Waterbox Marie X 60.2 - First Marine Tank

[Reef_Sea]

Hello all, just thought I would post up a build thread for my first marine tank a waterbox 60.2.

Equipment:

Equipment	Comment
Red Sea DC 300 Skimmer	Was easy to set up with some advice I found here to circumvent issues regarding firmware upgrades it is a shame it requires a dual controller in order to function.
Radion XR30 G5 Blue	May be a little overkill for the tank but got for a great price from my LFS as it was last old gen in stock they found.
AI Nero 5	Great flow for the price, will look at getting a second soon in order to better flush crevices and provide a more random flow.
Great white return pump 3,000 LPH	Super quiet and does the job fantastically
30kg of Carrib Sea ocean direct live special grade sand	Wanted a thick sand bed for Gobys that like to dig caves, sand bed ended up being roughly 7cms in depth.
Approx 15kg of Marco rock	Some was added to the sump to promote bacteria growth
Home made 'refugium'	I dropped a plastic basket that has holes in it into the sump to contain Chaeto mostly to be a home for Copepods. Note the Chaeto came from an established tank (I know the risk of parasites however I didn't think of it and had already added it in my newbie excitement so welcome to the tank little critters). Light is just a random freshwater one I had laying around until I can sought out something better.
RedSea Pro Reef Salt	Seems very high ALK however it was a fantastic deal at my LFS
Seneye Reef monitor	After a painful set up process (my own fault) this has been fantastic for observing how levels react through the day and cycle.
Two 150w Heaters	Two is one, one is none. Hope for some low level redundancy in the case of failure of the heater. Will go the extra step and connect to a monitor for temp within the next few weeks.

My readings done via a spin test is as follows:

Day 1

Dosed DR Tims Ammonia up to 2.4ppm (was meant to do 2ppm ended up at 2.4 by mistake)
Dosed Bacter and starter Redseas mature reef system in a mix.

Ammonia: 2.4
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 3

Day 2 minor bacterial bloom. Rotated sand prior to dosing further bacteria

Ammonia: 1.8
Nitrite: 0.2
Nitrate: 23

Day 3 (Day of post going up) - Dosed Copepods into refugium as well as phytoplankton, switched on lights. Bacterial bloom has mostly cleared up. Rotated sand prior to dosing further bactertia

Ammonia: 0.4
Nitrite: 1.1
Nitrate: 25

Seneye is reporting NO3 continuing to fall, at the rate it is it will hit 0 Ammonia by late tonight, will test with a Hannah test kit as well as test Nitrite and Nitrate later tonight. I do not plan to add fish in anytime soon until I can confirm cycle through a few dosing of ammonia reaching 0 within 24hrs. Nitrate spike may be from part of the Redsea reef starter kit.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Decided to get a safety shut off for the heaters early, it’s a two probe temp shut off for both heaters with wifi alerts. I know I’d regret it if one failed on, failing off isn’t as big of an issue where the tank is as the room is generally kept at a decent temperature so there wouldn’t be a sudden dramatic temperature drop. However in the future I will get a cooling set up just in case.

I will look at posting pictures of the set up in the following days any input on any of the gear or anything is hugely appreciated. Cheers

 

[kevgib67]

Following, looking forward to pictures!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along as well!

 

[Reef_Sea]

Here is a front view of the tank, mind the slight particles in the water (I disturbed the sand messing with the Nero) I may end up going slightly higher however I was aiming to provide caves and overhangs for fish to hide in when they feel they need to.

This is a side view of the tank, the very front is a cave I made out of small rocks to provide further shelter to inhabitants. The sand is forming dunes due to the Nero which I think is kinda neat.

My Seneye has hit 0.005 NO3 and has stalled, I will be running a Hannah test soon to determine total ammonia in the water. Harvested some Chaeto this morning just to give it some space to grow, it appears to of either grown or puffed up over the last few days taking up what little space I had.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Day 4: Spin test

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 3.3
Nitrate: 15
D ALK: 11.2
pH 7.6
Mg: 1085
Ca: 410

Can see copepods in the water column at night with a flash light and in the refugium. My pH is testing low, I have a well ventilated room and am unsure what is causing this however I will do some research into it in a hope to fix it. I also have been running the skimmer on a low setting in an attempt to oxygenate the water.

Have had lights on AB+ schedule at 40% reaching a Par of approx 100 at the sand bed (This was tested using the Seneye) have had no appearance of anything yet, however I am sure it is just a matter of time.

I will continue to dose copepods and phyto to feed them to help establish a healthy biome.

Water is now crystal clear.

