Liz’s WB 60.2

[Elizabeth94]

Has been a few years since my last tank, but I have never forgotten about this forum!

 

Last tank was a Waterbox 70.3, but I lost interest and tore it down. I really regret it now of course, so I made a promise to myself that this tank will stay up until we buy our next home. 
 

Waterbox 60.2 

What I have now:

- Hydros controller

• XP8 Energy bar
• Control 2
• ATO sensor and temp sensor

- Reef Octopus Varios 2

- GHL Mitras 7 (overboard for possibility             of acro dominated tank)

- Red Sea Reefmat 500

- Helio Universal Heater Controller 

- Tunze 6095 (may do two of these)

- Adaptive Reef Controller Cabinet

 

Livestock is not set in stone besides a royal gramma who has been in quarantine for a month now. 
 

Ill also be using 15lbs of KP Aquatics live rock to seed. I was successful with acros for the first time in my last tank, so I want to give it a go for an sps dominated tank this time. But who knows. 
 

 

 

My last tank

[mitten_reef]

Welcome back, and yup I’m still here, never left. 
😂

[TheKleinReef]

oooOooOOoOh this looks fun!

[Elizabeth94]

38 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Welcome back, and yup I’m still here, never left. 
😂

 

11 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

oooOooOOoOh this looks fun!

I remember both of you! I definitely have some catching up to do in terms of checking out everyones current tanks. 

[Band Hunter]

This hobby and this place has its ways to draw you back in…

 

Royal Gramma should be right at home in there.

[Elizabeth94]

Tank is wet. 
 

Waiting for amazon to get here is driving me crazy. Waiting for my sump lighting and wire management kit I bought. 
 

Controller board looks cool with the green Hydros leds. Wires are a mess inside but that will be fixed tonight is amazon ever gets here. Lol. 
 

Contemplating on mounting whatever doser I get on the outside of the controller cabinet, under the helio and tunze controls. But I worry that if it decides to tip over when its open, it will break the dosing heads. It sure would look cool though. 
 

[TheKleinReef]

that looks super sleek. I dig it. 

[Elizabeth94]

[Elizabeth94]

Well that led light for the sump did not last long. It fell. Frustrating because I can’t screw in a light because thats the bottom of the tank. I swore that 3M tape and magnet felt strong. 
 

I will have to find a light and maybe screw in L-brackets to the sides. 
 

Good thing I don’t have livestock in there yet. 

[TheKleinReef]

oh no! I hot glued mine, but now you're making me question that decision hahah. might reinforce with some zip ties or something.

[Elizabeth94]

My KP Aquatics live rock came in. Lots of brittle stars, worms and three pistol shrimps! Two big ones and one teeny tiny baby. Hope they survive!
 

Next week I am expecting my caribsea dry rock. Hopefully I can come up with a half decent scape. I have never had a cube tank before. Also need to get myself an orange filter for photos. 
 

Also picked up a beautiful lightning maroon clown. I have always wanted one and a local reefer had her for sale for dirt cheap. 
 

[TheKleinReef]

trick to good pics under LEDs is to just turn the blue down. I've never been a fan of the orange filter because it really distorts greens oranges, and yellows.

 

This reminds me, I should finish my reef photography guide lol

[Elizabeth94]

24 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

trick to good pics under LEDs is to just turn the blue down. I've never been a fan of the orange filter because it really distorts greens oranges, and yellows.

 

This reminds me, I should finish my reef photography guide lol

Just such a pain with to go into settings and change the GHL light schedule. GHL makes quality equipment but man their app sucks for lighting. You really need a microsoft based computer to make a proper light schedule. Which O don’t have either. Im a mac person. 

[Elizabeth94]

So apparently I did order filters. Amazon just showed up. What a coincidence. 
 

[TheKleinReef]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Just such a pain with to go into settings and change the GHL light schedule. GHL makes quality equipment but man their app sucks for lighting. You really need a microsoft based computer to make a proper light schedule. Which O don’t have either. Im a mac person. 

 

oh yeah GHL. I had their controller. I hated it. I can't even sell it.

 

There's no like cycle buttons on the unit itself? One you can press and cycle through different presets?

[Elizabeth94]

16 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

 

oh yeah GHL. I had their controller. I hated it. I can't even sell it.

 

There's no like cycle buttons on the unit itself? One you can press and cycle through different presets?

There are buttons but I have no idea how they work. I think they are in german or something too. Haha. 
 

I had their doser and it was really easy to use and set up. I loved it. The light controls are another story. I honestly don’t understand why its so difficult. I had a Radion many years ago that was easier to use. 

