Starting a new Cade 1200 Peninsula. I have been reefing for over three years now and think I'm ready to start a new build. My 75 gallon has had a lot of success and a lot of failure. I have learned a lot from that tank (which is still running), and plan on incorporating a lot of the things I did in the 75 in the new Cade. I will be changing a lot also. I have defiantly learned patience and plan on slowly getting this tank running, and to be advantages of sales for as much of the equipment as possible. Everything eventually goes on sale, even the premium brands.
I purchased the tank back in May with Algae Barn. I took advantage of their summer sale which included the tank/stand/sump, dry rock (shelf, foundation, boulders, rubble), fritz salt, 80lbs of carib sea special grade sand, Fitz turbo start, and Nitrocycle. Shipping was fairly easy to deal with and it made it all the way from Colorado to Michigan in less than a week. The crate did come damaged due to the crates being stacked. This caused one of the hinges in the front door to break which Algaebarn replaced. Other than that everything came in good shape.
The Tank is a CADE 1200 S2/P
Dimensions: 47 x 27.5 x 24
Tank volume : 133 gallon
Sump: 60 gal Breeder
Total system volume with LR, sand, and sump: aprox-130 gallons
Instead of using the standard sump it came with I decided to try a basement sump out utilizing a 60 gallon breeder I bought from petco on sale for $100. I found baffles on eBay already pre cut with an adjustable weir that also cost $100. So in total I paid $200 for a custom 60 gallon sump which is awesome compared to the price of other premade sumps that have similar dimensions. The sump stand in the basement was mostly constructed from scrape wood laying around the house. I utilized some of the shipping crate for shelving underneath the stand and came up with the idea of using shipping crate for a control board and to hold some of the plumbing. The stand is mounded on ratcheting caster wheels and for easy leveling.
My floor joist run parallel to the tank so I had to do a bit of floor reinforcement just to be sure. Fortunately, the back side of the tank is supported by my homes I-beam. I also sistered the two main supporting joist to the jack posts. I'll be dealing with appximently 13' of head height.
Old Equipment
I'll bring some of the old equipment from my 75 gallon over when the Time is right. This includes:
Future Equipment
I made a floating canopy for my lights. I used Aspen wood for its lightness and some scrape wood for the frame. The canopy is sized 1-1/2" inches smaller than the tank dimensions on each side. I then mounted the RMS rail using velcro so its easily removable. The canopy is suspended by 3 Neptune Sky wire hanging kits. I used heavy duty pop toggle anchors to mount wires holding the canopy into my ceiling. With the lights and canopy it comes in at just under 20lbs which is no problem for three, 1/2" toggle dry wall anchors. I painted the canopy the same color as the walls so it looks apart of the house. This also helped reduce a lot of the light spill into the room. Overall, I think it turned out better than expected. Im not much of a wood worker so for my skill set this went well. My wife was also pretty impressed.
Fish List
Current residents Of my 75 gallon
New planned Additions
Im nervous this may be too many fish. Im going to add them slowly and evaluate after each introduction. I really wanted a small powder brown but not sure the tank with all the inhabitance I want will support it. I wait and see after I compIeted the current fish list. I also have some coral moving over but I'm not going to list them at this time.
The tank is almost finished with the ammonia cycle and just waiting for a some of the nitrite to be converted. I have a Royal Gramma that's two weeks out from finishing quarantine, and today took delivery of a Biota Yellow Tang. The yellow Tang is so small I felt it would be ok to introduce him towards the beginning.
When the time comes I plan to use Kalkwasser instead of the two-part method. Then Tropic Marin AFR to back fill what the Kalk can't keep up with, or set small daily AWC to help with Trace elements and the Kalk dosing. That's a ways down the road though.
I also plan on setting up a water change station with the old return pump on my 75 gallon.
Thats where I'm at so far. Wish me luck. To be continued...
I purchased the tank back in May with Algae Barn. I took advantage of their summer sale which included the tank/stand/sump, dry rock (shelf, foundation, boulders, rubble), fritz salt, 80lbs of carib sea special grade sand, Fitz turbo start, and Nitrocycle. Shipping was fairly easy to deal with and it made it all the way from Colorado to Michigan in less than a week. The crate did come damaged due to the crates being stacked. This caused one of the hinges in the front door to break which Algaebarn replaced. Other than that everything came in good shape.
