Neptune Aquatics

Waterbox: A Quick Review

Ibn

Guest
I went over to Alan's (Hyacinth) place yesterday to pick up a couple of items, one of which is the Waterbox 20G AIO tank. I cracked my last starfire QT tank and needed another, so figured I might as well get an AIO for QT of corals and fish. Waterbox is really new on the radar and I haven't seen any of their tanks before. They're advertised as 5-sided starfire tanks.

This review is of a unit that was sealed in box shipped from Saltwateraquarium.com. No water running in it yet, since I'm having some issues with the overall unit. Let's take a look at some of them.

Topdown of the 6mm starfire glass used.
waterbox_starfire.jpg


Reminds me of the starfire used in some of the other tanks manufactured in China (e.g. AquaJapan).

In comparison, this is the top down of the 1/2" starfire used in my Crystal Dynamics tank. Sorry for the aquarium lights in the shot, but overall it's more clear, with a bluish tint in it instead of the green.
cda_starfire.jpg



Cradle. Nice that it came with one with all the included media. The charcoal, in the topmost compartment, is something that I've never seen before. Big chunky pieces, like what you would use for an ABG (Atlanta Botanical Garden) mix.

waterbox_cradle.jpg


The cradle felt a little less than square, so I emptied the contents of it and took a careful look at it.

Crack at the bottom of the media cradle.
waterbox_cradle_cracl.jpg


One of the side seams wasn't properly glued down.
waterbox_cradle_ungluedseam.jpg


Not deal breakers by any means (yet). I decided to flip it over regardless to install the leveling mat that it comes with, but then discovered the following.

waterbox_unglued_baffle.jpg


As you can see, one of the baffle walls isn't glued down all the way. I figured it was just a misstep during the manufacturing process. A quick side shot reviews otherwise.

waterbox_unglued_baffle_gap.jpg


What you see there is bad quality control. The baffle wasn't cut straight. I'm guessing that the gap is ~2mm deep.

Since the tank was sitting upside down, I also noticed the poor silicone job on the bottom.
waterbox_silicone1.jpg


waterbox_silicone2.jpg


Hard to kind of see it in this next shot, but the silicone doesn't sit flush with the pane of glass there. There's small bits of it missing.
waterbox_silicone3.jpg


Overall, the tank doesn't exude the quality that they market it as such. You get what you pay for, but I'm surprised that these all made it through QC.

Oh, lastly, let me show you what caused me to do a thorough inspection of the tank (what prevented me from setting it up).

waterbox_pump_fitting.jpg


That's the output side of the EcoPlus Eco 185 that the setup ships with. It's the largest fitting out of the box, at 1/2". The black tube is the tube that feeds up to the return nozzle, which is too big. I measured the tubing and the ID of the tubing is 5/8. The kit doesn't come with any sort of clamp that would hold the 5/8" ID tubing over the 1/2" OD fitting.
 
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No luck with the support form via their website, so I FB messaged them. Chatted with Richard at Waterbox and he's sending a new one out to replace this one. Keeping my fingers crossed that the replacement isn't the same build or quality. I'll report back later once I get the replacement.
 
That’s so disappointing, both quality and design problems (mismatch of the fitting and tubing). It will be interesting to see if the next tank is better or has different quirks...
 
thank you for the review. They are turning out to be a really bad company, among all the reviews I have heard across r2r, nr, theres only one person who said good thing about them. Rest everyone found gross negligence: 0-( . From poor silicone job to oversized pumps that does not fit in the back chamber. Disappointing. I was hoping to get a nano AIO tank, but decided . not to after reading multiple poor feedback. This just reenforce that feeling. It is silly that they do this, given nowadays everyone will post back their experience (particularly if its bad) in the forums. How they'll succeed in their business ?
 
That is the greenest Starphire I have ever seen, maybe they figure at 6mm regular glass is indistinguishable from low iron. :)

Plus 5 side? ummm why?

Hope Alan gave you a good deal on the skimmer, or didnt charge you anything for the tank
 
Amazing quality control. [emoji51]. Thanks for the review. Ive been looking at them also.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
True, it isn't a RS tank or even close to the quality. It's entering the market at the IM Fusion 20G price, so I expected it to be similar and better quality than something that already exists on the market at the same price point.
 
That cannot be Starphire (or low iron) glass since it’s as green as it is. If they’re marketing it as such they are lying.

Those holes in the baffles look flame polished too which normally looks nicer but diminishes the strength of the acrylic.
 
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Pretty sure this is a very old surplus tank. I'm not sure why, but saltwateraquarium shipped Alan this tank, which is old 2016 stock. He ordered the tank mid May, which should have been the current lineup. Their current tank has a glass overflow wall whereas this one is made of acrylic.
 
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