Mrussell’s waterbox 70.3 build

[Mrussell]

So after a 6 year hiatus I am back! I made the decision to jump back into the hobby in January. After a lot of thought I decided to go with the Waterbox 70.3. The tank is set to arrive this week!

Tank specs:
Tank: Waterbox 70.3
Return pump: Varios2
Lighting: 2x ai Hydra 26hd with 3D reefing diffusers
Flow: 2x MP10
Skimmer: Cadlight PLS50
Fuge: IM cheatomax 2 in 1 with Cheato
ATO: duetto
Doser: Jeabo 4x
Current Full Tank Shot:

 

[PaulPerger]

A new build thread! Following along...

Love the first FTS!

 

[Mrussell]

In February I set up a container to cook, cure and cycle my live rock. I added a power head and heater and dropped in a raw shrimp. I have been following the cycle and adding a new shrimp about ever week. I also added my skimmer just to see how it works (it’s not doing much of anything except pulling out a little slime for a day or two after adding a shrimp.) Below are my numbers from testing and adding shrimp. Last two dates should be April not February, I added cheato 2 days ago.

Since my wife won’t let me set up the tank until mid May I have been stuck tinkering with my rock in the garage. I wanted to test out how effective cheato is in removing nitrate so I added a mini Fuge to the rock container. We will see how it goes my guess is that the cheato will be over taken by hair algae or will slowly die off...only time will tell

 

[Mrussell]

So the tank has arrived!!!! I won’t set it up for another week or 2 but it arrived in 1 piece!

My cheato seems to be growing in my mini Fuge...

Unfortunately I noticed a couple of hitchhikers that must have come from my live rock. I picked out 3 of these guys. They are the grey type, should I be worried?

 

[Mrussell]

So all my equipment has arrived and that means its time to get organized. I spent the time to map out my cabinet electrical. I ordered some raceways of amazon and I think it turned out pretty nice. Check out the build video below!

 

[Mrussell]

Some quick pictures of how the equipment setup turned out...

 

[SoggyNW]

Dude those Waterbox tanks are the sexyness. Loving the thought and planning that is going into this build. That cable raceway is slick, I'm gonna have to get some for my build.

 

[Mrussell]

Thanks Soggy, I would definitely recommend the raceways they make cable management super easy.

 

[Dub_G]

Looking good so far. Ready for some water?

 

[Mrussell]

Looking good so far. Ready for some water?

Almost... Just have to paint the wall behind the tank. Hopefully sometime this week it will get wet!

 

[Mrussell]

Getting real close....Only 1 piece of the puzzle missing

 

[Mrussell]

Water going in tomorrow!!!

 

[Mrussell]

Added water and put together the scape!!

 

[Mrussell]

Quick tank tour...

 

[Mrussell]

Added some livestock last weekend:
2 clowns
2 red banded high fin gobies
1 candy cane pistol shrimp (without his pistol)
2 Mexican turbo snails
5 hermit crabs
2 scarlet hermits
2 emerald crabs

 

[Mrussell]

Quick sump update: finally got the cadlights pls 50 skimmer dialed in. After an hour of trial and error I was able to secure the bottom screws and get the skimmer water level set at the correct level to get some dry skim. So far the skimmer is pretty good.

I am also starting to get growth in my mini fuge, looks like the cheato has about doubled in size.

As far as the display goes I am getting a small brown hair algae outbreak which is a good sign things are moving along. I am a bit worried about my nitrate level which is still reading 0, I have dealt with a lot of problems in the past having my nitrate that low, praying for no Dinos at the moment.

 

[Mrussell]

Brown hair algae....
Shot of some of the new zoas...

 

[Mrussell]

I am having a strange issue with my Mag levels. When I first tested a couple weeks ago it was around 1240. When I test now it is around 1500. I am using Red Sea test kits and I haven’t added anything to the tank. Any ideas how this could happen, I have retested many times with the same result?

 

[Dub_G]

Water changes? Most reef salt companies add trace elements to replace those used by the corals.

 

[Mrussell]

Water changes? Most reef salt companies add trace elements to replace those used by the corals.

No water changes, the only thing I can think is my test kit is bad. I have retested about 5 times over the last 2 weeks and continue to get mag readings between 1500-1600. Salt mix is Tropic Marin.

 

[Mrussell]

Planting the seeds for the zoa garden...