The Tank is a CADE 1200 S2/P
Dimensions: 47 x 27.5 x 24
Tank volume : 133 gallon
Sump: 60 gal Breeder
Total system volume with LR, sand, and sump: aprox-130 gallons
Instead of using the standard sump it came with I decided to try a basement sump out utilizing a 60 gallon breeder I bought from petco on sale for $100. I found baffles on eBay already pre cut with an adjustable weir that also cost $100. So in total I paid $200 for a custom 60 gallon sump which is awesome compared to the price of other premade sumps that have similar dimensions. The sump stand in the basement was mostly constructed from scrape wood laying around the house. I utilized some of the shipping crate for shelving underneath the stand and came up with the idea of using shipping crate for a control board and to hold some of the plumbing. The stand is mounded on ratcheting caster wheels and for easy leveling.
My floor joist run parallel to the tank so I had to do a bit of floor reinforcement just to be sure. Fortunately, the back side of the tank is supported by my homes I-beam. I also sistered the two main supporting joist to the jack posts. I'll be dealing with appximently 13' of head height.
Old Equipment
I'll bring some of the old equipment from my 75 gallon over when the Time is right. This includes:
- Neptune Apex
- Skimz Monzter Sm161 Protein skimmer - This skimmer may be a bit under sized for this system, but I figure for the first year or two it'll do just fine. Especially with the addition of the fleece roller mat.
- BRS 1.1ml dosing pumps - same as the skimmer, will work at first but may have to upgrade in the future.
- Kessil A360x (for added shimmer if needed)
- Tunze Osmolater ATO
- 2 Red Sea ReefWave 2000 gyre - These pumps have worked great for the last few years. Since the tank is only wider than my old, I figured these pumps will work great with the addition of a Nero 3 or 5.
- BRS Carbon Reactor
- Aquamaxx AF-1 Filter Roller Mat - Bought this on sale for under $200. This thing works great. It does not have the fancy bells and whistles some of the others have but it's essentially plug and play.
- Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0. - Beast of a pump, I have it running at 75% and have tons of flow through my sump, which I may have to dial back. It was loud at first but gets a little quieter over time. Noise may also be due to head pressure. If you're looking for a basement DC pump this is your guy. Additionally, it has a 5 year warranty, and of course it was bought on sale.
- IM Helios Temp controller w/Duel BRS 300W titanium heaters - Very accurate so far.
- 2 Neptune Sky Lights - These lights have great spread. I think the color the Kessil gives off looks better, but that's not to say these lights look bad. I think a Kessil/Sky combo is going to look awesome.
Future Equipment
- Nero 3 or 5 pump - Additional flow down the center. I plan on putting it on the overflow box.
- Neptune Trident - Maybe
- Neptune DOS Auto Water Change - also a maybe
- Refugium - When the time is right. I suspect this won't be needed for some time.
I made a floating canopy for my lights. I used Aspen wood for its lightness and some scrape wood for the frame. The canopy is sized 1-1/2" inches smaller than the tank dimensions on each side. I then mounted the RMS rail using velcro so its easily removable. The canopy is suspended by 3 Neptune Sky wire hanging kits. I used heavy duty pop toggle anchors to mount wires holding the canopy into my ceiling. With the lights and canopy it comes in at just under 20lbs which is no problem for three, 1/2" toggle dry wall anchors. I painted the canopy the same color as the walls so it looks apart of the house. This also helped reduce a lot of the light spill into the room. Overall, I think it turned out better than expected. Im not much of a wood worker so for my skill set this went well. My wife was also pretty impressed.
Fish List
Current residents Of my 75 gallon
- Yellow Tail Damsel
- Coral Beauty
- 2 Storm Clowns
- Yellow-Eye Kole tang
- Foxface Rabbit Fish
- Sixline Wrasse
- Target Manderine
New planned Additions
- Royal Gramma
- Biota Yellow Tang
- 2 Banggai Cardinals
- Exquisite Firefish
- Aiptasia Eating Filefish
- Lyretail anthia Trio
- Yellow Watchmen Goby
Im nervous this may be too many fish. Im going to add them slowly and evaluate after each introduction. I really wanted a small powder brown but not sure the tank with all the inhabitance I want will support it. I wait and see after I compIeted the current fish list. I also have some coral moving over but I'm not going to list them at this time.
The tank is almost finished with the ammonia cycle and just waiting for a some of the nitrite to be converted. I have a Royal Gramma that's two weeks out from finishing quarantine, and today took delivery of a Biota Yellow Tang. The yellow Tang is so small I felt it would be ok to introduce him towards the beginning.
When the time comes I plan to use Kalkwasser instead of the two-part method. Then Tropic Marin AFR to back fill what the Kalk can't keep up with, or set small daily AWC to help with Trace elements and the Kalk dosing. That's a ways down the road though.
I also plan on setting up a water change station with the old return pump on my 75 gallon.
Thats where I'm at so far. Wish me luck. To be continued...
