Cdw79's Fish-Heavy 180 gallon CADE 1500 Peninsula Build

[cdw79]

Hi! Thanks for checking out my build thread for my new CADE S2/P 1500 Peninsula. I’ve never done a build thread before, but after some encouragement from friends in the hobby, I figured I’d fight my introverted tendencies and give it a try. The plan for this tank is to be a fish-heavy, HNSA-style mixed reef, with an emphasis on displaying the wide variety of fish, coral, and invert species in the hobby. I have to give a huge shoutout to @Isaac Alves and his incredibly detailed build thread- can’t thank you enough for chronicling everything like you did. It’s been a great guide for me to follow leading up to my build, so thank you for all the effort you put in. I won't try to duplicate the attention to detail Isaac has put into his build, but I'll do my best to show you what I find interesting as the tank progresses and matures. I’m actually about a month or two into having the tank, so these first few posts will be looking back at the setup, but I’ll try my best to keep it reasonably up to date. Any feedback, recommendations, or ideas are always appreciated too. Thanks for reading!

 

[cdw79]

A little bit of background, for those interested:

This tank is a culmination of years of obsessing over a variety of fish without ever having enough room to keep them all. At about 7 years old I got my first saltwater tank, a 24 gallon cube, back in the early 2000’s, and a few years later I upgraded to a 56 gallon. As a kid I bought just about every saltwater fish encyclopedia I could find and read them cover to cover. At that age I couldn’t quite wrap my head around all the science behind the hobby, so I never really dipped my toes into the coral side of the hobby, but I was hugely into the fish side. I’d read about different Anthias, Tangs, Wrasses, etc. but so often I wouldn’t have a tank big enough to house them, so I’d always had eyes on a big build one day.

While I’d kept a tank for as long as I could remember, around mid-way through high school I stepped back from the hobby as I struggled to mow enough lawns to keep up with the costs, started focusing on college applications, etc. During the pandemic, though, I ended up rekindling my interest in reefing, and now in my mid 20’s I could finally afford it too (thankfully without any lawnmowing this time!) I bought a Red Sea Reefer XL300 and dove right back into things, this time actually keeping a proper reef tank too. It took over basically my whole 480 SF apartment, but it was a blast. Here are a few pictures of the tank right before I started breaking it down:

Recently I ended up moving back to Houston, so inevitably I had to break the old tank down. The good news, though, was that with the much more spacious apartment I’d be living in, I could finally invest in a “dream” build of sorts, one big enough to keep all the wrasses, tangs, etc. that I had always wanted as a kid. This tank is almost triple the size of my biggest tank to date, so I’m sure there will inevitably be some growing pains, but I’m excited to finally fulfill those childhood dreams! Any words of wisdom from other large tank owners would be great to hear.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank looks great!

 

[quekua]

Awesome tank!! I love the euphylia they look fantastic—great job with the growth on those. Good Luck!!

 

[cdw79]

The other day I realized I never made any updates to this thread after I started it, mostly because so much has happened so quickly! My job has been taking me across the country for several weeks now, and when I’ve been home my focus has been on actually working on the tank, so this thread has fallen by the wayside. Now that things have largely been set up, though, I’m going to try to be more consistent with the updates. Over the holiday weekend I’ve been working on several posts, so stay tuned!

 

[cdw79]

Tank + Stand Setup

This feels like it was so long ago, but going to give a bit of a sparknotes.

I bought my CADE 1500 S2 through an LFS, and I chose that route for several reasons. For one, I live in an apartment building, and if I got it sent directly to me the drop off would happen in the communal loading bay. I learned that I couldn’t guarantee a delivery date, and even if I could, delivery was only available for weekdays, which means I’d be stuck with a very heavy tank being delivered unpredictably in the middle of a workday. It sounded like a complete nightmare. If I ordered through my LFS, though, it would be delivered to him, and I could wait until the weekend to coordinate a pick up with a few friends. Also, although infrequent, issues can happen with shipping, and sending the crates back myself sounded like a nightmare too, not even considering the issues it would cause with my building. And ultimately, further investing in a relationship with my LFS, OceanLife Aquatics, is absolutely worth it all things being equal. Nick, the owner, is a pillar of the community here and has some awesome stuff, so go check him out if you’re local and/or if you go to any of the big shows in the area.

