A few people on the Waterbox facebook page requested I post the pictures of my build here, so here it is.
20 years in the hobby, downsized a few years back from a 200gallon dual tank system (I can post some pictures of that too if anyone is interested) at my previous house to a 29g biocube. Kids are a little more grown up now and I decided to get a serious tank again.
Recently purchased a Waterbox 180.5. Decided this time I would do as little DIY with the equipment as possible (previously I had built my own LED lighting systems and so forth). Best of breed off the shelf parts wherever possible.
Parts list I decided on:
Waterbox 180.5 with 3x AI Hydra 32HD
Neptune COR 20 return pump
Maxspect Aquaduo skimmer (only recirculating skimmer with the footprint I needed)
Icecap Gyre 4k x2
Netpune DOS x3
Neptune Apex
Neptune FMM x2
Neptune LDK x1
Neptune AFS
Neptune OS-1-M
Neptune SV-1
BRS 600w heaters x2 (with controller)
Geo's SU36R-PRO-AFR Sump
Neptune flo-sensors (1/2" and 1")
Pentair Smart UV 40
Neptune Trident
Neptune PH and ORP Module (Mixing bucket)
Neptune Salinity Module (Mixing bucket)
Also decided, after a lot of back and forth, to go with a negative space custom designed aquascape using about 130lbs of Marco Rock, and a 1" special grade sand bed. Supplimented the Marco Rock with a Marinpure 8x8x4 block in the sump (for now, may change this down the road a bit).
Here is the (aesthetically) completed tank as it is now:
This is what the area (dining room) started out looking like:
First step was painting the whole room (didn't take pictures of this) and having a dedicated 20amp outlet installed for the tank.
(this was taken after the cabinet was put in). The 1/4 tubes there run from the tank to my garage where my DOSing pumps, RO/DI, mixing station and so forth is located.
Got my finger in there! But you can see the 10g fresh water container, 32g Brute I use for mixing (it has a Korallia, Heater, and low water indicator currently, eventually I'm going to add PH, Temp and Salinity as well). Dos pump is missing (should be right above the FMM) because I had to send it back for repairs, one of the heads went out on me. Should have it back this week I hope. I plan to add 2 more DOS pumps as well, the one I currently have is for automatic water changes, the other 2 will be for dosing 3 part alk/calc/mag, but I'm doing that by hand now.
Tank arrives. Getting it up the driveway (we have one of those stupid really angled
First step of setting up the tank was creating the aquascaping. I swear I got some more pictures of the assembly of this (my kids helped) but I cannot find them at the moment, regardless this was after gluing and pre mortar.
After adding the mortar.
Stand set up
Tank seated (took 6 people and a lot of careful coordination. There was a small ding in one of the doors, and I've been working with Waterbox to get that replaced (first door they sent had the wrong placement for the hinges but supposedly another one is on the way now, and they've been great to work with).
Current (temporary) sump setup. This the waterbox sump (which is very nice, solid glass), but not terribly space efficient for me since I don't use the ATO resevoir. As such I ordered a GEO sump which should arrive sometime in December. As Geo is building that sump with the Neptune Cor20 plumbed in, and the Maxspect Skimmer and Neptune ATO I don't have those pieces of equipment so I picked up a Red Sea Reefer 300 (which I will probably sell once the permanent sump arrives) and a backup Hygger inexpensive return pump (which I will keep as an emergency backup pump long term). So far so good. You can also see the 2 leak sensors here.
I can't find any pictures of my building the shelves and cabinets at the moment, my wife may have them. The shelves were built out of 1x12 pine hardwood I piked up at the hardware store. Basically you build support like this:
Then build a box around it (so it fits tightly) then paint, and slide it over the supports. In my case I also cut grooves into the supports to place wiring so I could run electrical to each shelf for lighting (or any objects we might put on the shelves which need power). I also installed a 5" LED light into each of the lower two shelves.
The cabinets are made out of black melamine which I picked up at a local lumber yard, required 2 sheets. They are simple boxes with a mostly open back and not attached to the wall (so that they can be moved if I need to get behind the tank). Below is an interior shot:
They fit very snuggly and don't move at all, Doors are a little to big (so a bit unbalanced) but I wanted them to look clean so it's fine (instead of doing two doors each).
Left side cabinet. I'm still deciding whether I am going to add shelves or not to these, so for right now I'm leaving them as is until I make up my mind.
The other big addition I made was a custom built computer board that slides in and out from inside the Waterbox cabinet:
Computer board when it's in it's hidden state.
When pulled out. Really happy with how this turned out, works great (though I need to install some kind of stop to keep it out as it has a tendency to slide back in on its own).
I still have a lot of work to do, but this is a good start. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask, I'm happy to explain what I can. If I can find some more pictures I will add them to the thread as well.
