CADE 90G Rimless SPS

amashun · Apr 4, 2018

After a long break, my sons asked me to setup a fish tank for them. i wasn't plan to come back to this hobby but once i started to visit aquariums with them, my reef bugs has been biting me a lot so i decided to start up a tank again.

I also want to start a tank build on a forum base so i can keep interact with some of my old friends (and new friends too). Unfortunately some forums that i regular visited are no longer exist or active, so i would like to start up on R2R which some of my old buddies still hanging around. I do miss the time when we can share information/ reef keeping technique/ problem solving/or share a bit of our life together. (yes i'm looking for a mini DR union thing happen..lol) But nowadays reefers are mainly using facebook..

Anyway, I bought this tank second hand but in a very good condition, i was going to buy a brand new CADE PR900 but this one came up with slightly bigger dimension (this is pretty much the biggest size i can get to fit in my lounge space)

Cade website:
https://www.cadeaustralia.com.au/shop

Specs:
Tank - CADE HL 1000/1000(L) x 600 (W) x 550 (H)/ 12mm/ Opti Clear Glass
Cabinet - Cade aluminium stand with adjustable feet 1000(L) x 600 (W) x 800 (H)
Sump - Cade sump with 3 chambers 860(L) x 450 (W) x 360 (H), Kessil A80 TB for sump light/mini frag tank
Lighting - Giesemann Spectra 24", Radium 250W 20k + 4 x ATI 24W blue plus with Lumatek Digital Dimmable Ballast 250-400W, 2 x Kessil A360WE tuna blue with spectral controller
Skimmer - Bubble King® Supermarin 200 + RD3 Speedy
Heater - Schego 600W
Chiller - Halia HC-150A
Controller - STC 1000 temperature controller + Apex classic controller + Alkatronic
Dosing - Dosetronic
Reactor - Two little fishes reactor (mainly just active carbon)
Phosphate and Nitrate Control - N/A
Return - Jebo 6000 pump, but soon i will replace it with Mantis 6K pump
Recirculation - Maxspect Gyre Xf350 twins
ATO - Tunze 3155 and PSI filter for RODI(Boss 020 4 stage reef system)

Testing:
Basic (pH, NO2, NH3, NO3)- API
Cal - Salifert
Alk - Salifert
Mag - Salifert
Nitrates - Salifert
Phosphates - Hanna ULR and Salifert
SG -milwaukee and refractometer

Fish:
Cardinals (a few different type, threadfin, bangaii and coral cardinals)
Queen anthias (a few)
Regal Angel
Sixline wrasse
Blue mandarin (when tank is more mature)

Inverts:
Turbo snails
T. Maxima and T.Crocea
CBS

I want to keep it simple, just SPS only with minimum maintenance.

amashun · Apr 4, 2018

Also building a skimmer stand so i can adjust the water level

amashun · Apr 4, 2018

Will be using all dead rock, as you can see majority will be man made rock, the base rock already done an acid bath

I'm waiting for my Cade light stand arrive due end of April and some plumbing parts. Looking forward to start the tank around May

jp_75 · Apr 4, 2018

good start!
quick question: can you mix cardinals together? any particular planning to keep?

jsker · Apr 4, 2018

Great getting back into it build.

jsker · Apr 4, 2018

What size sump are you thinking?

amashun · Apr 4, 2018

jp_75 said:
good start!
quick question: can you mix cardinals together? any particular planning to keep?

thanks mate.
yes, when I was in Japan sunshine aquarium, they have a tank mixed with small fishes (damsel, chromis and some cardinals) so I’m planning to have some threadfin and coral cardinals

jsker said:
What size sump are you thinking?

it came with the standard 3ft sump, just simple three chamber sump. I don’t plan to have refugiums/macro so that section will be a mini reef lobster section/frag tank for my son too

amashun · Apr 5, 2018

here is one of the picture i took in sunshine aquarium, enjoy

jsker · Apr 5, 2018

This is definitely one I am going to tag along and see go together

amashun · May 3, 2018

Ok, as of today, tank is wet.

plumbing has been sorted and converted to herbie style and added manifold

pretty happy with it because it is completely silent, i'm not sure what i will do with these outlets yet but most likely for reactor and chiller.

once i have tested the flow pattern on my gyre i realized there is a dead spot on the left rear corner so i have added a 1/2" vca random flow generator.

the Gyre is doing a pretty awesome job so i don't think i will be adding more powerhead in it, i only ramp it up to 70% and it is really plenty of flow already.

