Waterbox 70.2 Platinum Reef Build

[Tripptastic]

2) The rock is doing great. I had it soaking in pool choline for 6 days, 2 three day cycles with a good rinse between. For the past 2 days, I have been running a dechlorinator in with the water and keep rinsing it all out each night. I finally don't smell any more bleach, but that's not to say there still isn't some in the water. I will use test strips to determine if any bleach is still detectable tomorrow.

I borrowed my mother's Dremel and got a bit for cutting tile and tonight I did a quick test on the rock and I was able to cut through the rock like it was butter! This will be a valuable tool for many reasons. Now, I will be able to hollow out hiding areas, pass throughs, and carve out areas so pieces of rock connect with another piece seamlessly.

 

[Tripptastic]

3) While I love the footprint of the stand, you will notice a theme of warm colors in my living room. The stand doesn't blend in, and stands out, not in an eye sore way, but it doesn't match. I found a company RM Wraps and they carry two lines: 3M DI-NOC, and Belbien for a combined total of over 1,200 colors, prints, and patterns. If you want wood, any style, and color is available. Want metal? What about some abstract patterns? They even do custom prints too. I literally spent over an hour on their website and I ordered 40 samples. The first one came in before the others and I don't even care to see the rest now....I'm in love, lol. I found a winner and it matches or compliments everything in my living room. I will still consider the other samples but it was fate with how I ordered so many and the first one to arrive 'fits'.

Great thing about these samples, I'll be able to save them for down the road in case I decide to wrap anything else in my house in the future.

Do me a favor, let me know your thoughts on the first sample.

 

[nickkohrn]

I love how nice the tank looks in that room. I’m excited to see how the stand turns out!

I like that wrap. I think it will make it (the stand) stand out just a bit, but not too much to look out of place.

 

[mnml]

It's funny that you ask. They did not address the stand. In the email I sent them, I attached pictures and noted the problem, but the imperfections (bubbles in the paint), are hard to see from a distance. I know where they are but only because I'm so OCD. I am about to skin the stand with a furniture grade vinyl wrap, so I'll sand down the few imperfections and no one will ever know. If you were to run your hand over the stand, and use a high power light, you would spot them right away. The stand seems to be good quality overall, but it looks like some sweaty grunt packaged it, because the boards were dirty. I can tell you that their quality control and production facility isn't as clean as one would believe. But don't let me sway you against the company and equipment. I still very much love it, even with the flaws that came with the tank and stand. Just know going into it that you are not going to get something perfect.

Thanks for the reply. I have not seen any WB in person so your feedback is very valuable. I’ve seen a few RSR at my LFS and their stands are quite nice. I like the design of the sump better on the WB plantinum series, however. Keep up the awesome build.

 

[mnml]

3) While I love the footprint of the stand, you will notice a theme of warm colors in my living room. The stand doesn't blend in, and stands out, not in an eye sore way, but it doesn't match. I found a company RM Wraps and they carry two lines: 3M DI-NOC, and Belbien for a combined total of over 1,200 colors, prints, and patterns. If you want wood, any style, and color is available. Want metal? What about some abstract patterns? They even do custom prints too. I literally spent over an hour on their website and I ordered 40 samples. The first one came in before the others and I don't even care to see the rest now....I'm in love, lol. I found a winner and it matches or compliments everything in my living room. I will still consider the other samples but it was fate with how I ordered so many and the first one to arrive 'fits'.

Great thing about these samples, I'll be able to save them for down the road in case I decide to wrap anything else in my house in the future.

Do me a favor, let me know your thoughts on the first sample.

The wrap looks great. I like the lighter sample since your floors are darker tone.

 

[Adam Kuhn]

Following! I snagged one of the leftover 75.2’s from waterbox and am in the process of getting it up and running. (Water is going in tomorrow if everything goes as planned). A had a single Prime HD on my JBJ 45 I’m transitioning, It was barely a few months old and I wasn’t running any coral yet. I sold the Prime this weekend thinking I’d need a larger light. Do you think you’ll be good with one? I really, really loved the light and the AI interface was amazing. Sort of regretting my decision to go another route right now. Haha

 

[Tripptastic]

Following! I snagged one of the leftover 75.2’s from waterbox and am in the process of getting it up and running. (Water is going in tomorrow if everything goes as planned). A had a single Prime HD on my JBJ 45 I’m transitioning, It was barely a few months old and I wasn’t running any coral yet. I sold the Prime this weekend thinking I’d need a larger light. Do you think you’ll be good with one? I really, really loved the light and the AI interface was amazing. Sort of regretting my decision to go another route right now. Haha

The AI Prime HD has a maximum foot print of 24x24, but they recommend 18x18, and our tanks are almost 24x24, plus I'm going to keep the rocks an since or two off the side, so it will be close. Maybe I'll upgrade the light down the road but for the time being, it will do everything I need to do.