20 years in the hobby, downsized a few years back from a 200gallon dual tank system (I can post some pictures of that too if anyone is interested) at my previous house to a 29g biocube. Kids are a little more grown up now and I decided to get a serious tank again.
Recently purchased a Waterbox 180.5. Decided this time I would do as little DIY with the equipment as possible (previously I had built my own LED lighting systems and so forth). Best of breed off the shelf parts wherever possible.
Parts list I decided on:
Waterbox 180.5 with 3x AI Hydra 32HD
Neptune COR 20 return pump
Maxspect Aquaduo skimmer (only recirculating skimmer with the footprint I needed)
Icecap Gyre 4k x2
Netpune DOS x3
Neptune Apex
Neptune FMM x2
Neptune LDK x1
Neptune AFS
Neptune OS-1-M
Neptune SV-1
BRS 600w heaters x2 (with controller)
Geo's SU36R-PRO-AFR Sump
Neptune flo-sensors (1/2" and 1")
Pentair Smart UV 40
Neptune Trident
Neptune PH and ORP Module (Mixing bucket)
Neptune Salinity Module (Mixing bucket)
Also decided, after a lot of back and forth, to go with a negative space custom designed aquascape using about 130lbs of Marco Rock, and a 1" special grade sand bed. Supplimented the Marco Rock with a Marinpure 8x8x4 block in the sump (for now, may change this down the road a bit).
Here is the (aesthetically) completed tank as it is now:
This is what the area (dining room) started out looking like:
First step was painting the whole room (didn't take pictures of this) and having a dedicated 20amp outlet installed for the tank.
(this was taken after the cabinet was put in). The 1/4 tubes there run from the tank to my garage where my DOSing pumps, RO/DI, mixing station and so forth is located.
Got my finger in there! But you can see the 10g fresh water container, 32g Brute I use for mixing (it has a Korallia, Heater, and low water indicator currently, eventually I'm going to add PH, Temp and Salinity as well). Dos pump is missing (should be right above the FMM) because I had to send it back for repairs, one of the heads went out on me. Should have it back this week I hope. I plan to add 2 more DOS pumps as well, the one I currently have is for automatic water changes, the other 2 will be for dosing 3 part alk/calc/mag, but I'm doing that by hand now.
Tank arrives. Getting it up the driveway (we have one of those stupid really angled
First step of setting up the tank was creating the aquascaping. I swear I got some more pictures of the assembly of this (my kids helped) but I cannot find them at the moment, regardless this was after gluing and pre mortar.
After adding the mortar.
Stand set up
Tank seated (took 6 people and a lot of careful coordination. There was a small ding in one of the doors, and I've been working with Waterbox to get that replaced (first door they sent had the wrong placement for the hinges but supposedly another one is on the way now, and they've been great to work with).
Current (temporary) sump setup. This the waterbox sump (which is very nice, solid glass), but not terribly space efficient for me since I don't use the ATO resevoir. As such I ordered a GEO sump which should arrive sometime in December. As Geo is building that sump with the Neptune Cor20 plumbed in, and the Maxspect Skimmer and Neptune ATO I don't have those pieces of equipment so I picked up a Red Sea Reefer 300 (which I will probably sell once the permanent sump arrives) and a backup Hygger inexpensive return pump (which I will keep as an emergency backup pump long term). So far so good. You can also see the 2 leak sensors here.
I can't find any pictures of my building the shelves and cabinets at the moment, my wife may have them. The shelves were built out of 1x12 pine hardwood I piked up at the hardware store. Basically you build support like this:
Then build a box around it (so it fits tightly) then paint, and slide it over the supports. In my case I also cut grooves into the supports to place wiring so I could run electrical to each shelf for lighting (or any objects we might put on the shelves which need power). I also installed a 5" LED light into each of the lower two shelves.
The cabinets are made out of black melamine which I picked up at a local lumber yard, required 2 sheets. They are simple boxes with a mostly open back and not attached to the wall (so that they can be moved if I need to get behind the tank). Below is an interior shot:
They fit very snuggly and don't move at all, Doors are a little to big (so a bit unbalanced) but I wanted them to look clean so it's fine (instead of doing two doors each).
Left side cabinet. I'm still deciding whether I am going to add shelves or not to these, so for right now I'm leaving them as is until I make up my mind.
The other big addition I made was a custom built computer board that slides in and out from inside the Waterbox cabinet:
Computer board when it's in it's hidden state.
When pulled out. Really happy with how this turned out, works great (though I need to install some kind of stop to keep it out as it has a tendency to slide back in on its own).
I still have a lot of work to do, but this is a good start. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask, I'm happy to explain what I can. If I can find some more pictures I will add them to the thread as well.