Aquascaping is finally completed, i have mixed with some base rock, real reef rock, shelving rock and stax, so 80% of these rocks were from artificial rock. I have also find out that even with the base rock cooked by acid bath, there were still high PO4 in it (i have fixed this issue by soaking them in RO and run a GFO reactor for two weeks. RO water replaced daily.)
Anyway, these rocks were glue together by AF stonefix and aqua knead it. IME, i much prefer to use the aqua knead it (epoxy). the stonefix would make it really messy and increase the pH a lot (again, we have to soak them in RO after secured those rocks..)

Tank is cycling with Dr.Tim one and only, would be interested to find out how many days it will complete the cycle. (would it be around 10-14 days like they claim?)

Skimmer is up and running, at the moment it is doing pretty well so i will leave the outlet completed open to let skimmer run in

it is doing around 23-24scfh like the manufacturer claims (600lph air), pretty happy with it and can't complain.

Lastly, an electric box to keep things nice and tide.

so this month i'm waiting for my light stand from CADE and a tank cover from Toplids. hopefully my cycle wont take too long so i can add some fishes and SPS...

Janci · May 10, 2018

Good choice to start a thread over here.
People who spend thim eon R2R do not need facebook at all.

Great start!

amashun · Jun 23, 2018

Tank has finished cycle, it took around 35 days to complete. I'm actually pretty impressed with Dr.Tim, after the cycle finished, tank is 0ppm nitrate.

the Cade light rack and the aquarium lid both arrived and installed, pretty happy with them so far.

i have also added some yellow line cardinals in the tank, beautiful fishes and not shy at all.

and starting to introduce SPS into the system

Some more on the way from Q tank

bobbyM · Jun 23, 2018

Nice! Following!

amashun · Aug 19, 2018

This is an overdue and massive update, i have been really busy with my work and kids so update has been pushed back. apologize for the late update.

Last month i had a problem with GHA outbreak but i managed to use fluconazole to kill them, the process was very painful because i had to do tank maintenance at least 1 hour per day to manually siphon it out and change filter socks, but the result is rewarding. pretty happy with it. However, the downside is obviously affecting the coral not growing as fast. but so far i have no had anything die on us yet. (both Clams and SPS)

i have changed my skimmer to ATB elegance 200 and pretty happy with it, it is pulling around 45scfh which is almost double then my previous BK mini 200. Tank light also upgrade to have 2 extra Kessils 360 on each side to eliminate drak spots. (i will do a PAR test on next update to see what's the PARs at)

Also connected my dosing pump and it is doing a pretty fine job. tank is consuming both KH and CA for around 50-60ml per day, we are using Randy 1

Anyway, enough said, let the photo begins

Pretty happy with the tank coming along, now pretty much just sit back and relax.

next month task:
-I'm using an apex classic now but still haven't fully utilize it full potential yet, i will be putting more time to do some research on the commands to setup a few things.

-Achillis will be added to the tank so excited to have my favorite fish in the tank.

-PAR test, i need to get this done probably my next main priority so i know what's goods and what's not to grow more sps.

- finally, i have chosen Coral Essential as my tank's supplements (http://www.coralessentials.com.au/) and supporting my good buddy Christian for his business. I have known him for around 15 years+now and will not hesitate to recommend him and his products to anyone.

Janci · Aug 20, 2018

Beautiful tank, Adrian. Congratulations.
When adding the supplements, you will still do regular water changes?

amashun · Aug 20, 2018

Janci said:
Beautiful tank, Adrian. Congratulations.
When adding the supplements, you will still do regular water changes?

thanks Janci for your kind compliments.
It really depends i guess. Would like to see the changes first before i make any comment. But at this stage i would say yes, i will do exact the same thing in terms of tank maintenance. If there is a significant improve then i will do less water changes. at the moment i'm doing around 10% weekly change just exactly like the old way i used to. for my tank size is around 2 bucket of water which is not bad at all.

Chrisfish · Aug 20, 2018

Beautiful tank, thanks for the update

amashun · Jan 5, 2019

Happy new year to all.
WOW, it has been a while since i have post an update, life been busy with kids and new job.
I have added a few things, tank is on cruse control mode now. i haven't add any new corals for 2 months as it is pretty full. (when stop buying new corals that's when you start to lose motivation...lol)
a few new things added/ changed:
- added filter media cup, this is by far the best i have ever use. (tried a few before, not so happy except them)
http://fmc.the-mold-shop.com/Filter-Media-Cups/

- added Alkatronic to my system to keep track the KH consumption, i'm actually pretty impressed with this unit and will recommend anyone try it. after using this, i'm also convinced will get the Dosetronic. My KH consumption is now between 90-100ml per day to keep it at 7.0 to 7.3 dkh

- CO2 Scrubber is added, however, i'm not so convinced that when you have a higher ph, sps will grow faster. (at the moment is between 8.3-8.6)

SPS are growing steady, not overly fast which i'm pretty pleased with. had an alk swing 2 months ago and slowly recovering from it.

anyway, photo time, enjoy.