Cali Kid Corals

Carole-Anne's Waterbox 220.6

Hi everyone, my name is Carole-Anne and this is my tank journal. I realized that my first journal didn’t have a lot of information so I add more details below :)

I got into the fish hobby in 2019 when I took over the cleaning and maintenance of my workplace fish tank. Then in 2020, I bought a used 48 gallons freshwater aquarium to set up a planted aquarium. I had a lot of fun re-scaping it a few times and eventually bought a used Red Sea Reefer 170 a few months later.
I bought the RS170 from someone who was getting out of the hobby for a pretty good deal. The tank came with fish AND coral including a bleeding apple scolymia, ironman blastomussa, a red and purple framer colony, some acans, some mushrooms, a leather coral, a few heads of acans, zoas, a few heads of candy cane and also a bunch of dead corals. Livestock was two clownfish and a PJ cardinal.
The tank also came with return pump, protein skimmer, ATO, doser, 2 mp10s, a Hydra 32 and a lot of accessories.
I was pretty stressful to move the tank to my house and to have to set it up in one afternoon: mixing saltwater for the first time, reconnecting every piece of equipment and figuring out coral placement, flow and light settings.
It all worked out eventually. Even if the tank had been neglected and the alkalinity was very low (no dosing or testing had been done), a big water change brought it up and I started dosing.
A few months later, I came across an ad for a used Red Sea 250 in perfect condition for a steal. It came with live rock and two Hydras 32.
I built a new rock scape and transferred all my corals and fish to the RS250. I was able to buy more corals and felt confident enough to try growing sps corals again. I had tried before in the RS170, and they would stay alive for a time but bleach out eventually. I think it was because I didn’t have a good control of my nutrients at the time.
Sps, lps and soft corals have been growing really well with still a few fussy corals, especially zoas but nothing major. I am sometimes struggling to keep my nitrates up and started dosing KNO3 recently.

RS170
RS250


In 12/2021, I decided to buy my first brand new reef tank. I upgraded twice in a year and a half and knowing myself, I knew that getting a slightly bigger tank than the RS250 would mean I would want to upgrade again soon.
So, after convincing my husband, I sold my 48-gallon freshwater tank and ordered a Waterbox 220.6 that was delivered two weeks ago.
My goal it to transfer fish and coral from the RS250 to the WB220.6 as soon as the WB is ready and sell the RS250.

Ordering, waiting and receiving the tank
I ordered the tank on 12/24/2021. The color I wanted was back ordered so it took approximately one month to arrive. I ordered the tank from Saltwateraquarium.com to take advantage of their 5% back offer.
The tank unexpectedly arrived on 1/25/2022 by Fedex freight. Fedex was supposed to call me to schedule an appointment so I could be present to inspect the shipment but they did not. The just left the package in my driveway and I found out because I was tracking the shipment status online.
I contacted Waterbox right away and took off work to go home and inspect the shipment.
That’s what the pallet looked like. Kinda scary and surprising at the same time that everything was in good shape expect the white doors and side panels that had a few dings and scratches. Waterbox’s customer service has been awesome and is sending me replacement parts.

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Putting the stand together
One of the reasons why I chose Waterbox over Red Sea is because their stands have adjustable feet and our house is pretty wonky.
The stand was fairly easy to put together but the adjustable feet were a huge pain. The feet could only be set before putting the stand together or by laying it on the side. It took my husband and me a long time and several tries to be able to get the stand level. But we were successful and I really hope it stays level when we had the tank and water.

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These two were disappointed to find out it was not a giant cat tree!

Moving the tank from the driveway to the living room
It took 4 people, 4 suction cups, two dollies and myself as a dolly juggler to move that tank.
I want to thank again the amazing BAR members who came to my place to help carry this monster tank. It probably took 30 minutes to move the tank and place it on the stand. I then took a few goofy pictures and started cleaning up.

Too small for catfish?
Definitely too small for a mermaid!



