Waterbox 35.2 AIO new build!

[Russelm]

Hi all,
relatively new to the saltwater scene. Once upon a time had a 55-gallon tank that was DIY at best. Bottom line, I found myself doing more work on the tank than enjoying the fish, also move multiple times due to military life, essentially getting rid of the tank. Well, now I'm back and recently just purchased a Waterbox 35.2 AIO. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

My goal with the tank to the max extent possible is to rely on biological filtration while creating a softie/LPS tank. Patience is going to be the key and looking forward to the frustrating and awesome times of owning this tank with my daughter by my side. All she wants is a couple of nemos and a yellow tank so I think it can be achieved. I'll post as gears come in. Here is a breakdown of during stuff I have purchased

-Waterbox 35.2 tank with aspen stand
-SYNCRA SILENT × 1 1.5
-175G RO/DI unit

Reef Salt Mix 50 Gallon (Bag) - Aquaforest
Reef Saver Aquarium Dry Live Rock - MarcoRocks
Reef Saver Shelf Aquarium Dry Live Rock - MarcoRocks
Prime 16 HD LED Reef Light - White Body - Aqua Illumination
Prime Flex Arm - 12 Inch - Aqua Illumination
Prism Auto Top Off - ReefBreeders
200W Ultra Heater - AQUAEL
Maxi-Cure Extra thick Cyanoacrylate 2 oz - Bob Smith Industries
4 oz. Stone Grey - AquaStik Epoxy Putty
20 lb. Fiji Pink Arag-Alive! Reef Sand - CaribSea
Nano-Tech Bio-Spheres (1kg/2.2lbs) - Maxspect

Looking forward to the build!

Matt

 

[blaxsun]

Sounds like a fun build - best of luck!

 

[MDAquatics]

Good Luck! Can't wait to see it

 

[Propane]

Dont forget pictures.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Can't wait to see the build!

 

[Russelm]

The boxes are flying through the door with the exception of the tank which should be here Tuesday. Aquascape is coming along quite nicely. I took some people's advice and every couple of hours walked away and revisited it. This caused me to make some minor changes like going from two individual islands to one island, giving me more room around the edges and more caves. I kept building higher and came to the realization that I will quickly run out of room as soon as a put corals in the tank. I would like your feedback on the aquascape! Enjoy

 

[KaiPono]

Great rock work! Funny enough, despite my best efforts to encourage greater creativity, my daughter named our two clowns “Mr & Mrs Nemo.”

 

[Russelm]

Great rock work! Funny enough, despite my best efforts to encourage greater creativity, my daughter named our two clowns “Mr & Mrs Nemo.”

That’s awesome and hilarious! She showed interest by naming the fish! On your way to enjoying the tank with the family

 

[aquatic26]

The boxes are flying through the door with the exception of the tank which should be here Tuesday. Aquascape is coming along quite nicely. I took some people's advice and every couple of hours walked away and revisited it. This caused me to make some minor changes like going from two individual islands to one island, giving me more room around the edges and more caves. I kept building higher and came to the realization that I will quickly run out of room as soon as a put corals in the tank. I would like your feedback on the aquascape! Enjoy

I am in the same place in my build of my Waterbox 15 peninsula. For my aquascape, I started off with a similar design to yours actually, but decided to leave a bit more negative space so I could add a few small "islands" here and there for faster growing softies I didn't want to take over the tank. I also decided to build a scape that could be manipulated for easy readjustment as my corals and preferences change. I also wanted to leave enough room for frag racks on the walls later on, if need be. Super cloudy photo (just added water to start cycle), but you can see what I opted for here.

 

[Russelm]

That’s awesome and hilarious! She showed interest by naming the fish! On your way to enjoying the tank with the family

Update on the tank!
It's up and running and currently just started the cycle. If anyone has any doubts about the water box and its build quality I wouldn't. The tank and stand came bundled on a pallet and wrapped together. It was on its own pallet so no damage. The packaging was awesome, well thought out, and easy to assemble. I spent a couple of hours leveling the tank (probably spent too much time trying to perfect it). The tank is now on, it's quiet and looks great.

As I mentioned I started the cycles last night. I am using Fritz turbo start and ammonia chloride solution. Using what was annotated on the bottle, ammonia is currently at 1.0 ppm. I will be testing every day and I have made an Excel spreadsheet so I can see the progress of the tank. Also, utilizing Excel and knowing I'm a visual learner I can create graphs and see the progress. It's also easier for my daughter to comprehend instead of a bunch of numbers.

A couple of extras I did was buy additional filtration in the form of 1lb biospheres. The tank came with media but I figured more couldn't hurt. Once again, my goal is to make a relatively easy tank to maintain by using nature to do my work. Thanks for following and looking forward to showing you the results.

 

[Russelm]

I am in the same place in my build of my Waterbox 15 peninsula. For my aquascape, I started off with a similar design to yours actually, but decided to leave a bit more negative space so I could add a few small "islands" here and there for faster growing softies I didn't want to take over the tank. I also decided to build a scape that could be manipulated for easy readjustment as my corals and preferences change. I also wanted to leave enough room for frag racks on the walls later on, if need be. Super cloudy photo (just added water to start cycle), but you can see what I opted for here.

I really like your aquascape! Keep us posted on how its going! Following

 

[Russelm]

Tank Update 1:

Cycling:
I cycled the tank for about 9 days. I used a combination of methods with pretty good results. I combined fritz turbo star with ammonia chloride. It works with no problems. I even added additional ammonia to the tank a couple of days in to elevate the levels to help build that beneficial bacteria.

