The First Attempt - Marine X 110.4

[eKirts]

Hey all,

This is my first attempt at reefing - so, tips and tricks are very welcome - If anyone is in the Ottawa area, feel free to reach out.

This will probably take me all summer til I am prepared to get some water in the tank, so please be patient (more for me than y'all, lol!) My intial goal is to be cycling by december-ish, maybe sooner?.

...Well, time to get the build thread rolling!
I am slowly accruing parts... Sometimes I can be rather taken back by the price of things... hahaha; suppose the limiter is good as I can take the time to learn and understand what each part is doing, gives an opportunity to get the best solution ( I have to tell my self this frequently haha)

Overall goal of this endevour is mixed reef mainly, with (eventually) SPS dominance once I've honed my abilities a bit - Id also like to have the entire system fairly automated in the future,

Equipment List (will update as I progress):

Tank - Waterbox Marine X 110.4
Cabinet - Waterbox
Sump - Waterbox (Modified)
Lights - XR30 G5 Blues ( x2 )
Sand - ?
Rock - Caribsea Life Rock
Protein Skimmer - ?
Heaters - ?
Powerheads - Ecotech Vortex MP40wQD ( x2 )
Auto Top Off - ?
Return Pump - Ecotech Vectra M1- Mobius added
Battery Back up - Ecotech

I was able to find a used Waterbox Marine X 110.4 from a guy in Toronto...


...after getting it into its spot after the day trip.

Couple minor issues - The black coating on the back, It may be difficult to see but it is under the top left side of the tank just under where the light is - it looks like heat/sun damage? I figured for a first tank and the savings; it was worth it... I was just thinking of letting the coraline cover the back to hide it or have the aquascape cover it a bit but it may be a bit high for that. - is it even worth refinishing? you can see it better in the images below with the lights over top of it. Only other issue that I noticed was it was missing a bit of its plumbing and bulkhead gaskets, I've already ordered replacement for these.

Sump looks to be in good shape... will probably make a post about it eventually as I want to modify it so that I can use a filter roller - Also not a fan of the area that overflow and drain goes into... seems like it will become a pain to clean down the line, so id like to just make it one open area - maybe add an acrylic baffle - is a baffle is necessary post filtration or to contain the skimmer better?

Everything else seemed to be in great condition all things considered - I didnt want to leak test until I am able to have the bulkheads installed in the event a seal around the overflow isnt totally water tight...


Was able to get two Radion XR30 G5 Blues with this deal as well... Playing around with the mobius app has been fun, particularly with the shared settings... plugged in the WWC 100gal schedule just to try it out, the control is very impressive! ...It convinced me to use the mobius environment until moving into an Neptune Apex setup as it seems fairly robust.


Lights on

I just put the lights on top half hazardly as I wanted to see how it looked, haha. Debating on the arm mount or doing the RMS system from the ceiling; not sure what would be best other than aesthetics.


I also aquired two mp40s with a battery back-up, used as well, for a decent deal... pretty much the price of a new mp40 - one mp40 is fairly new with the mobius chip, the other is doesnt - that being said the powerheads both work very well as far as I can tell anyhow - tons of power.

How often do they restock the mobius chips? only found one place in Canada that has them but they are double the price. Probably will get some new wetsides as backups/replacements down the line.

The battery backup on the otherhand I dont think is functioning properly. The power brick never goes to green, and the battery gets quite a bit above ambient after leaving it plugged in for 3 days - Even after the "charge" it was not able to power a powerhead, the lights would flash and would go into drive fault mode... I imagine i need to replace the battery... suggestions are welcome for this, I have yet to look into it as of yet, but the unit does seem quite old with some corrosion on the connections as well.

Not sure how much more ill be buying used, but it does save some money...

So thats it for the inital post... nothing too interesting yet I suppose, but it will be interesting down the line, for me at least... lol


Thanks for the reading!

 

[Arkayology]

from a guy in Toronto...

All good builds start like this Good luck with the tank!

 

[eKirts]

All good builds start like this Good luck with the tank!

lol, this is very true

Thanks very much! loving all the SPS you had in your old tank... gotta get that back! haha

 

[Dmmz]

I will be following along can’t wait to see it filled

 

[Panda Jerk]

@eKirts heads up - a Klir DI-4 fits just fine, no modding of the sump needed

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[eKirts]

@eKirts heads up - a Klir DI-4 fits just fine, no modding of the sump needed

My my! That is very impressive, super clean.... definitely inspiring! I was looking at the Klir vs Red sea 500... this is some food for thought... I really like how compact it is.

I saw a youtube vid a couple months agos... they was saying that software issues were troublesome with the Klir, not sure if this is a rarity or not... but, the video was also a year old so I imagine things have changed.

Have you had it up and running yet?

 

[Panda Jerk]

Yeah since January. Most of the complaints I’ve read were the v1 controller. Mine shipped with v2 (it says v2 on the little white controller box). I love it. Waaaaay better than filter socks.

 

[eKirts]

Very nice, good to know they changed it. Certainly will think about it as an option now.

I can imagine... I've used filter rollers at work (horticultural systems) for a while and it just seems ideal to have the material removed out of the system immediately; I was dreading the thought of having to change them every three days as well, my laziness exposed perhaps... lol

 

[Panda Jerk]

To be fair people really rave about the Red Sea rollers so even with the price bump they may be worth it, but the retrofitting hassle didn’t interest me - flex hose side entry and all. Physically you could fit 2 Klir’s in the sock plate w/o any modding. Blanking the spare hole was a pisser because the Klir block off plate was too small. Had to fab it with some PVC board. ALSO-and this took me a bit to figure out… the fit is nearly watertight on the sock plate, so much so that bubbles that escaped from splashing down into the fleece slot actually displaced water over time. The water level in the sock compartment was LOWER than the main chamber. After a while it would burp itself and the water levels would equalize which F’d with my water level sensor for ATO. If your skimmer is water height sensitive or ATO throws fits you’ll wanna drill a vent in the plate so the air can escape. I did it with a spare RO bulkhead and a small piece of tube. Literally looking at the sump from in front the water level in the sock and main sections would get to about an inch difference. Maybe the Red Sea wouldn’t do that?

