Buddy's Cade Reef From Downunder

[buddy.]

Welcome to my journal! Before I get stuck in to the tank details, Ill just tell you a little about myself.


I live in Melbourne, Australia and have always been in to aquariums and have had freshy tanks since I was a kid up until 5 or 6 years ago. I got in to reefing in 2011 and started off with a 80l/20g tank and had it running for a year or two.


It was a pretty simple set up as you can see here. Minimal equipment and only water changes.




I really loved it and the reefing bug bit me and I got a great deal on a 6ft 1000l/260g tank which I had running up until June 2017. I ended up having to move house and decided to sell it instead of moving it.




That tank then funded my current Cade HL800. I have had to move house once since having the Cade set up (renting sucks!) but I only have one more house move to do later this year and this time it will be permanent as I am having my house built. I will then finally be able to concentrate on setting up the reef properly.

 

[buddy.]

Now for the tank details. It is a Cade HL800 which I got from a local reefer.

Tank dimensions - 800(L) x 600 (W) x 550 (H) / 31(L) x 23 (W) x 21 (H)

• Capacity - 264L / 70G

• Glass thickness - 12mm / ½"

• Opti Clear Glass

• Bevelled Edge

• Braceless

It is a really sleek looking tank and I am loving the ease of maintenance compared to the old 6ft!


Display System:

Strike up Date: June 2017

Display Tank: Cade HL800

Display Lighting: 250w Radium 20K Metal Halide. DIY LED and controller for sunrise/sunset

Stand: Standard Cade cabinet in black

Hood: No hood for now

Sump: Standard Cade sump


Support systems:

System Water: Mostly using Red Sea blue bucket

Display Water circulation: 2x Tunze 6045

Return Pump: Jebao DC5000

Skimmer: Coral Box D300

Evaporation Top Up: Auto Aqua Smart ATO


Chemical Support:

Dosing Randys DIY Alk, Calc and Mag


The only thing I have changed is I threw out the Cade plumbing and plumbed it all myself from scratch.
I didn't like that it only had one drain so I changed it to a siphon + emergency and then put the return back over the top. It is also completely silent this way.

Some things above will probably change when I move the tank. I will keep everyone updated in future posts. I haven't added any new fish or coral to the tank since I have had it and I will probably wait until next year for that.

I have been battling a horrible invasive algae which I think is Caulerpa nummularia. I have removed about 90% of my rock because of this so the tank is looking pretty bare! I have a lot of Seachem Matrix in the sump so I am not worried about the lack of live rock. I also have a little cyano and hair algae but they have been slowly receding.

My current livestock is

• Percula Clowns (My first marine fish which I have had since 2011)

• Cleaner Wrasse (Had since 2013)

• Leopard Wrasse (Had for about 3 years)

• Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse (Had for 3 years)

• Longspine Cardinalfish (I had a whole school in my 6ft but he killed the others!)

• LPS and Softies. Maybe some SPS in the future.

I have a lot of plans for this tank in the future! There won't be a great deal happening with it over the next 6 months or so but I will keep updating.

Thanks for reading!

 

[AidanMary]

Hey buddy great to see another melbournite on here good, must be a heck of a lot less work going from the size of your old tank down to the cade but then again smaller tanks also have different sorts of challenges.
You should check us out over at MASOV if your interested. We just had our monthly meet a Reeflections aquarium the weekend just gone which was a good day. Check us out on the international groups on R2R

 

[buddy.]

Hey buddy great to see another melbournite on here good, must be a heck of a lot less work going from the size of your old tank down to the cade but then again smaller tanks also have different sorts of challenges.
You should check us out over at MASOV if your interested. We just had our monthly meet a Reeflections aquarium the weekend just gone which was a good day. Check us out on the international groups on R2R

Cheers mate, will do!

 

[AidanMary]

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/marine-aquarium-society-of-victoria.1010/

 

[Lasse]

With Longspine Cardinalfish - do you mean Zoramia leptacantha ? its one of my favorites - for the moment I have 4. However - I have never seen any significant aggression among them. They are together with 11 Pyjamas cardinals 3 other cardinals and a lot of other fishes (300 l DT)

Sincerely Lasse

 

[dougers31]

One of the things I love about this site(and the internet lol) is seeing the tanks and communicating with folks from all over the world. Thanks for sharing your tank and watch out for those nasty funnel web spiders

 

[buddy.]

With Longspine Cardinalfish - do you mean Zoramia leptacantha ? its one of my favorites - for the moment I have 4. However - I have never seen any significant aggression among them. They are together with 11 Pyjamas cardinals 3 other cardinals and a lot of other fishes (300 l DT)

Sincerely Lasse

Yep that's the one! I had about 25 of them in my old 6ft tank and they eventually picked each other off until this one guy was left. The Pyjamas are a really nice looking fish and I may consider getting a few in the future.

 

[buddy.]

One of the things I love about this site(and the internet lol) is seeing the tanks and communicating with folks from all over the world. Thanks for sharing your tank and watch out for those nasty funnel web spiders

It's pretty great! Lucky for me we don't get those funnel webs down here in Melbourne... We leave those for them Sydney people to deal with

 

[buddy.]

Forgot to post a pic with just LEDs. These are for the sunrise/sunset and only run for a couple of hours a day. They eventually fade out to a royal blue.
They are just some spare LEDs I had. I mounted them to some 3mm aluminum strip and they just run off a Typhon controller with modified code that I found online.
I could also switch them on during the day for a light boost but I don't think it is needed for now.

