Brent's Cade 500 (38g)

LBCBJ · Sep 14, 2023

Day 7 Cycle Update

Dropped another $50 on test kits (thumbs down), but now feeling better about the status of my water params (thumbs up). Here's what's happened:

Picked up a Red Sea ammonia kit and an API nitrite kit. Both of them are substantially easier to read the results vs the Salifert test. Honestly, this is an underrated area that I didn't really bother with researching before I bought kits, but it can make a big difference. Why are they 'better'? Because their color gradient varies enough that it's easy to get a relative reading. With Salifert, it seemed like a pure guessing game.
API NO2 test is reading around 3ppm
Red Sea NH3 test is showing below 0.2ppm (good news!)
Since I was at my LFS, I had them run an API digital water analyzer on a sample ($8? Why the heck not ), and below are the results. Seems to line up fairly closely to my own readings, so gives some level of confidence in where my cycle is currently at.

So the good news is ammonia is down, and now all eyes are on nitrite. Per Dr. Tim, he suggest that NO2 above 5ppm can stall a cycle, so my reading of 3-4ppm has me wary to add a final dose of ammonia. I'm going to give this another 1-2 days to see if it comes down, and if so, I'll add a final round of ammonia. In order to consider this tank cycled I'm watching for NH3 = 0, NO2 = 0, and ideally, have them both show a 0 reading within 24 hours of dosing ammonia.

Lately I've been reminding myself of the old saying, 'a watched pot never boils'. Patience...

LBCBJ · Sep 16, 2023

Day 9 Cycle Update

Here’s what’s been happening:

Nitrite still testing around 3ppm. I haven’t added ammonia in 4 days to prevent nitrite from going above 5ppm and potentially stalling, so I’m scratching my head. Not what I was expecting.

The nitrite stall doesn’t feel right to me, so today I’ve added a small 3oz bottle of IO Bio-Spira to see if this might jump-start NO2-NO3 since it contains Nitrospira strains.
Going to watch nitrite come down before adding a final round of ammonia.
One nice thing about Bio-Spira is it list the bacterial strains in the ingredient list so you know exactly what you’re adding. (Fwiw I’ve read reports that Bio-Spira may be the same formula as Dr Tim’s One and Only).
Interestingly the bottle had no smell, unlike Turbostart which had a super earthy smell.

Prior to adding the Bio-Spira, I added 1500ml of Sera Siporax biomedia across my 3 sump media baskets.
Aside from a small bag of carbon, I figured I’ll put these to good use so added 500ml to each basket with a piece of floss on top to help minimize detritus settling in the media. Siporax is freaking expensive!
Lastly, picked up a Slide-Loc magnetic probe holder from @Bulk Reef Supply . This thing is nifty, holds two probes and 2 dosing lines, perfect for my nano. A bit more cable cleanup and my sump with be looking awesome.

Eager to see some blue on my API nitrite test!

LBCBJ · Sep 19, 2023

Day 12 Cycle Update

For the first time this cycle my nitrite test is showing way less purple today! It essentially fell off a cliff overnight. Reading looks under 1ppm, closer to .25ppm....sweet!

Skimmer is back on and already producing some gunk. I’ve also noticed some detritus in the sump. I find this kind of interesting as this tank was started completely dry with heavily rinsed dry rock and dry sand. The only thing that’s gone in is saltwater and around 14ml of ammonia. Guess it’s a by-product of the cycle?

But I won’t bore you with chemistry today…..because 71 days after my Cade arrived we have livestock on the way! WOOO

NGL, I’m a little nervous with this whole shipping fish thing, hopefully I can sleep tonight

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If all goes well I’ll try to document my first experience with @tsmaquatics and introduce the new residents.

LBCBJ · Sep 20, 2023

Meet the first residents of the Cade 500!

Names are TBD but we're 5 hours in the tank and so far so good. A pair of Oscellaris Clowns and 2 corals arrived around 10am and were healthy and ready to rock.

@tsmaquatics did a nice job packaging. They arrived in a small box, neatly packed and enclosed in styrofoam. The main bags were machine sealed and then wrapped in a larger bag.

Floated the Clowns for 20 mins, then got an unexpected surprise. TSM's website and acclimation guide states they are shipped at 1.026sg, so I was prepared to just float and toss them in the tank. However when I measured the salinity, it was 1.020...eek. I went into a bit of panic mode as I didn't have any ammonia remover. I added 0.5 cup of water every 5 minutes 4 times until I measured 1.023. Fearing the potential for ammonia burn, I decided that was close enough to my tank's 1.025 so in they went!

