CADE REEF 600 S2 Build Thread

[trevorhiller]

Great thanks! Ya, its an AC pump. I had it in storage so figured I'd try to use it but I think it's just way too much. It's like 15x turnover. lol

Sump flow

youtube.com

here is what mine looks like

 

[d2mini]

Sump flow

youtube.com

here is what mine looks like

Thanks! You can see mine in that facebook post. It's really flowing. lol

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank Update
I cleaned up the tank today and swapped the Reborn substrate for the newly re-released old style, large particle Reborn. This was the substrate I wanted since planning my tank, but unfortunately it stopped being available during Covid-19. It may seem silly to some to swap the substrate for a different particle size, but this was the look I was going for and it really allows you to crank up the flow without the substrate blowing around. I'm much more satisfied now.

Equipment:
I'm still ramping up the lighting slowly to get the coral used to the Radion XR30 I installed. Most of these were grown under Radions, but I suspect they've probably gotten used to lower light so I started a 45 day acclimaton period. I'm now hitting 150-160 micromols at the top of the rockscape and about 100 micromols at the bottom. So far the corals seem to be reacting positively to the extra light.


Fish:
Banggai Cardinalfish has finished QT and been acclimated to the tank. I'm still experiencing some agression between the Tomini and the Flame Hawkfish, so I have a mirror on the tank again at the moment. I bought a acclimation box and left the Banggai in it for a week prior to releasing and so far the other fish don't seem to mind him at all.

Corals:
I'm starting to see some growth-I believe my PAR was very low and contributing to slow growth. I also finally have some specks of coralline on the glass in the sump and on the plastic weirs in the tank.

Dosing:
Kalkwasser dosing decreased by about 50% when I switched to the XR30. I suspect I undershot the initial intensity and decreased the demand but I'm slowly ramping this back up. Alk is hovering around 9.0.

Problems/Nuisances:
My chaeto was finally starting to grow since adding the Eco Chic by Tunze, but now it is beginning to be covered by hair algae. I suspect the hair algae is going to win as the chaeto seems to be decreasing in size and I've notice a lot of little pieces making their way up to the display tank. If this chaeto doesn't work, I may try a different type of algae. I bought some pods from Top Shelf Aquatics with my last coral order and they came with a few pieces of red algae (I believe Ogo and something else?). Just for fun, I glued them to a piece of rubble and stuck them in the refugium section and they are growing well. It's odd how chaeto doesn't like to grow for some people well.

My nitrates and phosphates are finally starting to get up to the point where I may want to do something about them. 15/0.2. I have some GFO on hand that I may add, but right now the corals look ok and I'm cutting back the feeding since the new fish are doing well and getting fat. I'd really like to try Phosphate Rx that Melev's Reef uses, but the horror stories of LaCl3 have me scared--especially after it took 3 tries to get a Tomini Tang to survive. I'm not sure if I am willing to give Lanthanum a try. For now I'm still debating on a phosphate management strategy if/when I need to start reducing them.

After cleaning today I had to get some pictures of the tank, its inhabitants and a few of the corals that are showing some growth.

 

[VanJoe]

Based on just the dimensions, it looks like it's not going to fit. That section of the sump is 14.88" x 12.36". The dimensions of the reef mat is 8.3" x 10.6" and the skimmer i'm running is 8.24" x 6.74". I thought i might be able to sneak it in as it seems smaller on the base and gets wider as you go up, but probably not worth the risk.

complete rookie here, am thinking of buying this tank and came across this great build thread. With the small size of the sump and the filter sock area (and the gate valve right there on the down pipes) there really isn't a way to get a filter mat roller to fit is there? None are small enough? Your comment on putting it the skimmer area was a first for me. Everything I've ever read and seen online shows people putting it in the filter sock area. What, would you plumb your downflow into the skimmer section instead? Completely new to sumps.

(looking some more it looks like the small Klir 4 might fit if the drain gate valve doesn't get in the way)

Thanks for any input.

