Anirban's Aquaforest journey

[jsker]

Yeah, you got it right. what I am reading that Waterbox shipping is awful and they dont take care of small things. In other words, they will not take care of thing which they dont think are structural issues which is completely relative and vary according to different person. If I receive a tank with its overflow box leaking I will doubt over how the whole tank has been sealed. You dont want 200G of saltwater on the floor. But Red sea generally takes care of things like this and dont ask customer to seal that by themselves.

I would say our discussion pretty much made your choice

 

[Anirban]

I would say our discussion pretty much made your choice

Lol...yeah 10 G more water volume vs 200G possible flooding.

 

[SlvrZ]

the Red Sea stuff man, thats where i would go as they do have great customer support. nothing like dropping a few grand with a company and them giving you the run around after they have your money. Not only are you paying for the quality, but the support AFTER the sale.

love the build btw. i'm gonna try to transition my current tank to a AF tank.
i dose NoPox and skim along with a roller mat filter and was wondering....
would the Bio S along side the Pro Bio S be all I need (i'd use the nopox as i have about half a gallon of it still as my carbon lol)

 

[Anirban]

the Red Sea stuff man, thats where i would go as they do have great customer support. nothing like dropping a few grand with a company and them giving you the run around after they have your money. Not only are you paying for the quality, but the support AFTER the sale.

love the build btw. i'm gonna try to transition my current tank to a AF tank.
i dose NoPox and skim along with a roller mat filter and was wondering....
would the Bio S along side the Pro Bio S be all I need (i'd use the nopox as i have about half a gallon of it still as my carbon lol)

Yeah, I am still a little bit confused. They both have their own issues but I am currently leaning more towards the Red sea but I have time and will watch out how water box deals with their customer issues and then decide finally. Waterbox makes some really good aquariums but instead of focussing more on competition with Red sea they should focus more on quality control and shipping.

For your question, if you are just interested in Bio S and Pro bioS then you can just use them without any issues. You have pretty good mechanical filter so start dosing Bio S for 14 days and then slowly start dosing the Pro bio S. Dose half of the recommend volume.

 

[GoVols]

Waterbox makes some really good aquariums but instead of focussing more on competition with Red sea they should focus more on quality control and shipping.

FWIW:
The Aquatic Critter feels the same way.
Their staying Red Sea for the time being.

 

[Anirban]

FWIW:
The Aquatic Critter feels the same way.
Their staying Red Sea for the time being.

Hey Freddie, how are you doing?
Yeah the red sea is time tested thats all what I can say for now. Waterbox needs to grow up in terms of quality control and shipping.

 

[GoVols]

Hey Freddie, how are you doing?
Yeah the red sea is time tested thats all what I can say for now. Waterbox needs to grow up in terms of quality control and shipping.

I'm good and thanks for asking.

Anirban,
It's been a while, how have you been doing?

 

[Anirban]

I'm good and thanks for asking.

Anirban,
It's been a while, how have you been doing?

Yeah, I know. I changed my job so reefing took a back seat. But currently settling things down and focussing back in the hobby. I need few fishes since my Flame angel killed half of my fishes...

 

[GoVols]

Yeah, I know. I changed my job so reefing took a back seat. But currently settling things down and focussing back in the hobby. I need few fishes since my Flame angel killed half of my fishes...

Sorry about the flame.
Are you still thinking custom build?

 

[Anirban]

Sorry about the flame.
Are you still thinking custom build?

You know I will really love to do a custom build but the money needed for all individual parts adds up too much. I am still not decided but I got two things for the still undecided tank. I got a Deltec skimmer from Adam and a Varios 8 for return pump.

 

[GoVols]

You know I will really love to do a custom build but the money needed for all individual parts adds up too much. I am still not decided but I got two things for the still undecided tank. I got a Deltec skimmer from Adam and a Varios 8 for return pump.

Gotta love Deltec and Adam is really great.

 

[Anirban]

Gotta love Deltec and Adam is really great.

