Mwladdicted's 50g CAD upgrade

mwladdicted · Oct 7, 2015

Hello,

I recently upgraded to a larger system and i figured I would journal my progress online,so for starters, what triggered my upgrade was my 28g, that has spawned a frag tank... so no I have a wife complaining of to many aquariums. So! I was fortunate to stumble upon a nice custom CAD aquarium and will document the slow transfer/build on here I guess.

First a few pics of my current set up

The new tank is a peninsula, 3 sided starfire. 36x18x18. I was really impressed with how the radion performed in my first tank so I think I'm just going to buy another xr15 and call it a day. Another thing I'm excited to test out since it is a peninsula is the new gyre pump. i think it should hopefully rid the need for power heads at the opposite end of the tank.

The goal of this tank is simplicity and independence. I work quite a bit so it needs to for the most part care for itself. One thing I really disliked about my current setup is how difficult it is to do any work underneath, so cramped... also I've really learned how important a refugium is and hope to be able to incorporate one in to this new system.

Equipment list:

- CAD 50 gallon custom
- EcoTech Radion XR30 x 2
- Maxspect Grye XF130
- ReefKeeper Lite
- Bubble Magus Doser
- Tunze Osmolator
- NextReef MR1 Shorty x 2
- EcoTech Vortech MP10 x 2
- Mag 9.5
- Bubble Magus NAC 3.5
- Tunze Nano Stream

I built the stand out of maple. The door/panels pop off on both sides to make it easy to access all of the equipment underneath I made sure to leave a lot of extra space as to contain every component of the system underneath the tank. The front panel will be the control box for the tanks automation.

for the aquascape i decided to go with a reef bommie type look, kinda like these.

mwladdicted · Oct 7, 2015

I went with a trigger systems cube sump/fuge combo. Fits perfect at 18" with only 0.5 to spare.

Pic of the final product

I went with the gyre to avoid the excessive need for powerheads everywhere. All I can say is that I'm nothing but impress. It does a great job, no dead spots. I do miss my Vortechs but they just weren't applicable with this system.

Tank is pretty much on auto pilot for now. had and issue with my nitrates for a minute, I did one water change and it botttomed them out to zero causing my sps to pale a bit. I added a bunch of new fish tho finnaly. Took a few photos with my new note 5. The only fish missing is my firefish.

http://s106.photobucket.com/user/mw... Uploads/20150804_170111_zpsm4foxhlz.jpg.html

Thanks For Looking!

Tahoe61 · Oct 7, 2015

So nice, following.

I have to ask, what is the acropora in the second coral images. Right after the beautiful Millepora.

Jimbo662 · Oct 7, 2015

WOW, very nice looking tank / setup.

squirrelieygrrrl · Oct 10, 2015

Awesome tank! Great pictures. Definitely following, I love my cad and like to see what others do with theirs as well.

shovelhead · Oct 10, 2015

Now I want a peninsula tank!

mwladdicted · Oct 22, 2015

Thanks for the compliments guys its a work in progress. the coral in the second pic is just a plain jane SSC. i had a bicolor blenny that was eating all my acros that i finnaly got rid of. all the skin has grown back and they seem to be growing well again. Now my new problem is bubble algae. just sent in an army of emeral crabs to hoepfully take care of it. just took some pics for growth reference. the pics were tank 30 days apart. Took the pics with my phone so its hard to eliminate the blue hue with the LED's...

Back Side.

Front Side.

cougercruiser · Nov 9, 2015

Are those radions the pro version, or non-pro?

Your tank is ideally what I had in mind. Great job

EW_Fish · Nov 9, 2015

Love the tank. I had a bicolor blenny sps troubles also. I couldnt figure out for the longest time why they were looking so bad then saw him picking one time

Oscaror · Nov 11, 2015

WOW
Your tank is awesome

Blandy · Nov 12, 2015

would love a copy of your lighting schedule...

hatfielj · Nov 12, 2015

Awesome tank! Love your stand. I'm assuming you're a carpenter?

mwladdicted · Nov 13, 2015

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

@cougercruiser, they are actually both! the back light is a radion gen 3 pro and the front is a basic gen 2. I've seen pretty much identical results to be honest. Non the less outstanding lights.

@EW_Fish, Biggest nightmare of a fish ever... thought it was my regal angel so i banished him to the fuge only to have my acros still eaten! glad i didn't sell him because he is a model citizen!

@Blandy, Lighting schedual is nothing exciting really. I run the stock reef radiance program at 65% except I turn off all the red. It runs on a 13 hour sun up to sun down.

@hatfielj, HAHA I'm flattered is what i am... Just a hobbiest. I was very patient with this stand, really happy with how it came out!

I will update with more pictures soon!