WaterBox Marine 110.4 Upgrade

BContos

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The long awaited tank upgrade is finally T-minus 7 days away!

A little back story-

A few years ago I decided I wanted a fish tank for my birthday. I had freshwater tanks growing up and as a kid would beg my parents to let us buy the beautiful saltwater fish every time we would go to the local fish stores! They never did though and its always lingered in the back of my mind as something I wanted one day once I was settled. After discussing it with my husband a several years ago we decided it was a good time to start in the hobby. I started with a used Oceanic 70 gallon DT + 25 gallon sump with a promise from my husband that we would upgrade to something nicer later if I decided I was interested and wanted to continue in the hobby.

My Oceanic tank was set up for an Octopus. I know, crazy right? First time in the hobby and I jumped to something super advanced and quite controversial. I had some amazing mentors that had kept them almost as long as I have been alive and successfully kept 2 (one at a time). It was an amazing experience and I obsessively learned as much as I could for 6 months before we ever got one! However with their short lifespan, rising cost and issues obtaining quality food especially in the summer months it became quite the headache and unfortunately a heartache when they would pass after a year. A few months after getting the Oceanic I found a heck of a deal on a used WB 32 gallon tank and jumped on it! My husband was excited for fish and somewhat disappointed when I chose to go the octopus route instead so two tanks offered the best of both worlds. After watching the second octopus go into senescence though my heart hurt and I decided I would rather switch exclusively to fish. Maybe one day we will go back but for now I will reminisce on my memories and pictures!

So I added the fish I had in my 32 gallon to my Oceanic and started to pick up new equipment this year to plan for my upgrade.

What I have so far-
  • Waterbox Marine X 110.4
  • Jebao SCP-120 Sine Cross Flow Wave Maker (will end up getting a second one if needed)
  • 2- Noo Psychee K7 Pro lll lights (will get another one or two if we decide to add SPS later and deem it needed)
  • Kessil H80 refugium light
  • Aqua UV 25 Watt with the Neat Aquatics mounting clamps
  • Reef Octopus 110S skimmer (undersized but transferring from my current tank so will upgrade later when needed)
  • Current USA eFlux DC Return pump 1900 GPH
  • 80 lbs. CarribSea Fiji Pink sand
  • CandlerRocks custom Aquascape and 20ish lbs. of KP aquatics aquacultered rock that has been in my current system from the start
  • Extra Marine Pure Bio Brick (has been in current sump for 2 months already)
What I still need-
  • Lid- Going with OctoAquatics as of now. Hoping to order in January but have some egg crate to put on top of the tank until I receive it
  • Sump baffle to create refugium- Also from Octo Aquatics
  • Heater- Will likely go with Eheim JAGER for now and either replace annually with my UV bulb or upgrade to a higher quality later
  • RedSea ReefATO+ (for ato and temp control)
  • Auto Feeder
  • Feeding Ring
My husband is a bit of a cheap-wad so I have been trying to purchase energy efficient/not all the extra 'bells and whistles' automation gadgets to help with the electric consumption of the tank.

The current plan is to start the tank transfer on the 28th. I have taken off work the 28th-2nd and hoping to not need all that time to get it done. The current tank is where the new tank will go so it will be a little more tricky in the sense I can't take my time doing a little here and there.

Current Tank Inhabitants-
  • Midas Blenny
  • Clown
  • Falco Hawkfish
  • Royal Gramma
  • Blue Green Cromis
  • Serpent star
  • Snails
The new NSA aquascape has been in a heated brute trash can with media pulled from my current tank to help seed it for about 3 weeks now. This scape is so cool! I seriously can not say enough good things about @chandlerrocks Aquascaping From the communication, quality and the shipping I have not one single complaint and will use him consistently for every aquascape need I have going forward! 10/10 recommend everyone give him a shout if you want a premade scape made!

