped in more freshwater. Im beginning to get the hang of it.

 

[7gsreef]

Just got back from vacation. It looks like im getting diatoms on my sand bend and i found an aptasia polyp. If more appear ill ask my friend for a nudibraunch to hopfully consume them. If not ill try aptasia X when I get paid next.

Currently about to begin testing.

 

[7gsreef]

Just performed my first 8 gallon water change for the reef. The parameters yesterday looked pretty good so i decided to perform the water change.
I dosed benereef last week to help lower my phosphates naturally. It helped. It went from .15 to .3 over the week. I tested twice to make sure it read correctly.
Unfortunately i dont have a way to heat nor keep my stored saltwater under a flow so i hope those factors do not affect the reef badly.

god of war zoanthids are coming back. I got them from rap half bleached by accident. Really glad they like my tank

ive also added my first two euphyllia to the tank. A frammer from exotic reef aquatic and a pink frogspawn from tank it easy.
Im also about to move my gonipora up on a rock. Im excited and terrified because its my first time clipping off the plug and i dont want to ruin the coral.

 

[7gsreef]

I got a siphon so ny water changing has been more effective and many more corals. Im already trying out some acros i got from tgc, and sbb.
I love the hobby so far.
Just saw some vermitted snails on my euphyllia I will take care of them before the multiply. I do have bumblee snails although i dont know if they help that much.

 

[7gsreef]

We still going hard.
I recently beat out cyano really bad.
Added more acros,
Added hard to keep fish (white tail bristletooth, and a mandarin goby)
Added more goni, shrooms, and also more rock to fill up space.

Month 5. Only about 3 corals have died. 2 of which were acros.

the photos is just a dump of what has happened over the past two months lots and lots and lots of growth.

my rocks are in their final form

 

[7gsreef]

We still going hard.
I recently beat out cyano really bad.
Added more acros,
Added hard to keep fish (white tail bristletooth, and a mandarin goby)
Added more goni, shrooms, and also more rock to fill up space.

Month 5. Only about 3 corals have died. 2 of which were acros.

the photos is just a dump of what has happened over the past two months lots and lots and lots of growth.

my rocks are in their final form

 

[7gsreef]

Month 6.
I lost my marigold hg torch.
Pretty painful. To my wallet and myself. It was sad to see happen

 

[Jaybeastin]

We still going hard.
I recently beat out cyano really bad.
Added more acros,
Added hard to keep fish (white tail bristletooth, and a mandarin goby)
Added more goni, shrooms, and also more rock to fill up space.

Month 5. Only about 3 corals have died. 2 of which were acros.

the photos is just a dump of what has happened over the past two months lots and lots and lots of growth.

my rocks are in their final form

Nice tank!! Where did you get the white tail??