Tank Journal Archive

[OSCAR85]

Introduction:​

Hi all,

Ive been into aquariums for about 3 years now just taken plunge from tropical discus mixed tank to reef mixed tank

I have a 4 foot back parcel opticlear cade.

Reefing Since: JULY 2012​

System Objectives: I have always loved animals.​

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Type of reef: MIxed​

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Display System:​

Initial Fill Date: JULY 2012​

Display Tank Dimensions: 4x2x2​

Display Lighting: 4 X T5 2 blue 2 white​

Stand: CADE​

Hood or Rimless: rimless​

Sump Design: 3x1.5x1.5 with 4 sections​

Filtration: dacron sponge and live rock​

Support systems:​

Water: tap with red sea coral pro salt 35L a week​

Display Water circulation: vortech 40wes​

Return Pump: eheim 5000​

Skimmer: tunze 9410​

Evaporation Top Up: manual 3L a day​

Chemical additions:​

Calcium Addition: red sea​

Alkilinity Addition: redsea​

Magnesium Addition: redsea​

also Redsea nop0x 4

Prodibiotics Addition: N/A​

Coral Food Addition: reef roids​

 

[OSCAR85]

I know it looks empty but I'm adding love rock slowly to build up another tower on the right lol and to avoid to cycle

 

[MTG]

cade tank! i love it :D

following this one :D

 

[MTG]

im digging the center weir design, did you order this from aquascapedesign?

 

[OSCAR85]

Thanks :) I bought it from Aqueus st kilda. But i did have to order it as no one had the back parcel in 4 foot.

 

[OSCAR85]

after buying everything all I'm a little broke but my next purchase might be Illumagic lights. i see you have them on your awesome tank. Would you recommend them?

 

[MTG]

after buying everything all I'm a little broke but my next purchase might be Illumagic lights. i see you have them on your awesome tank. Would you recommend them?

they are great value for money lights IMO! ive had 4 units so far and still have two units, great colour redinition i think you will be happy with them. you could either go with two 60cm units running front to back or one 4 foot unit

 

[Mikhail]

Even though its empty it actually looks real good!
Got that minimalist aquascape thing to it.

Any reason you went the back parcel overflow?
I'm going to go for the corner as I can sit it up right against a wall and I didn't like how the back parcel sat out the back so far.

Tagging along

 

[MichaelBinns]

love the cade tanks they are great! following this :)

 

[MTG]

i wouldnt mind one of these in 4 foot, gets me thinking..... no no i cant change tanks again :D

 

[OSCAR85]

Even though its empty it actually looks real good!
Got that minimalist aquascape thing to it.

Any reason you went the back parcel overflow?
I'm going to go for the corner as I can sit it up right against a wall and I didn't like how the back parcel sat out the back so far.

Tagging along

Its just personal preference. I like that i have more space inside the tank however there are pros and cons of both.

With the back parcel there is more noticeable noise as the pipes run outside of the cabinet.
Corner overflow is quieter as the pipe s are underneath and in the cabinet.

another tip is to use plumbers tape on all your pipes just to be sure they are tight and leak free.

 

[MichaelBinns]

i wouldnt mind one of these in 4 foot, gets me thinking..... no no i cant change tanks again :D

first dibs on your tank ;)

 

[Mikhail]

Its just personal preference. I like that i have more space inside the tank however there are pros and cons of both.

With the back parcel there is more noticeable noise as the pipes run outside of the cabinet.
Corner overflow is quieter as the pipe s are underneath and in the cabinet.

As the back parcel has only 1 or 2L of pressure on the glass to pipe joins you don't really need to silcone it (i did anyway). But if you have the corner overflow the pipes come from the bottom of the tank so the pressure would be larger (the litters of the water above). You must silicone it as they do leak.

another tip is to use plumbers tape on all your pipes just to be sure they are tight and leak free.

Ahh ok thanks for that!

I think the corner overflow only has one drain and the centre has 2 right? One for back up?
Makes me a little paranoid there is only one drain in the corner.
We set up my gf brothers coast to coast bean animal today. A little jealous of his set up but damn it takes up a lot of space

 

[OSCAR85]

Ahh ok thanks for that!

I think the corner overflow only has one drain and the centre has 2 right? One for back up?
Makes me a little paranoid there is only one drain in the corner.
We set up my gf brothers coast to coast bean animal today. A little jealous of his set up but damn it takes up a lot of space

I wouldn't be too worried about that.

Yes mine has 2 drains but i think that it might be only for 4 foot size and above...unsure. There is a tap on one so you can fine tune the drainage

The parcel at the back is 12cm so thats the clearance you need from the wall its actually not that much.

Also i found that the return pipe that runs back up into the tank sits too far under the water. The issue with this is that due to gravity, if your return pump or power goes off your sump will overflow and the deep pipe in the tank keeps sucking out the water into the sump... you can keep it this way but you will have to have quite shallow water in your sump chambes.
To get around this you just need to re-attach a different head on the exit of the return pump that doesn't sit so far under water so if power shuts off your tank won't be emptied so much and your sump doest overflow.

Cades are also made in china and the piping size used is electrical pipe not plumbing pipe. I discovered this at buntings when i couldn't find ANYTHING to fit. Its easy to get around it but a pain in the arse. I had to go to a irrigation place to find the right fittings.

Its not a major reason to avoid getting a cade though. you will only have to make that adjustment once.

 

[Mikhail]

I wouldn't be too worried about that.