I am currently mixing saltwater trying to have enough for the transfer. I am unsure if I should transfer any of the water in my current tank over? The skimmer pump went out on us while we were out of town and it wasn't caught for right away so we have seen a phosphate spike to 0.5 and had some GHA pop up. I currently have 60 gallons of fresh saltwater made and 20 gallons of RODI water to mix and make more. I am not sure if I will have room to store more than that though so I may have to make more water as I go as space allows!

My current plan is the night before the transfer bring the WB stand inside and assemble it next to the current tank so that will be done. Have my tote container in place, heated and ready for the fish in the morning. I have been working with my fish to get them conditioned to the net by adding it to the tank during feeding time in hopes to desensitize them. I am debating on weather I should try and get the clown and cromis who sleep at the top of the tank near the overflow when they are sleeping because I have a feeling as soon as I start swiping the net the blenny and gramma are going to hide in the rocks and it will be a pain to get them. Morning of start trying to catch the fish, remove the rocks I am transferring over into the tote with fish, power off tank, drain water leaving enough for the LR I am not transferring over to go in a separate tote, remove un-needed rocks and then the rest of water and sand. Then remove the equipment from sump, remove biomedia and water, take apart plumbing and remove sump, then move tank/stand. After all that, move new stand/sump in, level, add new tank, leak test overflow, hook the plumbing up, add rocks, sand, water to DT, add equipment to sump and turn the tank online. I have a bottle of Microbacter7 to add to the tank daily and also plan to test to make sure everything is running smoothly. I plan to let the tank settle overnight and if it isnt super cloudy add fish back into the tank in the morning. Does that sound correct? I have never done a transfer and my nerves are getting the best of me!

The goal for the WB 110.4 is to stock with fish and some corals. I would like this to be a lower maintenance tank so I will likely stick with softies and LPS. I plan on quarantining everything that goes into the tank weather its done at home or bought from Dr. Reef done for me. I feel like I learned a lot from my previous tanks and want to make sure I avoid some of the mistakes I made the first couple years in the hobby.

Thanks for reading the start of my first build thread! I will post updates as they happen!
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Ron Reefman

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Have fun. I remember days like you are having now. ENJOY and take your time!
 

kevgib67

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Those are such nice tanks! I have been eyeing the 150.4 for about 4 months. I have a devil and an angel on each shoulder helping me decide why I should and shouldn’t. Best of luck and I’ll enjoy following your build.
 
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BContos

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Those are such nice tanks! I have been eyeing the 150.4 for about 4 months. I have a devil and an angel on each shoulder helping me decide why I should and shouldn’t. Best of luck and I’ll enjoy following your build.
The tank looks so beautiful I can not wait to set it up! If you can, I would 10/10 invest in one!
 

kevgib67

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The tank looks so beautiful I can not wait to set it up! If you can, I would 10/10 invest in one!
You need to have a sit down with the angel on my shoulder, I think you and the devil would be friends!
 
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Mini Update:

Dr. Reef was running a 20% off sale for Christmas so I went ahead and placed an order over the weekend for my CUC! In the order I purchased-
  • Medium Pack CUC (55-75 gallon)
  • Hermit Crabs (10)
  • Fighting Conch (2)
  • Halloween Urchin
  • Bumblebee Snails (10) *more as a precaution than anything*
I asked them to hold off on shipping until 01/11 for a delivery day of 01/12
I plan to run my lights like normal from the jump and I am sure within two weeks the newly seeded rock will start experiencing a diatom bloom. I am hoping with the established rock, bio media and UV the ugly stage wont last too long but I think having the CUC delivered two weeks from the official start date the snails and crabs wont have any issues with finding food. Does anyone remember the wait time on adding their new CUC on a transfer?

I ordered some copepods and phyto from Dinkins Aquatics as well! I ordered a half gallon of their Snacklebox Copepod blend. It is also set to be delivered 01/12. My previous tanks I did not add any pods because so many came in on the live rock from KP aquatics I didn't have to but since a mandarin is on the list of future fish I figured it would be wise. I will be going with a captive bred so it may not be necessary but better be safe than sorry!