 
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Tank setup
Power Strip Interface

I added the sump and the filter socks. I really dislike cleaning filter socks and I am actually excited by the size of the Waterbox ones, they look so much easier to turn
inside out than the small Red Sea ones.
I just started adding the equipment. I thought about getting a control mounting board but I decided not to. I am just going to mount everything to the stand but might change my mind later.
I am not getting any controller at the moment (I might change my mind later too), I am just going to continue with dosing two parts and testing once a week or as needed. I purchased two smart power strips, a WIFI Inkbird, my MP40s are Mobius ready and I can control my lights with the “myAI” app on my phone.
We’ll see how it goes :)

Lights
I have been using two Hydras 32 on my RS250 and am pretty happy with it so I purchased two additional Hydra 32 for a total of 4.
I am going to mount the lights to 4 ReefLED 160s universal mounting arms. I thought about building a canopy but that seemed like too much work. I like the look of this bracket and the fact that it hides the cord.
These brackets are adjustable so I’ll be able to move the lights around if I want to.
I’m planning on borrowing the PAR meter shortly after I’m done setting up everything. I lost a few corals recently because I thought my lights were too bright so I don’t want to make the same mistake.
I’m still working on attaching the lights to the brackets. There was a piece missing, but with a little bit of DIY, I was able to mount the lights to the brackets.

Missing piece
DIY with machine screws
It works!
 
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Looking good so far!
Pretty clear why Fedex did not schedule the delivery and just dropped it off....
Yeah I figured. I would have probably refused the delivery if given the choice. After inspection, it didn't look too bad so I didn't want to start a battle with Fedex.
Waterbox is filling a claim with them though and the replacement doors were shipped yesterday. I hope they arrive in better shape!
 
Today, I worked on mounting controls to the cabinet. I used velcro to fix the power supplies to the back of the stand and avoid having a rat’s nest in the cabinet.
I’m pretty happy with the result so far.

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I’ll still have to mount the ATO, the doser and two other lights when I transfer everything from my RS250.
I purchased 2 x 1-gallons space saver containers that should perfectly fit on the side of my sump. I will use them to dose alkalinity and calcium.

I also rinsed and scrubbed the rocks, placed them in the tank and cemented them together with E-Marco mortar.
I tried to not reproduce the mistakes I made in my other tanks which were too much rock and dead spots, too much shading and not enough space for sand.
I definitely have enough space for an elegance, more scolymias and a maxima clam!

I’m planning on adding water this week. I can get DI water from work (I work in a wastewater lab) and will try to bring back 20 gallon every day. I have a 50GPD RODI filter that I use for top-offs and water changes but it takes forever and it’s pretty wasteful.
I’ll probably add the salt directly to the tank and then the sand.
I hope the rock will not create a mini cycle while I add the water.

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Today, I worked on mounting controls to the cabinet. I used velcro to fix the power supplies to the back of the stand and avoid having a rat’s nest in the cabinet.
I’m pretty happy with the result so far.

I’ll still have to mount the ATO, the doser and two other lights when I transfer everything from my RS250.
I purchased 2 x 1-gallons space saver containers that should perfectly fit on the side of my sump. I will use them to dose alkalinity and calcium.

I also rinsed and scrubbed the rocks, placed them in the tank and cemented them together with E-Marco mortar.
I tried to not reproduce the mistakes I made in my other tanks which were too much rock and dead spots, too much shading and not enough space for sand.
I definitely have enough space for an elegance, more scolymias and a maxima clam!

I’m planning on adding water this week. I can get DI water from work (I work in a wastewater lab) and will try to bring back 20 gallon every day. I have a 50GPD RODI filter that I use for top-offs and water changes but it takes forever and it’s pretty wasteful.
I’ll probably add the salt directly to the tank and then the sand.
I hope the rock will not create a mini cycle while I add the water.
Very nice! I've also done some work in wastewater epidemiology - underappreciated for sure!
 
Today, I worked on mounting controls to the cabinet. I used velcro to fix the power supplies to the back of the stand and avoid having a rat’s nest in the cabinet.
I’m pretty happy with the result so far.

