ReefBottoms
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2026
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Palm Beach Gardens
- What state or country do you live in
- Florida
I’m documenting the life of my most recent tank build. This tank is the by-product of my first born, and the need to move the house around to accommodate new family needs.
The placement of this tank may stir the pot as accessibility to the side and back are very limited. This is a common theme at my current town home, but we make do. It’s tucked in a space about 3 inches wider than the tank, and the same depth as the tank. It almost looks like it was planned to be built in there.
I’ve always wanted a WaterBox. Their reputation is the polar opposite of a Red Sea. I was short on time and lucked out on a Facebook marketplace find, the usual story of “going bigger”. The tank was young, less than 2 years and looked well maintained. This guy was blowing out walls of his home to make room for his next tank. I’m not that far into the hobby yet, although I did have to install new outlets for this tank to work, so some holes were made.
After leak testing the tank for over a week, electric and drywall work, and installing some acrylic panels on the drywall to protect them from salt creep/spray, it was time to do the dreaded swap. I hired one of the guys from my LFS to assist with bringing another set of hands and water. Here in South Florida I use natural sea water from the LFS and have never had an issue. I dose to bring my elements where I want them as they tend to be on the lower side from the ocean.
After a very stressful afternoon, the overall process went as smoothly as it could’ve. All my live rock was reused, and I attempted to put my aquascape back the exact way It was. We got it close, but not exact, and in my opinion it’s more ideal than it previously was.
I have enjoyed having a sump after dealing with an undrilled tank for almost 3 years. The mechanical filtration I’m able to use now makes me feel spoiled, and it’s much less messy and time consuming than what I’ve been used to (3 HOB filters).
Equipment:
From top to bottom
Reef Breeder Photon 32” V2
Reef Breeder Lumen Bar 48”
Kraken Lids
Red Sea Gyre RS Wave 45 x 2
Nero 7
Ecotek Vectra Return
Red Sea ReefMat 500
Aqua Top Titanium Heater x 2
Tunze Refugium Eco Chic Light
Tunze Osmolator 3 ATO
Kamoer F1 Dosing Pump
BRS Mini reactor w/ Sicce pump
Amazon Auto Feeder
Live Stock
Sailfin Tang
Tomini Tang
Clowns
Ruby Head Fairy Wrasse
Leopard Wrasse
Flameback Angel
1M/3F Threadfin Goldie Anthias
Mandarin Goby
Pistol Shrimp
Lots of clean up crew
My wishlist is the inD Aquatics automatic frozen fish feeder to assist with keeping my anthias happy. I also plan of having a canopy made for this tank to help reduce light spilling into my living room.
I turned my lights down by about half to reduce the stress of moving, and because my lights sit about half as high as they used to as I elected to use the side mounts instead of drilling more holes in my ceiling. Eventually they will be mounted in my canopy so I can have the fancy kraken lids fit properly (the OG owner used BOT light mounts). Our LFS PAR meter has been held hostage by a seemingly selfish client, and I’ll eventually map out my tanks PAR. I like to get measurements now, and then turn the lights up to what I want them to be eventually and map those settings, and work towards them.
For now I’m fine tuning my alkalinity dosing schedule to nail 8.0dKh. I’m very close to doing so. I’ve also been tinkering with my media reactor and tumbling a very small amount of RowaPhos (1Tbsp) to slowly bring P04 down, as I’ve been feeding very heavy after the addition of the anthias and leopard wrasse. They were quarantined and eating very well prior to adding.
The placement of this tank may stir the pot as accessibility to the side and back are very limited. This is a common theme at my current town home, but we make do. It’s tucked in a space about 3 inches wider than the tank, and the same depth as the tank. It almost looks like it was planned to be built in there.
I’ve always wanted a WaterBox. Their reputation is the polar opposite of a Red Sea. I was short on time and lucked out on a Facebook marketplace find, the usual story of “going bigger”. The tank was young, less than 2 years and looked well maintained. This guy was blowing out walls of his home to make room for his next tank. I’m not that far into the hobby yet, although I did have to install new outlets for this tank to work, so some holes were made.
After leak testing the tank for over a week, electric and drywall work, and installing some acrylic panels on the drywall to protect them from salt creep/spray, it was time to do the dreaded swap. I hired one of the guys from my LFS to assist with bringing another set of hands and water. Here in South Florida I use natural sea water from the LFS and have never had an issue. I dose to bring my elements where I want them as they tend to be on the lower side from the ocean.
After a very stressful afternoon, the overall process went as smoothly as it could’ve. All my live rock was reused, and I attempted to put my aquascape back the exact way It was. We got it close, but not exact, and in my opinion it’s more ideal than it previously was.
I have enjoyed having a sump after dealing with an undrilled tank for almost 3 years. The mechanical filtration I’m able to use now makes me feel spoiled, and it’s much less messy and time consuming than what I’ve been used to (3 HOB filters).
Equipment:
From top to bottom
Reef Breeder Photon 32” V2
Reef Breeder Lumen Bar 48”
Kraken Lids
Red Sea Gyre RS Wave 45 x 2
Nero 7
Ecotek Vectra Return
Red Sea ReefMat 500
Aqua Top Titanium Heater x 2
Tunze Refugium Eco Chic Light
Tunze Osmolator 3 ATO
Kamoer F1 Dosing Pump
BRS Mini reactor w/ Sicce pump
Amazon Auto Feeder
Live Stock
Sailfin Tang
Tomini Tang
Clowns
Ruby Head Fairy Wrasse
Leopard Wrasse
Flameback Angel
1M/3F Threadfin Goldie Anthias
Mandarin Goby
Pistol Shrimp
Lots of clean up crew
My wishlist is the inD Aquatics automatic frozen fish feeder to assist with keeping my anthias happy. I also plan of having a canopy made for this tank to help reduce light spilling into my living room.
I turned my lights down by about half to reduce the stress of moving, and because my lights sit about half as high as they used to as I elected to use the side mounts instead of drilling more holes in my ceiling. Eventually they will be mounted in my canopy so I can have the fancy kraken lids fit properly (the OG owner used BOT light mounts). Our LFS PAR meter has been held hostage by a seemingly selfish client, and I’ll eventually map out my tanks PAR. I like to get measurements now, and then turn the lights up to what I want them to be eventually and map those settings, and work towards them.
For now I’m fine tuning my alkalinity dosing schedule to nail 8.0dKh. I’m very close to doing so. I’ve also been tinkering with my media reactor and tumbling a very small amount of RowaPhos (1Tbsp) to slowly bring P04 down, as I’ve been feeding very heavy after the addition of the anthias and leopard wrasse. They were quarantined and eating very well prior to adding.
