Deane's Waterbox Frag 105.4 Build

[dcal1985]

Hey Everyone,

As I mentioned in my introduction, I'm getting back into the hobby after a solid 10-year hiatus. The last tank I had was a second hand 75-gallon with less than ideal equipment. It was a mixed success but without the appropriate resources, I decided to shut it down. Now, I'm working from home permanently and I have lots of attention to give this new build in my office. After quite a bit of research I decided on the Waterbox Frag 105.4, which arrived on Tuesday.

It's probably completely unnecessary for this size, and I ended up placing it against a load bearing wall across several joists, but I decided to put in a simple jack post reinforcement for peace of mind. The original location I had in mind ran parallel and would definitely have needed it. I had already purchased the materials so I figured I might as well use them.

The hole on the right in the subfloor is for the automated water change system I will be installing.

Here is a shot of the aquascape without water. I wanted a decent mix of negative space and rockwork and I'm pretty happy with the result.

And here is a shot with low lights on. I'm currently cycling with Dr. Tim's one and only so I plan to keep the lights off for a bit. I will be working on some additional plumbing projects this weekend and plan to update this thread regularly.

Thanks for reading!

-Deane

 

[Gedxin]

Love me some shallow tanks. Scape looks great!

 

[Zach B]

Looking good! Following along

 

[dcal1985]

I set up a super simple quarantine tank for the first couple fish. I'm currently doing a fishless cycle on the display with Dr. Tim's.

 

[dcal1985]

Picked up a couple clown fish and a royal gramma today at the LFS. Currently chilling in the QT.

 

[dcal1985]

Not the biggest update but the fish are still in QT and I wanted to do something, so I built a simple mixing station in the basement. This is directly under the room where my tank is so I plan on automating water changes.

 

[Maxcmo]

Looking good what did you do for filtration other than what the tank comes with?

 

[dcal1985]

Looking good what did you do for filtration other than what the tank comes with?

I went with the Reef Octopus 150INT 6' skimmer.

 

[dcal1985]

Just a quick update. I added the fish and a few corals to the tank on Friday. Everything seems to be doing well. I tried to get a few shots but I'm learning tank photography is hard...

 

[dcal1985]

I picked up a few new additions this week at the LFS. There's a hammer,
pavona, and tomini tang currently chilling in QT. I also went kind of nuts at the Living Reef Orlando sale and I'll post pictures of everything when they arrive this week.

 

[taulgrl]

I picked up a few new additions this week at the LFS. There's a hammer,
pavona, and tomini tang currently chilling in QT. I also went kind of nuts at the Living Reef Orlando sale and I'll post pictures of everything when they arrive this week.

Looking good and looking forward to following along. Do you go to the LFS in S. burlington? I don’t know of any others in VT but I’m new to this!

 

[dcal1985]

Looking good and looking forward to following along. Do you go to the LFS in S. burlington? I don’t know of any others in VT but I’m new to this!

Yeah, Pet Advantage in South Burlington. Good to see another Vermonter on here!

 

[dcal1985]

Here are a couple of quick shots of some pieces that I picked up at the last @Living Reef Orlando sale. It was a super fun event (my first live sale) and I'm really happy with everything I got. Will DEFINITELY be ordering from them again.

 

[dcal1985]

A few wider shots...The tank has been setup for just over six weeks now and I'm quite pleased with the progress.

 

[dcal1985]

I finally have everything mostly assembled how I want it under the hood. I have automated both top-offs, using the built in reservoir and Neptune ATO, and water changes with the DOS. It’s plumber down to my basement where the mixing station/drain live.

 

[dcal1985]

I set up my Apex this week and noticed a strange phenomenon with PH. It would do the reverse of what you expect and drop throughout the day. It finally clicked that the tank is in my office, where I spend most of my time, and my respiration is likely causing the drop! I opened a window and sure enough, the PH rose sharply (see below.) That won't be a long term solution, since I live up North, so I ordered a CO2 scrubber. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

[dcal1985]

This guy falls off the glass sometimes and ends up upside down. I caught a video of him flipping back over. Kind of cool to see.

 

[taulgrl]

This guy falls off the glass sometimes and ends up upside down. I caught a video of him flipping back over. Kind of cool to see.

Very cool! Do you hand feed him or just let him feed off of what’s in the tank? Thinking about getting a starfish but worried my urchin, conch and goby are eating most of the food he’d want….

 

[dcal1985]

Very cool! Do you hand feed him or just let him feed off of what’s in the tank? Thinking about getting a starfish but worried my urchin, conch and goby are eating most of the food he’d want….

I’ve been putting some food directly in his path when he’s cruising around the tank but I don’t have any other sand sifters so I think he gets a decent amount from the sand alone.

 

[dcal1985]

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the CO2 scrubber so far. It raised my PH to 8.2 pretty quickly and has held it steady. Definitely worth it but hopefully I don't burn through too much media.