 

[VanJoe]

Tank Update
I cleaned up the tank today and swapped the Reborn substrate for the newly re-released old style, large particle Reborn. This was the substrate I wanted since planning my tank, but unfortunately it stopped being available during Covid-19. It may seem silly to some to swap the substrate for a different particle size, but this was the look I was going for and it really allows you to crank up the flow without the substrate blowing around. I'm much more satisfied now.

Equipment:
I'm still ramping up the lighting slowly to get the coral used to the Radion XR30 I installed. Most of these were grown under Radions, but I suspect they've probably gotten used to lower light so I started a 45 day acclimaton period. I'm now hitting 150-160 micromols at the top of the rockscape and about 100 micromols at the bottom. So far the corals seem to be reacting positively to the extra light.


Fish:
Banggai Cardinalfish has finished QT and been acclimated to the tank. I'm still experiencing some agression between the Tomini and the Flame Hawkfish, so I have a mirror on the tank again at the moment. I bought a acclimation box and left the Banggai in it for a week prior to releasing and so far the other fish don't seem to mind him at all.

Corals:
I'm starting to see some growth-I believe my PAR was very low and contributing to slow growth. I also finally have some specks of coralline on the glass in the sump and on the plastic weirs in the tank.

Dosing:
Kalkwasser dosing decreased by about 50% when I switched to the XR30. I suspect I undershot the initial intensity and decreased the demand but I'm slowly ramping this back up. Alk is hovering around 9.0.

Problems/Nuisances:
My chaeto was finally starting to grow since adding the Eco Chic by Tunze, but now it is beginning to be covered by hair algae. I suspect the hair algae is going to win as the chaeto seems to be decreasing in size and I've notice a lot of little pieces making their way up to the display tank. If this chaeto doesn't work, I may try a different type of algae. I bought some pods from Top Shelf Aquatics with my last coral order and they came with a few pieces of red algae (I believe Ogo and something else?). Just for fun, I glued them to a piece of rubble and stuck them in the refugium section and they are growing well. It's odd how chaeto doesn't like to grow for some people well.

My nitrates and phosphates are finally starting to get up to the point where I may want to do something about them. 15/0.2. I have some GFO on hand that I may add, but right now the corals look ok and I'm cutting back the feeding since the new fish are doing well and getting fat. I'd really like to try Phosphate Rx that Melev's Reef uses, but the horror stories of LaCl3 have me scared--especially after it took 3 tries to get a Tomini Tang to survive. I'm not sure if I am willing to give Lanthanum a try. For now I'm still debating on a phosphate management strategy if/when I need to start reducing them.

After cleaning today I had to get some pictures of the tank, its inhabitants and a few of the corals that are showing some growth.

Any more updates?

Just bought this tank. Looks like a great package. How have you liked that sized UV and the plumbing of it? Use a DC pump on the UV so you can change the flow as needed?

Thanks.

 

[trevorhiller]

complete rookie here, am thinking of buying this tank and came across this great build thread. With the small size of the sump and the filter sock area (and the gate valve right there on the down pipes) there really isn't a way to get a filter mat roller to fit is there? None are small enough? Your comment on putting it the skimmer area was a first for me. Everything I've ever read and seen online shows people putting it in the filter sock area. What, would you plumb your downflow into the skimmer section instead? Completely new to sumps.

(looking some more it looks like the small Klir 4 might fit if the drain gate valve doesn't get in the way)

Thanks for any input.

I think most people who use the filter roller in it just skip over the sock area. Sort of like this example someone else did.

For me I would need to downsize my skimmer and I paid a lot for it and really like it, so I don’t want to do that at this point.

 

[trevorhiller]

Any more updates?

Just bought this tank. Looks like a great package. How have you liked that sized UV and the plumbing of it? Use a DC pump on the UV so you can change the flow as needed?

Thanks.

I’ll try to get another tank update done soon. I do like the UV I got, it seems to work well. But if I could do it over I would probably buy the more expensive Classic Aqua UltraViolet sterilizer that has the inlet/outlet on the same side for easier plumbing. I don’t know how the model I have is supposed to be mounted but the inlet and outlet on opposite sides is goofy—not to mention the body is tapered so there are no handy mounting options for it that I know of.

