LukeyB's Cade Reef S2 600 - Mixed Reef

[shadyraro]

Hey mate your tanks coming along nicely. How are the rubber mats underneath and what type did you use? I’ve ordered a 900 and recently moved into a house with floorboards so was looking into these.

 

[LukeyB]

Hi mate. They're just washing machine anti-vibration pads from Bunnings. They're made from a high density rubber.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/jack-100-x-15mm-on-site-rubber-anti-vibration-mat-4-pack_p3961547

The feet that the stand comes with are quite small and made of hard plastic. I was a bit worried about the weight of the aquarium all pressing down on four small points, and potentially denting or at worst cracking the floorboards. At least with these rubber pads the weight is spread out a bit and there's no risk of scratches.

The other mod I've done recently is installing some metal shelf brackets to help improve the lateral stability. Maybe the 900 will be OK, but definitely with the 600 there was quite a bit of side to side wobble which I wasn't to keen on. Cade said not to worry and that it's all well within safe tolerances, but for peace of mind I reinforced with the self brackets (also from Bunnings) and its massively helped.

 

[shadyraro]

Awesome thanks! Yeah I have noticed my 600 has a slight wobble also, it usually happened when I was cleaning the front glass and the tank was on a concrete slab then. Floorboards is a different story tho as I need to get under the house to locate the joists, if I can get at least the middle set of legs on one joist then it'll be fine.
Since you've completely removed the cabinets feet, does your tank stay stable and did you put them where the feet used to be?

 

[LukeyB]

Awesome thanks! Yeah I have noticed my 600 has a slight wobble also, it usually happened when I was cleaning the front glass and the tank was on a concrete slab then. Floorboards is a different story tho as I need to get under the house to locate the joists, if I can get at least the middle set of legs on one joist then it'll be fine.
Since you've completely removed the cabinets feet, does your tank stay stable and did you put them where the feet used to be?

Yea I just put one in each corner where the feet were. The rubber is pretty dense and once the weight of the tank is pressing down on them they're quite solid and the tank is stable.

 

[LukeyB]

Good news - starting to see the first few spots of purple corraline algae appearing on the rocks. Hopefully getting to the end of the green rock stage!

Bad news - the Hulk Torch completely died within 48 hours of putting it in, and the mint tip gold torch is really struggling. Maybe tank is still too young or possibly the dhk was too high (10.5 using red sea coral pro). I've now started doing water changes with blue bucket salt that has a lower dkh. Not sure if I'll be able to get the remaining torch to recover though :-(

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Good news - starting to see the first few spots of purple corraline algae appearing on the rocks. Hopefully getting to the end of the green rock stage!

Bad news - the Hulk Torch completely died within 48 hours of putting it in, and the mint tip gold torch is really struggling. Maybe tank is still too young or possibly the dhk was too high (10.5 using red sea coral pro). I've now started doing water changes with blue bucket salt that has a lower dkh. Not sure if I'll be able to get the remaining torch to recover though :-(

Sorry to hear that about your torch!

 

[LBCBJ]

Amazing cable management! Where did you get your cable raceways?

 

[LukeyB]

Amazing cable management! Where did you get your cable raceways?

Thanks a lot. It took a while but I really like how neat it all looks. The cable management parts were ordered off Amazon...

https://www.amazon.com.au/Adyawen-Management-Concealer-Organizer-5x15-5inch/dp/B0BW5ZYGDD/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=Adyawen&qid=1692581994&sr=8-8&th=1

 

[Port City Reefer]

Looks good! I've seen people remove the 3 media baskets and just convert that area as a fuge and it seems to work well too. Where have you moved your heaters too?

Would blacking out the 3 media basket section be crucial so light doesn’t spill out ? Or could you get away with not blacking out it?

 

[shadyraro]

Would blacking out the 3 media basket section be crucial so light doesn’t spill out ? Or could you get away with not blacking out it?

You'd get spill into the skimmer section so you'd want to black out that side at least.

 

[DarkReefer]

Following along!
Where abouts have you been buying your corals etc from ?
I've only been to 3 places here in NSW so far.