DarkReefer's CADE Reef S2 1800

[DarkReefer]

Finished up with the scape over the weekend and then moved it into the tank. The plan is to add the existing scape to the tank also. Not sure if it'll look too cluttered etc but we'll find out.

Just waiting on sand now pretty much and then I can start putting water in it.

Got my missing skimmer parts on the weekend along with some fittings etc. I also fitted up some more device controllers and started trying to organise the wiring, at least in that section.
The inside of thr cabinet looks like a rats nest...

Got a barb kit for the vectra, didnt realise I needed it initially but I could now connect that up.
Probably need to trim back the pipe that the flex hose is connected to as the length is forcing the pump to sit unbalanced.

Also took out the sock holders last week, very easy job. Need to plumb in the roller and then that should be it for plumbing stuff.

Temp controller and dosing will be transferred over once all the livestock is out of the existing tank.
Really hope that sand comes in this week ..

 

[JonoH]

Scape looks good!

 

[DarkReefer]

Scape looks good!

Thanks, was kind of struggling initially with what I wanted (as I didn't really know haha), and with the pieces that came in the box I wasn't really sure either how to put it all together but I think we found a good combination and we're both happy with how it turned out.

The method I used to combine it all was something a bit new to me. I've used AF Stonefix previously but this time I was shown a method at the LFS so gave it a whirl. It included tearing off small bits of paper towel (apparently can use TP also), and poking it into the joints, then cover it with this aquascape glue which reacts with oxygen apparently and starts smoking/burning and all sorts when you apply it. Pretty intense stuff.
Anyway you'd use that to get the initial hold and then add some stonefix to it, then use the glue on that, they suggested using crushed rock or substrate to then sprinkle on top and use the glue again but I decided to just mix up stonefix normally afterward and just use that as the final coat.

Seemed to work pretty well and happy with the end result. Was able to move those as two solid pieces. Needed my missus to help with the double arch due to having the 3 footings and I didn't want to risk it letting go.

Also bought an 8" clip fan today off amazon.
Been really struggling to get my temp down on the smaller tank in the past couple weeks and hoping I can avoid getting a chiller for the larger tank too. The aircon does well but I don't necessary want to have to continue to run it all day or something whilst I'm at work kind of thing.
The aircon should cool the larger tank quite a bit as it can blow directly down onto it (hopefully) but even still, if I can do it off a smaller/cheaper to run fan I'd be happier lol.

 

[JonoH]

Thanks, was kind of struggling initially with what I wanted (as I didn't really know haha), and with the pieces that came in the box I wasn't really sure either how to put it all together but I think we found a good combination and we're both happy with how it turned out.

The method I used to combine it all was something a bit new to me. I've used AF Stonefix previously but this time I was shown a method at the LFS so gave it a whirl. It included tearing off small bits of paper towel (apparently can use TP also), and poking it into the joints, then cover it with this aquascape glue which reacts with oxygen apparently and starts smoking/burning and all sorts when you apply it. Pretty intense stuff.
Anyway you'd use that to get the initial hold and then add some stonefix to it, then use the glue on that, they suggested using crushed rock or substrate to then sprinkle on top and use the glue again but I decided to just mix up stonefix normally afterward and just use that as the final coat.

Seemed to work pretty well and happy with the end result. Was able to move those as two solid pieces. Needed my missus to help with the double arch due to having the 3 footings and I didn't want to risk it letting go.

Also bought an 8" clip fan today off amazon.
Been really struggling to get my temp down on the smaller tank in the past couple weeks and hoping I can avoid getting a chiller for the larger tank too. The aircon does well but I don't necessary want to have to continue to run it all day or something whilst I'm at work kind of thing.
The aircon should cool the larger tank quite a bit as it can blow directly down onto it (hopefully) but even still, if I can do it off a smaller/cheaper to run fan I'd be happier lol.

Nice! I had to use Epoxy on my rock as it was all wet, i had to work fast to keep it wet, its a bit ugly at the moment, but once its covered in Corraline it shouldnt be as visible.

I am going through the same thought process at the moment, i have a TK1000 chiller, but dont really want to use it if i dont have to. I am hoping that with the larger volume of water, its going to take a lot longer to have temperature spikes, and my tank is in the middle of our house also which is very well insulated.

Its just the weeks of 40+ temperatures that would be an issue, but we generally run the A/C then.

