I was always mesmerized by what the ocean beholds.. I used to watch National Geographic and Animal Planet when I was young.. My dad got me a small Gold fish tank when I was about 10 years old but very soon, studies got in the way and I was over that tank and gifted it to my friend.. Fast forward about 25 years, I started watching these Instagram reels of how people are amazingly able to setup a part of the ocean in their living rooms.. I would keep watching those shorts until 1AM everyday.. My wife noticed this and asked me "why dont you buy a tank yourself if you like watching these reels so much?".. I didnt need another push lol and shifted my focus from watching shorts/reels to watching educational videos.. I always wanted to purchase something big, so with budget constraints in mind, I started looking for a 2nd hand tanks on forums and facebook marketplace.. I found a very nice gentleman who was selling his Redsea 750 on marketplace and everything with it (including livestock).. I fell immediately in love with his 6 foot tank and decided that I want the same size! When I started working on the logistics, the tank transfer from his home to mine alone was costing me a fortune, so I decided to buy a new tank instead.. Luckily Waterbox had a 15% sale the very next week and Ed from @ClearWaterAquarium helped me order Waterbox Infinia 230.6 tank along with everything necessary to kickstart my journey at a reasonable price.. I reached out to the FB marketplace guy again and asked him if he would like to part out since tank transport was the most expensive piece for me.. He agreed and I got bunch of stuff from him including the livestock, and thats how the journey commenced!
Preparation:
I had to do a few things before the tank was delivered:
1. Floor reinforcement
2. Dedicated 20 amp AFCI/GFCI breaker installed
3. RODI setup (50 GPD production, got 2 barrels thus far, but may need more in near future to store water in case of emergencies)
4. Working to get Solar and battery installed (my wife thinks it is a home improvement project, dont tell her it is to have a battery backup in case of outages and also so that she doesn't get to see those inflated PGE bills ) - pending
Live stock:
I got the following fish from the marketplace guys (currently being fish-sit at Ed's shop):
5x Green Chromis
1x power blue tang
1x hippo tang
1x convict tang
4x Lyer tail anthias
3x pajama cardinals
1x yellow damsel
1x purple Gramma
1x lawnmower blenny
Equipment:
Delivery Day:
The tank was supposed to be delivered by 31st August, but it got delayed with no updates from Waterbox support until about 10 days later when they assigned 19th September as the delivery date for the tank. Delivery was smooth with no major issues on the outer boxes.
Ed's team helped unbox from the crate and lift it to my living room.. They also helped with the plumbing, preliminary aqua-scape and other minor things to get me going.
I am so impressed by the build quality, this tank is a beauty!
Cycling Process:
Ed was kind enough to seed all of my 150 gallon live rock I ordered from him. I also bought some arches to make a better aqua-scape, bringing the total to about 180g+ of rock). He also helped seed bio media and Chris (fantastic technical guy who works at the shop) got some dirty water with a lot of gunk in it to help. I also got live sand and crushed corals to help with the cycling process. And just like that, I saw first signs of life in the tank - 3 star fish and couple of small crabs.. Though after talking to @MichaelB yesterday, I took them out as he mentioned the star fish can soon become a plague as they multiply quickly and crabs with black pinchers can nip at the corals!
Here are the results of the important parameters using API test kit.
Day 1:
Day 4:
Though everything is looking good, I dont know if it is because there is not of Ammonia in the system (I am adding just 2 pinch of flakes everyday, putting them in the sock) or if I can assume that everything is cycled and ready to go.. I dont want to put Ammonium Chloride to test if next day it gets back to 0. But talking to a few folks, feels like the live rocks and bio media are doing their thing! And I should be ready to put livestock sometime next week if the results stay this way! But if anyone has any other ideas, please do share! I also have Fritz TurboStart but hvnt used it yet - want to do it all naturally, unless required to do it some other way.
This is how the tank is looking at the moment under white light (and yes, I am keeping the lights off other than taking a few pics here and there!)
Preparation:
I had to do a few things before the tank was delivered:
1. Floor reinforcement
2. Dedicated 20 amp AFCI/GFCI breaker installed
3. RODI setup (50 GPD production, got 2 barrels thus far, but may need more in near future to store water in case of emergencies)
4. Working to get Solar and battery installed (my wife thinks it is a home improvement project, dont tell her it is to have a battery backup in case of outages and also so that she doesn't get to see those inflated PGE bills ) - pending
Live stock:
I got the following fish from the marketplace guys (currently being fish-sit at Ed's shop):
5x Green Chromis
1x power blue tang
1x hippo tang
1x convict tang
4x Lyer tail anthias
3x pajama cardinals
1x yellow damsel
1x purple Gramma
1x lawnmower blenny
Equipment:
- Filtration
- Waterbox socks (will soon replace or supplement with Redsea reefmat 1200)
- Reef octpus elite INT 200
- Lighting
- Kessil AP9x (x2)
- 57" AI blade (x1)
- Water Flow
- Hygger 2650 water pump (gets over-heated, may need to change soon)
- AI Orbit 4 (x2)
- Heaters
- Hygger 500W (x2)
- Inkbird Temp Controller
- Tunze ATO
Delivery Day:
The tank was supposed to be delivered by 31st August, but it got delayed with no updates from Waterbox support until about 10 days later when they assigned 19th September as the delivery date for the tank. Delivery was smooth with no major issues on the outer boxes.
Ed's team helped unbox from the crate and lift it to my living room.. They also helped with the plumbing, preliminary aqua-scape and other minor things to get me going.
I am so impressed by the build quality, this tank is a beauty!
Cycling Process:
Ed was kind enough to seed all of my 150 gallon live rock I ordered from him. I also bought some arches to make a better aqua-scape, bringing the total to about 180g+ of rock). He also helped seed bio media and Chris (fantastic technical guy who works at the shop) got some dirty water with a lot of gunk in it to help. I also got live sand and crushed corals to help with the cycling process. And just like that, I saw first signs of life in the tank - 3 star fish and couple of small crabs.. Though after talking to @MichaelB yesterday, I took them out as he mentioned the star fish can soon become a plague as they multiply quickly and crabs with black pinchers can nip at the corals!
Here are the results of the important parameters using API test kit.
Day 1:
Day 4:
Though everything is looking good, I dont know if it is because there is not of Ammonia in the system (I am adding just 2 pinch of flakes everyday, putting them in the sock) or if I can assume that everything is cycled and ready to go.. I dont want to put Ammonium Chloride to test if next day it gets back to 0. But talking to a few folks, feels like the live rocks and bio media are doing their thing! And I should be ready to put livestock sometime next week if the results stay this way! But if anyone has any other ideas, please do share! I also have Fritz TurboStart but hvnt used it yet - want to do it all naturally, unless required to do it some other way.
This is how the tank is looking at the moment under white light (and yes, I am keeping the lights off other than taking a few pics here and there!)
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