A DC pump or even plumbing it into the manifold would work great (assuming you have a large enough return pump).

 

[VanJoe]

I think most people who use the filter roller in it just skip over the sock area. Sort of like this example someone else did.

For me I would need to downsize my skimmer and I paid a lot for it and really like it, so I don’t want to do that at this point.

That Red Sea reefmat sure looks huge for this little sump.

Last night I came across a couple of posts on Facebook that I believe are both for the Reef 900 (which appears to have the same size sump as the 600) that show them having the Klir dropped right into the sock holder.

 

[trevorhiller]

That Red Sea reefmat sure looks huge for this little sump.

Last night I came across a couple of posts on Facebook that I believe are both for the Reef 900 (which appears to have the same size sump as the 600) that show them having the Klir dropped right into the sock holder.

Interesting… they seem popular for these tanks. I’ve seen some pretty terrible reviews of them, but maybe some are actually having success with the drop in 4” rollers.

I would love a roller mat, the socks drive me crazy and I’m even the constantly tinkering type… my filter socks clog in like 1-2 days.

 

[shadyraro]

Hey nice setup, any updates? Also how are your neros going on the back wall, no issues with the dry side being submerged??

 

[trevorhiller]

Hey nice setup, any updates? Also how are your neros going on the back wall, no issues with the dry side being submerged??

My Nero 3s have been working well, I've seen no issues with the magnets submerged in the water reservoir on the back. Mine are both positioned in the ATO though, so it is only fresh water they are exposed to. I couldn't get the magnet to stick on the left side of the tank in the overflow because of the glass thickness (it's sort of a double wall design from what I can tell). With all the sponges and stuff growing in there anyway I don't think I'd want to stick my hand in there to pull the magnet for cleaning anyhow. I am debating about moving one of them though because I do have some detritus collect between my aquascape and the back wall.

Tank Update: January 2023


Fish
1x Banggai Cardinalfish
1x Flame Hawkfish
1x Tomini Tang
2x Oscellaris Clownfish

Inverts & Clean Up Crew
1x Diadema Sea Urchin
1x Peppermint Shrimp
~65x Trochus Snails
3x Pincushion Urchin
1x Tuxedo Urchin
1x Limpet
2x Electric Blue Leg Hermits
2x Money Cowries
3x Nassarius Snails
3x Emerald Crabs

I need to restock my CUC once the weather here in Pennsylvania is a little warmer.

Current Dosing Regimen:
I recently switched from Kalkwasser + Tropic Marin All-For-Reef to Kalkwasser & a hybrid 3-Part Balling system. The All For Reef wasn't for me. My calcium was consistently running over 500 even with my Alk around 8.0. I wanted finer control plus a higher pH-hence the strategy below:

Part A- Bulk Reef Supply Calcium Chloride
Part B- Belle Chemical Sodium Hydroxide f/Amazon using Randy Holmes-Farley's Recipe
Part C- Balling C
Magnesium - Bulk Reef Supply Magnesium Chloride & Sulfate
Trace Elements- Tropic Marin Trace A- & K+

Current Hardware
Lighting: 1x Radion XR30 PRO, 1x Tunze Ecochic 8821 (Refugium Light) (Radion Schedule Posted Below)
Light Program: Overall Intensity: 82%, UV 100%, Violet 100%, Royal 100%, Blue 100%, Green 15%, Red 15%, Warm White 35%, Cool White 35%. Schedule: 1100-2300.
Skimmer: Ultra Reef UKS-160
Return Pump: Sicce SDC 6.0
Flow: 2x Nero 3
Dosing Pumps: 2x Ecotech Versas (Kalk and Calcium), 1x BRS 1.1 mL/min doser (for NaOH)
UV: Aqua Ultraviolet Advantage 15 Watt
Controller: Neptune Apex & Trident (I removed the Profilux a few months ago to be able to add trident and I didn't like the GHL software, see my classified ad if you want a steal on a Profilux!)
Ozone: Poseidon 200 Ozone generator (I just added this the other day, it seems to work well, but I have only turned it on for a about 20 minutes so far. It's a powerful unit for my tiny tank. I need to rearrange my EB832 and get it programmed. My ORP typically runs higher because my probe is in my sump and gets some algae growth on it - I need to clean it off every few weeks)