Can you share the link for the fans you got?

 

[DarkReefer]

Nice! I had to use Epoxy on my rock as it was all wet, i had to work fast to keep it wet, its a bit ugly at the moment, but once its covered in Corraline it shouldnt be as visible.

I am going through the same thought process at the moment, i have a TK1000 chiller, but dont really want to use it if i dont have to. I am hoping that with the larger volume of water, its going to take a lot longer to have temperature spikes, and my tank is in the middle of our house also which is very well insulated.

Its just the weeks of 40+ temperatures that would be an issue, but we generally run the A/C then.

Can you share the link for the fans you got?

That's my thoughts exactly, no point worrying about cement or epoxy look and trying to mix substrate etc into it. Eventually it'll get covered up in time and wont be noticeable anyway...

I've been wanting that chiller, but scared as hell to get one as electricity costs are skyrocketing at the moment as it is. Having the bigger tank is already going to suck a bit for that until I can get a solar system sorted. My missus isn't keen on getting one either after someone at the LFS told her how expensive it can be to run one and that they just used the aircon in the house to cool the tank.

The fan I bought is this one here
Seems to have a lot of good reviews and can run it battery operated for quite a while or even connect it via charger to just have constant power. Bit pricey, almost getting close to just buying a normal tank fan type thing, but it's fairly large I believe so I'm just hoping it goes alright! I should be able to clip it to the tank or lights easy enough I think.

I should have it tonight so I should be able to give you an update tomorrow or tomorrow afternoon of whether it's made any difference.

 

[JonoH]

Nice, it should work - have you seen these ones? They have a temp sensor that will switch then on automatically.

Auto Cooling Fan - Jecod | Krakking Korals

Intelligent device for aquarium cooling water. The controller connects the temperature probe in the water to obtain the value of the temperature

www.krakkingkorals.com.au

There a lot cheaper of Ali Express also.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003986761211.html

 

[DarkReefer]

Nice, it should work - have you seen these ones? They have a temp sensor that will switch then on automatically.

Auto Cooling Fan - Jecod | Krakking Korals

Intelligent device for aquarium cooling water. The controller connects the temperature probe in the water to obtain the value of the temperature

www.krakkingkorals.com.au

There a lot cheaper of Ali Express also.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003986761211.html

I did happen to see the one at krakkingkorals but didn't realise it had a temp sensor.

Never used ali express and I'm a little impatient so the amazon option was good enough (plus I can use it for other areas if it's not suitable and doesn't work out or something). Appreciate the suggestion though and will keep it in mind should I need to change out this one I've got coming.

 

[DarkReefer]

Sand Arrived!
5x 20lb bags... really don't know if it'll be enough.. hopefully but I suspect I'll have to buy another couple at least I think but if that's the case I'll just add them down the track once the water is in.
I guess I'll be mixing up some water tonight to start adding in slowly !

 

[DarkReefer]

Well yesterday the fan did okay on my Waterbox with it bringing the temp down. It ran for a solid 12 hours on medium setting and managed to bring the temp down from 25.6 from 6am to 24.8 by 11am and held that until about 3pm which it slowly crept back to 25.3 and maintained there (usually I think I'd be mid to 26s by that point at least if not into the 27s).
That was on a day at approx 33-35 degs.

Today its supposed to get to 40 and it's quite muggy after a storm last night, temp this morning was 25.9 before I put the fan on, we'll see if it works still or not.


Last night I finally got 2 bags of sand in the tank. I was a little worried I didn't have enough bags but I think the 5 I got should be enough as I seem to have a reasonable layer on there currently given only the 2 are in. Might add another 1 or 2 down the track perhaps but it's probably not necessary.

I also glued up all my plumbing I needed to do. Plumbing wise I should be completely done now.

 

[Rjukan]

I've got to commend you on the work you did under the house! I can only imagine how challenging that was to be on your knees and hunched over doing manual labor, my lower back and shoulders are aching just thinking about it. Your hard work is well worth it though and you have to be very happy with the final product. It looks great, it's definitely overbuilt for the weight, and you saved a ton of money doing it yourself.
Enjoy your time putting the system together, I'm sure it's going to be amazing! Cheers.