Yes mine has 2 drains but i think that it might be only for 4 foot size and above...unsure. There is a tap on one so you can fine tune the drainage

The parcel at the back is 12cm so thats the clearance you need from the wall its actually not that much.

Also i found that the return pipe that runs back up into the tank sits too far under the water. The issue with this is that due to gravity, if your return pump or power goes off your sump will overflow and the deep pipe in the tank keeps sucking out the water into the sump... you can keep it this way but you will have to have quite shallow water in your sump chambes.
To get around this you just need to re-attach a different head on the exit of the return pump that doesn't sit so far under water so if power shuts off your tank won't be emptied so much and your sump doest overflow.

Cades are also made in china and the piping size used is electrical pipe not plumbing pipe. I discovered this at buntings when i couldn't find ANYTHING to fit. Its easy to get around it but a pain in the arse. I had to go to a irrigation place to find the right fittings.

Its not a major reason to avoid getting a cade though. you will only have to make that adjustment once.

Did you find that getting the 4ft you now have to get bigger/more powerful equipment than say, a 3ft?
I had my heart set on the HL1000 and the missus gave approval. But seeing the dimensions of your tank your making me think twice now.
The wider tank looks so much better, kinda like 16:9 widescreen TV compared to a 4:3

At you planning to run a refugium and or reactors in the sump area? Cade didn't leave much room for anything!

 

[OSCAR85]

Did you find that getting the 4ft you now have to get bigger/more powerful equipment than say, a 3ft?
I had my heart set on the HL1000 and the missus gave approval. But seeing the dimensions of your tank your making me think twice now.
The wider tank looks so much better, kinda like 16:9 widescreen TV compared to a 4:3

At you planning to run a refugium and or reactors in the sump area? Cade didn't leave much room for anything!

Well my friend has the HL1000. it is 330L and the HL1200 is 396L So its really not a big difference. The reason i chose the extra foot was that i can watch the fish swim up and down the whole tank and also marine fish do grow in the inches so something like a yellow tang will be more comfortable in my tank and look more in proportion.

i have a eheim return pump 5000 around $250 if you had the HL1000 you would probably only need the eheim 3000. so thats about $200 ($50 cheaper)
other than that the skimmer for a 330/396L would be the same unit..so no price rise there.
it just depends on what lay outs interest you. I like multible towers and i couldn't do that in the HL1000

I think there are many ways of running a tank with multiple equipment.

In regards to refugium, they won't work unless you have one that is a least half the volume of your tank. So i don't have one.
I dont want bulky expensive equipment like reactors and you don't need them to have a successful healthy stress free reef.

This is only my opinion and what has worked for me and my friends. But i think the most important thing to spend money on is skimmer, test kits and a good salt mix if you don't want to carry around water. I use red sea coral pro and i barely have dose my tank. If you buy a 22KG bucket for around $130 it works out to be the same price as lugging around water and the advantage is you won't need to dose as much cal,mag.
You do need water movement and return pump but swell of course but they don't need to be really expensive ones. Even though i got them lol.
And good lighting t5 is ok to start with.

So with just a skimmer good water movement and flow around rocks i have always managed to keep my nitrate between 0.25 and 0.5. I feed twice a day as well.
My calcium,mag is always high as well.

So I've never had the need for any reactors.
Yes my tank is very low stocked atm but my friends is incredibly full and he also has no need for reactors. He does dose more than me though and uses nop0x by redsea to lower nitrate and phosphate and his nitrates are lower than mine.

 

[webber555]

Love the scape, good amount of room for fish activity. What water are you using for Water changes? Tap? (that's what it says in the details). Would strongly recommend against using tap water. Will offer nothing but problems.

 

[OSCAR85]

Love the scape, good amount of room for fish activity. What water are you using for Water changes? Tap? (that's what it says in the details). Would strongly recommend against using tap water. Will offer nothing but problems.

thanks for the advice. Yes I've been using tap water for 6 months
what issues have arisin from using tap water?

 

[Mikhail]

Do you think you will need more flow if you add another island/bommie?
What T5 fixture is that?
Also looks like the cade lighting brackets, were they hard to put on?
Did they have an actual spot on the back of cabinet or did you have to custom up something?

Any chance we can get some sump pics?
Kinda interested in what you are doing in the front right chamber since you are not running a refugium or any reactors.

 

[OSCAR85]

Do you think you will need more flow if you add another island/bommie?
What T5 fixture is that?
Also looks like the cade lighting brackets, were they hard to put on?
Did they have an actual spot on the back of cabinet or did you have to custom up something?

Any chance we can get some sump pics?
Kinda interested in what you are doing in the front right chamber since you are not running a refugium or any reactors.

I may need more flow atm there is quite a bit of currant though so i will cross that bridge when i come to it.
i think its a aqua nova but its 4x54w t5 yes its the cade hanging kit. :)
thats how the cabinet and tank no modifications there.
The sum works like a race track were the water flows into 1st chamber then overflows into 2nd with dacron sponge and extra filter that i rinse every week, then it goes into skimmer chamber then return pump chamber.
Reactors are great for very large aquariums but no need for mine or smaller.
i have the 1kg red sea calcium and magnesium power and i barely use 1 teaspoon a week so reactors would be overkill. Ive never had nitrate or phosphate issues either so i don't need a reactor for that. But if i did have nitrate of phosphate issues i would just use http://www.redseafish.com/index.aspx?id=4366

Its works F8ckn brilliantly