Waterbox 130.4 tank build

[LadyMac]

Thank you.
Honestly, I wake up in the morning & rush home each day eager to look at my tank. They're just so fascinating & beautiful, aren’t they?

Indeed they are! They are another world, a great escape :)

 

[Blutspitze]

Looking beautiful! I'm loving the scaping as well, and so glad that everyone's taking to their new home nicely :D

 

[s_tempest]

So I took a quick trip to OSA Coral yesterday for their 7th anniversary bash. It’s an hour drive. What a fun event! And the enthusiasm and support that Scott Crowe & his crew show to people in the hobby is inspi

I came home with a few nice pieces to add to the tank: ricordea, acans, leptoseris, a gold-colored psammocora (I think) and a nice green pavona. I’ll take some pictures at some point - for now all the new stuff is sitting on the sand bed getting used to things.

 

[Blutspitze]

Can't wait to see the new additions!

 

[s_tempest]

Tank updates:
Things are largely going well. Seeing growth on the corals. Got a rose BTA that is getting large. Elegance and hammer have never looked happier (they got moved from my nano tank).

I had the chance to rent a PAR meter today (thanks, Wet Pets in Vernon CT) because I've been curious about PAR measurements with my lights. I have 2 Hydra 26 HDs. I'm going to post a thread in the lighting forum detailing the measurements I took - I'll put a link to that thread here once I have it.

 

[s_tempest]

Here is a link to the post I just added showing all the data (lots of photos!) documenting how I test various lighting heights and spectra with the PAR meter.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r2r-par-database.538894/page-3#post-6545278

 

[Blutspitze]

Wow! Tank is looking great and love how the corals are popping on the scape. Not to mention having new testing equipment is always fun :D

 

[s_tempest]

Just some gratuitous tank photos this morning.

Happy nem!

 

[Blutspitze]

Looking great! Love the extension, and everything so lively in the video.

 

[erics]

How did the refugium baffle end up working out? I am thinking of doing something similar on the 130.4 I am building.

 

[Crabby48]

Looks great! Love the rockscape

 

[s_tempest]

How did the refugium baffle end up working out? I am thinking of doing something similar on the 130.4 I am building.

So far it is working well. There's definitely enough space for my skimmer plus the fuge chamber. I have a piece of live rock from my old tank in that fuge space for now. I tried a bit of chaeto a few weeks ago but my tank was so young that I probably don't have enough to keep it going. Or, the repurposed little LED light I put over the chamber is not enough for chaeto growth. It sort of slowly broke apart and pieces got carried to the main display or broken down. I'm thinking it is about time to try a bit more. I have an older AI prime I'm not using that I'm thinking of installing over the fuge next time I'm down in their cleaning things out in the sump. I also added copepods to the fuge (Reef Nutrition Tigger Pods) which I prompty never saw again. But I notice my fish constantly picking at the rock in my tank, so maybe there is a pod population still and they are finding them.

I have a bit of hair algae starting to show up on that live rock in the fuge (probably carry over from my old tank); luckily not showing up in the main display. There is also a bit of film algae on the glass and inside the skimmer body from the fuge light, but nothing that can't easily be scraped away when I clean. Maybe I should throw a crab or snail down there to work on it.

I think if I could do it again, I would set the top of the baffle just a bit higher, so it is maybe 1/2" higher than the baffle into the return pump chamber. Mine is at the same height, and there is quite a bit of flow over the baffle from skimmer to fuge, especially if I have my return pump turned up or I when I used the sponge in that bubble-trap before the return pump. Most flow is still under the baffle - it is raised 1" off the bottom.

 

[s_tempest]

Till-I-figure-out-where-it-all-goes frag rack after the CTARS Fragtoberfest yesterday. So fancy!
My dear wife asked, “do we have room for all of those? where are you going to put everything?”
”Ssh ... Sweetheart, that’s not important right now.”

 

[Blutspitze]

Till-I-figure-out-where-it-all-goes frag rack after the CTARS Fragtoberfest yesterday. So fancy!
My dear wife asked, “do we have room for all of those? where are you going to put everything?”
”Ssh ... Sweetheart, that’s not important right now.”

The pretty is what matters, everyone knows this. Logic be darned!

 

[qnguyen]

Can you take a few more picture of your controller cabinet with the drawer slides?

How is it working out for you? Is there anything that you would have done differently in hindsight?

Could mounting the drawer slides underneath the cabinet also work in order to keep them out of sight?

Thanks

 

[s_tempest]

Can you take a few more picture of your controller cabinet with the drawer slides?

How is it working out for you? Is there anything that you would have done differently in hindsight?

Could mounting the drawer slides underneath the cabinet also work in order to keep them out of sight?

Thanks

I will try to get some more & better photos soon. Thanks for the interest.

I like how it worked out, a lot! I have several 2“ desk grommets on the narrow rear side to feed cables into the/ box, and grommets on each side to feed out to the mounted controllers. The slides are working well too. My only issue is that some of the cables (such as to my thermometer and to one of the gyre pumps) are a bit short, so when I pull the cabinet out all the way it moves the pump.
I guess you could mount one slide under the cabinet, but I’d worry that just one slide would be too weak especially mounted underneath. You could do top & bottom, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to drill or screw up in to where the tank sits.

 

[s_tempest]

here are a few pictures of the controller cabinet. Let me know if you have any questions - happy to help.

 

[qnguyen]

Nice. Thanks for the additional photos. It helps me visualize it better. I think I may try something similar but I'll probably put two rails on the bottom and see if that is enough to provide a stable foundation. I could always add a third rail if necessary. I was also thinking of keep the inside part of the box empty so that I can store my dosing containers inside hidden behind a smoked glass or acrylic front held with magnets. And then light the inside with led for some bling. Thanks for giving me some ideas!

 

[Hop2jr]

What brand smart out let did you buy? Saw geni or TP are the only 2 with six outlets. Going to buy one this weekend never thought about Wi-Fi thanks going tech too

 

[s_tempest]

What brand smart out let did you buy? Saw geni or TP are the only 2 with six outlets. Going to buy one this weekend never thought about Wi-Fi thanks going tech too

I searched Amazon and found a brand called Kasa. I like it, connects easily to my phone & Ipad, and lets me control outlets thru the app directly and with schedule & timer outlets individally and in groups. Maybe they all do this - I have nothing to compare it too.
Kasa also has security cameras that interfaces with the app. I have mine trained on my tank so I can look at my tank on my phone .