After 20 years off and on (mostly off) running a 46 gal bow front reef tank, I found myself moving to a bigger house about a mile and a half away from my original house. With the daunting prospect of moving my tank and re-setting up I saw this as a perfect opportunity to get a larger tank to keep tangs and larger fish I desired. My current tank is running off a canister filter with hob protein skimmer and refugium. I run a pair ofcurrent USA orbit marine lights with a 36” reefbrite as a supplement. I liked the ability to control my lights and pumps in a fairly inexpensive package. I eventually added an icecap 2k flow pump as well. The system was rebooted early 2020 and has been running pretty well but I felt the limits of its size. I always intended To get a bigger tank in 2022.
My main issues were maintaining water quality without a Rodi system so I had the typical hair algae and cyano problems. I had the system in a room that nobody spent much time in, so I made it a bit hard on myself to work on and enjoy the tank.
With a new bigger place with more available room I am turning the basement main area into an office/man cave. I initially looked for a 6ft long tank from Waterbox or Red Sea. The area I picked was perfect for a peninsula tank so I focused on that style. I also looked into Planet aquarium tanks and found that all were good choices but with COVID supply issues I was looking at 4-8 week wait times. I stumbled upon Cade systems at Algae Barn and found them to be very attractive setups. After some research and videos I settled on the Cade 1500 SP2 at 60” x 29.5” x 24”. I found that tank gave me the volume I was looking for but would also cost a bit less because I wasn’t lighting a 6ft tank. So I closed on my new house and had the new tank delivered.
Moving the beast took 4 people but I got it in place and ready to go. Matt from Blue Line Coral in Naperville made sure we got the tank in safely. He was tremendous.
Next I set up the Rodi system, Aquascape, and all the equipment. The provided plumbing was easy to set up.
I went with:
BRS 5 stage water saver 200gbd rodi
Maxspect Jump 12k return pump
Bubble Magus Curve 9 elite skimmer
Ice Cap 2k and 4K gyres
two 300 w heaters on an InkBird controller
Reefbreeder Photon 50+ v2 lights
After getting my office and lounge setup. I tested the tank for leaks, and filled th tank to prepare to cycle it. Today my fishless cycle, 9 days after starting is complete. Transferring livestock this week.
My main issues were maintaining water quality without a Rodi system so I had the typical hair algae and cyano problems. I had the system in a room that nobody spent much time in, so I made it a bit hard on myself to work on and enjoy the tank.
With a new bigger place with more available room I am turning the basement main area into an office/man cave. I initially looked for a 6ft long tank from Waterbox or Red Sea. The area I picked was perfect for a peninsula tank so I focused on that style. I also looked into Planet aquarium tanks and found that all were good choices but with COVID supply issues I was looking at 4-8 week wait times. I stumbled upon Cade systems at Algae Barn and found them to be very attractive setups. After some research and videos I settled on the Cade 1500 SP2 at 60” x 29.5” x 24”. I found that tank gave me the volume I was looking for but would also cost a bit less because I wasn’t lighting a 6ft tank. So I closed on my new house and had the new tank delivered.
Moving the beast took 4 people but I got it in place and ready to go. Matt from Blue Line Coral in Naperville made sure we got the tank in safely. He was tremendous.
Next I set up the Rodi system, Aquascape, and all the equipment. The provided plumbing was easy to set up.
I went with:
BRS 5 stage water saver 200gbd rodi
Maxspect Jump 12k return pump
Bubble Magus Curve 9 elite skimmer
Ice Cap 2k and 4K gyres
two 300 w heaters on an InkBird controller
Reefbreeder Photon 50+ v2 lights
After getting my office and lounge setup. I tested the tank for leaks, and filled th tank to prepare to cycle it. Today my fishless cycle, 9 days after starting is complete. Transferring livestock this week.