Nuisance Algae:
I am still battling hair algae. It's greatly improved since it first started, by I am still removing rocks, spraying with hydrogen peroxide and scrubbing them every so often to put a dent in it. I also have a lot of hair algae growing in my refugium chamber in addition to the Dragon's Breath algae I am currently growing. This has kept my phosphates low for the most part. I haven't needed any GFO or the like.

Nuisances:
I have killed a few pest anemones that pop out of the live rock every once in a while. I'm sure they are some sort of aiptasia, but they don't look like the aipatasia I have had in previous tanks or what others commonly post. They also fortunately grow slower than what I remember. I also noticed the other day a vermetid snail shell coming off a frag plug from one of my zoas and some other algae growing from another zoa. I snapped off the vermetid snail shell and pulled the entire zoa plug since they've spread off the plug anyhow (you can see the hole in the one picture). Taking frags off the plugs and dipping with Bayer pesticide has worked well so far for me controlling what gets into the tank.

Corals:
Slow but steady growth. I did have some STN on my Oregon Tort (my most expensive frag a few weeks ago). I fragged it to try to save it, but it seems to be recovering and now I have two pieces. I also had a forest fire digitata and Hawkins Echinata have some necrosis near the same time frame. Both are recovering so far as well. I'm debating about moving my of my Neros off the back wall to change up the flow a bit as I think my SPS could use some counter flow. I know I would have faster growth, but tinkering with my dosing strategy and playing with a CO2 scrubber over the last few months surely has set them back. At this point, my dosing strategy is staying what it is with no plans to change.

Through this I did learn that my home is high in CO2. Adding the CO2 scrubber brought my pH up around 0.2-0.3 pH points. I don't plan to use it long term but had some media given to me for free and wanted to experiment. If I do another tank in the future, I will probably build-in a skimmer snorkel or add an ERV to my home. For now, the Sodium Hydroxide is working well for a pH boost. I will say that my corals definitely seem to react to the higher pH both in coloration, polyp extension and growth rates.

Future Plans:
I just bought an ozone generator, so I have plans to get that permanently installed. Right now it is just sitting on the floor next to my tank. Also when I bought my XR30 I bought some ReefBrite supplemental LEDs but didn't hook them up as I thought it would be too much light shock for the corals. I've thought about setting them up for some extra light spread or possibly sending them back to Saltwater Aquarium since the AI Blades have been introduced (they look really nice, but I don't NEED them right now). As I said, I am also debating about moving one of my Neros to change up the flow pattern. I am also trying to stop tinkering so much and let the corals grow.

I could go on and on about things that I have messed with, changed or experimented with but this could get quite lengthy. If you have questions about anything feel free to ask and I'll be happy to answer any specifics.

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank Update:

I seem to have a couple frags that have some tissue necrosis issues. I noticed the Blue Matrix Friday, it happened overnight as it looked great Thursday (the day before). Today I found the Setosa and Cali Tort with similar. The setosa has been in the tank for a few months. The cali tort and blue matrix are newer frags that I got from Coral Euphoria.

It's strange, the setosa did this a month or so ago and at the time I believed it was because I ticked it off scrubbing the rock near it with a toothbrush and hydrogen peroxide. It ended up healing on it's own and last week I was just thinking to myself how nicely it healed up.

Hopefully they make it through. My oregon tort started to do the same a few months ago and I ended up fragging it to try to save it. Both pieces healed and are starting to encrust again.

It makes sense that it is seemingly all the blue corals that do this because I really love the blue acros. Naturally they would all be the ones to hate my tank.

I'm still pretty new to SPS, so for now I just did a 20% water change and added some new activated carbon. We'll see how they fair.

