Cade 1500 tank build!

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So this is my first real leap into saltwater - always been a freshwater guy- and my second thread here. So here goes!

I bought my Cade 1500 from AlgaeBarn months ago, but had my new home construction keep getting delayed. They were amazing, kept working with me and now I’ve finally got the tank into the dining room!

First, thank you AlgaeBarn for working with me through my construction delays. Every interaction I had with you guys was positive and helpful! No seriously, I was in contact with their help people on multiple occasions and every time I left the convo satisfied and happy. Some of the nicest and helpful company people I’ve worked with. Thank you.

Second, thanks to my local fish store for helping me move the tank out of the crate and garage and into my dining room! This thing is HEAVY! The move was successful, so yay!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of the uncrating or moving process since I was helping, but I do have some before and after pics! I’ll try to remember to take some more WIP pics as the plumbing and aquascaping begins!

My first real internal debate is bare bottom vs sand. My LFS is adamant BB will be better for my mixed reef long term, and the nice white bottom of the Cade make me lean that way. But I’ve got to be honest, up until today ( when my LFS helped me move this inside!) I was on the sand bandwagon. Not sure how I’m going to proceed yet!

08E45BF3-0DEE-403A-98AF-5E5CB2FBB3CB.jpeg 155420ED-28B5-461D-92B0-8A2FBAC440D9.jpeg 0E53DAFD-D79F-4922-82D9-879B7F13D5E0.jpeg
 

LegendaryCG

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Messages
2,005
Reaction score
2,676
Location
Fond Du Lac, WI
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Lol BB vs substrate is always gonna be a heated conversation.. I've ran basically everything from BB to deep sand. My favorite is crushed coral -- there are animals you can't keep bare bottom, your par values will be higher, and your tank stability is buffered by the substrate elements. Crushed coral is big enough that it doesn't blow around too much. It can be harder to keep substrate cleaner but anyone who says bare bottom doesn't get filthy is lying.
 
OP
OP
I

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks CG! I’m still on the fence. Just when I think I’ve made up my mind, I read something else to swing me a different direction. Luckily still have some time!

The setup is moving along slowly since I’m also moving into our new house. Unfortunately the wife doesn’t agree that setting this tank up is priority number 1!!!!

That being said I have made some progress with the rock work. Not sure if I’m completely satisfied yet, but I’ll post up some pics. I’ve never worked with this much rock before, so that’s been an interesting challenge.

The next thing I’m now considering is how I need to work out making 160 something gallons of water and getting it to the tank.
 

Attachments

  • 90F608E6-1837-4957-BF19-66CCA548A9EA.jpeg
    90F608E6-1837-4957-BF19-66CCA548A9EA.jpeg
    163.2 KB · Views: 107
  • AD5FC930-19C3-49FC-B477-B5D9ADA44AD6.jpeg
    AD5FC930-19C3-49FC-B477-B5D9ADA44AD6.jpeg
    152.8 KB · Views: 117
  • DC9D469E-C8DF-4FCE-BA15-71C6EB4FFA8B.jpeg
    DC9D469E-C8DF-4FCE-BA15-71C6EB4FFA8B.jpeg
    158.9 KB · Views: 105
  • 274A68BA-621D-4492-85D3-98FEA1DAAA8E.jpeg
    274A68BA-621D-4492-85D3-98FEA1DAAA8E.jpeg
    172.9 KB · Views: 106
  • 36D2B1B5-6933-472F-8713-737491BB5A93.jpeg
    36D2B1B5-6933-472F-8713-737491BB5A93.jpeg
    148.4 KB · Views: 118
  • ADC18357-9A8C-4C89-A5DC-C83A8C159DC3.jpeg
    ADC18357-9A8C-4C89-A5DC-C83A8C159DC3.jpeg
    149.7 KB · Views: 135
  • E00377D7-B404-40F6-80DB-F362322CDEF1.jpeg
    E00377D7-B404-40F6-80DB-F362322CDEF1.jpeg
    142.9 KB · Views: 159
OP
OP
I

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank guys! A few minor updates today. Also a concern I want to toss out and see if I’m just over reacting paranoid or not.

First. I’ve decided to try bare bottom. I figure it’ll be easier to add sand if I ever change my mind later than remove it. Lol.

Second, I’m starting to fill the tank with rodi. My plan is to top the tank off with rodi and then mix the salt in the tank. I loved your idea of Brute cans, so I have a few of those on wheels. I can hold up to 80 gallons right now, so the fill is happening slowly but surely.

Also, can I just say what a lifesaver rolly trash cans, sicce utility pump, and python hosing/hook have been? Roll the can from rodi to tank, hook up the hosing/hook to the pump with a hose thread connection, and water is moving. Wow! So simple! I can’t believe I never thought of this back in my discus water change days.

I hooked up a maxspect jump return pump, I have a second MP40 in the mail, as well as the Kessil A-Arm extensions for my lights. Totally slipped my mind that even though this tank is 24”, the built in auto top off in the back means I needed the bigger arm mount piece. Luckily no need for light anytime soon.

