DarkReefer's CADE Reef S2 1800

[DarkReefer]

Well today is the day it finally begins !
I'm finally upgrading from my Waterbox 70.2 that I've had since the start of 2021 and learned about reefing with. It's been one heck of a ride that's for sure.
Some of you who may have seen my build thread on that tank may have noticed that I had a couple of fish that I'd gotten when they were quite small but they were starting to get a little on the bigger side for a tank that size (Blue Tang & Foxface), and rather than rehome them somewhere else I wanted to provide them a new home myself as I've enjoyed watching them grow from being so small and they've become a part of the family.

Took an unexpected delivery of my new S2 1800 this morning after ordering it on Tuesday. Luckily I was home or I would've missed it (didn't get a notification it was coming), but very glad to finally have it.
Delivery was very quick and easy so big thanks to CADE Australia, Adam and all others involved. There was numerous questions etc that I had for them over the past couple of weeks leading upto it and nothing was ever a hassle.

Unfortunately for me I now have to park it for a little bit as I need to complete some work to the flooring to reinforce it before I can go and get it set up and running.
MAYBE I'll look to put the cabinet in place over the weekend if possible, perhaps even the tank when I can arrange some friends to come assist but it'll stay dry until the flooring is sorted.

The shopping list is currently looking to be along the lines of the below;

4x Radion XR15 Blues
4x MP40's
A Mantis Tornado 180 Skimmer
Redsea Reefmat 1200
Return pump likely to be a Vectra M2, but may opt for a Mantis which would be cheaper.
An Eheim Jager 300W heater (will also pair this with an extra 200W heater from the existing tank) which will run off my existing Inkbird Temp controller.

I'll probably look to buy some media in the next day or two so I can start seeding it from my current tank and I also need to look at bleaching some old rock I have lying around as I'll try and use that along with my current rockwork to save money on buying new stuff. (Which I'll probably need more anyway).

I've also just upgraded my RO station from a 50GPD to 100GPD + Boosted.
The 50GPD was painfully slow to fill my 200L drums, easily taking a whole weekend usually if it was empty so knowing the larger tank was on the way and that I'll need more water, more often it made sense to upgrade it. Ignore the orange/red line going to the pump, I had to utilise this instead of yellow as I had excess amount of that line available and needed the length I had in the yellow.

Did have a bit of a blow out after a couple of hours of pumping but I believe that was due to me not tightening the line coming out of the pump enough. Thankfully didn't manage to short circuit anything despite a heap of water gushing out.

Looking forward to getting everything set up and will continue to update as more happens !

 

[CasperOe]

Uh!! Another Cade build! Thanks for bringing us along, can't wait to follow! I have a 1200 in the house, sadly the biggest i could fit All the best..

 

[DarkReefer]

Uh!! Another Cade build! Thanks for bringing us along, can't wait to follow! I have a 1200 in the house, sadly the biggest i could fit All the best..

I've seen your thread that's one heck of a cool tank room setup you've got going! I'll definitely keep tabs on it !

 

[DarkReefer]

Sounds like sorting my floor reinforcement is going to be a bit more complex or more expensive than originally thought.
The chippy I was chatting with originally was of the opinion that it'd be fine and I could get away with 2T or more weight if we did what he was suggesting (additional joists, bearer and some extra piers). We went out and obviously bought the tank with total weight estimate being about 1500-1600kg once you add rock/sand and maybe a little wiggle room.
Now he seems to be getting nervous about it all which I'm quite frustrated with, telling me it can be done still but isn't sounding as confident as he first made out to be.

Starting to consider just getting an engineer out to tell me exactly what I need to do to support it and then maybe try do the work myself rather than get this guy in.

Quite frustrated with the whole situation right now.

 

[DarkReefer]

Well, good news.
Met with a structural engineer today and he's explained what I can do to sort things out and it appears it'll be a relatively inexpensive exercise.
Pretty happy with the outcome and I'll post up some progress shots once the work is underway/completed.

 

[DarkReefer]

Made a little progress over the weekend. A little unsure of a couple of things though that I'll need to check.

Can't seem to get the bearer to meet with some of the joists, even trying to use screws to pull the wood together it started to splinter a bit and not move.
On the ends it seems to meet so I think perhaps where the current tank is it's possibly sagged slightly? Can't notice it to look at but not too sure.
I also stuffed up my positioning of the middle bearer. When I initially thought of it I was like ok... 700mm wide, so did 700 divided by 3 to get an approximate of where it would go, when I should've just gone 700/2= 350 and aim the bearer there seeing as the other 2 were basically on the ends.
I can fix it if I need to (have messaged the engineer but haven't heard back yet), but if I don't need to I wont bother and just continue working with what I've done.

