DiscoStuart's Cade 600 S2 Build (~60 Gallon cube)

[DiscoStuart]

New to the forum and considering my first reef tank. Loving the wealth of knowledge in this community, it has been great. I've been deep down the research rabbit hole to plan this thing out and (I know I'm not supposed to ) try to come up with an actual idea of real cost before I pull the trigger on this.

The plan for the tank will be softys and LPS + livestock. Full stocking plan to come.

The tank will be in my home office so will have full view of it all day every day - and I care about running noise for sure. I'm in the UK, hence the £ pricing and some limits on what we can get here (IM and Waterbox seem super hard to come by). Note: I've considered the Cade 500 instead, given the smaller footprint, but given the price difference isn't crazy, I lean toward getting the biggest that can fit in my space.

I'd love any thoughts and reactions to the current plan below - as well as anything I might be missing. Excited for the journey, I know it is a long one!

Category	Item	Current Plan	Price	Notes
Tank & Waterflow	Tank	Cade S2 600 - 24" cube (266L / 70 gal total, 216L / 57 gal Display)	£1,900	I know I could save money here, but can't seem to get IM in the UK really and Cade is gorgeous!
	Return Pump	Reef Octo VarioS 4	£285	Mixed feedback on silence of Sicce's, so leaning this way. But maybe Jecod to save some $$
	Powerheads	Nero 3s or Gyre 330 being considered	£350	Prefer wires outside of the tank and don't like the thick MP10/40 back. I'll be viewing from the left side all day
Filtration/Cleaning	Filter Roller	Bubble Magus G2 Small	£120	Can fit in filter sock component if I want to make room for a fuge
	Skimmer	Reef octupus 110sss	£232	Small footprint is helpful, given small sump. Likely get this later on and just run the filter roller for quite a while.
	UV	D-D 10W + Sicce 0.5	£175	I know lots run without UV. So this might be a future add on. I'd like to do what I can to prevent issues rather than respond to them.
Light & Heats	Heaters	2x Eheim 150w w/ Inkbird 306A	£100	Likely placing in Skimmer chamber. Considered overflow instead
	Lights	Noopsy K7 v3 w/ shade	£175	I don't want to be sitting next to a black light looking blue all day - configurable enough?
Water & changing	RODI	Vyair 4 stage 50 GPD w booster	£160	Will likely be in garage, running off garden hose then carry up stairs to tank
	Semi Auto WC	Reefloat 27L	£270	A nice to have for sure
	Salt	tbc	£100	Rough annual cost for 60 cube with 10% ~weekly change
Testing	Hanna Testers	Alkalinity, Phosphorous ULR, Nitrates (High Range)	£240
	Red Sea	Ca	£35	Note, No Mg test planned.
	Salinity	Tropic Marin	£50
Sand & Rock	Sand	Arag Alive Special Grade	£60
	Rock	Hugo Dry Reef Rock or MarcoRock or LifeRock...	£200	Assuming ~60 lbs/ 25kg. Wet live rock nearly impossible to find in the UK. I could import a kilo or two of it at vast cost from Europe to throw in the sump, if that helpful.
Livestock	Livestock	TBD + softy/LPS	£1,000	Rough estimate. But not planning anything wild...yet
QT & Backups	Quarantine tank	10 gal, heater, PVC bits, sponge filter, Coppersafe, Hanna Copper checker, General cure	£300	Not planning any large fish in a 60 cube, so hoping I can get away with 10 gal here
	Return Pump	Jecod MDP 5000	£140
	Heaters	2x Eheim 150w	£50
10% bonus for stuff I forgot			£594
Total Year 1 Damage			£6,536	I figure there is £500-1500 reduction potential here if I can find anything used / select cheaper brands / defer some of the nice to haves into future years (AWC, Skimmer, UV)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! Can't wait to see what the tank looks like!