 

[buddy.]

So I thought I would show you guys the algae I have been dealing with. Pretty much all of the rocks in my tank had some of this. You can see in the picture below one of the worst rocks.
I removed most of the rocks and have only kept the ones with my Anemone and Leather in the tank. Luckily these aren't too badly covered so I have a chance to get rid of it.



Unfortunately the algae also spread on to some of my corals too. I read up about peroxide dipping and decided to give it a go.
I bought some 6% strength and mixed it 50/50 with tank water and dipped some mushrooms, zoas, hammers, a scolly and duncans for around 3 minutes. They fizzled and bubbled and slimed up a lot!
I gave them a rinse and put them back in the tank and the corals didn't seemed too bothered by the next day.
Here is a before and after of some mushrooms that had the most algae, taken about 2 days apart. I think one more dip should be sufficient.
Surprisingly the macro algae died off fairly quickly which I am super happy about!

 

[AidanMary]

yeah that stuff is nasty and spreads like wildfire i’ve seen rabbit fish go crazy for it but a bit too big of a fish for your size tank. another option is vibrant which will help starve off and kill the algae but will also eventually kill off any other macro algae in a fuge but i used it in a nano and it kill of that exact same algae along with hair algae ect.

 

[novahobbies]

great shots before and after the peroxide dip!

 

[Wrangy]

Woohoo!! So good to see you back in reefing and with a tank again man! I do love a cade build!! I especially love that you've gone Radiums this time round too. How are you finding them?? Also, I'd never noticed but is that the same leather you've had across all the years??

Man seeing your pics of the nummularia gives me PTSD flashbacks!! Bryopsis is like chaeto compared to this stuff and I've had both in plague proportions!! haha I'm glad to hear the removal is slowly working and solving it I also result to gluing and puttying over it which works well if you seal it up completely as it's easier than trying to get all the runners and such!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R! We’re very happy to have you join us! Looking forward to following your reef!

 

[buddy.]

Woohoo!! So good to see you back in reefing and with a tank again man! I do love a cade build!! I especially love that you've gone Radiums this time round too. How are you finding them?? Also, I'd never noticed but is that the same leather you've had across all the years??

Man seeing your pics of the nummularia gives me PTSD flashbacks!! Bryopsis is like chaeto compared to this stuff and I've had both in plague proportions!! haha I'm glad to hear the removal is slowly working and solving it I also result to gluing and puttying over it which works well if you seal it up completely as it's easier than trying to get all the runners and such!

Cheers I have still had a box of water in some shape or form this entire time, just been a bit quiet! This Cade hasn't had a single new addition since almost a year ago when I set it up due to the moving houses I knew I would be doing. No point buying more stuff and making the tank more difficult to move! Yep that is the same Leather. It was actually my first coral way back then and it has become a monster. When I move it I have to literately squeeze it in to a salt bucket so I can transport it! It has just done a bunch of shedding so its polyps should really start looking great in the next week or so.

I am loving the Radium light. The 20K lighting is a really nice colour and not an over powering blue like you see in some of the other 20k globes. It actually uses about 50w less than my LEDs The biggest improvement from the change I have seen is in my Anemone, it almost immediately responded to the new lighting as has gotten nice and plump lol.

Yeah I am feeling your pain with the nummularia... I have no idea where it came from as I have had no new additions That putty idea is great though! I really didn't feel like getting any peroxide near the nem so putting putty on its rock might work great.

 

[buddy.]

Welcome to R2R! We’re very happy to have you join us! Looking forward to following your reef!

Thanks!

 

[4FordFamily]

Forgot to post a pic with just LEDs. These are for the sunrise/sunset and only run for a couple of hours a day. They eventually fade out to a royal blue.
They are just some spare LEDs I had. I mounted them to some 3mm aluminum strip and they just run off a Typhon controller with modified code that I found online.
I could also switch them on during the day for a light boost but I don't think it is needed for now.

Very nice tank! I love the color/coral assortment

 

[buddy.]

Very nice tank! I love the color/coral assortment

Thanks @4FordFamily

 

[buddy.]

It looks like the peroxide has done a great job of killing off that algae. There was a couple of stubborn patches that got dipped again a week later but that invasive macro algae is hopefully gone.

So for the last few months I have been keeping my eye out for a new stand to put the aquarium on when I move house. Specifically a rustic look and also something wider than the tank that has enough room to fit all the equipment in.
I found this beauty for a bargain price and picked it up on the weekend It perfectly suits what I was after so I am really happy.
It is very heavy and sturdy but I may build a support structure inside the stand just to be 100% safe. The cabinet has much more room than the standard Cade stand!
There is plenty of room for a larger sump if I choose to build a new one. A separate area for all of the electronics and a bonus draw underneath. It will also fill the area nicely against the wall where it will be going.

Here is roughly how the tank will look on the stand. The top of the tank will be just about below eye level for me. Should make for great viewing! At the moment I have to crouch down a little to see in the tank.

The doors actually slide back in to the stand which could be handy when working on anything in the sump. I will most likely paint the inside white.
A fan or two will help with the ventilation and prevent any mold growing.

The separate electronics compartment. I will make up my own shelf/panel for the controllers and wiring.

Handy drawer for test kits and other random stuff.