Restarting my Waterbox AIO 50.3

[Obriy]

I started my first saltwater tank in January. Coming from freshwater aquarium-keeping, I decided to take on new challenge. So, Waterbox AIO seemed to be an optimal size as 36-inch was a perfect length and AIO is considered a quieter option to having a sump (the tank is in a master bedroom and low noise levels are very high priority).
Here is what led to my initial failure:
- Started with dry rock and practically dry sand
- After reading about importance of refugium for the export of nutrients, I decided to add Chaeto to one of AIO chambers after nitrate levels reached 10. The refugium worked very well and Chaeto grew very fast, which made me happy at first...
- I didn't use QT back then and introduced a royal gramma with some sort of disease that killed 4 out of my 6 fish within 2 weeks around the same time Chaeto was added into the refugium. I started to feed less with only two clowns alive in my tank and my nitrates went to zero much faster than I expected.
- When I first saw brown dusting on my sand and rock, I mistook it for diatoms and thought it was a normal part of ugly phase and would disappear in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, those were SCA.
I dosed silicates for two months without any decrease in dino presence and realized that it might be easier to re-start my tank completely than to continue fighting.

I decided to start with real live rock first and KP Aquatics was my first-choice supplier. After contacting them about pick-up options (I live in South Florida), they even offered to meet me along their route to an airport where they bring their orders. However, just several days later, I stumbled upon a BRSTV video from Reeafpalooza New York called "Want an Easy, Epic Tank? The 9 Core Reefing Principles | PT 2 Perfect Is the Enemy of Great" where Ryan talked about advantages of using real live sand. That changed my mind and, after doing some additional research, my new plan was developed, which consisted of the following:
- Use Marco rock for aquascape
- Use Tampa Bay Saltwater Ultra Live Sand for biome cycling
- Ambient lights for first 4 weeks
- All fish I purchase must go through newly set QT.

Let's see if my plan works...

 

[Obriy]

I ordered 60lb of Marco Rock from BRS and, thankfully, they sent me pieces exactly as I specified in a note attached to my order. Thank you, BRS, you've made my life a bit easier. The rocks were small enough to be broken with a small chisel, but still large enough so that many of pieces came out in quite unique shapes.
I broke rocks inside a small cardboard box, jut big enough to fit the largest rock. That way, there was much less mess around a work area and rocks are much easier to be kept in desired position during chiseling.

 

[Obriy]

So, it's time to aquascape! I've decided to use "super glue with sand (crushed marco rock in this case)" technique for most of connections and reinforce some of more difficult connections with epoxy. The most challenging part today was crushing rubbles to get powder-like substance that I'm using instead of sand. It looks better because it matches with the rock both color and texture, but the crushing process was very messy.

Super glue is quite toxic, and I had to work on my balcony in 92F (welcome to Florida

The whole aquascape is going to be divided into three structures to make it easier to remove them from the tank if there is such a need future. Also, I'm trying to make a gap between two rocks to resemble some of the gaps in coral structures I've seen during diving.

 

[Obriy]

I'm about half way down with this aquascape. Will post the final result later.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Second time a charm I hope.

 

[Obriy]

The aquascape is done and in tank already. I might want to remove some smaller rocks from the bottom to make more room for substrate-liking corals.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

The scape looks great!

 

[Zeeth]

Looking good! I've been cycling my tank for a few months with dry rock and live ocean sand and it's going well, but it's still been a little slower than in the past when I started a tank with live ocean rock from Fiji about 15 years ago. I think if I were you I might still consider getting a few pounds of rock from KP aquatics to help seed the system.

 

[Obriy]

Looking good! I've been cycling my tank for a few months with dry rock and live ocean sand and it's going well, but it's still been a little slower than in the past when I started a tank with live ocean rock from Fiji about 15 years ago. I think if I were you I might still consider getting a few pounds of rock from KP aquatics to help seed the system.

What sand did you use, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[ScottD]

Aquascaping is looking good. Glad to see you started a build thread. I ordered my sand and supposed to be here towards the end of the month.

