Fishy Business

Diving straight in - Sameer's Waterbox Infinia 230.6 build thread

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spuri87

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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:
  1. Filtration
    1. Waterbox socks (will soon replace or supplement with Redsea reefmat 1200)
    2. Reef octpus elite INT 200
  2. Lighting
    1. Kessil AP9x (x2)
    2. 57" AI blade (x1)
  3. Water Flow
    1. Hygger 2650 water pump (gets over-heated, may need to change soon)
    2. AI Orbit 4 (x2)
  4. Heaters
    1. Hygger 500W (x2)
    2. Inkbird Temp Controller
  5. Tunze ATO
Everything plugged into 2 Kasa Smart power strips.

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.

Screenshot 2025-09-23 at 3.34.21 PM.png


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.

Screenshot 2025-09-23 at 3.35.57 PM.png


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:

Screenshot 2025-09-23 at 3.44.43 PM.png


Day 4:


Screenshot 2025-09-23 at 3.45.48 PM.png


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!)

Screenshot 2025-09-23 at 4.05.17 PM.png
 
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I was finally able to add fish to the tank over the weekend.. unfortunately all the 4 anthias and purple gramma couldn't make it past the fish sitting period, but Ed, as always, has been gracious enough to get me new ones for the lost ones.. Also added 3 yellow tangs to the mix, 1 of them is bigger than the other 2 but was interesting to see the smallest one going tail-to-tail with the biggest one lol.. Powder blue and big yellow had a face off I saw live, I believe Yellow won that round, Powder Blue has a nipped dorsal fin now and isnt troubling the bigger one (for now), occasionally goes after the smaller ones though, but so does the apparently cool convict tang.. I really hope peace prevails soon .. I dont know how @SupraSaltyReefer manages all the stress watching all those tangs in the same tank lmao!

IMG_0406.JPGIMG_0409.JPGIMG_0407.JPG

Here is the current list of fish in my DT:

5x Green Chromis
3x Yellow Tang
3x pajama cardinals
1x power blue tang
1x hippo tang
1x convict tang
1x lawnmower blenny
 
Big project, with lots of things to plan for and learn from.

What happened to these fish exactly? ‘Anthias and purple gramma couldn't make it past the fish sitting period’?
 
got this cute pair of clowns from @Woeday .. Bigger female was constantly nagging the male counterpart, guess somethings remain the same everywhere around the world :p

Added them to the DT, staying in 1 part of the tank closer to the top of the overflow chamber).. hope they settle down soon!
 

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Thought I should keep my build thread updated.. had an ich/flukes outbreak in DT.. tried Copper treatment on Clowns and Blue tang for 1 month, but as soon as I added them back to the tank, Blue tang started showing symptoms again! Figured Ich has to be eradicated from the main tank! Went Hypo (separate thread created: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/hyposalinity.39475/) for around 3 months and all fish look good

Equipment update: Added a 57w Aqua Ultraviolet UV to the main tank.. removed socks, planning to plumb Reefmat, but with 0 plumbing skills, I am just unable to pickup that project just yet. Using Rowaphos and Rox 0.8 Carbon in DT as well. Cant seem to get a see-through clarity in the tank yet.. tbh, its not terrible, but not great either! Expected UV and Carbon to help with the clarity, do not want to go Ozone way just yet, but maybe will think about that again in future.

CUC update: During the hypo period, I saw cyanobacteria breakout, and the tank looked terrible! I switched off the lights, adjusted the flow and added bunch of CUC to the tank and my sand looks like how it should! Added 2 Tuxedo Urchins, 3 Tiger Tail Cucumbers, 2 Emerald Crabs, 5 hermits, 3 sand sifting star fish, 10 Tiger Trochus snails, 25 Nassarius Snails and although not part of the CUC, but added a skunk cleaner shrimp as well.. 4-5 Trochus snails were attacked right away by the Hermits so I have only 4-5 left in the tank now.. probably should have dropped the snails closer to the glass.
 
spuri87 said:
Thought I should keep my build thread updated.. had an ich/flukes outbreak in DT.. tried Copper treatment on Clowns and Blue tang for 1 month, but as soon as I added them back to the tank, Blue tang started showing symptoms again! Figured Ich has to be eradicated from the main tank! Went Hypo (separate thread created: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/hyposalinity.39475/) for around 3 months and all fish look good

Equipment update: Added a 57w Aqua Ultraviolet UV to the main tank.. removed socks, planning to plumb Reefmat, but with 0 plumbing skills, I am just unable to pickup that project just yet. Using Rowaphos and Rox 0.8 Carbon in DT as well. Cant seem to get a see-through clarity in the tank yet.. tbh, its not terrible, but not great either! Expected UV and Carbon to help with the clarity, do not want to go Ozone way just yet, but maybe will think about that again in future.