I’ll still have to mount the ATO, the doser and two other lights when I transfer everything from my RS250.
I purchased 2 x 1-gallons space saver containers that should perfectly fit on the side of my sump. I will use them to dose alkalinity and calcium.

I also rinsed and scrubbed the rocks, placed them in the tank and cemented them together with E-Marco mortar.
I tried to not reproduce the mistakes I made in my other tanks which were too much rock and dead spots, too much shading and not enough space for sand.
I definitely have enough space for an elegance, more scolymias and a maxima clam!

I’m planning on adding water this week. I can get DI water from work (I work in a wastewater lab) and will try to bring back 20 gallon every day. I have a 50GPD RODI filter that I use for top-offs and water changes but it takes forever and it’s pretty wasteful.
I’ll probably add the salt directly to the tank and then the sand.
I hope the rock will not create a mini cycle while I add the water.
I have a 200gpd rodi and a pair of 44g brutes. You're welcome to drop by to fill up some containers.
 
Yeah I figured. I would have probably refused the delivery if given the choice. After inspection, it didn't look too bad so I didn't want to start a battle with Fedex.
Waterbox is filling a claim with them though and the replacement doors were shipped yesterday. I hope they arrive in better shape!
That's definitely the way to go about it, and it's awesome that Waterbox took the initiative on that. You shouldn't have to fight the freight battles as the end user, really does need to be the guys who are taking your money should be the ones who spend their time (and money) to deal with the shipping snafu.

That said, looks like a beefy big tank. I thought Waterbox was the company that does the anodized alumnium for the stands? Or is it just on certain models?
 
I finally have an update!
Before ordering the tank, I hadn’t really thought about the weight on the foundation. Or if I did, I just thought it would be fine and wasn't too worried about it.
But then, when we moved the tank into the living room, I started realizing it was way bigger and heavier than I thought it would be without even counting the water. It is so much easier to see things when they are right in front of you in your living space.
I started thinking about the fact that it might be fine on the foundation, but what if it’s not? What if the floors start sinking, and the tank has to be emptied and the foundations repaired? That would be a big mess! That was too scary to ignore and I decided that it was better to be safe than sorry even if it meant putting the project on hold for a few weeks.
I contacted a few contractors, got a few estimates and we had work scheduled last Friday (2/25/2022). As soon as the guys were done, I started filling up the tank!
I got around 150 gallons from work (3 trips), some water from my tiny filter, and 40 gallons from a fellow BAR member (Thanks again ;)).


First drop of water


I had planned to fill up around 170 gallons of RODI water, add salt, add sand and transfer water and livestock from the RS250. Things didn't go according to plan. I was way too optimistic and forgot that the WB220.6 is almost 4 times bigger than the RS250, and transferring media and some live rock probably wouldn't be enough to avoid a new nitrogen cycle.

After adding the sand.
Almost all cleared up.


I am still not sure if adding the sand at the end was such a great idea because it made the water extra cloudy. It was harder to distribute the sand evenly because I couldn't see anything.
It made my life so much easier though to add the salt directly to the tank instead of mixing and warming up several batches of 40 gallons.
After the tank cleared up, I was still thinking about transferring livestock and corals but changed my mind and decided it was safer to cycle the tank.

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I added 3 mg/L of ammonium chloride to the tank yesterday and plan to dose Microbacter7 (2/20/2021). I am hoping that the media and live rock will help speed up the process and that I'll be able to transfer livestock soon. But in the meantime, I'll be (im)patiently waiting!

I am working on getting the tank to be as quiet as possible and it is not easy. I think the brand new plastic doesn't help either. The return pump is running at the minimum setting and I'm thinking it might be too much flow because it is almost impossible to find the sweet spot.
I also have two teeny tiny leaks that I need to fix. One should be resolved with Teflon and the other one by tightening the pipe a little more. It's a drop every 30 seconds so I am not very worried.