 

[SaltyB24]

You could always pick up some of KP's reef rubble and throw it in the back chamber or use it as small 'island' pieces. I have some of the regular rock in my tank and its beautiful while also providing some extra biodiversity

 

[Zeeth]

What sand did you use, if you don't mind me asking?

I collected it myself offshore and ran it through 1 and 2 mm bonsai sieves to get a similar particle size to Special Grade, then I dark cured it in natural sea water for 4 months while waiting on my tank to get built.

 

[cartery]

ideo from Reeafpalooza New York called "Want an Easy, Epic Tank? The 9 Core Reefing Principles | PT 2 Perfect Is the Enemy of Great"

I saw the same video and was inspired by it, too. I saw that the TBS people are actually on here and messaged them for tips. They were very adamant that sand-only cycling was not a good idea. And they actually have a doc on their website that describes how they'd cycle a tank.

Have you started your plan yet? The TBS people convinced me to plan to get at least some of their base rock with their sand

 

[Obriy]

Unfortunately, the sand shipment has been delayed (weather-related issues with harvesting). The tank is filled with water and waiting for sand and my first fish (I have two clownfish and royal gramma in QT tank ready to be transferred).

 

[Gizmoreef]

Subbed.

Don't you worry about it being to much rock? Restricting flow and also making the tank pretty difficult to clean?
I'm in the process of setting up a 50.3 aswel but I don't have this much rock in it. Still in doubt if I should add a bit more before I start the cycle.

 

[Obriy]

Subbed.

Don't you worry about it being to much rock? Restricting flow and also making the tank pretty difficult to clean?
I'm in the process of setting up a 50.3 aswel but I don't have this much rock in it. Still in doubt if I should add a bit more before I start the cycle.

There is around 40-45lbs of rock in there, which should be right what is recommended for this size. I know it appears as more, but if you look at the picture taken from the side of the tank (before water was added), you will see that the aquascape is getting "thinner" as it goes up, so it does not take a lot of volume.

I watched a lot of videos about building negative space into an aquascape and, although I like that thin "branching" look of the rock, if feels unnatural and doesn't provide enough hiding spaces for fish (which I plan to have a least 8). Here, there many caves, pass-throughs and gaps for fish to run and hide .

You can always add more rock later, if you feel that you don't have enough and if your aquascape design allows. There are some smaller rocks that I can remove to make more space between large rocks if I see the need. There is 1-3 inch gap between the rock and back wall. The display part of the tank is quite narrow and I couldn't afford larger gap, but it should be enough for a powerhead to create enough flow.

 

[Gizmoreef]

You got some updated pictures? Very interested in builds with similar tanks!

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

You got some updated pictures? Very interested in builds with similar tanks!

Here are some pictures of mine!

 

[Obriy]

My initial plan to start this tank with TBS Ultra Live Sand has been derailed. TBS notified me that their warehouse has been damaged by hurricane Helene and will resume shipping sand in November. Now, with hurricane Milton coming to them, November seems to be too optimistic.

So, I decided to order CaribSea Original Grade Ocean Direct Live Reef Sand. Last time, I used their Special Grade, and even though I really liked its appearance, Ocean Direct seemed to be the closest I could get to live sand. There are many negative reviews of this sand due to its fine "silty" structure that gets disturbed by the slightest flow, but I don't think I need much of flow for LPS/Softies tank. And, I can replace it gradually later if such need arises and the tank is already seeded with all the good bacteria that the Ocean Direct sand presumably comes with...

I've have a couple of clownfish and a royal gramma in this tank for a bit over a month and now there is a lonely firefish (his partner didn't survive QT) getting used to the tank in an acclimation box.

 

[cartery]

My initial plan to start this tank with TBS Ultra Live Sand has been derailed. TBS notified me that their warehouse has been damaged by hurricane Helene and will resume shipping sand in November. Now, with hurricane Milton coming to them, November seems to be too optimistic.

Thank you for the update! I was just wondering what you might have heard from them. November does seem optimistic... I hope they're all OK. Good luck with the new direction!