Yup, I trust him and the skimmer is biggggg. He uses it himself.

 

[Anirban]

Few pictures of the SPS....

RMF Acid trip

ASD Rainbow

Its hard to tell that they are different corals..lol

 

[Anirban]

And the unicorn....aka BC bubblebath unicorn

 

[Anirban]

RMF Psychoberry and RD Nirvana in the back...

 

[Abhishek]

Ok I have been slacking a lot and lost touch with you man @Anirban . So excited to hear about the upgrade !!!
Have you decided on the tank yet ? Red Sea peninsula ? Its gonna be epic !

Lighting, flow, filtration - give me a summary man !!!!

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Anirban]

Ok I have been slacking a lot and lost touch with you man @Anirban . So excited to hear about the upgrade !!!
Have you decided on the tank yet ? Red Sea peninsula ? Its gonna be epic !

Lighting, flow, filtration - give me a summary man !!!!

Regards,
Abhishek

I was little off with my updates too. A lot of changes in too short time period. House, new jobs etc etc....

But yeah I am settling down and started looking for the upgrade components. The peninsula is decided but from where I don't know yet. Possibly something other than a waterbox...;Hilarious;Hilarious
I contacted crystal dynamics and waiting on their quote if it suits then good otherwise its going to be a Red sea. I contacted one of my LFS here and did not like their attitude. Yeah, I know the LFS are helpful people but in my area there are more accidental hobbyist who are happy with hammers and six line wrasse. In other words not for advance hobbyist who will use their own brain.

For instruments, skimmer-Deltec 1500i from Adam and its right now sitting in front of me.
The return pump will be Octo Varios 8 and its in house too. I was planning to buy the Red dragon 150 watt but did not like the fact that you can not separate the controller from the pump ever even for a clean up. I personally don't like the Vectra line up and wanted a DC pump so I thought to give Varios a try. Abyzz was too rich for my blood.
For flow I will start with my 2 MP10 and 1 MP40 but possibly over next few years I will shift to 2x Panta Rhei and dump the MPs.
Now the lights, I thought of giving metal halide a try but there will be no canopy and my wife strictly wants a clean look. So, with my taste there are only two options ATI hybrid or Pac Sun Hyperion S. Now right now I am more inclined towards Pac sun as their LEDs are 145 watt each much much more than ATI. So I will possibly go with hyperion S 3x145W and 8x54Watt model.
The last component I will add over the year or so will be the calcium reactor. I have decided to use a Dastaco XtremeA A2 for the build.

Other than this everything will be aquaforest driven the salt and probiotics etc. Also, I will use a refuge for the build so it will not be completely probiotics driven and this will be barebottom as well.

I am currently cycling alot of tonga branch and pukani which I got from a nice online place but did cost me a bit but I did not wanted some purple colored dumb looking rocks in my build. I will built a branched bonsai structure with minimalistic look and a lot of space for my acros to grow. I have a long list to acquire.
So, thats my little detail of the build...

I saw you already put water in the tank. How is everything doing and when is the shifting?

 

[Abhishek]

I was little off with my updates too. A lot of changes in too short time period. House, new jobs etc etc....

But yeah I am settling down and started looking for the upgrade components. The peninsula is decided but from where I don't know yet. Possibly something other than a waterbox...;Hilarious;Hilarious
I contacted crystal dynamics and waiting on their quote if it suits then good otherwise its going to be a Red sea. I contacted one of my LFS here and did not like their attitude. Yeah, I know the LFS are helpful people but in my area there are more accidental hobbyist who are happy with hammers and six line wrasse. In other words not for advance hobbyist who will use their own brain.