 

[Ksturg]

My suggestion is when you start cycling keep your phosphates under control from day one. I wish I would have and I would have avoided algae problem that I have fought for the past 2 months. Gha had taken over everything cause I let my phosphate get to .10

 

[eKirts]

To be fair people really rave about the Red Sea rollers so even with the price bump they may be worth it, but the retrofitting hassle didn’t interest me - flex hose side entry and all. Physically you could fit 2 Klir’s in the sock plate w/o any modding. Blanking the spare hole was a pisser because the Klir block off plate was too small. Had to fab it with some PVC board. ALSO-and this took me a bit to figure out… the fit is nearly watertight on the sock plate, so much so that bubbles that escaped from splashing down into the fleece slot actually displaced water over time. The water level in the sock compartment was LOWER than the main chamber. After a while it would burp itself and the water levels would equalize which F’d with my water level sensor for ATO. If your skimmer is water height sensitive or ATO throws fits you’ll wanna drill a vent in the plate so the air can escape. I did it with a spare RO bulkhead and a small piece of tube. Literally looking at the sump from in front the water level in the sock and main sections would get to about an inch difference. Maybe the Red Sea wouldn’t do that?

Thats my debate... I like the larger filter size as well, more collection, more flow... something to think about at least...
hrm, definitely good to know! That would not have been something I would have thought of, haha. Probably would have ended up in the same situation... I appreciate you learning for us! haha

My suggestion is when you start cycling keep your phosphates under control from day one. I wish I would have and I would have avoided algae problem that I have fought for the past 2 months. Gha had taken over everything cause I let my phosphate get to .10

Appreciate the tip!! ill definitely try to keep that in check from the start then

 

[DrV4n]

Thinking about getting this tank soon, following

 

[NarcoReefer]

My my! That is very impressive, super clean.... definitely inspiring! I was looking at the Klir vs Red sea 500... this is some food for thought... I really like how compact it is.

I saw a youtube vid a couple months agos... they was saying that software issues were troublesome with the Klir, not sure if this is a rarity or not... but, the video was also a year old so I imagine things have changed.

Have you had it up and running yet?

Reef Factory Smart Roller M fits in the sock chamber with no mods as well…BRS has them on sale from time to time. Works like a charm and maintenance is easy. I’ve had mine running for about six months and and nearing the end of the second roll. $23 every three months for a new roll is totally worth not having to clean socks

 

[eKirts]

hrm good to know, thanks for the info!

Im waiting on plumbing parts atm, hopefully they have sale this summer... I'm still inclined to modify just to make cleaning a lot easier... my only concern at this point would be microbubbles if i were to do that...

 

[eKirts]

Figured I would do a small update,

A nice email this morning was a shipping notification from waterbox saying the plumbing has finally been shipped! Took ALOT longer than I expected... But, at least its on its' way... Will be able to start progressing much easier.

Been slowly getting acquiring the necessary things...

Was able to pick up a gently used Vectra M1 for a return pump; I threw a mobius chip in it... not sure if it is "needed" but I figured the connectivity wouldn't be a negative, haha... Found out the hard way how strong/well the pump works when I went to test it and it fired up at 100%... water almost hit the ceiling... LOL; Thankfully the bucket emptied quickly... hahaha

I bit the bullet and decided I will would modify the sump, larger filter roller and the space were my biggest draws... it was very simple to do with just a thin razor blade and some alcohol; was inspected by a furry friend and seems to be OK...



Got some rock to start aquascaping a little bit as well... or at least get started; even with just 40lbs it seems like almost enough... I really question how im going to fit another 40lbs in it... Most/all the info I've read says to target a lbs/gal; but I feel like it might be too much, at least aesthetically. Am I correct in assuming this will effect the biomes population/capacity to filter if I were to do less?

I am also heavily leaning towards bare bottom - but thinking if there is less rock than recommended as well... this may pose an issue...



Thoughts on the scape is definitely welcome...

The left side, I was thinking of getting rid of that lower "cave" and try a shelf or another arch on top so that it creates a stronger overhang and gets the rock closer to the surface for higher PAR... the center to right side I am fairly happy with.

...anyway, thats about all for now till more arrives and more decisions have been made, lol...

Been thinking about control board options... debating on whether to have a seperate cab/stand for all the control/power hardware... I'd like to keep the sump area as clean and simple as possible (maybe easier said than done... haha).

 

[lemonjelleaux]

Following along the fellow 110.4 reefer. Hoping you work through any issues a little more quickly than I have, at least. But I like the 'scape. I'm a proponent of keeping the rock low if you plan on putting sps on it that's going to ideally grow up into that space.

 

[strich]

Looking good so far! For scapes where the tank has the middle overflow I think something like this works well:

Which is actually not far from what you had already.

 

[eKirts]

Looking good so far! For scapes where the tank has the middle overflow I think something like this works well:

Which is actually not far from what you had already.

Agreed! I like the idea of hiding the overflow as much as possible, i wasn't too sure how high i should try and go... as lemonj was mentioning... I want to have some space for SPS to be comfortable; is 1/2 or 3/4 of the distance sufficient?

 

[strich]

I want to have some space for SPS to be comfortable; is 1/2 or 3/4 of the distance sufficient?

Hard to say. I'd go 1/2 personally. Gives room to grow, or worst case add rock later.