CUC update: During the hypo period, I saw cyanobacteria breakout, and the tank looked terrible! I switched off the lights, adjusted the flow and added bunch of CUC to the tank and my sand looks like how it should! Added 2 Tuxedo Urchins, 3 Tiger Tail Cucumbers, 2 Emerald Crabs, 5 hermits, 3 sand sifting star fish, 10 Tiger Trochus snails, 25 Nassarius Snails and although not part of the CUC, but added a skunk cleaner shrimp as well.. 4-5 Trochus snails were attacked right away by the Hermits so I have only 4-5 left in the tank now.. probably should have dropped the snails closer to the glass.
Click to expand...
UV and carbon should have been able to clear your water. i am using ozone, no UV, but 57w should be sufficient. How much carbon do you use? Is this a new UV, or used?
 
Alexander1312 said:
UV and carbon should have been able to clear your water. i am using ozone, no UV, but 57w should be sufficient. How much carbon do you use? Is this a new UV, or used?
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About 150 gms Carbon, changed once every month.. I know some folks suggest to change it sooner, but GPT and ROX instructions say it can last easily for a month if not more.. Its a new UV bought during thanksgiving sale
 
I change mine every 4 weeks, but I do feel believe it loses its main potentcy at around 3 weeks or so. I am not using ROX, I am using pellted type of carbon, but that should not make a ton of difference regarding water clarity.

BRS states 1 TBSP for 10 gallon for ROX 0.8, which apparantly is around 7 gram, times your volume/230 gallon (?), which is around 160 gram, so your amount should be fine.

Do you keep the carbon in a media reactor or just in a bag? If not in a media reactor, you might need more carbon.

How much water does the pump push through the UV light per hour?
 
I just put them in a bag.. I feel everytime I feed frozen, the clarity reduces.. Oils? do folks rinse frozen before feeding? heard rinsing can wash away essential nutrients.. I have a 1350gph pump, using it at 50% power, so about 675gph (mostly to control ich)
 
IMHO
Don’t cheat your fish
Feed frozen food
When you look from side through to the other side, are your lights very blue?
And you see a “haze”?
Try viewing under more natural kelvin temperature, natural daylight and see if it’s not clear in your tank.
Blue light seems to bounce off more particles in the water column
 
Kensington Reefer said:
IMHO
Don’t cheat your fish
Feed frozen food
When you look from side through to the other side, are your lights very blue?
And you see a “haze”?
Try viewing under more natural kelvin temperature, natural daylight and see if it’s not clear in your tank.
Blue light seems to bounce off more particles in the water column
Click to expand...
Yeah I do feed frozen, I was asking if we shall rinse the frozen food before adding to the tank or just feed as is.. PE Mysis instructions suggests if clouding is an issue, rinse it before use
I use primarily white on my tank, when seeing side to side, even without lights, the tank looks yellowish
 
I like to use the skimmer to clear up the water. I often skim super wet for a few days and treat it like a slow water change, especially if I do a chemiclean treatment to get at some cyano.

Carbon I change every 2-3 months and haven't seen any issues.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Yellowish...hmmmm
Water change schedule?
Click to expand...
during hypo, was changing water to bring the salinity up and down.. maybe 5% every other day? Hvnt changed water after hypo, but something on my to-do list..

I also got reminded that I ordered Microbacter7 during thanksgiving sale but the package was left unopened in Garage as I didnt want to touch anything during Hypo.. heard really great things about this product.. will start dosing from tomorrow onwards.. Anybody has any experience with the same?

I often skim super wet for a few days and treat it like a slow water change
Click to expand...
What's the difeerence between super wet and dense skimmate? I keep reading about this but never actually read about it.. I usually get dark liquid skimmate from the skimmer, never cared to change the settings
 
spuri87 said:
What's the difeerence between super wet and dense skimmate? I keep reading about this but never actually read about it.. I usually get dark liquid skimmate from the skimmer, never cared to change the settings
Click to expand...
The difference is how much water are you taking with your skimmate. To adjust, turn your valve on your skimmer to push the line between the water and the bubbles up higher in your skimmer neck. It will cause water to overflow into your cup, which is water you don't really want in your system. Let the water overflow into the cup, drain it and refill the tank with salt water to maintain salinity. After a few hours/days of this, your water will be crystal clear. I run a silicone hose from my skimmer cup into a bucket to syphon the water out of the cup continuously. Some have drains with a tube you can hook up. I run that inside a bin to prevent spills/overflow issues.


spuri87 said:
I also got reminded that I ordered Microbacter7 during thanksgiving sale but the package was left unopened in Garage as I didnt want to touch anything during Hypo.. heard really great things about this product.. will start dosing from tomorrow onwards.. Anybody has any experience with the same?
Click to expand...

Yeah, IMO you are better off getting a rock or rubble from a member with an old tank. Get's you the bacteria you want and more. If it is that old and in your garage, I give it a 50% chance it is even still alive.
 
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