So, a few friends and I came by the weekend after it was delivered to pick up. The tank came in two crates, as others have shown, and we quickly realized that this was going to take two trips. There just wasn’t going to be a way to fit both crates in safely in the bay of my friend’s pickup. No issues though- a few cables across the tank and we were good to go. While I measured the tank itself as being able to just about fit in the pickup’s bay, with it still in the crate the total length was just slightly too long to close the back of the truck. I was nervous about it initially, but the tank is so freaking heavy that it wasn’t going anywhere once we tied it down. Two trips back and forth to the LFS later (with us going obnoxiously slowly on the highay, probably for no reason in hindsight), we got both crates to the apartment building without issue.

Unloading these things, though, is quite the undertaking. We were able to get it done between the three of us 25 year old guys, but it was definitely tough. In hindsight I’d definitely get a fourth person. And thank God for the LFS letting us use their rollers- it would have taken a lot more than just us three to move the tank otherwise.

Another challenge we found was that the one of the crates had been damaged in shipping, and as a result it couldn’t stand straight. Luckily no tank damage, but it seems that crate damage of some kind seems to be pretty common, so I’d plan for that and bring more people than you think you need, to be safe.

Long story short, we finally got the tank up to my apartment. It did involve having to open the crate with the stand inside it in the hallway, but we got it there. Be sure you have the proper tools to open these things- they are sealed TIGHT and are a real undertaking to get fully opened. Being arguably shorthanded also didn’t help. But regardless we got it done. Thank God for those wheels

We’d managed to get everything inside and get the stand set up (it’s premade), but the tricky part was getting the tank on the stand itself. This part scared the crap out of me. The glass on CADEs is thick, and you can feel that when you try lifting one up. While we’d lifted it a bit to ger it up here, it felt risky to try lifting it ourselves, as we’re a bunch of idiot 20 somethings that are figuring this all out as we go. I ultimately left the tank sitting next to the stand and opted to get some task rabbit guys to come over the next day to lift the tank. I found a group of 4 movers who listed experience lifting heavy items, and I had them come over to lift it up for me. Granted they were big guys, but they lifted it with ease, and knowing they were experienced with this kind of thing helped ease the nerves. It was kinda brutal paying about $120 for what was about 90 seconds of labor, but avoiding unnecessary risks was worth it to me!

 

[Janci]

Looking great. That is definitely a room divider.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank + Stand Setup

This feels like it was so long ago, but going to give a bit of a sparknotes.

I bought my CADE 1500 S2 through an LFS, and I chose that route for several reasons. For one, I live in an apartment building, and if I got it sent directly to me the drop off would happen in the communal loading bay. I learned that I couldn’t guarantee a delivery date, and even if I could, delivery was only available for weekdays, which means I’d be stuck with a very heavy tank being delivered unpredictably in the middle of a workday. It sounded like a complete nightmare. If I ordered through my LFS, though, it would be delivered to him, and I could wait until the weekend to coordinate a pick up with a few friends. Also, although infrequent, issues can happen with shipping, and sending the crates back myself sounded like a nightmare too, not even considering the issues it would cause with my building. And ultimately, further investing in a relationship with my LFS, OceanLife Aquatics, is absolutely worth it all things being equal. Nick, the owner, is a pillar of the community here and has some awesome stuff, so go check him out if you’re local and/or if you go to any of the big shows in the area.

So, a few friends and I came by the weekend after it was delivered to pick up. The tank came in two crates, as others have shown, and we quickly realized that this was going to take two trips. There just wasn’t going to be a way to fit both crates in safely in the bay of my friend’s pickup. No issues though- a few cables across the tank and we were good to go. While I measured the tank itself as being able to just about fit in the pickup’s bay, with it still in the crate the total length was just slightly too long to close the back of the truck. I was nervous about it initially, but the tank is so freaking heavy that it wasn’t going anywhere once we tied it down. Two trips back and forth to the LFS later (with us going obnoxiously slowly on the highay, probably for no reason in hindsight), we got both crates to the apartment building without issue.