 

[ejim]

Sorry to hijack, but do you think this is normal for a waterbox and/or tanks in general. This is my first tank and I know nothing about what's acceptable or not. thanks. Bottom third looks fine and top 2/3 looks like there's separation on the silicone, outside corner. Thanks

 

[Tripptastic]

Sorry to hijack, but do you think this is normal for a waterbox and/or tanks in general. This is my first tank and I know nothing about what's acceptable or not. thanks. Bottom third looks fine and top 2/3 looks like there's separation on the silicone, outside corner. Thanks

1) Don't be sorry about anything. This is a forum for us all to learn and experience new things. 2) Wow, the seam looks bad! It almost looks like something cut into the silicone. You can try placing the tank of a level surface maybe in your garage, and fill it for a leak test and let it sit for a week or so. This way if the seam fails, it would flood your garage and not your house. I'm sure it will hold just fine, but for pure aesthetics reasons, I would ask that they replace the tank. Better safe than sorry. There is no reason that tank should have shipped out!

3) This is yet another example about how Waterbox claims their tanks are being inspected with "high power LEDS"..maybe that's true, but who is inspecting theses things, blind people? Also be very careful cleaning your glass, you glass looks so much dirtier than the two I received. Starfire glass scratches so much easier than regular glass and there seems to be a lot of debris on the glass. The new Gen 2 tanks haven't even been on the market 30 days and yet I have seen SO many quality issues with their tanks. Whatever they are doing needs to change fast before they ruin their reputation. They really have a lot going for them and could be a solid Red Sea competitor.

 

[ejim]

It's not really a tear, it looks like they didn't apply enough silicone during manufacturing. I stuck a piece of wood splinter that was laying around in my garage and at two points it went in about 4-5mm. 1-3mm in other places. The glass is 10mm. I'm not pushing anything in either, simply just place the thin wood splinter into the hole.

I was going to do a water test, but now i'm kinda scared.

 

[Adam Kuhn]

I don’t even know if I’d try water honestly. Hopefully you have better luck with a response from them than I did, I wrote them two weeks ago and have never heard back. I really want to love their tanks but I’m regretting my decision for several reasons at this point.

 

[ejim]

 

[ejim]

I don’t even know if I’d try water honestly. Hopefully you have better luck with a response from them than I did, I wrote them two weeks ago and have never heard back. I really want to love their tanks but I’m regretting my decision for several reasons at this point.

Can you elaborate on why you regret it?

And to be fair those those fingerprints and marks are all mine, I was doing some woodwork in the garage, it was clean and nicely wrapped when I got it.

 

[Adam Kuhn]

I’ll send you a PM when I get home later if that’s okay. I don’t want to hijack Tripp’s build thread. It may just be tank envy since his is turning out so beautifully! Can’t wait to see what the stand looks like skinned too!

 

[Tbone2u]

Can you elaborate on why you regret it?

And to be fair those those fingerprints and marks are all mine, I was doing some woodwork in the garage, it was clean and nicely wrapped when I got it.

Same here. It was immaculate outta the box but after getting it on the stand it was a mess. And some of my finger prints were a real pain to get off. As a side note - lifting the tank requires 2 very strong people, even out of the box!

 

[Tbone2u]

I assembled the stand together wrong, UGH! At :32 when I add the two back supports, those two pieces are identical and I set them up with the screws facing the inside of the stand, not the outside (back, towards wall). They came with heavy duty cover stickers so I might be ok but I'll keep an eye on them to ensure they stay dry in there.

Just wanted to give anyone a quick heads up so you don't make the same mistake I did. This would not happen if instructions were included with the stand, lol.

When I get a chance I'm gonna let them know they what I think of not getting instructions after spending my life savings on the friggin' tank&stand. And it's not gonna sound pretty...:mad:

 

[Tbone2u]

I wanted to make a quick video about how quiet the overflow is with the new gate valve! I am currently running a Quiet One Lifegard Aquarium Pump, 758-Gallon, which is underpowered for this system, but it took me less than 2 minutes to tune it and this is my first reef ready system. I will be looking at upgrading my pump but this will suffice for now.

Tripp - LOVED! the video and the fact you respond to comments & questions. Been watching tons of videos & I'm sooo tired of the cheese and babbling you have to listen to. Watched one today that opened with the guy singing about his favorite fish and wanted to leave a less than nice comment. But I didn't.

 

[Adam Kuhn]

I wanted to make a quick video about how quiet the overflow is with the new gate valve! I am currently running a Quiet One Lifegard Aquarium Pump, 758-Gallon, which is underpowered for this system, but it took me less than 2 minutes to tune it and this is my first reef ready system. I will be looking at upgrading my pump but this will suffice for now.

Not sure how I missed this before but this is AMAZING. What does your new valve look like? I need to get one. The overflow noise is one of my main complaints about my system. Thanks for posting this, this is definitely one of the most helpful build threads I’ve followed.

 

[Tbone2u]

Adam, I just got the same tank and thought I'd show you the gate valve

 

[Tripptastic]

I don’t even know if I’d try water honestly. Hopefully you have better luck with a response from them than I did, I wrote them two weeks ago and have never heard back. I really want to love their tanks but I’m regretting my decision for several reasons at this point.

Email them again. When I contacted them, I got a reply back in less than 48 hours.