My family kicked butt this year with gifts and I was excited to get my RedSea+ ATO, heater, auto feeder, feeding ring, Julian's thing, a new AquaBlade 24" glass scraper and a new specimen container. So all that is left is to order the lid and sump baffle from Octo Aquatics which I will likely do Friday morning after making sure I like the light placement and other equipment that needs cut out slots!

T-minus 2 more days and its start time! My excitement and nerves are getting real!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and thanks again for following along!
 
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BContos

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You need to have a sit down with the angel on my shoulder, I think you and the devil would be friends!
I had a similar conversation with mine and the angel agreed saving for a year and catching the Blue Friday Sale was the best way to avoid an impulse buy! :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:
 

kevgib67

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Mini Update:

Dr. Reef was running a 20% off sale for Christmas so I went ahead and placed an order over the weekend for my CUC! In the order I purchased-
  • Medium Pack CUC (55-75 gallon)
  • Hermit Crabs (10)
  • Fighting Conch (2)
  • Halloween Urchin
  • Bumblebee Snails (10) *more as a precaution than anything*
I asked them to hold off on shipping until 01/11 for a delivery day of 01/12
I plan to run my lights like normal from the jump and I am sure within two weeks the newly seeded rock will start experiencing a diatom bloom. I am hoping with the established rock, bio media and UV the ugly stage wont last too long but I think having the CUC delivered two weeks from the official start date the snails and crabs wont have any issues with finding food. Does anyone remember the wait time on adding their new CUC on a transfer?

I ordered some copepods and phyto from Dinkins Aquatics as well! I ordered a half gallon of their Snacklebox Copepod blend. It is also set to be delivered 01/12. My previous tanks I did not add any pods because so many came in on the live rock from KP aquatics I didn't have to but since a mandarin is on the list of future fish I figured it would be wise. I will be going with a captive bred so it may not be necessary but better be safe than sorry!

My family kicked butt this year with gifts and I was excited to get my RedSea+ ATO, heater, auto feeder, feeding ring, Julian's thing, a new AquaBlade 24" glass scraper and a new specimen container. So all that is left is to order the lid and sump baffle from Octo Aquatics which I will likely do Friday morning after making sure I like the light placement and other equipment that needs cut out slots!

T-minus 2 more days and its start time! My excitement and nerves are getting real!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and thanks again for following along!
The only problem I see with your cuc is I don’t think you’ll have enough algae in that time frame for your urchin. They never stop eating. My suggestion to you is buy some algae wafers and nori to supplement until it will be able to sustain itself, oh that time will come. I’ve rubber banded the nori to a small rock. You can throw some flake or frozen food for your hermits, they are scavengers. The conchs will also eat algae wafers. I threw a handful of bumblebees in and haven’t seen a vermatid snail in over 9 months but the bumblebees are still thriving, I guess getting buy on scavenging.
 
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BContos

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The only problem I see with your cuc is I don’t think you’ll have enough algae in that time frame for your urchin. They never stop eating. My suggestion to you is buy some algae wafers and nori to supplement until it will be able to sustain itself, oh that time will come. I’ve rubber banded the nori to a small rock. You can throw some flake or frozen food for your hermits, they are scavengers. The conchs will also eat algae wafers. I threw a handful of bumblebees in and haven’t seen a vermatid snail in over 9 months but the bumblebees are still thriving, I guess getting buy on scavenging.
I have nori sheets and will add them!! Thank you for the tip!
 
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Update:

First and foremost- I have a new respect for aquarium moving companies! If it all possible I will 100% opt for using a company to move any tank larger than 30 gallons because that was brutal! Lol.

