Otterly Ridiculous
New Member
Hello everyone,
I am posting this build to keep track of progress with my Waterbox Marine X 110.4 and for anyone else building a similar tank that may want information on how someone else has done it.
I've been slowly collecting the equipmment for about 2.5 years for a tank like this.
Started in Summer of 2022 with about 19 lbs of dry marco rock. Building my aquascape took about a week. The rock was placed in a 20g Brute tash bin with saltwater with a pump to circulate the water and added a whole bottle of Microbacter7. So I've had those rocks in the salt water "cycling" for about 2.5 years while putting a small dose of Microbacter7 every few days while putting a few pellets of food in the system every few weeks. I've also collected a few more pounds of live rock from my older system and thrown them in the Brute bin throughout the years.
Gear that I have currently:
60 lbs of Ocean Direct Sand
Two Nero 5 Powerheads
Apex Jr
BRS 300W Heater + Inkbird control
Sicce Syncra Silent 5.0 (Will be getting Syncra SDC 7.0 soon)
Tunze Osmolator 3155
Two AI Hydra 32 with mounting brackets
BRS 5 Stage RO/DI system
Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt
The Waterbox was ordered in November and is projected to arrive some time in Janurary.
There are a ton of different ways to start the process of a new tank set up but here is what I have decided to do and what makes the most sense to me.
The plan on day 1 is to set up the stand and start the leak test process with RO water. Once the leak test is done and everything checks out, then I will be putting the pumps and powerheads in so I can start mixing the salt. Once the salt is mixed and I have it to the desired salinity, the pumps will be turned off and I will be adding a small layer of sand. I will be putting the rocks on the small layer of sand and then put the rest of the sand into the system. Once the sand settles then the pumps will be turned back on. Once the system is on for about a week or so, Copepods will be added to the system. I will be adding some coralline algea from my other system into the tank as well. The lights won't come on for at least 2 weeks.
Thats the plan I have so far.. I have not thought so hard about the livestock I will be having in the tank. A mix of different snails, maybe an urchin a shrimp is what I have in mind but nothing concrete. Same goes for the corals and fish. I'd like a tang and a foxface but again, nothing is really concrete as far as livestock.
If you have any input, advice, or comments, please let me know.
Thanks
I am posting this build to keep track of progress with my Waterbox Marine X 110.4 and for anyone else building a similar tank that may want information on how someone else has done it.
I've been slowly collecting the equipmment for about 2.5 years for a tank like this.
Started in Summer of 2022 with about 19 lbs of dry marco rock. Building my aquascape took about a week. The rock was placed in a 20g Brute tash bin with saltwater with a pump to circulate the water and added a whole bottle of Microbacter7. So I've had those rocks in the salt water "cycling" for about 2.5 years while putting a small dose of Microbacter7 every few days while putting a few pellets of food in the system every few weeks. I've also collected a few more pounds of live rock from my older system and thrown them in the Brute bin throughout the years.
Gear that I have currently:
60 lbs of Ocean Direct Sand
Two Nero 5 Powerheads
Apex Jr
BRS 300W Heater + Inkbird control
Sicce Syncra Silent 5.0 (Will be getting Syncra SDC 7.0 soon)
Tunze Osmolator 3155
Two AI Hydra 32 with mounting brackets
BRS 5 Stage RO/DI system
Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt
The Waterbox was ordered in November and is projected to arrive some time in Janurary.
There are a ton of different ways to start the process of a new tank set up but here is what I have decided to do and what makes the most sense to me.
The plan on day 1 is to set up the stand and start the leak test process with RO water. Once the leak test is done and everything checks out, then I will be putting the pumps and powerheads in so I can start mixing the salt. Once the salt is mixed and I have it to the desired salinity, the pumps will be turned off and I will be adding a small layer of sand. I will be putting the rocks on the small layer of sand and then put the rest of the sand into the system. Once the sand settles then the pumps will be turned back on. Once the system is on for about a week or so, Copepods will be added to the system. I will be adding some coralline algea from my other system into the tank as well. The lights won't come on for at least 2 weeks.
Thats the plan I have so far.. I have not thought so hard about the livestock I will be having in the tank. A mix of different snails, maybe an urchin a shrimp is what I have in mind but nothing concrete. Same goes for the corals and fish. I'd like a tang and a foxface but again, nothing is really concrete as far as livestock.
If you have any input, advice, or comments, please let me know.
Thanks