For instruments, skimmer-Deltec 1500i from Adam and its right now sitting in front of me.
The return pump will be Octo Varios 8 and its in house too. I was planning to buy the Red dragon 150 watt but did not like the fact that you can not separate the controller from the pump ever even for a clean up. I personally don't like the Vectra line up and wanted a DC pump so I thought to give Varios a try. Abyzz was too rich for my blood.
For flow I will start with my 2 MP10 and 1 MP40 but possibly over next few years I will shift to 2x Panta Rhei and dump the MPs.
Now the lights, I thought of giving metal halide a try but there will be no canopy and my wife strictly wants a clean look. So, with my taste there are only two options ATI hybrid or Pac Sun Hyperion S. Now right now I am more inclined towards Pac sun as their LEDs are 145 watt each much much more than ATI. So I will possibly go with hyperion S 3x145W and 8x54Watt model.
The last component I will add over the year or so will be the calcium reactor. I have decided to use a Dastaco XtremeA A2 for the build.

Other than this everything will be aquaforest driven the salt and probiotics etc. Also, I will use a refuge for the build so it will not be completely probiotics driven and this will be barebottom as well.

I am currently cycling alot of tonga branch and pukani which I got from a nice online place but did cost me a bit but I did not wanted some purple colored dumb looking rocks in my build. I will built a branched bonsai structure with minimalistic look and a lot of space for my acros to grow. I have a long list to acquire.
So, thats my little detail of the build...

I saw you already put water in the tank. How is everything doing and when is the shifting?

Sounds like an awesome plan man !! Well if it’s any help , I got a custom built by crystal reef aquatics and they were simply fabulous ! I got quotes from every vendor - reefsavvy , cossttocoast , AGE , customaquariums , crystaldynamics and planet .
Best was crystalreefaquarics with all features that I wanted like corner supports , eurobracing , PVC bottom , 3 sided starfire and an amazing ghost overflow .

Excited and awesome list of equipments ! As far as panta rhei goes , unbelievable construction but wanted to know what size of tank you are looking at ?

I saw and tested them out and talked to numerous people like dillon from WWC . It’s amazing when you want to send water across a long tank like over 6 feet . Felt like it’s useless in anything less than 6 feet and for the money , the new tunze streams were unmatched .
Dastaco will be simply awesome and I hope to hear your experience !

Lastly , metal halides need not be ugly !!! Spectras look pretty darn good with powder coating

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Anirban]

Sounds like an awesome plan man !! Well if it’s any help , I got a custom built by crystal reef aquatics and they were simply fabulous ! I got quotes from every vendor - reefsavvy , cossttocoast , AGE , customaquariums , crystaldynamics and planet .
Best was crystalreefaquarics with all features that I wanted like corner supports , eurobracing , PVC bottom , 3 sided starfire and an amazing ghost overflow .

Excited and awesome list of equipments ! As far as panta rhei goes , unbelievable construction but wanted to know what size of tank you are looking at ?

I saw and tested them out and talked to numerous people like dillon from WWC . It’s amazing when you want to send water across a long tank like over 6 feet . Felt like it’s useless in anything less than 6 feet and for the money , the new tunze streams were unmatched .
Dastaco will be simply awesome and I hope to hear your experience !

Lastly , metal halides need not be ugly !!! Spectras look pretty darn good with powder coating

Regards,
Abhishek

I saw your tank on their instagram post. I will contact them for a quote.

I am not yet decided about Panta rhei but I use their couple of coral foods and they are awesome. But I will wait before I replace the MPs.
I really wanted to test Dastaco but not immediately. I will start with my Aquaforest line balling and slowly move into Dastaco.
As far metal halide goes I understand they can look good but I really hate the black or metallic finish of them. I trie to find a white finish one but there is none. I just want the the tank and everything very subtle just my corals to do all the talking. LET THE REEF SPEAK FOR ITSELF.

 

[Anirban]

A year passed and my reef grown older. Its been a year of successful reefing and coral growth. I was going through my pictures today and figured out how much my reef has grown in this year. I hope the next year bring more growth and colour to my reef. Using Aquaforest for more than 3 years now and it really changed my way of reef keeping so thanks to Aquaforest and all my reef buddies here for helping me out and making this possible.

December 22nd,2017

December 31st,2018