I set my waterbox 100.3 reef tank up towards the end of September, 2019, so it is not quite a new build. I have been in the hobby for around 12-13 years, but am somewhat of a noob when it comes to corals. My first tank was a 90 gallon that is still set up at my parent’s home today, and is still going strong. Then I set up a budget 20 gallon tank with a homemade sump when I went to college. The waterbox has now fully replaced my 20 gallon tank.
I started my tank with dry rock and live sand, and eventually added some of the bigger pieces of live rock, that have coral on them, from my 20 gal. during teardown. I am slowly upgrading equipment on my waterbox build and am debating whether should go with a protein skimmer or a refugium style sump. I am still using the standard sump that comes with the waterbox tank, so doing both wouldn’t be easy. I constructed a home made open-top box in the sump out of egg crate from home depot for algae like cheato to tumble, without being sucked into the return pump, but the first round did not do well. I was unsure if it was too much light, not enough light, not enough flow, or some combination of the above. I was running the refugium light for around 8-10 hours overnight while the main display lights were off. Recently I added a small powerhead to the sump to supplement flow, so i’m planning on trying again soon.
I’m attaching various photos of the build that I have, and will post more of the tank’s current state soon!
Thanks for reading!
Eric
I started my tank with dry rock and live sand, and eventually added some of the bigger pieces of live rock, that have coral on them, from my 20 gal. during teardown. I am slowly upgrading equipment on my waterbox build and am debating whether should go with a protein skimmer or a refugium style sump. I am still using the standard sump that comes with the waterbox tank, so doing both wouldn’t be easy. I constructed a home made open-top box in the sump out of egg crate from home depot for algae like cheato to tumble, without being sucked into the return pump, but the first round did not do well. I was unsure if it was too much light, not enough light, not enough flow, or some combination of the above. I was running the refugium light for around 8-10 hours overnight while the main display lights were off. Recently I added a small powerhead to the sump to supplement flow, so i’m planning on trying again soon.
I’m attaching various photos of the build that I have, and will post more of the tank’s current state soon!
Thanks for reading!
Eric
