PapaWhisky's 100.3 Waterbox Build

PapaWhisky · Aug 13, 2018

Let the insanity begin! I ordered my new Waterbox 100.3 today so I can officially start my new build thread. I'm really excited to begin this journey and hope everyone will enjoy sharing the build experience with me. This will be my third reef tank, and my largest. But I figured if I was going to get back in the hobby I was going to do a build completely from scratch this time.

The goal for this tank is to be a mixed reef tank, predominately LPS and softies, and maybe a few SPS depending on how the tank evolves. Also, I really hate water changes, so I'm going to give the Triton method a try starting from day one. I've had success with the analogous technique for freshwater planted aquariums, so hoping for success.

Speaking of which, here is a FTS of the tank tonight. It's in dire need of some pruning and re-aquascaping, and needs a new CO2 valve. So I'm seriously considering converting it over to a QT tank for the next 6-8 months during the build.

Goodies ordered so far:
Tank: Waterbox 100.3 white stand
Lights: 2 Aqua Illumination Primes (black with black mounts)
Rock: 50 lbs of BRS Reef Saver Dry Live Rock
Sand: 10 lbs CaribSea Fiji Pink and 20 lbs of Special Grade
Return Pump: Sicce SYNCRA SILENT 3.0 PUMP (714 GPH)
Heater: Cobalt Aquatics 300W NEO-THERM
Salt: hw Wiegandt HW-MARINEMIX REEFER SALT MIX
Refugium Light: Plan to steal my Finnex Planted from the current tank to start with.

Now just have to wait for all my toys to be delivered

Diesel · Aug 13, 2018

Great looking planted tank.
Yes on the pruning.

Ruben's Reef · Aug 13, 2018

Beautiful tank @PapaWhisky. Can't wait to see your new Waterbox project begins.

SPR1968 · Aug 14, 2018

Beautiful planted tank and welcome to R2R!

PapaWhisky · Aug 15, 2018

First Update:

Well, I have good and bad news for today's update. First the good!
Got my BRS order of essentials in today; Salt, sand, rock, RODI unit, lights, and return pump came in. Bonus: received an email notice from Waterbox - my tank has shipped and should arrive on Monday! I've unpacked everything and I mounted the RO unit in the garage above the water softener.

Pic of the swag!

Bad News: The BRS RODI unit is leaking from three different areas! It's leaking between the first two canisters and at the seals of the first two canisters. I can't believe this! For $300 bucks I did not expect this. :mad: This is my 4th RODI unit I have purchased over the years and I have NEVER had one leak before. Will be calling BRS first thing in the morning.

Diesel · Aug 15, 2018

Is the O-ring present?

PapaWhisky · Aug 15, 2018

Diesel said:
Is the O-ring present?

Yes, all O-rings are installed and everything is tight. I should note that these RO units come pre-assembled from BRS. All you have to do is install them to your water supply.

Diesel · Aug 16, 2018

But you checked and opened the canisters right?
Cause I don’t trust anything that is assembled in China.
A little silicone crease will help on the
o-rings

PapaWhisky · Aug 16, 2018

RODI update. BRS has great customer service! Called them this morning and discussed the leaks on the unit. They offered me two options to fix the issue 1) they would exchange the unit for a new one, or they could send me the parts for a DIY repair (which would be faster). Its a simple fix, so I opted for the DIY option which will get me up and running making water for the weekend. Back on schedule for the build!

PapaWhisky · Aug 16, 2018

Decided to unbox my two AI Primes and make sure they worked and I could practice setting them up. Put them on my planted tank and played with the app. Only problem is I can't figure out how to set one up as the parent and one as the child. I now have two Parents. AI's support section of their website is quite sparse.

NY_Caveman · Aug 17, 2018

PapaWhisky said:

Great shot and nice tank!

PapaWhisky · Aug 18, 2018

Received my replacement parts from BRS yesterday and now have my RODI system up and running. Went an purchased a new 32 gallon Rubbermaid garbage can that is currently filling. Probably will swing by Petco tomorrow for a small quarantine tank.

Poll! What do you suggest for a first fish(s) to start up the tank? I've always gotten a pair of clowns in the past. What do you think?

NY_Caveman · Aug 18, 2018

PapaWhisky said:
Received my replacement parts from BRS yesterday and now have my RODI system up and running. Went an purchased a new 32 gallon Rubbermaid garbage can that is currently filling. Probably will swing by Petco tomorrow for a small quarantine tank.

Poll! What do you suggest for a first fish(s) to start up the tank? I've always gotten a pair of clowns in the past. What do you think?

Peaceful fish first. I see many people go with clowns first, but they can be aggressive. I am personally adding them last.

I also think people add clowns early and they settle on a spot, then later they add an anemone and wonder why the clowns do not leave their spot and rush to it. I will add the anemone and then the clowns for mine.

Consider the fish you want and think of who is most peaceful. Fish like Gobies or Blennies that burrow or find holes can go in early to find their spots.

EDIT: Just my theory on clowns and anemones above, not a proven fact.

PapaWhisky · Aug 19, 2018

Today I played around with some preliminary rock arrangements.

PapaWhisky · Aug 20, 2018

Happy Day! Tank came this afternoon. I was able to assemble the base and place the tank and sump in position. That's enough for one afternoon. Plumbing and rock work tomorrow.

NY_Caveman · Aug 21, 2018

PapaWhisky said:
Happy Day! Tank came this afternoon. I was able to assemble the base and place the tank and sump in position. That's enough for one afternoon. Plumbing and rock work tomorrow.

Sweeeeet!

PapaWhisky · Aug 22, 2018

Making progress. I installed the plumbing, return pump, and heaters in the sump. Then I placed the rocks and added the sand. Also half filled the overflow to check for leaks. So far so good, no drips detected this morning.

klisby · Aug 23, 2018

Nice one!! Just re started my own tank! So many plans

PapaWhisky · Aug 27, 2018

Was a very busy weekend for the tank build with both successes and failures.

First, the good stuff:
Made ~130 gallons of RO/DI for salt water, then slowly filled up the DT, Sump, and 10 gallon quarantine tank. Made an arch to connect the two islands. (Tip - to help conceal the epoxy I pressed aragonite sand onto the soft epoxy surface before it set.) Started up the tank and set the water level in the overflow. First fish (Royal Gramma - AKA Fred) was bought at the LFS and placed in quarantine tank.

The not so good:
In hooking up a circulation pump in the DT to supply some movement during the slow filling procedure, I mistakenly grabbed the cord for the Cobalt Aquatic Heaters! While I was checking out the pump, moving the plug to different outlets etc. trying to figure out why it wouldn't work, I was burning out my expensive heater

Note to me: label the cord plugs stupid! Of course I remembered labeling the plugs for my previous tanks immediately after discovering what I had done. Real Homer Simpson moment there!

The second thing, while not really bad, is a delay of sorts. I had picked out a beautiful pair of Onyx clown fish at the LFS along with the R.G. as my first batch of quarantine fish. However the employee at the LFS pulled me aside and told me they had had several of their clowns die suddenly that week, and I might want to hold off if I didn't want to take the risk. Which is totally cool that he gave me a heads up, I'll just have to wait a little longer to start the quarantine clock for this batch.

Pic of the tank up and running. Sorry, no picture of Fred, he's still adapting to the QT tank and is being shy.