Waterbox Marine X 110.4 Build

[Otterly Ridiculous]

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

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[kevgib67]

Solid plan but I wouldn’t add the coralline algae until you turn the lights on.

 

[Otterly Ridiculous]

Merry Christmas!!!

The tank came earlier than expected. I got a text early in the morning that the tank will be arriving later that day. I received it the day after Christmas and had to scramble to make space. It wasn’t supposed to arrive until January (not complaining). But I did have to put a bunch of decorations away and tidy up the garage so it can be placed in there while I clean the area where the tank is going to be.

The person that delivered the tank was very professional and kind. It arrived on a well built pallet and the box and packaging had very minimal scuffs and scrapes. We opened up the box and I inspected everything. It seemed good so I let him go on his way.

The building of the cabinet took about 2 hours while taking eating and bathroom breaks. The instructions weren’t the best, but still manageable. I wish Waterbox changed the way they connect the frame though… (IYKYK). I put Vaseline on the hinges to avoid rust and corrosion. Sprayed the sump with alcohol and wiped it down and let it air dry. Placed the sump in the cabinet on the left hand side of the cabinet.

That’s all I had time to do that day. Tomorrow I’m gonna get a buddy to help me place the tank on the stand and hopefully get the pluming and electrical wiring organized.

Thanks for reading!

 

[kevgib67]

Merry Christmas!!!

The tank came earlier than expected. I got a text early in the morning that the tank will be arriving later that day. I received it the day after Christmas and had to scramble to make space. It wasn’t supposed to arrive until January (not complaining). But I did have to put a bunch of decorations away and tidy up the garage so it can be placed in there while I clean the area where the tank is going to be.

The person that delivered the tank was very professional and kind. It arrived on a well built pallet and the box and packaging had very minimal scuffs and scrapes. We opened up the box and I inspected everything. It seemed good so I let him go on his way.

The building of the cabinet took about 2 hours while taking eating and bathroom breaks. The instructions weren’t the best, but still manageable. I wish Waterbox changed the way they connect the frame though… (IYKYK). I put Vaseline on the hinges to avoid rust and corrosion. Sprayed the sump with alcohol and wiped it down and let it air dry. Placed the sump in the cabinet on the left hand side of the cabinet.

That’s all I had time to do that day. Tomorrow I’m gonna get a buddy to help me place the tank on the stand and hopefully get the pluming and electrical wiring organized.

Thanks for reading!

Giddy up, here you go!

 

[mmorrison55]

Looks like you had a Merry Christmas indeed!

 

[DrV4n]

Looks great, I have the same tank and similar set up. Following along!

 

[Otterly Ridiculous]

Happy new years!!! Sorry I haven’t been able to do day by day updates, this tank is taking a lot out of me believe it or not. This is what’s happened between my last update and today.

I had my buddy come and help me put the tank on the stand, from the I leveled it using the feet but couldn’t get it with the stock feet so I used composite shims to level it.

Plumbing was a pain considering I have no plumbing knowledge. I was trying to figure out why the pipes were not connecting all the way flush when I was pluming it in my hands. Turns out that space is to go through the glass. Duhhhh!!!!

Once it was leveled I started with 25 gallons of RO/DI water for a leak test and from there I had to fill it 5 gallons at a time.
I have a 75 gallon per day BRS 5 stage RO/DI system. Every 5 gallons takes about an hour and 20 mins. Took about 2 days to fill the tank. It took about 90 gallons of fresh water to fill it so it can get to the overflow. Leak test complete!!!!!

Turned the pumps on and let it run for about 2/3 hours before I added salt. I added about 5 scoops of salt at a time. Every 10 mins. Through the salt adding process I noticed the water level rising but didn’t worry because I knew I would have to take water out when I added sand and rocks later on. Once all the calculated salt was added I let the salt mix with the pumps on (Sicce Syncra 5 + 2 Nero 5’s) overnight.

The next morning I shut off all the pumps and added a 5 pound bag of Ocean Direct sand.

Here comes some bad news.. The aquascape I made 2.5 years ago got destroyed while I was taking it out of the Brute trash bin. To be fair I wasn’t the most gentle when I was putting it in all those years ago. All is not lost though I was able to do a make shift scape and use the smaller ruble for the sump! I’m not too upset with that at all.

Then I opened up a 20 pound bag of Ocean direct sand and started scooping out the sand and putting it in the tank. This made it all cloudy as expected. Today is the next day and it’s a bit less cloudy.
I also used this opportunity to get all the extra water out of the tank. It was about 10 gallons extra with 25 pounds of sand and about 25 pounds of rock. I measured salinity and it was a bit too salty so I took out more water and added fresh RO/DI water as needed. I got the salinity to 35 ppt and was satisfied.

In between all that I was able to set up the Apex Jr, the Tunze Ozmolator and the cable management.

From there turned off the pumps and I added a bottle of turbo start. Added a bottle of pods into the rubble in the sump and some in the display, and a bottle of Microbacter7.

I currently have my Nero 5’s on the back wall but no matter where I put them or what angle I have them they still kick up the sand in the front corner of my tank. Anyone have any advice? I don’t want them on the side panels but if it keeps doing that I think I’ll have to put them there. I currently have them running between 40% - 65% at the random setting. Help please!!

I haven’t put up the lights yet because if I do I know I’ll want to program them and I want it dark for a couple of weeks before I throw them on xD
Any other tips would be appreciated!!
Thanks for reading and following along!!!

 

[Otterly Ridiculous]

Hello everyone, its been about 11 days since the tank has been running! Progress has been good so far. I still have not put any lights on the tank. I just have the ambient light and the sunlight coming through in the morning. I have one of those ammonia circle color wheels in the tank at all times, and threw some mysis in the tank a few times and the wheel stayed yellow (No ammonia) I did'nt expect to have any as these rocks have been cycling for years. I have been playing with the water level height in the sump which has caused my salinity to go up and down through last week. But now I have the water level dailed in. I rearranged the rocks and have a scape I am satisfied with. I was able to put in a few hermit crabs and a few snails in the tank a few days ago and today I put in my first tang ever!! Its a purple tang and its beautiful. I temp acclimated it for about 15 mins and then opened the bag from my LFS and started putting water from my tank into the bag it was in. One small scoop every 3 mins. I finally put both the Nero 5's on the side panels, not the most asthetically pleasing but it is better flow for the tank. I have decided to put in a refugium as my only filtration with an AI Blade Refugium in the sump. Hopefully that alone will keep my nutrients down by itslef. Thanks for reading again!