Unloading these things, though, is quite the undertaking. We were able to get it done between the three of us 25 year old guys, but it was definitely tough. In hindsight I’d definitely get a fourth person. And thank God for the LFS letting us use their rollers- it would have taken a lot more than just us three to move the tank otherwise.

Another challenge we found was that the one of the crates had been damaged in shipping, and as a result it couldn’t stand straight. Luckily no tank damage, but it seems that crate damage of some kind seems to be pretty common, so I’d plan for that and bring more people than you think you need, to be safe.

Long story short, we finally got the tank up to my apartment. It did involve having to open the crate with the stand inside it in the hallway, but we got it there. Be sure you have the proper tools to open these things- they are sealed TIGHT and are a real undertaking to get fully opened. Being arguably shorthanded also didn’t help. But regardless we got it done. Thank God for those wheels

We’d managed to get everything inside and get the stand set up (it’s premade), but the tricky part was getting the tank on the stand itself. This part scared the crap out of me. The glass on CADEs is thick, and you can feel that when you try lifting one up. While we’d lifted it a bit to ger it up here, it felt risky to try lifting it ourselves, as we’re a bunch of idiot 20 somethings that are figuring this all out as we go. I ultimately left the tank sitting next to the stand and opted to get some task rabbit guys to come over the next day to lift the tank. I found a group of 4 movers who listed experience lifting heavy items, and I had them come over to lift it up for me. Granted they were big guys, but they lifted it with ease, and knowing they were experienced with this kind of thing helped ease the nerves. It was kinda brutal paying about $120 for what was about 90 seconds of labor, but avoiding unnecessary risks was worth it to me!

Stand looks great!

 

[kevgib67]

Really nice, following!

 

[cdw79]

Man, I’ve really been slacking on this! Work has been busy but trying to get this thread up to date in a couple weeks. The fac that this build thread doesn’t even shoe the tnk as having any water in it is a travesty, SO! Here we go:

Long story short, I followed the “HNSA” approach to scaping that BRS pioneered. As someone who is overly obsessive about scaping, it was a perfect storm to be a time suck. After spending way too long on this (I will eventually write a post on my “review” of the HNSA approach, as there seems to be limited info on how people got on with this approach to scaping), It turned out that my scape was far from level. It turn out when you put epoxy on the bottom of the scape, as recommended by BRS, it’s very easy to overdo it. Any excess epoxy leads to slight ridges where the joints connect, and by extension, uneven bases, which was the whole point of using these machines-flat pieces

Not something you want to see after Lord knows how many days of working with rock and glue.The way I saw it, there were two options- shave the bottom of the scape down, or build up the (currently uneven) edges.

Ultimately I went with the latter. I felt like getting the epoxy down would be quite the undertaking, and adding some stability to the edges wasn’t too hard. I put the strutre back down on the plywood I was using, let it settle naturally, then added epoxy to the edges to help spread the weight across the structure, It turned out to work great, and when I did the BRS method of wetting the new epoxy areas with thin glue and showering sand over them, the outcome was a very clean looking base. From my perspective, the epoxy and glue + crushed marco rock dust were virtually indistinguishable. You can see the “finished product” here- pretty solid if you ask me!

Ended up filling the tank up there and then, plus adding a very thick sandbed. I love jawfish, so I planned for the tank with them in mind. We’ll see what happens, but in the meantime, the tank, scape, and sand are good to go

 

[CasperOe]

Thanks for bringing us along, the Cade tanks are beautifully made! I am the lucky owner of a 1200 and i couldn't be happier! will be following you here for sure!

 

[cdw79]

Thanks! And I agree, I can really tell the CADE difference, honestly. The tank has come along well, just Gott get this thread up to dear. Hopefully the holiday break should help!

 

[afternoondelight]

Great looking build so far...come on cdw79 go ahead and bring us up to speed...LOL
Trust me when I say I know how it is to get busy. I am in the early stages of a Cade 1500 build (ordering next week) but have already started putting in the infrastructure and behind-the-scenes crap to make it easier when the tank gets here. Should receive my BRS 7-stage RO/DI setup this week.
Can't wait to see some new pics from your build.....