Additions:
We picked up two snowflake clowns, Barry and Sam. Pictures are below! They settled in nicely and are eating well. For acclimation, I added a quarter cup of tanker water every ten minutes until the water volume tripled then added them to the tank. I didn't turn the lights on for about a day and a half to give them time to adjust. The first 24 hrs they stayed in one corner and did not move. Now after a little over two days, they are all over the place and have settled in under a shelf. They are eating as much as I think they can. I feed pellets in the morning and mysis shrimp in the afternoon. I am just trying to change their food to ensure they get all the nutrition they need.

While I was acclimating Barry and Sam I also did a 4-gallon water change (roughly 10%) to ensure the water was still safe. Below is a snapshot of the Excel document I have been using to track any changes and see the cycles take place.

Corals:
Yesterday I added a Duncan and a small colony of fireworks cloves. I bought these based on ease and well as they are beginner corals. They are doing well after only being in the tank for 24 hours and showing their colors. I will continue to monitor with the intent of not adding additional corals till October.

Other thoughts:
Added a small cleanup crew consisting of 4 hermits, 2 astrai, and 2 zombie snails. Small bioload so small crew. Also, I added copepods to the system to help decrease the algae bloom (the uglies) and also provide another source of food for the clowns. Pictures are below and please let me know if you have any questions.

 

[aquatic26]

Tank Update 1:

Looks great! Curious what you're running for filter media in each chamber in the back? I've added a yasha and candy cane pistol bonded pair and will be adding a pair of clowns next week. Also curious about copepods in general. Once you add them, do they reproduce or do you have to consistently add them? What is their benefit, beyond snacks for the clowns?

 

[Russelm]

Aquatic26,
Thanks for the compliment! It's definitely a work in progress, I want to add more to the tank but trying to be patient. Copepods have a lot of benefits besides snacks, they eat algae so sometimes you will skip the ugly stage. Basically, they are another layer of filtration. As far as adding them you just turn off the pumps for 20 minutes, add them to the tank, and you're done. I poured most of the bottle over my ceramic media in the back so they could establish before turning the pumps back on. Super easy and I will try to maintain a copepod population in my tank.

For filtration, I just run two filter socks, carbon, and a sponge! I'll keep you updated on how this is working but right now it's holding up well. The biggest highlight is that I have a lot of ceramic media in the back chamber, almost a chamber full. I am striving for a low-maintenance tank so let's see if it works

 

[aquatic26]

Aquatic26,
Thanks for the compliment! It's definitely a work in progress, I want to add more to the tank but trying to be patient. Copepods have a lot of benefits besides snacks, they eat algae so sometimes you will skip the ugly stage. Basically, they are another layer of filtration. As far as adding them you just turn off the pumps for 20 minutes, add them to the tank, and you're done. I poured most of the bottle over my ceramic media in the back so they could establish before turning the pumps back on. Super easy and I will try to maintain a copepod population in my tank.

For filtration, I just run two filter socks, carbon, and a sponge! I'll keep you updated on how this is working but right now it's holding up well. The biggest highlight is that I have a lot of ceramic media in the back chamber, almost a chamber full. I am striving for a low-maintenance tank so let's see if it works

Interesting!! My aquascape is ceramic "rock". Is there a benefit to ceramic that I did not know about? lol

So you pour the copepods into the back chamber where your ceramic media is, wait 20 min before turning pump on, and then in theory will you have to replace every few weeks?

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Hi all,
relatively new to the saltwater scene. Once upon a time had a 55-gallon tank that was DIY at best. Bottom line, I found myself doing more work on the tank than enjoying the fish, also move multiple times due to military life, essentially getting rid of the tank. Well, now I'm back and recently just purchased a Waterbox 35.2 AIO. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

My goal with the tank to the max extent possible is to rely on biological filtration while creating a softie/LPS tank. Patience is going to be the key and looking forward to the frustrating and awesome times of owning this tank with my daughter by my side. All she wants is a couple of nemos and a yellow tank so I think it can be achieved. I'll post as gears come in. Here is a breakdown of during stuff I have purchased

-Waterbox 35.2 tank with aspen stand
-SYNCRA SILENT × 1 1.5
-175G RO/DI unit

Reef Salt Mix 50 Gallon (Bag) - Aquaforest
Reef Saver Aquarium Dry Live Rock - MarcoRocks
Reef Saver Shelf Aquarium Dry Live Rock - MarcoRocks
Prime 16 HD LED Reef Light - White Body - Aqua Illumination
Prime Flex Arm - 12 Inch - Aqua Illumination
Prism Auto Top Off - ReefBreeders
200W Ultra Heater - AQUAEL
Maxi-Cure Extra thick Cyanoacrylate 2 oz - Bob Smith Industries
4 oz. Stone Grey - AquaStik Epoxy Putty
20 lb. Fiji Pink Arag-Alive! Reef Sand - CaribSea
Nano-Tech Bio-Spheres (1kg/2.2lbs) - Maxspect

Looking forward to the build!

Matt

Sounds like a fun build! Look forward to watching the progression. Good luck!

 

[Russelm]

Interesting!! My aquascape is ceramic "rock". Is there a benefit to ceramic that I did not know about? lol

So you pour the copepods into the back chamber where your ceramic media is, wait 20 min before turning pump on, and then in theory will you have to replace every few weeks?

I don't know about your aquascape and its ceramic properties. I just grabbed some off of bulk reef supply and threw it in the back chamber. Link: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cera...D=6876&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

As far as the copepods, I threw them in the back chamber so they have a place to kind of stay before being thrown into the return pump. The copepods are supposed to be reproducing so in theory the population should get bigger provided they have enough food and shelter.

I hope this answers your questions. I am learning this as I go along as well!

 

[Stuckita]

Hey there. Can you take a photo of your rear chamber/water levels? I’m new and setting up a waterbox 35.2 and want to make sure I’m doing it all right.