Waterbox 70.3 Full setup

murphy_a

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Hey Reef2Reef, just purchased and setup a new reef tank (not my first, but a large step up from the last). I am one month in, and would like to show some progress. An introduction to my tank can be found on this YouTube link.



That was my tank one month ago, when live and dry rock first went in.
 
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Lizbeli

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Awesome start! I couldn’t tell in your video, but one thing I did was remove the four socks in the overflow and use one 4in sock in the sump. That way the water level in the overflow is constant. You might realize this as the months go by.

For me, as the rear socks got dirty it messed up the water level in the rear chamber, which can affect your salinity. Its probably the only thing I don't like about the stock Waterbox Marine models.
 

Daniel@R2R

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Cool! Following!
 

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Hey Reef2Reef, just purchased and setup a new reef tank (not my first, but a large step up from the last). I am one month in, and would like to show some progress. An introduction to my tank can be found on this YouTube link.



That was my tank one month ago, when live and dry rock first went in.

Edit: Forgive me if I mention a Dr. Beekey, he is an academic advisor of mine, I am a Junior Coastal Marine Science student at SHU.

What light is that?
 
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murphy_a

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Great start! Following along. :)
Do you have plans for a skimmer?

Not at the moment, and not ever to be honest, I just don't think I have the space. If this was your setup, how would you change up the sump so that I could have both my fuse and a skimmer?
 
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murphy_a

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Awesome start! I couldn’t tell in your video, but one thing I did was remove the four socks in the overflow and use one 4in sock in the sump. That way the water level in the overflow is constant. You might realize this as the months go by.

For me, as the rear socks got dirty it messed up the water level in the rear chamber, which can affect your salinity. Its probably the only thing I don't like about the stock Waterbox Marine models.


YES!!! I thought I was crazy not using them but I'm so glad I'm not alone in not using them!
 

Jgerm

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Not at the moment, and not ever to be honest, I just don't think I have the space. If this was your setup, how would you change up the sump so that I could have both my fuse and a skimmer?
Personally I would have gone for the most efficient small footprint skimmer I could find and I would have built a baffle just big enough to fit it. Then use the remaining space as the fuge. You can have a small fuge and it be highly effective. That said, you don’t need a skimmer to be successful. That has been proven by multiple people. Setting up your needed maintenance around not having one will be a key component, and not having a huge bio load as well. Keeping up with vacuuming the detritus and waste that makes it down your overflow but not into your fuge chamber should help as well. Like they say “ there are hundreds of ways to do things in this hobby and be successful” no right of wrong here. ;)
 
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murphy_a

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Personally I would have gone for the most efficient small footprint skimmer I could find and I would have built a baffle just big enough to fit it. Then use the remaining space as the fuge. You can have a small fuge and it be highly effective. That said, you don’t need a skimmer to be successful. That has been proven by multiple people. Setting up your needed maintenance around not having one will be a key component, and not having a huge bio load as well. Keeping up with vacuuming the detritus and waste that makes it down your overflow but not into your fuge chamber should help as well. Like they say “ there are hundreds of ways to do things in this hobby and be successful” no right of wrong here. ;)

Thank you I appreciate it! Yea, I didn't want to alter or add anything to the sump baffle wise just in case it could have potentially voided the manufacturer's warranty down the line, or diminished potential resale value, but if I were to add a skimmer, I think I would do that
 
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murphy_a

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IMG_1474.png

My ORP and Ph levels for the past week. I dosed some reef builder in order to boost Ph on the first and fourth, and I have it to a point where I am happy, may be a tad too high, but time will tell. I have Ph and ORP displayed, as I think ORP is a misunderstood, and rarely used measure in the reef tank, and I'm curious how one another affect each other if at all.
 
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murphy_a

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Bad news! My Neptune ATO got messed up somehow, and never switched on. My salinity climbed to 38.22ppm before I caught it. No real damage caused at the moment, but I will keep you posted. See pics below to see the swings the tank experienced in both temperature and in salinity. Has anyone else experienced this problem before?
IMG_1520.png

IMG_1521.png
 
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fishguy242

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good news is everything is ok,bad news i have no exp w apex or use ato's, i am the ato just for that reason,thinking float got stuck after last fill, is that what you found ,low water in tank?
 

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Bad news! My Neptune ATO got messed up somehow, and never went off. My salinity climbed to 38.22ppm before I caught it. No real damage caused at the moment, but I will keep you posted. See pics below to see the swings the tank experienced in both temperature and in salinity. Has anyone else experienced this problem before?
IMG_1520.png

IMG_1521.png
Ok so your ATO did not turn on right?
forgive me but it sounds like you said it didn’t turn off which would make the salinity go down due to it being diluted with R.o. Water.
 
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murphy_a

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good news is everything is ok,bad news i have no exp w apex or use ato's, i am the ato just for that reason,thinking float got stuck after last fill, is that what you found ,low water in tank?

No the float valve was not stuck which is so weird! I went down to my tank and I was like... Huh water's kinda low, and then checked Apex and saw the salinity was super high.
 

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