So far they are super active (I think the male might be a little feisty

), and took in a few pellets of New Life Spectrum. I plan to mix in TDO Chromaboost and Hikari frozen mysis as well, so we'll see what they like.

I also received a small frag of GSPs and Rasta Zoas. I temp floated the bags for 20 mins, then placed them in a small container where I performed the same 4 water additions over 20 mins. I also added CoralRx as a dip. What appeared to be pods came flying off, but aside from those that was it. Gave the plugs a little scrub with a tooth brush and in they went.

Zoas were open withina couple hours, the GSP seem not as happy and remain closed, so I'll be keeping an eye on those.

I'd say it was a successful day, and gave me a boost in confidence in my decision to buy fish over the internet

. I'll watch how everything fares over the next few days before I can give a full-throated recommendation for TSM Aquatics, I'm hopeful they can become a go-to source for pre-quarantined fish.

LBCBJ · Sep 21, 2023

Day 14 Cycle Update

It finally happened - woke up this morning to 0ppm of nitrite. YESSS!!

14 days on the nose, the tank is cycled. After appearing stalled for over 10 days, it dropped rapidly over the last 3. Since I added fish yesterday, I took a final ammonia reading of 0ppm before I put the test kits away for a while. With nitrite at 0, I can now get an accurate nitrate reading. Hannah meter is showing 5ppm of nitrate, so now I can establish that as my baseline to measure from.

Clowns are super active and my Rasta zoa polyps are all open. 2 GSP polyps are peeking open so good news there. Now to figure out how to get decent photographs of these things. Will have to continue stalking @d2mini's build thread for photography tips as I envy his images, one of my favorite threads right now.

LBCBJ · Sep 25, 2023

Day 18 Update

With the tank wet for two weeks, it was time for the first water change! My plan is to perform a weekly 10% water change (4g) on the weekends. With such a small volume of water, water changes will be super easy. Here's what I did yesterday morning:

Pre-mixed a 5g container of salt water overnight to 1.026 using Tropic Marin Pro-Reef salt, an hour my before my WC I moved the container into the house to let it temperature acclimate.
Turned off my return pump and skimmer. Then using a Sicce Nano pump, I pumped out 4g of water from my sump into a bucket. While the water was draining, I used a turkey baster to stir up any detritus to help it be removed.
Once the water was out, I then moved the Sicce into my container and pumped 4g of fresh saltwater back into the sump. I let it hang out for around 5 mins while the temp increased from 75 to 77f.
Turned return on. Around an hour later I turned the skimmer back on to avoid any overreaction to the fresh saltwater.
I also washed my filter sock, gave the 3 media baskets of Siporax a good dunk in the removed saltwater to loosen any detritus, and wiped down the whole sump area.
I'd say it went pretty well for my first time. Took around 40 minutes and I should be able to shave 10 mins of that with practice. Perks of a nano tank!

Green star polyps and Rasta zoas have been fully extended for a few days now, so the first corals are doing well so far. As for my clownfish 'pair', well, they are sorting things out. It seems maybe they were not a true pair, and one has been pretty aggressively nipping at the other. From what I gather, this seems to be normal as the pair tries to form, but I'm keeping a close eye. If the aggression keeps up, I'll have to remove one and donate to my LFS.

One of my to-dos is going to be figuring out how to get decent photos of the tank with my iPhone. Thus far the Radion XR15 Blue just completely wash out any photo with heavy distorted blue. Looking forward to sharing photos!

In the meantime, I grabbed a quick video since the exposure seems to be a bit better this way.

LBCBJ · Oct 3, 2023

Day 28 Update

First livestock's now two weeks in and all are doing well, tank has been stable. Just in the last few days I was thinking to myself how clean the tank is, not a sign of diatoms or any algae aside from a bit that came in on a frag plug, but I knew it was coming, so as part of a larger amazon order I threw in a Flipper Float mag cleaner....great timing by me!

Left the tank for 2 days on a trip to Asheville, NC and came back to a light dusting of diatoms on the glass and sand. Did my weekly 4g water change and afterwards here were my test parameters:

Salinity: 1.026 (my ATO really took some time to dial-in to the right water level and replenish rate, but I think I'm finally there and my salinity is where I want it)
Alk: 8.1dKh
Nitrate: 6.5ppm
Phosphate: 0.07ppm

I plan to test weekly to get a feel for how my params are moving. I'll be ok with NO2 below 10ppm and PO4 below 0.10ppm. Above there, I'll start to consider some experimentation to keep a lid on the levels, whether that's larger water changes, feeding less (currently at 1x/day), GFO, etc. I've been struggling to generate any skim, so not getting much help on the skimmer front.