Thursday morning I started breaking the tank down. I honestly am so thankful my husband was home to help with that! He was so helpful with catching the fish and removing the heavy rocks in the tank. I spent about 15 hours working on breaking down the old tank and setting the new one up. I also started feeling crummy that morning and yay for a sinus infection lol

All the livestock was put in a tote with the LR pieces in my DT I chose to keep, a wave maker and a heater. I let the tank settle over night because it was pretty cloudy from adding the sand and added the livestock Friday afternoon. I started dosing Microbacter7 on day 1 and have continued daily.

When I was pulling the biomedia and other liverock from my sump I noticed the LR in there had quite the collection of vermetid snails. I did not notice any on the ceramic media, there was none I was able to visually see on the rock transferred over in the DT but when we moved the old tank outside I did notice a few on the pipes in the overflow. Since the batch of LR in the sump was from a different order than the ones in my DT I am hopeful they didn't make it into the DT rock and I don't see an infestation later down the road. When I get my order from Dr.Reef I will put some of the bumblebee snails in the sump to get any that may pop up. I did not add the LR that had them on it to the new tank. They are currently in a tote with a wave maker while I contemplate what to do with them.

While I am 110% impressed with the tank itself the stand leaves something to be desired. The stand does not seem stable like the other wooden stands we have had in the past tanks! We will 100% be replacing the stand towards the end of the year when we redo our floors and the tank has to be moved! The doors we could not get level and "the hinges suck" per my husband. I am contemplating just taking the doors off as it is a pain to get them open!

All livestock transferred over good! Unfortunately though my royal gramma decided to go carpet surfing and I found her yesterday morning behind the tank when she didn't come out of her cave for breakfast. I am not sure if she jumped through the egg crate or found the gap between the light brackets and egg crate. She will be missed for sure!

Most of my equipment is set up and going! These Noo-Psyche lights are... giving me a run for my money with programming! I currently am just plugging/unplugging them daily because with this sinus infection I just do not have the desire to fight with them. While I love the Jebao wave maker that also took quite a bit of time to figure out. The interface on these apps is not user friendly and I hope one day they will make improvements on them!

This RedSea ATO- is absolutely amazing! I love it!!


I contacted Octo Aquatics yesterday with my lid measurements and will order as soon as I hear back from him that he received the request! Hopefully the lid comes in faster than the 6-8 week turn around and I do not have anymore carpet surfing!
 
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Friday afternoon with the LR pieces from my previous tank (KP aquacultured rock aged an additional 2 years in my previous tank) and my livestock. I will probably tinker with the LR placement later but the main goal was to get it in and let everything settle/de-stress IMG_6149.jpeg
 
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Due to the difficulty of getting the doors open (my husband will have to address this soon) I went ahead and ordered a small cabinet from Ikea to place next to the tank for my cords, pump/wavemaker/ATO controller to ease in accessibility for the time being. Unfortunately the cabinet I chose only came in white or brown so when it is delivered Friday I will have to paint it black to match the stand. This hopefully will work out in my favor though having the electronics stationed outside of the cabinet due to possible water interference! It will also allow me to have some of the common things I use often close to the tank instead of in a cabinet in another part of the house!

I also noticed last night we have a pod population starting to show on the glass. I am excited some managed the transfer over and hope between the ones in there now and the half gallon that will be coming next week I will have a diverse thriving population in no time!
 

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IMG_6150.jpeg
IMG_6148.jpeg

Friday afternoon with the LR pieces from my previous tank (KP aquacultured rock aged an additional 2 years in my previous tank) and my livestock. I will probably tinker with the LR placement later but the main goal was to get it in and let everything settle/de-stress IMG_6149.jpeg
I just saw this tank build and I think it is looking wonderful I have the same tank and found it for free. I got super lucky the tank came with everything and some. It has a full apex system and much more. A few things I want to do with the tank is have a bigger refugium. Right now I’m just using the ato reservoir as my refugium since that is how the tank was set up before. Besides the point I love to see your tank and it inspires me on mine. I’ll add a photo of my tank just to show. I can’t wait to see your tank in the future!
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