I'll be working more on the cabinet soon, adding lights and plumbing a UV sterilizer. I purchased a Pentair 40W that I'll be mounting to the left side of the aquarium.
I was thinking I could use a separate return pump for it but it is going to be too much flow. I will be plumbing it from one of the two return nozzles instead and send the water back to the display.
More to come soon!​
 
Are you planning to keep your old rock and add to new tank? Also i would take a few cups of old sand move to new tank now, just for bacteria growth.
 
Are you planning to keep your old rock and add to new tank? Also i would take a few cups of old sand move to new tank now, just for bacteria growth.
Sorry, I never answered. Thanks for the advice, I did that when I was transferring everything and it looks like I at least transferred some spaghetti worms woohoo!
 
it's next to the backyard door...does it get any sunlight? if so, would that create an algae infestation more than benefit the coral? really nice setup.
 
It’s been a while since I had time to write here!
It seems like I’ve spent every minute of week days and weekends working on the tank lately.
The tank ended up being done cycling on 03/02 and the cycle lasted only 10 days.
On 03/02, I transferred a few soft corals that were on an island to see how they were doing and on 03/04 and 03/05, transferred the rest of the corals and fish.
I was so excited for the fish to move to a bigger aquarium. They were actually pretty stressed for the first few hours and would stay in one corner and not swim around. They are very happy now but it took a few days for them to get used to the new environment.
I was able to break some of the liverock to recover the encrusted SPS, rock flower anemones and zoas.
Then transferred the lights, doser, ATO, refugium, and refugium light.
It was a very busy and stressful weekend.

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I had some trouble with transferring the GSP that was growing on the back wall of the RS250. I tried to glue it to the glass overflow, wait a few minutes for the glue to set and it looked like it was going to stick. But all the pieces eventually fell and it was so frustrating!
I ordered ceramic magnets and carefully slid one magnet in the overflow and the other one over the GSP. So far so good, it’s been holding and doing well. It is just temporary until the GSP encrusts the glass and I’ll be able to remove the magnets.

Next step was plumbing the UV sterilizer. I had never done any plumbing before and it wasn’t easy! I am a little ashamed of all the glue drips everywhere on the pipes but oh well. I’ll probably end up modifying the setup at some point anyway and do something much cleaner.

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I recently added two fish and lost one: new ones are a Yellow Scopa tang from Cali kids corals and a Foxface Lo that I got from Da_Neefer. I was surprised that these two are getting along so well and following each other everywhere around the tank.
I lost my Midas Blenny that jumped out, it was one of my favorite fish ☹. I had been thinking about getting a custom-made lid and I finally ordered one.

It looks like the ugly period is finally ending. I had a lot of green hair algae on the rocks and sand. Tang and Foxface are helping a lot with that but also my algae blenny. He is so fat sometimes, I worry that it isn’t healthy lol.
Here is a video of the tank: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S9PNfqYpPMuXLTfjG2Mu9tuIdkkIuJcY/view?usp=sharing

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I suspect that at some point, my home RODI filter wasn’t filtering out silicates and they were added into the tank for a while. It might explain why algae was growing like crazy. I've been using DI water from work until I change the cartridge.

I have a lot of coralline growing on the rocks right now. It is crazy how fasts it grows when you start noticing it! All the corals have been doing well. I stopped dosing Calcium and Magnesium for a while because it wasn’t getting consumed but I just started dosing Calcium again. I even have a lot of babies Rock Flower Anemones growing in the tank. I find a new one every day lol.


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Next steps are trying to keep nutrients stable, continue to adjust dosing to tank's needs always changing, and making sure everything stays healthy.
 

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it's next to the backyard door...does it get any sunlight? if so, would that create an algae infestation more than benefit the coral? really nice setup.
This window is facing East so we only get a little bit of direct light in the morning but nothing very bright. So far, I've been cleaning the glass every other day and the tank seems to just be coming out of the ugly phase (fingers crossed!).
It was also the only spot in the house where it would fit lol.
 
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