Finally, my concern. Please check out one of my posted pictures where I zoom in on the back corner of the tank by the weir. See that big gap between tank and stand? Is that bad? The tank is only 80/144 full in the display (not counting rock displacement), will the final bits of water level everything out? Is it normal to be a tad off while the tank is still filling and settling?

I didn’t notice this gap until I started putting water in the tank - not sure if the 80 gallons made this issue worse, or if me and the LFS missed this somehow during original set up. I doubt this since they went through everything multiple times with a level. The stand was level at set up, so was the tank. The waterline appears level right now as well. So confused on why the gap has appeared!!!

Any advice for me before I get too much further down the “fill up the tank” road?
 

Attachments

  • 932F35C1-B4EA-4CBD-A4B1-DDBC3C05734B.jpeg
    932F35C1-B4EA-4CBD-A4B1-DDBC3C05734B.jpeg
    136.1 KB · Views: 162
  • D603A173-60EE-4E07-B6AC-48E5648CC8E5.jpeg
    D603A173-60EE-4E07-B6AC-48E5648CC8E5.jpeg
    148.3 KB · Views: 165
  • D46A6FAB-F68B-4DF3-8B60-7C249C9C77B7.jpeg
    D46A6FAB-F68B-4DF3-8B60-7C249C9C77B7.jpeg
    154.3 KB · Views: 162
  • 525CDD1B-772E-4B29-8F9D-3658285BFB5F.jpeg
    525CDD1B-772E-4B29-8F9D-3658285BFB5F.jpeg
    131.3 KB · Views: 151

PorterExt

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
29
Location
Sonoma County
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So this is my first real leap into saltwater - always been a freshwater guy- and my second thread here. So here goes!

I bought my Cade 1500 from AlgaeBarn months ago, but had my new home construction keep getting delayed. They were amazing, kept working with me and now I’ve finally got the tank into the dining room!

First, thank you AlgaeBarn for working with me through my construction delays. Every interaction I had with you guys was positive and helpful! No seriously, I was in contact with their help people on multiple occasions and every time I left the convo satisfied and happy. Some of the nicest and helpful company people I’ve worked with. Thank you.

Second, thanks to my local fish store for helping me move the tank out of the crate and garage and into my dining room! This thing is HEAVY! The move was successful, so yay!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of the uncrating or moving process since I was helping, but I do have some before and after pics! I’ll try to remember to take some more WIP pics as the plumbing and aquascaping begins!

My first real internal debate is bare bottom vs sand. My LFS is adamant BB will be better for my mixed reef long term, and the nice white bottom of the Cade make me lean that way. But I’ve got to be honest, up until today ( when my LFS helped me move this inside!) I was on the sand bandwagon. Not sure how I’m going to proceed yet!

08E45BF3-0DEE-403A-98AF-5E5CB2FBB3CB.jpeg 155420ED-28B5-461D-92B0-8A2FBAC440D9.jpeg 0E53DAFD-D79F-4922-82D9-879B7F13D5E0.jpeg
Confused newbie- is that a 150gal?
 

shandoee

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
242
Reaction score
212
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those CADE tanks look nice! i almost went BB. Reason I wanted to go BB is because my tank is going to be SPS dominated, so I will want a lot of flow without kicking up sand. But I ultimately went with special grade sand, I prefer a “natural” looking tank. But it was a hard, last minute decision. Following along, looks great!
 
OP
OP
I

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks guys!!!

I agree with you shandoee. I’ve always had sand in every freshwater tank I’ve ever kept. Always felt more natural to me as well. If it wasn’t for the nice white bottom CADE comes with, I definitely would have thrown sand in there as well. The white bottom gives it enough color that I was tempted to try without. Hopefully I don’t wind up regretting my decision!
 

tricky_tran

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 4, 2020
Messages
766
Reaction score
2,870
Location
Los Angeles
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
i am not sure about that gap in the back, i would reach out to @AlgaeBarn and ask them before fully filling it, just so they are aware too. that would worry me. Looking good so far. I had the same debate in December when i was setting up my 75 Gal. waffled back and fourth multiple times. finally ended up going with sand. wanted the natural look, more surface area for bacteria (BB takes longer to cycle) and i wanted Goby's, Blenny's and other sand sifting type of livestock.
 

mvbrandt

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 15, 2020
Messages
222
Reaction score
323
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I set up the same tank from AB a couple months ago now, and there wasn't that much gap before filling. I'd check your levelers and contact AB first. Will be firing up my own thread when I can stop being lazy and following along with another new Cade owner!
 
OP
OP
I

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Confused newbie- is that a 150gal?
Yes! According to the chart I saw it is technically a 143 gallon display. Plus a roughly 26 gallon sump. Plus a roughly 12 gallon auto top off built into the back of the tank.

Thank you Tricky and Mv. I reached out to AlgaeBarn this morning. They asked for some pictures, so I have sent them everything they’ve asked for. Waiting to hear back on next steps.
 