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank Update:

I seem to have a couple frags that have some tissue necrosis issues. I noticed the Blue Matrix Friday, it happened overnight as it looked great Thursday (the day before). Today I found the Setosa and Cali Tort with similar. The setosa has been in the tank for a few months. The cali tort and blue matrix are newer frags that I got from Coral Euphoria.

It's strange, the setosa did this a month or so ago and at the time I believed it was because I ticked it off scrubbing the rock near it with a toothbrush and hydrogen peroxide. It ended up healing on it's own and last week I was just thinking to myself how nicely it healed up.

Hopefully they make it through. My oregon tort started to do the same a few months ago and I ended up fragging it to try to save it. Both pieces healed and are starting to encrust again.

It makes sense that it is seemingly all the blue corals that do this because I really love the blue acros. Naturally they would all be the ones to hate my tank.

I'm still pretty new to SPS, so for now I just did a 20% water change and added some new activated carbon. We'll see how they fair.

I did a little staring into the tank trying to identify what was going on. Looking closely at the cali tort, it appears that the side of it where the tissue is missing was cleaved off. It is almost perfectly flat.

This got me thinking and I saw my long spine urchin near the Blue Matrix the other day. I thought it was munching algae from around the base since it was a new addition. But now I'm wondering if the long spine urchin is potentially munching on my SPS. Particularly since they still have polyps extended.

I would think if the coral were ticked off the polyps would be retracted. My urchin may need to find a new home if this is the case.

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank Update Video:


Since moving the urchin to the sump, I’ve noticed no more damaged frags and the ones with bite marks have begun healing.

I’m still battling hair algae… I just removed a ton yesterday and as you can see there is still some in my tank. I’m going to try running some GFO to see if I can knock it back. I’ve held off on this because my levels are always low - typically <0.1.

I added a piece of that craft mesh to my refugium chamber to make a poor man’s algae turf scrubber and it seems to be working well…. I did look at buying one of these and I can’t believe the price they are asking for them!


Sodium hydroxide based dosing is working well and corals seem to be taking off. I’m currently dosing:

39 mL/day Sodium Hydroxide (0.87 dKH/day)
22 mL Calcium Chloride
68 mL Balling C
2,700 mL Saturated Kalkwasser (1.42 dKH/day)
2.5 mL Tropic Marin Trace A & K

I’ve noticed a much higher pH with the Kalkwasser and Sodium Hydroxide. I’m doing my best to keep my hands out of the tank-but we all know how well that goes! I am toying with the idea of changing my Kalkwasser to only dose at night to help balance the pH swing and close the gap. I haven’t decided on that yet though. Since the Kalkwasser is still more than half my daily demand, I might wait until the two part is making up larger part of my demand to prevent overnight alkalinity increases.

Feel free to ask questions if you’re following along. Thanks for reading!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank Update Video:


Since moving the urchin to the sump, I’ve noticed no more damaged frags and the ones with bite marks have begun healing.

I’m still battling hair algae… I just removed a ton yesterday and as you can see there is still some in my tank. I’m going to try running some GFO to see if I can knock it back. I’ve held off on this because my levels are always low - typically <0.1.

I added a piece of that craft mesh to my refugium chamber to make a poor man’s algae turf scrubber and it seems to be working well…. I did look at buying one of these and I can’t believe the price they are asking for them!


Sodium hydroxide based dosing is working well and corals seem to be taking off. I’m currently dosing:

39 mL/day Sodium Hydroxide (0.87 dKH/day)
22 mL Calcium Chloride
68 mL Balling C
2,700 mL Saturated Kalkwasser (1.42 dKH/day)
2.5 mL Tropic Marin Trace A & K

I’ve noticed a much higher pH with the Kalkwasser and Sodium Hydroxide. I’m doing my best to keep my hands out of the tank-but we all know how well that goes! I am toying with the idea of changing my Kalkwasser to only dose at night to help balance the pH swing and close the gap. I haven’t decided on that yet though. Since the Kalkwasser is still more than half my daily demand, I might wait until the two part is making up larger part of my demand to prevent overnight alkalinity increases.