 

[DarkReefer]

I've got to commend you on the work you did under the house! I can only imagine how challenging that was to be on your knees and hunched over doing manual labor, my lower back and shoulders are aching just thinking about it. Your hard work is well worth it though and you have to be very happy with the final product. It looks great, it's definitely overbuilt for the weight, and you saved a ton of money doing it yourself.
Enjoy your time putting the system together, I'm sure it's going to be amazing! Cheers.

Appreciate the kind comments!
Was certainly one heck of a challenge. I've never lived in a house with piers before this one, so this was a completely new and weird thing for me and I learned a lot.

Very thankful my gf bought the knee pads for me. Having tiny bits of rocks/concrete constantly under you as you crawl on hands and knees hurt like hell, they were a life saver. My left shoulder still hurts after having done the work, plus lifting the tank etc. Definitely need some downtime for it to heal up (or physio) haha

Thanks again and I hope you enjoy some of the progress pictures in time to come too!

 

[shadyraro]

Tanks looking good mate!
If you remove the baffle where the pipes come down it'll give you some more room, and I find the water that ends up in there just stays stagnant and is a dumping pit from the emergency overflow. I'll be removing my one over the xmas break.

 

[DarkReefer]

Well Friday I finished up rinsing the sand for the tank. What a mission! Ended up doing half a bag at a time and being very active with mixing the sand and pouring out the soup. Still wasn't 100% perfect imo but I figured it'll do.

Here marks the first bucket I did with 2 whole bags.. stupid idea and took forever to clear up. Ended up draining it and doing it in smaller parts after 3 hrs of not much change.

First 2 bags in the tank

Yesterday I started filling!

Today I finished filling it!! Took a while as I had to mix 2 extra barrels of salt water and my RODI was making about a barrel and a bit a day. Left it on overnight to try finish the last barrel.

My front left mp40 was having issues. Originally it wouldn't magnetise when it was on to the wet side but off was fine. Eventually did a factory reset when I thought did nothing but tried one more time today and it worked. I was trying to add the dry side whilst it was on which made it bounce away from the glass. Thankfully it's working now but it's making an incessant noise like a cricket or frog intermittently as it ramps up and down. Stuff like this makes me question why the hell its so expensive and why people rave about them but we'll see... first impressions of the mp40 have been relatively sub par for such a pricey powerhead.

Tanks looking good mate!
If you remove the baffle where the pipes come down it'll give you some more room, and I find the water that ends up in there just stays stagnant and is a dumping pit from the emergency overflow. I'll be removing my one over the xmas break.

Yeah I noticed this today actually when I was filling it up. Seems like an odd design choice... might even do the same and pull it out also..

 

[shadyraro]

I might actually leave the baffle in for now as I’m going to hard plumb my ReefMat, and for resale it’s easier as I know I’m eventually going to upgrade tanks.

 

[DarkReefer]

I might actually leave the baffle in for now as I’m going to hard plumb my ReefMat, and for resale it’s easier as I know I’m eventually going to upgrade tanks.

That's fair enough.

I got a quote back on the Ecotech extension cables. Apparently for some reason they don't seem to want to supply these to Australia generally and whilst they are willing to let the supplier get them in, they wanted to charge $450 AUD per cable.... absolutely no way I'm paying that.

Worst case I can get them for around $180 purchasing direct from the US for the 2 I need thanks to our crappy AUD vs USD.
Best case and what I'm intending to do, will be to actually make some up myself. I don't mind tinkering with electronics so I'm willing to give it a go for a fraction of the cost first.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Well Friday I finished up rinsing the sand for the tank. What a mission! Ended up doing half a bag at a time and being very active with mixing the sand and pouring out the soup. Still wasn't 100% perfect imo but I figured it'll do.

Here marks the first bucket I did with 2 whole bags.. stupid idea and took forever to clear up. Ended up draining it and doing it in smaller parts after 3 hrs of not much change.

First 2 bags in the tank

Yesterday I started filling!

Today I finished filling it!! Took a while as I had to mix 2 extra barrels of salt water and my RODI was making about a barrel and a bit a day. Left it on overnight to try finish the last barrel.

My front left mp40 was having issues. Originally it wouldn't magnetise when it was on to the wet side but off was fine. Eventually did a factory reset when I thought did nothing but tried one more time today and it worked. I was trying to add the dry side whilst it was on which made it bounce away from the glass. Thankfully it's working now but it's making an incessant noise like a cricket or frog intermittently as it ramps up and down. Stuff like this makes me question why the hell its so expensive and why people rave about them but we'll see... first impressions of the mp40 have been relatively sub par for such a pricey powerhead.



