White Belt Reef - Cade 1200 Peninsula Build Thread

[WhiteBeltReefer]

So it's a little early, but all the equipment has arrived so I'm starting what I hope will be a thread where I can learn from this community. I've had a previous tank or two in my past, the last one being a 120g about 13 years ago. My amount of knowledge and funding ability were both limited and we were moving so that put this hobby on what I thought was a permanent hold. Back in March I started considering getting back in and started researching both reef tanks and contractors to finish our basement.

A little about my setup:

Tank: Cade 1200 Peninsula
Lighting: 2 x Radion XR30 Pro's G6
Return: Vectra M2
Flow: 2x Maxspect Cloud XF350's. (To be turned sideways on the back wall)
Filtration: Maxspect Duo AD600 skimmer. (waiting on ozone conversion to be in stock at BRS) / Will run a fuge in the future
Control: Apex with additional ORP module & probe
Other: Posieden 200 Ozone generator & Aqua 44W UV sterilizer. (although I'm a little concerned on the size so it may be getting exchanged)

The tank arrived yesterday and they just dropped it off in my driveway without any sort of signature. Luckily there were no signs of damage which was good because I've seen some other experiences on here that had me nervous. I got it opened and now it will wait in the garage for a few more weeks till the basement trim and plumbing is complete. I may try to get out to the garage today and start working on my aqua scape... The last time I aquascaped anything, it involved stacking live rock in piles while the tank was filled. We'll see if I can create something that looks good.... no pressure!

 

[MoshJosh]

Looks like Christmas came early and Santa stopped at the BRS warehouse on the way to your house haha!

Gonna be awesome!

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

I was able to get some aquascaping done today. I will probably tweak it a bit more as I get closer to setup. For now, I like all the tunnels and room for corals. I may add a couple pieces of live rock as well to help jumpstart some biodiversity. Feedback welcome.

 

[Bakedpwn]

sick scape man! that tank is gonna be awesome

 

[Jmp998]

Looks great, good fit for that peninsula.

Is that the Marcorocks coralline rock? It looks really nice.

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

Looks great, good fit for that peninsula.

Is that the Marcorocks coralline rock? It looks really nice.

It's actually CaribSea Life Rock. I read a review on the macro rocks that had me concerned the coloring would fade. I ordered 100 lbs and used probably around 70 lbs.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Any updates?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is going to be one awesome tank!

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

Sorry for the delay. I appreciate the prodding for posting progress. I got the tank downstairs to the basement on Dec 20th and got it filled with water on the 23rd. In true typical white belt fashion, there have been some rookie mistakes made along the way.

First, this tank is beatuiful and heavy. Took 4 grown men with suction cups to get it moved downstairs, but we all lived as well as the tank. WB mistake #1 is to measure the doorway for the tank width AND the additional width for the suction cups. Moved the suction cups to the front and back and progress continued.

I did a bunch of running wires and mounting controllers and equipment as I made water so the tank was not fully full till 23 Dec. WB mistake #2. I did not want my rock foundation pieces sitting on the sand so I dumped the sand in afterward which created a cloudy mess! Here’s a couple pics of the first day or 2.

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

Ok, so the water was in, and not clearing up with the provided filter socks from Cade so I had to run to the LFS on Christmas Eve to get some felt filter socks. That helped clear up the sand dust from the water column, but I would also have to clean the sump a week or two later as well.

WB Mistake #3: I added too much Ammonia and then the Fritz turbo start. I added ~180g worth of Ammonia which I believe stalled out my cycle. After about 3 weeks of Ammonia well above 4x the test kit range, I went to the LFS to get some Prime which helped me get back on track. I may have not needed it, but I wasn’t seeing any movement on Ammonia coming down even though I was seeing high Nitrite as well. Either way, precision in measurements and not adding more than required is a good lesson learned before I had any Fi$h.

Here’s some pictures of the equipment mounting. I was pretty proud of my cable routing, but then in the pictures it still looks horrible. I’m open to suggestions on how to make it look even better besides hide it behind some sort of plexiglass false wall.

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

And most recently, after over a month of cycling, I‘ve been able to add 2 Storm clownfish, a fox face rabbitfish and a cleaner shrimp.

 

[rzimm33]

Hey! How do the gyres seem to be working for flow?

 

[Ultraman]

Great meeting you, Adam. Nice build thread too, very well thought out.

 

[ygbsmww]

Are you satisfied with your flow plan? Any changes to the two gyres mounted vertically, right?

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

Great meeting you, Adam. Nice build thread too, very well thought out.

Thanks Dave. I appreciate the generosity and the opportunity to see your tanks. Very nice!

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

I'm not fully sure what I think of my flow so far. I think the XF350's are able to generate enough flow. Yes, I have them mounted vertically. I partly wish I had went with EcoTech for a broader approach, but I really need someone more experienced in flow to provide their opinion. The right amount of flow for different corals and how to measure that is one of the least data driven topics in this hobby.

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

The tank has been up and running for about 6 months now with a few rounds of issues to solve.

The first was a breakout of flukes which caused me to lose 3 fish. I treated the display with Prazi Pro and then setup a hospital tank with copper and another round of Prazi Pro. Wanted to get all the fish out and go fallow but I could not catch a little firefish to save my life. The fish all seem to be doing well now, but I have fears and doubts that I still have them in the tank being held at bay by my UV Sterilizer.

2nd Issue was an outbreak of Dinos and then Cyano which I am just now coming out of. This was due to my nutrients dropping to 0 NO3 and 0 PO4. I maintained some feeding on the tank while most of the fish were in QT, but not enough. After getting the nutrients up to better levels, and multiple rounds of blowing off the rocks and using a toothbrush at times, the issue is mostly gone for now.

3rd issue has been water chemistry and PH. I had installed a CO2 scrubber and was dosing BRS 2 part and was still struggling with my PH getting above 8.0. I ended up buying a Kalkwasser reactor from Avast and installing it in the Sump. This helped with the PH and I'm consistently getting PH between 8.2 and 8.35. I'm not sure if I like the Kalk reactor because my Alkalinity and Calcium have been low. I started dosing the BRS Alkalinity supplement on top of the Kalkwasser and I've been manually adding the Calcium supplement as needed. I don't have a major coral load so I think I plan to clean out the reactor and add more kalkwasser today and see if that helps. Knowing how much and when to replenish the kalkwasser reactor is still something I'm figuring out.

 

[WhiteBeltReefer]

Pictures from this past week.