Feel free to ask questions if you’re following along. Thanks for reading!

Tank looks like it is doing really well!!!

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank looks like it is doing really well!!!

Thank you for the compliment! I’m completely hooked on this hobby!

I want to go bigger down the road (mainly for more fish options) but I’m really enjoying this tank and learning the ropes in the mean time.

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank Update:

I added a small mint green Goniopora a few months ago. It was open and closed the first couple weeks then went closed and has been that way for about 2-3 weeks. I tried moving it to a location with a little less flow & light with no luck. Tonight I tried an Iodine dip after hearing a tip on a YouTube livestream. Everything else is looking happy in the tank now since moving the long spine urchin to the sump. I'm not sure why this piece is upset. I did a water change today per usual schedule and I've been dosing Tropic Marin Trace A & K so I don't think it would be related to manganese or the usual. It may be too much flow/light since I'm shooting for 200-250 PAR throughout.

If anyone reading this has any tips, I'd love to hear. It's my first Goniopora that came from a local fish store. Nothing special, just a small mint green frag that was $30, but I'd still like to see it open because it was quite nice the first few weeks.

The other day I swapped out one of my Nero 3s for a MP40. My goodness! This thing can really get the water a rockin'! The Neros work fine, but this thing is WAY more impressive. I had an MP10 in the past and forgot how nice these wavemakers are.

I have it around 60% on nutrient transport mode and I get some impressive flow. At this stage in my tank I'm sure it would be adequate all by itself, but I have the Nero 3s still so I'll leave one in there with it.

Originally I passed on the MP40s because I wanted a clean look to the tank, but I've learned that is almost impossible so now I am just going for healthiest corals/fish possible. I think I actually prefer the MP40 on the side over the cord in the tank which gets covered by coralline algae anyhow. It's only been a few days, but the corals (other than the goniopora lol) seem to love it.

 

[Devaji]

question: i'll admit I skilled your build thread so maybe you answer this, but in another post i saw you used tropic eden marroca rocks. how do you like them?

 

[trevorhiller]

question: i'll admit I skilled your build thread so maybe you answer this, but in another post i saw you used tropic eden marroca rocks. how do you like them?

I like them quite a bit, the color and texture is very nice. It takes the Marco rocks a lot longer to look as nice as them.

If I had known about them from the get go, I would’ve probably used them exclusively (although, they are expensive).

In a perfect world, I would have used a stack of Tonga branch as I think it looks the most natural, but since that’s not possible anymore the tropic eden rocks have to do.

They almost look like little piles of Tonga branches.

I don’t understand why none of these manufacturers make Tonga branch rock! They’d have a corner on the market!

 

[trevorhiller]

Tank Update Photos:

I added a Avast Marine Plank Autofeeder. Some days it's hard to get the fish fed 2-3 times per day with frozen food, so I am supplementing them with some flake food, pellets and freeze-dried food in the plank to fatten them up a bit. I also added some reef roids and reef chili to it get the corals some extra broadcast feedings. I currently have it set to 2 feedings of 1 minute each per day then I am still feeding frozen once a day.

I also started adding some GFO to the carbon reactor. It seems to have slowed the hair algae down. Phosphates are still around 0.06 ppm with 67 grams of GFO in the reactor. I'm going to try this for a few weeks and see how it works. My phosphates have never gotten higher than 0.20 and are usually < 0.1, but my tank can grow some algae FAST, so I am hoping the GFO will help that. Monitoring closely due to the autofeeder addition and the GFO for now. I still have some patches of hair algae that keep coming back so I am plucking it out to encourage the CUC to get it.

Pests:
Bubble Algae -
I've also noticed a few bubbles of bubble algae on my frag rack which is interesting because I've never seen it in the tank. I'm assuming the emerald crabs and urchins must be keeping it mowed down but since they don't get to the frag rack it grows there.

Vermetid Snails - I've seen a few of these growing on some zoanthid frag plugs I got from TSA. I just snap them off with tongs when I am doing cleaning. They don't seem to be bothering anything at this point.