Yeah I noticed this today actually when I was filling it up. Seems like an odd design choice... might even do the same and pull it out also..

Glad to see water in there!

 

[DarkReefer]

Glad to see water in there!

Haha, me too!

 

[shadyraro]

That's fair enough.

I got a quote back on the Ecotech extension cables. Apparently for some reason they don't seem to want to supply these to Australia generally and whilst they are willing to let the supplier get them in, they wanted to charge $450 AUD per cable.... absolutely no way I'm paying that.

Worst case I can get them for around $180 purchasing direct from the US for the 2 I need thanks to our crappy AUD vs USD.
Best case and what I'm intending to do, will be to actually make some up myself. I don't mind tinkering with electronics so I'm willing to give it a go for a fraction of the cost first.

Wow that's a ridiculous price!
Amazon has similar cable extensions for a fraction of the cost, pretty sure these were them.

https://www.amazon.com.au/9-84ft-Extension-Female-Connectors-Connector/dp/B07MDBPTLG

 

[DarkReefer]

Been a pretty busy week.
It started last Friday with transferring the existing fish, corals and rockwork over to the new tank.

Had a bucket for the fish and a bowl for the other corals.

I tried to get the fox out initially by picking him up but in the end I had to net him. Whilst he let me touch him plenty, as soon as I tried to close my grip a little he'd dart away. Dory was probably the most freaked out overall surprisingly.

Got a heap of vouchers etc for Christmas so we went shopping yesterday for some tank stuff.


We got this little one.

I think there's some minor HLLE going on (more visible on the other side on its spine toward the back) but I'm hoping this will heal over once it's relaxed a bit and fattens up some more. It's already eating which is good.

Whilst I've always wanted a yellow tang since getting into the hobby, it's probably unlikely to happen anytime soon especially with the price of them and a nice purple is also something I wanted so we went for this.
Was almost tempted to grab a gold ring tang too but it was a bit larger than I wanted (would put it in competition of being the biggest fish in the tank). They also had a small powder blue, but I think I'd rather maybe an achilles down the track of perhaps the gold ring instead. They also had a scopas which looked nice but I think it'd fight with the purple so decided against it.

Anyways, purple is chilling in my old tank for now after I gave it a bit of a water change. Running the UV again whilst it's in there. Will continue to monitor it over the next 2-3 weeks and see how it goes before adding to the main tank.

On top of the fish, we also got a bunch of new corals to liven up the tank.

Toxic Green Hammer, 24K gold torch & Rasta torch

One of the heads on the 24K wasn't happy for the longest time. Was thinking I'd have to chop it (haven't had the best of luck with torches previously, especially 24k) Got everything for a decent price too I think.

Another elegance, because the missus wanted it in case the Nemos wanted to use it like they used to with the gold tip.

This massive frogspawn. Such an underrated coral I think. Had a small garden with a few of these and a bunch of hammers when I first got my old tank and it was awesome.

Also got this softie... no idea what it is though so if anyone knows, please let me know! It also came with a small brittle star. For some reason the fish store thought it'd be a great idea to attach it with an elastic band to another rock, not seen here as I ditched it, that was full of bubble algea...honestly I swear they do things to cause people to go back to buy more **** once there's problems. Always skeptical buying from that particular store.

And here's some snaps of the existing corals now they've had time to settle in (bare in mind lights were only on maybe 30 mins at this point so still waking up).

I need to mount this xenia somewhere. Doesn't really pulse too much these days but it might be the flow is too high.

Got sick of the gold tip being in a box, so I've used a couple of elastic bands to tie it to a rock, fingers crossed it stays happy, so far so good.

The only zoas my foxface hasn't destroyed (yet).

These guys keep spawning which is cool. There's also a few very tiny brittle starfish that I found living under the rock when I moved it.

 

[DarkReefer]

Starting to see some kind of algae or bacteria forming on the sand today. I was enjoying the nice clean sand too haha. Oh well, it was a given it would happen.

Did another round of testing also. Happy enough with the levels.
Temp - 25deg celcius
pH 8.1
Ammo 0
Nitrate 3
Phosphate 0.101
Salinity 1.025
Alk 7
Calcium 425
Magnesium 1320

Also added in my doser a couple of days ago and just let it continue at it's previous config.
Will monitor and see how it goes.