 

[Macbalacano]

Nice set up!

 

[Reef_Sea]

Nice set up!

Thanks heaps, it is still a huge work in progress but we are chugging along nicely! Just installed the temperature safety now.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Dosed magnesium today in order to bring it up to scratch. Unsure if related however my pH has now hit 7.81 so just barely in check but it is a start. Water is crystal clear and copepods seem to be loving it and having a ball.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Added three Zoas to a small garden at the back of the tank, they are all happy as can be, fed them some Amino acids and they are loving life extended all the way here is a photo of one:

I also got a devils hand coral, it isn’t as happy as the zoas, all its little heads are hiding currently however it’s only been a few hours since transfer so hopefully they will pop out sometime soon.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Added a Neon GSP and a purple GSP to a little island in the tank, they are already starting to poke their heads out a few hours later. Learnt a valuable lesson as to why we dip corals today, the sheer amount of things that fell off these corals from my LFS was insane. Looks like all tiny bristle worms but still who knows what else may of been lurking.

My devils hand coral showed itself a little today but then hid quick, not sure why its playing hard to get however hopefully it'll feel better soon.

Zoas are loving life, all fully open now looking like sunflowers. I now have four types, three frags and one that kinda hitchhiked on one of them when my lfs pulled them from the tank.

No ugly phase signs yet, I can still see copepods zooming about at night when I shine a flash light in so maybe they are keeping it at bay, the zoas that had some algae on them no longer have it on them either so who knows. I dosed some more phyto to help feed the copepods to keep them happy and hopefully multiplying.

Had a minor spike in ammonia today, assuming it is from left over fish food that seemed to be jammed into the corals rock, it came under control quickly in the tank but it just goes to show what can be hiding and lurking within rocks from LFS.

Did a 10% water change today as well as raised my skimmer within my sump as I worked out it was 'drowning' at the level it was at and over skimming because of it. Also threw a bag of carbon under the filter sock so 100% of water has to pass through it. Unsure if it should go there since it may catch things heading for the skimmer but we will see how it goes.

Still trying to work out lighting fully as I have quite a powerful light for the tank size so getting it not to bright but also not to dark has been a challenge so far.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Ended up having to remove the GSPs and frag it due to the rock turning out to be a hive mind of parasites, after further investigation the amount of parasites that came out of it was disturbing. Aptasia, many different worms so here’s to hoping the few hours in the tank wasn’t enough for it to spread. Luckily a lot seemed already dead from my dip and I hope the bits I saved will recover and spread.

 

[Reef_Sea]

GSP I fragged survived so I can now officially say I fragged my first coral (out of necessity not fun that is for sure). First signs of algae have appeared on the rocks and the water is testing stable and safe (pH swings a little bit but I believe I have found the problem with that and have since sorted it.) Will be getting the start of my clean up crew in the following days so that the algae does not have a chance to settle in and I can get on top of it early. I will start with only one blue legged hermit as to not risk starving them and adjust as required (I would love a urchin however I don't have a lid yet and am worried it will escape).

 

[Reef_Sea]

A few photos of the gardens beginnings. I used a colour correcting lens to take these and it sucked out some of the vibrancy but they all seem to be loving life. You can see me attempt to save as much GSP as I could above.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Added in the beginning of a clean up crew, two hermit crabs (one zebra one yellow tip) and a fighting snail. They are having a ball eating the diatoms that have started to appear, they are zooming around. May need to get more but we will see how they control it currently as I do not want to starve them (I will get supplemental food for them if they manage to eat it all).

My devils hand has shed and the polyps are now coming out and feeding, they still have bits of the shed on them that are slowly going away, my skimmer has started collecting something from the water (unsure what exactly it is grabbing but the water is a off colour) and I have added carbon just to offset any chemicals that may make its way into the tank from daily household and city living.

Water parameters have been mostly stable, had a spike of ammonia last night (still under 1ppm) unsure exactly what caused that however it dropped back down. It could have just been junk that got carried over with the snail or them in general however the spike was high compared to just adding that minor livestock.

I have an air quality tester so decided to do an experiment and found that CO2 in the room was building up in the day and draining my pH. I ended up venting the room more, adding a small fan in the room to increase circulation and it seems to of fixed most of the problem.

 

[Reef_Sea]

Just a note I will be adding in a bunch of different sized shells to avoid the hermit crabs attempting to steal the fighting snails shell, however the fighting snail is huge so I do not think it will be a issue for a very long time. They are all happy in the tank, started eating within a few minutes of entering the tank and seem to be active and having a ball.

Zoas have also started to spread to the island already, they grow like crazy.