Wayne P.

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 21, 2018
Messages
483
Reaction score
1,152
Location
Chesapeake, VA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks CG! I’m still on the fence. Just when I think I’ve made up my mind, I read something else to swing me a different direction. Luckily still have some time!

The setup is moving along slowly since I’m also moving into our new house. Unfortunately the wife doesn’t agree that setting this tank up is priority number 1!!!!

That being said I have made some progress with the rock work. Not sure if I’m completely satisfied yet, but I’ll post up some pics. I’ve never worked with this much rock before, so that’s been an interesting challenge.

The next thing I’m now considering is how I need to work out making 160 something gallons of water and getting it to the tank.
LFS can help with that as well. I have a Cade 1800 and had them fill it for me.
 
OP
OP
I

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Sorry for the delay! The last few days have been heavy on the new house stuff. Shiplap in two places in our house and our backyard getting installed. Finally should be close to fully moved in! Yay!

as for the tank issue - AlgaeBarn got back to me same day. Their customer service is top notch. They worked with CADE, and it was determined my issue was “flexion” in the stand. As I understand it, relatively normal as the stand adjusted to the weight of me filling up the tank. The fix was simple, take a wrench to that caster foot on the corner showing the gap, and adjust that foot so the stand shifted up to better support the gap. Gap is now gone, and the filling has been completed!

I’m having some issues getting my overflow to be completely silent. Every time I adjust the gate valve and think I have it dialed in, I get a different trickle or bubble noise somewhere else. I’ve seen enough YouTube videos to know this should be quiet, so I’m pretty sure the noise is coming from my own inexperience with sumped tanks. I’ll keep working on adjustments and I’m sure I’ll have that fixed soon. R2R and BRS have been amazing resources as I work through everything.

Finally, I got my second MP40 & Kessil 360x’s set up! With all my gear finally up and running, I used a bacteria starter with some nitro booster (Thank you AlgaeBarn!!) and now have 5 blue/green chromis helping to get this tank up and running. I like their shoaling behavior, so hopefully they don’t kill each other and keep up that behavior! Lol.

My LFS is on the lookout for some snowflake or gladiator clowns for me and are hopeful to have some lined up for me by the end of this week.

AB2000F6-8F00-4F08-8E08-A3F324883669.jpeg
 

mvbrandt

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 15, 2020
Messages
222
Reaction score
323
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey brother,

When I was filling mine and getting the Weir tuned in, a couple things happened. The first is I got the bubbling noise for quite some time. Some of this was because I have two opposed ReefWave 45's as my primary flow drivers, and they caused a lot of surface movement, which occasionally kicks it over.

The other is that I eventually "gave up" on getting the Weir perfect, left it so it was just barely hitting the emergency overlow every now and then, and shrugged sadly. Within a day, it was dead silent ... I'm not sure "why" it adjusted, but it did. So, I would get as close as humanly possible leaning toward the emergency overflow, then let it ride for a bit.

I don't know how your return pumps work, but I'm using the recommended Vectra L2, and I found I was also able to "Fine tune" the Weir by ticking down the % on the app by 1% at a time once I had the emergency overflow just slightly happening.

Finally, keep in mind there's a lag on your adjustments (you may have figured this out already). It can take even a few minutes for the water level to adjust to even minor tweaks in the Weir, so you need to give the tank time in between adjustments to see the outcome of those adjustments.

It's funny, I used a shoal of 6 BG RCs to start off my tank as well, and I ran Nitrobacter7 every day for a week plus a few other things, plus a big ole refugium starter from AB. I gotta get my thread up and running, as the tank's been about 2 months ago now, but I'm glad to hear you got the gap squared away, and am excited to see it continue to progress.
 
OP
OP
I

IrishWulf

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
55
Location
USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank you MV! That was extremely helpful. I think the delay between adjustments was definitely contributing to my issues.
I am using the maxspect jump return pump. It doesn’t do 1% changes like yours, but it does move in 5% increments per setting. So I played with that as well. A little patience in between adjustments, and leaving it just barely at emergency did the trick. I think it just needed some time to settle in and for me to just get it close and stop tinkering. Lol.

As of today it is now running almost completely silent. Yay! I’ll keep an eye out for your thread! I’d love to see what you have going as well!!

I’ve finished with my initial livestock adds and will let the system stabilize out for a few weeks before adding anything else. Right now I have 5 blue/green chromis, 2 locally bred clowns, and a zoa frag. No clue on name!

I’ll post some pictures, but I need to figure out how to take better pics with the blue lights on. Even when the whites are on more than normal, it’s still pretty blue on my phone camera.

DD6C1580-9645-4A07-AA72-1B0256FD91DC.jpeg EB1F9366-6377-4C47-9DD0-A0D890CA2BC3.jpeg 73FA2B89-E63E-4170-89F4-09031B288A5F.jpeg D82813C3-B74B-4B34-8ADF-253235086085.jpeg
 
Back
Top