Afternoon Delight's Cade 1500 S2

[afternoondelight]

Well, the day that our new tank comes into the house is finally here....Yay! Been lurking around here for the past several months and asking lots of questions of folks who have been very helpful (and patient) with their Cade builds as well as other folks about this and that. Thanks to all you helpful R2R reefers!

My local LFS folks are sending some of their big boys by to bring the beast into the dining room where I'll be plumbing it and getting it ready to slide into position on Weds. we have a 60" alcove that recesses 23 inches into the wall of our dining room and I built this house knowing I was eventually going to put in a reef tank. In hindsight, if I would've known what I know now, through research and more due diligence, I would have done things differently in the way that I planned the utilities and what not. We did have it plumbed for wastewater and dedicated circuitry, but I have figured out a few things that have required some gnashing of teeth and rending of garments throughout this process… Lol

At any rate, today is the day that she finally comes in the house. I have spent God only knows how many hours getting this aqua scape together and trying to get everything figured out for the behind-the-scenes infrastructure. I am planning to have the vast majority of my equipment, controllers, power boards, and what not mounted on the wall of our pantry, which is on the backside of the aquarium location. That will free up some of the space and not make us so crowded underneath the cabinet in the actual aquarium stand.



I have also been getting all my stuff together and trying to do it all at one time even though some of the stuff that I have bought and will be installing I don't even actually need right this minute. I kind of went over budget by probably 80%… Lol!

Anyhow, I have a bunch of work to do today and I will post changes as they start popping up

Glad to be starting my reefing journey....finally!

 

[SpyC]

Congratulations! Wxcited to see how the build progresses. Which ulrareef skimmer is that?

 

[afternoondelight]

Got the tank and stand in the house with no issues. Three large dudes did it and saved my back...thanks Nahacky Aquariums! Anyhow, working on plumbing and hopefully no issues or leaks and then I'll shove it back into the recessed alcove.

 

[kevgib67]

Exciting day, following!

 

[afternoondelight]

Welp...I finally figured out how to plumb the ClariSea 5000 into my tank with the parts that came with the tank. Cade sent the 32mm flexihose to use for plumbing the main return pump, but it was about two inches too long to work with my Sicce SDC 9.0 and I didn't like the hard kink that was caused by the extra length. I used two 40mm to 32mm adapter fittings to scale down from the main drain line and used the 32mm flexihose and it seems like it will work like a charm. I ordered some black silicon 1 inch ID hose to plumb the return. Hopefully it'll work! Heased to Belize mañana and will worry about tank stuff on 4/29.

 

[afternoondelight]

Finally have WATER! Cloudy as the Mississippi River, but it's cycling by God!

 

[afternoondelight]

Water has cleared up, but I have to do some fine-tuning of these MP40's...they are blowing sand all over the place...lol. Had a little SNAFU on the backside and the third MP40 that I was planning to use for the right rear won't fit....guess it's on to Plan B!
I reckon I'll just use another Octo Pulse 4+ since it has such a thin rear magnet.

Anyhow, nothing much else to see here....letting the little bacteria do their job while I tidy up the command center (lol) behind the aquarium in the space formally called our pantry. It's still the pa try, but the wife is ready for me to "get all my crap" out of there ASAP.

Today's focus is to plumb and get my saltwater mixing station up to speed. Need RODI water!!!

Mocking up the ReeFi Uno 2.0's (obviously I will tidy up the wiring....)

 

[afternoondelight]

Praise the Lord! Finally got the ClairSea SK5000 plumbed in and operating...next up: The Ultra Reef skimmer!!

 

[afternoondelight]

Got my skimmer and my lights working...(yes I know they are off in this photo)

Finally got my mixing station up and running..and my "command center" (AKA the former pantry) tidied up a little more so I can hang the doors and make my wife happy (again). Lots of squares filled these past few days.

Chipping away a little at a time.

 

[afternoondelight]

Set up and cycling my quarantine tank and want to start out with a couple of Picasso clowns... ready to get this party started!!

Anyhow, serious question for the pros out there: is there any suitable (well-behaving) anenome that folks can recommend that will act right in a mixed reef tank? I have heard lots of "NO's" but I would like to give these clowns a friend if it's possible to do so without creating a crap$how.

