Waterbox 130.4 tank build

s_tempest · Jul 10, 2019

Hi folks:
My new Waterbox 130.4 is getting delivered in a few days. This will be by far the largest tank I've ever had, SW or FW.
You're welcome to follow along as I get this tank going. I'll be posting plenty of photos and descriptions as I go along. Feel free to make comments and give input as I do; I may not always do what you say but I will hear you out. And if it makes my tank better for it, then great!
In the meanwhile, here are two photos of the hardscape I built. This is 25 lbs of Marco dry rock, 25 lbs or Marco shelf dry rock, and one large Marco foundation rock. I drilled holes between pieces with a masonry bit, cut fiberglass driveway markers to length, and cemented pieces together with E-Marco 400 mortar.
I covered the cement seams with Marco rock that I crushed down to sand size and glued in place with superglue.
The whole piece has been curing outside for about 10 days. I plan to soak the thing in RO water for a while, making sure the cement doesn't cause a pH rise and rinsing/replacing the RO water until it does not.
- Steve

Peace River · Jul 10, 2019

Congratulations on the new tank!

Ruben's Reef · Jul 10, 2019

Aquascape looks great. Following>>>

s_tempest · Jul 12, 2019

It’s here!
Thanks to Scott Crowe and OSA for the home delivery, and for taking the time to play with my dogs!

s_tempest · Jul 12, 2019

I was wondering if anyone has thoughts about putting a divider in the skimmer chamber, and turning the back part into a fuge?
See red line on image. This would give me a approx 10x12 chamber for the skimmer and a 7x12 for the fuge.

Ross Petersen · Jul 12, 2019

Following... I'm in the same boat... Might place ATO outside of the stand as an alternative space-maker...

s_tempest · Jul 15, 2019

It’s coming along. I’m not rushing things - a bit each day.
1. I got the aquascape in the tank! Many thanks to my wife who helped me to carefully lower this into the tank. Definitely a two person job! I’m going to silicone the base into place, but I want to look at the placement for a day or so before committing.

2. I put a baffle across the sump’s skimmer chamber (~12x7 for anyone playing along at home with the same sump) to separate the chamber into 2 parts. Upstream (2/3 of total area) for skimmer, to trickle into the downstream part for a refugium. I also siliconed the base plate from an old led light strip to go over that fuge section, so I can put the refugium on a light with timer for macro algae and pods (that’s the plan at least).
3. The Waterbox leveling feet came white, and really stood out against the black cabinet and wood floor. So I levered the stand up and screwed off the feet, then used spray paint to make the feet black. Blends in much better now.
Next steps:
Lights

erichuyn · Jul 16, 2019

Nice scape! I'd personally try to turn the big structure a bit so that the pointy piece on the right comes a bit to the front glas and then shift the whole thing a bit to the right.
Then I'd the smaller island and turn it a bit as well so both end up in a bit of a U shape overall.

Not sure if you can do it though since it's a bit difficult to see the free space on pictures.

s_tempest · Jul 16, 2019

And we have lights! 2 AI Hydra 26s. Assembling the mounts was straightforward, and connecting to my existing AI system went smoothly. I have an AI Prime over a nano tank, and my plan is to move that Prime to this new tank (so the Prime plus the two Hydras) and use that nano as a Quarantine tank.

Thanks to erichuyn for a suggestion about my scape placement. I don’t have too much play with the pointy pieces before it’d hit the front glass (pointy piece? Love it! My wife calls that the grabber arm.), but I did shift the whole thing towards the right.

looking down from the top:

s_tempest · Jul 17, 2019

Making progress on the hidden parts that go in the cabinet:
- added lights to each side of the cabinet (touch free LEDs, I have these in another tank’s cabinet and really like not having to fumble for a button if my hands are full)

- repurposed an old 11k 10W LED strip to go over the rear third of the sump’s skimmer chamber. I had separated that third from the front with a glass baffle, thinking to use it as a refugium for macroalgae and pods. It can work with a timer. We’ll see if the light it enough to grow algae.

CL_ · Jul 17, 2019

Scape looks great. Does that baffle in your sump need to be a bit taller and closer to the front for it to function properly? My eyes may be deceiving me, but as it is I'm not sure you'll get much water circulation going inside the back section.

s_tempest · Jul 17, 2019

CL_ said:
Scape looks great. Does that baffle in your sump need to be a bit taller and closer to the front for it to function properly? My eyes may be deceiving me, but as it is I'm not sure you'll get much water circulation going inside the back section.

Hm... good question! I’ll know when I get water running through it, I guess.
It’s hard to see from this perspective, but the original skimmer chamber (~12x17) is divided into front 12x10 and rear 12x7. The baffle I installed to do this does not go all the way to the floor. There’s about 3/8” gap at the bottom. And the top sits 1/2” lower than the next baffle so I don’t mess with the designed water depth for the skimmer. My thinking was I’d have flow from skimmer chamber to fuge at top and bottom. Sound good?

CL_ · Jul 17, 2019

Hmm I think there will be some water flow into the fuge area but probably not very good circulation. There will likely be less resistance for the water to flow over the edge of the skimmer area (to the right) than there will be to go over/under the baffle and then over the edge which is at the same height as it is in the skimmer area.

You'll get some flow, but probably not a lot. But that may not necessarily a bad thing as I believe there are some pros and cons to having more or less flow through a refugium.

Ranjib · Jul 17, 2019

The rockscape is looking great. Following along

AOmegaX · Jul 17, 2019

Congrats on the new build, it looks nice.

s_tempest · Jul 18, 2019

CL_ said:
Hmm I think there will be some water flow into the fuge area but probably not very good circulation. There will likely be less resistance for the water to flow over the edge of the skimmer area (to the right) than there will be to go over/under the baffle and then over the edge which is at the same height as it is in the skimmer area.

You'll get some flow, but probably not a lot. But that may not necessarily a bad thing as I believe there are some pros and cons to having more or less flow through a refugium.

Thanks for the input. I’ll watch for this once the tank has flowing water. Already thinking of hacks I could do if needed: add some height to the short section of baffle between skimmer and return pump, pullout my baffle and reset it higher...

Blutspitze · Jul 18, 2019

Loving the scape design and curious to see how the sump turns out re the fuge/skimmer combo. Seems doable, but agreed that flow would be a potential issue.

s_tempest · Jul 28, 2019

Some updates on this tank build:

- I reset the baffle dividing the skimmer chamber, per some concerns here about flow into my intended refugium. The baffle’s top is now flush with the next, and there is a 1 1/2” gap between the baffle’s bottom and the floor of the sump.

- I built a tall & narrow cabinet, put it on drawer sliders, mounted all of the controllers and ac/dc adapters to it, and installed it on the left “dry” side of the cabinet. I still need to mount the surge protectors to the cabinet wall (but need to get some 1/2” screws at my hardware store first).

- one of the surge protector strips is a ‘smart device’ controlled by an app on my phone & Ipad. I put my fuge light, return pump and gyre pumps on this strip. I can set the fuge light to a timer, and easily turn all the pumps on/off with on touch (like for feeding). And the strips monitors power usage for each outlet.

- filled the tank and sump with RO water and turned on the pumps and lights. Everything seems to be working well. I wanted to make sure that the cement holding my aquascape together didn’t drive up the pH, and after 36 hours it is still running at 7. So I guess next steps are draining the tank, wiping everything clean and refilling with saltwater to start cycling.