With all that in mind, now that the 'algae' bubble has been popped, time for a CUC! Will plan to swing on by my LFS in the next day or two.

Will start with a small crew and see if they can make a dent:

2 scarlet reef hermits
2 trochus
2 ceriths
2 nassaurius

Hoping they'll get things under control and keep a low profile - can't stand snails on the glass!

LBCBJ · Oct 13, 2023

Day 38 Update

Alright, we survived the 1st month! Here's what's been going on -

The algae bloom that started around 10 days ago stayed super mild. CUC's are all-stars, especially my trochus. It's amazing how clean they can get your tank. I ended up with 5 trochus, 4 ceriths, 2 nassarius, and 2 scarlet reef hermits which should be a sustainable crew. I may look into a small conch to really get into the sand bed.
Switched over to @Reef Diaper for my filter socks, and so far I'm liking them a lot. They are a perfect fit for my Cade 500 and it's nice not to have to wash felt socks. Below's a 3 day old sock from my 1 month old tank. Yucky.

The flange forms a snug fit in my Cade sock holder

3 days later

Rasta Zoas have sprouted several new polyps since I picked them up 4 weeks ago. GSP is also growing, so I'm feeling ready for a couple more frags. Another Zoa colony and an LPS should do the trick, either a Torch, Hammer, or a Goni. The LPS will be my next test so if things go well over the next 30 days or so, who knows, maybe we'll add some SPS . I've been wanting to check out @Queen City Corals, so will plan to stop by over the weekend and see what they've got.
Water params are steady. Found a nifty app called @aquaticlog by Dmitry Tumanov to help track and it does a much better job than my iOS notepad. You may recognize him from his amazing reef tank, but his app is great for logging params and maintenance over time with graphs
Between very light daily feeding and weekly 15% water changes, it seems to be keeping a lid on nitrate and phosphate, but will continue to monitor weekly.

d2mini · Oct 13, 2023

Coming along!

Glad that reef diaper is working out for you. Just changed mine too.

Aquaticlog is great. Been a fan since it started back in the early 2010's!

LBCBJ · Oct 20, 2023

Day 45 Update

New corals for the tank! LPS and SPS...whattt?!

Stopped by @Queen City Corals last weekend for the tank's first LPS, and of course walked away with a couple other things. They have an incredible amount of coral, so how could I not? Also really nice guys, will definitely be back.

Snagged a really nice Blue Tip Frogspawn which they've been aquaculturing in the shop for a while, as well as a frag of Pink Diamond zoas, Bam Bam zoas, and an ORA Green Birdsnest. Yes, 45 days in and there's SPS in the tank

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Working on obtaining a lense for my iPhone, until then, please bear with the photos as the Radion Blue just destroys any chance of sharing clean quality images.

Frogspawn - currently hangin' on the sanded, nice to get some movement in the tank!

ORA Birdsnest - this is already my favorite. Love just watching the polyps move with the flow

As for the mild algae bloom that started a couple weeks ago, that's all but over. Other than the usual dusting of algae on my glass every few days, there's zero visible algae in the tank (knock on wood). My nutrient levels are stable if not declining, so whereas my initial fear was skyrocketing nitrates and phosphates, I'm now more concerned about them bottoming out and opening the door for the dreaded 'D' word. So, something for me to watch. If the trend continues, I can always start to feed more, get another fish, or maybe introduce Reef Roids or Phyto-Feast to get nutrients up.

Current parameters

So other than that, we're just hanging steady and enjoying the ride so far. The Cade feels dialed-in and running on auto-pilot. Planning to watch how the Birdsnest fares over the next 30 days or so, and then we'll be going full-on SPS from here out

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I actually look forward to my Saturday water change and tank cleanup, it's kind of a therapeutic activity for me. I'll post my routine sometime this weekend if it helps anyone to see what's been working so far.

Thanks for following along!

Fish Kepeer · Oct 21, 2023

Great Setup , I like the way how you install it.

LBCBJ · Oct 21, 2023

Water change day! Every Saturday morning I do a 10% WC, and getting better at it. Was able to clean my glass, change out 4g, test params, and get my sump and display sparkling in around an hour.