What say the R2R experts!?

 

[lubeck]

Looking good. Regarding the nem, you need to be prepared to remove them when they split. If you’re cool with that go for it. They eventually stay put and the split usually walks off to find their new home. I’ve had to remove about 10+ over the last two years. They will burn your other corals

 

[afternoondelight]

Looking good. Regarding the nem, you need to be prepared to remove them when they split. If you’re cool with that go for it. They eventually stay put and the split usually walks off to find their new home. I’ve had to remove about 10+ over the last two years. They will burn your other corals

Thanks for the reply. Yeah...I may hold off on the anemone for a while (or forever...lol). We shall see. Still waiting for the display tank to finish out the cycle...gonna be a hot minute methinks. Ammonia is converted to nitrite quickly, but the nitrites are still too high so I need the other group of bacteria to colonize and start doing their conversion games!

Patience was never one of my virtues, but this hobby will make you work on that for sure!!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[afternoondelight]

Tank is FINALLY cycled. 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrites. Nitrate is 37.5.

I've added Dr Tim's ammonia a couple times and checked 24 hours later and it's all been converted so I reckon she's ready to roll. My QT tank is going slower, but it makes sense since it doesn't have the rocks and sand and other substrate for the bacteria to colonize.

 

[afternoondelight]

Big day yesterday! My daughter surprised us with a pair of Picasso clownfish from ORA and they are officially the first inhabitants. It was really sweet of her and her husband to do that for us, but I wish she had coordinated with my a little more because my QT isn't cycled to my satisfaction so I had to put them in the display tank (which wasn't my plan). Oh well, if they get sick or show signs of anything I will move them to the QT after the testing comes back to where it needs to be.

On a different note, I decided to put a refugium in the sump because I figured out a spot that would work effectively enough (I hope)

Refugium light and chaeto go in today along with a teeny powerhead to give adequate flow to tumble the chaeto. It's kind of in a stagnant area in the very back of the sump because of the way I have the downspout water routed into the ClariSea roller filter.

I also ordered galaxy pods and phytoplankton from Algae Barn and they should be here today.

I went ahead and decided to add some small hermit crabs, even though I don't really have any algae growing whatsoever, but I was worried about any food that the clownfish didn't eat sitting there and rotting. It may have been a kneejerk mistake, but don't want uneaten food causing nitrate problems… Especially when we are gone to the keys for a week starting next Saturday and I will be forced to use an automatic feeder!

 

[afternoondelight]

Pods came from Algae Barn. Turned OFF the skimmer and roller filter and turned the four species of copepods loose into the Cade. Fed them with phytoplankton and hoping for the best!

Good times!

 

[afternoondelight]

Finally got the refugium up and running with a baseball-sized clump of chaeto spinning around with the fuge light from Innovative Marine shining on it for 11 hours a night. The Apex programming was making me pull what little hair I have left OUT, but I finally got it figured out...lol.

Shined a light in the display tank and there are pods swimming around all OVER THE PLACE! Nicely done Algae Barn!

Good times.

Clownfish seem content, but not very hungry as of yet......

 

[shadyraro]

Looking good, but isn’t the main drain pipe and valve supposed to be on the left hand side?

 

[afternoondelight]

Looking good, but isn’t the main drain pipe and valve supposed to be on the left hand side?

Yes, but I initially plumbed it differently to make it so I could use the roller filter hung on the back glass and could only do so if the pipes were reversed. I asked Cade if it mattered and was told it didn't matter which side was which so I switched them. In hindsight, since I just sat the ClariSea roller on a paver on the bottom and plumbed it differently (than originally planned) I could've left it in its stock location, but had already pushed the aquarium back into the alcove in the wall making it VERY difficult to change out the drain pipes...hence where it is. It works as it should so I guess I'm OK...

 

[afternoondelight]

Getting my big batch of quarantined fish in this week from Dr Reef: Midas blenny, yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp, flame hawkfish, sixline wrasse and an orchid dottyback. Also getting some CUC to start cleaning the algae that's starting to show up. We have almost 40 coral frags in the quarantine tank and it's been awesome getting into the LPS game. Yay!