[TheKleinReef]

27 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

There are buttons but I have no idea how they work. I think they are in german or something too. Haha. 
 

I had their doser and it was really easy to use and set up. I loved it. The light controls are another story. I honestly don’t understand why its so difficult. I had a Radion many years ago that was easier to use. 

I think you can change the language on the app, mine came in german too.

I do agree the dosers are great. I think they are top notch and industry leading, but their controller (and lights apparently) are soooo convoluted for no reason.

[Elizabeth94]

Im getting excited seeing this rock in here. Only something us reefers would understand! I think I am going to try barebottom in this tank. 
 

Thinking about dosing pumps... Kind of want to try an Alkatronic but at the same time I am a bit worried about a machine automatically adjusting alk dosages- incase of failure. 
 

Toss between a GHL, Ecotech Versa, or the Red Sea. 

 

 

[TheKleinReef]

I have an apex and trident monitoring alk but not controlling it in any way. I don't think I'd ever let it fully control dosing, but i would use it to defer a dose if the alk is above a certain number. being able to see my alk daily is so nice though.

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Im getting excited seeing this rock in here. Only something us reefers would understand! I think I am going to try barebottom in this tank. 
 

Thinking about dosing pumps... Kind of want to try an Alkatronic but at the same time I am a bit worried about a machine automatically adjusting alk dosages- incase of failure. 
 

Toss between a GHL, Ecotech Versa, or the Red Sea. 

 

 

looking good so far.

 

I like the no sandbed idea - the square footprint makes it very hard for powerhead placements.  So not having to worry about the sand blowing around is one less factor to consider.

I put two on the back wall, each side of the overflow column, and that had been where I'm most happy with so far.  putting them on the either side wall takes away so much from the front viewable area.  

[Elizabeth94]

4 hours ago, TheKleinReef said:

I have an apex and trident monitoring alk but not controlling it in any way. I don't think I'd ever let it fully control dosing, but i would use it to defer a dose if the alk is above a certain number. being able to see my alk daily is so nice though.

I think I am going to invest in the Hanna Master tester that tests the big parameters with one device. I think it data logs too. Should make testing a bit easier. But I will admit knowing your alk by just opening and app sounds lovely lol. I just dont know how that will work if I am running a Hydros for a controller. 

 

4 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

looking good so far.

 

I like the no sandbed idea - the square footprint makes it very hard for powerhead placements.  So not having to worry about the sand blowing around is one less factor to consider.

I put two on the back wall, each side of the overflow column, and that had been where I'm most happy with so far.  putting them on the either side wall takes away so much from the front viewable area.  

Thanks for the input. Im was having a hard time deciding if I want another Tunze on the other side or try a gyre pump, which I have never had before. But now im leaning more towards the tunze to try and hide the pump like you said. They are good pumps too. 
 

 

On a side note my dry rock will be here tomorrow even though shipping originally said next week. Im so excited. I think creating and planning a new a system is the most exciting part for me. Which is why this is tank #5. Lol. 

[TheKleinReef]

I’m even excited for you 😅

[Elizabeth94]

Just ordered a mccullochi dottyback. Guess I’m going with some semi aggressive fish if you include the maroon clown. I think I figured out my fish stocking that will have a mix of colors and movement. 
 

- royal gramma

- lightning maroon clown

- mccullochi dottyback

- two damselfish of some blue colored variety.

 

I have never heard of this type of dottyback but they sure are beautiful. 
 

Was not purchased through live aquaria but they have a nice clear picture. 
 

[Elizabeth94]

Well I remember how much of a pain it is to aquascape with live wet rock. And don’t even get me started on how much I hate epoxy. Tank is still cloudy this morning. 
 

I am pretty happy how it turned out. Have to remind myself that this will all be covered with corals anyways. Wanted to make sure I didn’t go too high to leave room for growth. Somehow managed to make 7 different archways/holes for fish to swim through. Probably my record in such a small footprint. 
 

Hoping to move the gramma and clown today if it clears up. 
 

 

[Elizabeth94]

Moved the fish in yesterday and made a diy lid out of a window frame kit. I really want one from Kraken Reef but spending $300 on that fish and another $300 on a hydros wave controller and wiring- I’m now back to watching spending for this pay check 😂 

 

Fish look great and ate well this morning. I think next pay check ill find my first sps frags and cross my fingers lmao. Theres a local reefer next to me that just posted a ton of frags for cheap but I need to learn some self control when it comes to spending for this hobby right now. You guys know how hard that is.