Fam was out on a walk, so took some time at the end to record my review of the Cade 500. Totally impromtu and unscripted, so forgot a few things, but hopefully this helps folks out there who might be considering this tank

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When I was making a purchase decision over the summer, I could find nothing on this tank outside of @d2mini video review of the 600 and a single thread on R2R on the 500. Obviously this can require a leap of faith to pull the trigger, especially given how pricey these systems are.

Feel free to ask away if you have questions, and hope to do more videos and equipment reviews in the future.

Hope this helps!

LBCBJ · Nov 5, 2023

Day 60 Update

We're 2 months old! Tank is doing great, skimmer has finally began producing consistent skimmate in the past week (60 days later

). Main thing I'm watching are nitrate and phosphate, as they continue to fall and are now at 2ppm and 0.01ppm. I definitely want to avoid these bottoming out, so starting yesterday I'm increasing feeding my clowns to 2x/day and introducing Reef Roids 2x/week. Let's see if this brings levels up or at least stabilizes them. I may also introduce another fish into the mix to get bioload up a bit. Talk about 1st world problems!

Also added two more frags from @Queen City Corals. My ORA Green Birdsnest has already been adding growth in the 3 weeks I've had it, so adding a splash more color with easier to keep SPS. I'm planning to let these settle in through the holidays, and if things are going well, I'll pick up my first acros going into the new year

(itching to check out @Battlecorals, so will put a Battle box on my xmas list). Here's what I picked up:

Red Monti Cap
QCC Magnificent Stylophora (looks like a variant of a purple stylo with neon blue tips)

This morning, the purple stylo is fully extended. The monti, not so much, which has me replaying what could have gone wrong yesterday. I dipped for 10 mins in Coral RX as I have done with all prior corals, brushed plug with a tooth brush, and then dipped in tank water before adding to the tank. I noticed it was sliming like crazy the moment I put it in the tank, and this morning has some dark areas where it appears tissue may have recessed. The only thing I can come up with, is because the monti has so much surface area, maybe I didn't flush off the dip well enough which killed tissue?

My params are spot on aside from low PO4 and have been stable as I test weekly, so can't imagine there's something off with water chem aside from a potential alk swing from tank to tank?

We're now up to 8 corals and all are doing well, no loses, so hopefully this Monti bounces back to keep the streak going. Will be keeping a close eye next 48 hours to see if it stabilizes.

LBCBJ · Nov 10, 2023

Day 65 - Power Outage!

Had my first power outage yesterday

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It was a good dry run, and I thought I’d share with others as emergency backup IMO is a wayyy under appreciated aspect of a reef system. I see so many amazing build threads with no mention of contingency planning, yet half a day with no power can wipe a tank.

I have an Ecoflow Delta Pro as my battery backup. It wasnt cheap, but with 1300Wh it can run several appliances or my entire tank for upwards of 36 hours.

Pulled that sucker out and plugged my Hydros power bar in and we were back up and running in less than 5 minutes.

Fortunatley it was a quick outage, but illustrated a few things I can improve, mainly:

The Ecoflow is awesome but I have to be home to turn it on. I need a UPC backup that will turn on automatically to buy me time if I’m not home.
With DC pumps and controllers that run on WIFI, ideally WIFI needs to be on a backup to keep things online.

If you don’t yet have an emergency plan, now’s the time!

shadyraro · Nov 10, 2023

Nice recovery! I have the Ecotech battery backup which turns on my pump when the powers cut, it’s only been used once but definitely worth it.
Tanks looking great btw!

08TRDOFFROAD · Nov 10, 2023

Following along! This has been awesome so far!

LBCBJ · Nov 10, 2023

shadyraro said:
Nice recovery! I have the Ecotech battery backup which turns on my pump when the powers cut, it’s only been used once but definitely worth it.
Tanks looking great btw!

Thanks @shadyraro! The ecotech backups are sweet and last for daysss from what I’ve read. I wish there was a similar solution for non-ecotech pumps.

Looking forward to some updates on your 900!

LBCBJ · Nov 10, 2023

08TRDOFFROAD said:
Following along! This has been awesome so far!

Thanks for the follow and kind words @08TRDOFFROAD!

LBCBJ · Nov 16, 2023

Day 70 Update

We got crust baby! (and also a new baby girl - has been a busy week)

Monti is looking great and has put out ~ 1/16" of growth in the last week. Hard to know for sure why it was so PO'd the first couple days other than a harsh dip, but if you compare the before you can see it starting to encrust nicely and the color has returned.

Before (11/5)