Next up is digging some small trenches for the concrete footing before I mix up some concrete for it and then cut and place the piers.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[DarkReefer]

Back under the house today and spent the last few hours undoing the previous work and then redoing it...properly.
Really wasn't happy with the gaps or the split wood etc so went out and bought a couple jacks and a 14g drill bit with counter sink.

Took me a little to get going but then I got in a rhythm with it and it was fairly easy.
Repositioned the middle bearer also and turned them all upside down to use good edges.
Everything is now tight and clean with no gaps.
Much happier. Now to get back under this afternoon and dig some trenches for the concrete...

 

[FOWLROOKIE]

That’s the most important part ! Structure.
I also have to do the same and the 1800 is also what I’m looking into. Can’t wait to see your build! I know they come with a white bottom I wonder how bare bottom would look…….

 

[DarkReefer]

That’s the most important part ! Structure.
I also have to do the same and the 1800 is also what I’m looking into. Can’t wait to see your build! I know they come with a white bottom I wonder how bare bottom would look…….

Yeah exactly. It's cost me a little extra in equipment but at least it's done right and I've got the gear for the next project lol

I'm not sure exactly where the white is applied on the tank (inside or on the outside). But the way the stand works you'd potentially see straight into it with bare bottom or have light leaking through if you had a refugium etc.

 

[FOWLROOKIE]

I’m not sure neither but hey that’s a gorgeous tank! I almost went with a reefer 750 but then I read all the reports of them leaking and backed off

 

[DarkReefer]

Another weekend, another chunk of it spent under the house... With every job I do I feel like it's getting harder and harder, despite being closer and closer to the end goal !

So after my last post I ended up digging out the holes for the concrete footings.

Initially I was going to just pour the concrete in the dirt (with some bricks or something in there), but I decided to go as far as building some rough formwork using some left over panels I found under the house.
So I put these together and then got under the house and put them in place trying to level them out as much as possible.

I smashed up some pavers that I had lying around to create more of a base and to try and minimise the amount of concrete I'd need and lugged about 4-5 buckets worth under. I completely blundered my maths when I was initially trying to work out how much concrete I'd need and all 3 bags I bought went into the one hole (and still needs topping off!). Mixing it in the bucket under the house was hard work and my right arm feels like it's hard a work out!

Now I need to go and buy a heap more concrete, some more face masks and probably a small crowbar so I can mix it all (as I'm going to try just pouring it into the holes and mixing it in there to see if that makes things easier).

 

[DarkReefer]

Another weekend, another update!

During the week I went out and bought myself another 16ish bags of concrete, some more face masks and some wrecker bars.

This morning started off with me lugging the 320kg of concrete from the garage to just under the house followed by a bit of a breather before setting out again to move it further under to where I'm workin. Grabbed the moving dolly and managed to get 4 bags on it to fit into the little gap I have to crawl through to get under the main section of the house and pushed it down to where I'm working. Actually worked pretty well. Missus ended up giving me a hand so I didn't have to crawl through the tight spot every time, thankfully.

Once the concrete was down there, I grabbed a dolly worth of pavers I had sitting around the side of the house and pushed that sucker through also.

I used a bunch of these to add into the holes I'd dug out so I didn't need to use as much concrete. Thankfully I did do this otherwise I would've end up short at the end. As it was I only had 2.5 bags left over.

I ended up just pouring a bag into the holes and then wetting it down and mixing it through with a short wreckers bar. This seemed to work okay and saved me having to try and mix it in a bucket before pouring it in.

Very relieved to have finished this part of the project, was very difficult and tiring trying to manoeuvre 20kg bags in such a tight area. Everything aches right now.

All things going well, next weekend should see me drilling holes for the post anchors and fitting up the piers and finishing up with under the house so I can finally get onto the good stuff (tank) that I'd much rather be working on and I'm sure anyone who's watching would rather me be working on!

 

[DarkReefer]

As has been customary in recent weeks, yesterday marked another day to jump on under the house again.

I was a little worried how good or bad the concrete footings were going to be as it's been a long time since I've had to mix concrete, yet have to do it in a crawl space.. For this reason I decided to do my anchor drilling with the formwork still attached.

First anchor went without a hitch.

Then after getting the missus to duck out again to Bunnings because I needed 4 more anchors (the first store she went to didn't have the full qty I needed), I then completed fitting the anchors, pulling off the formwork and then also filled in some dirt a bit a between the footings. Oh, and also measured up and recorded the lengths of each pier I'd need.

Then came the first row of piers.
I decided to do it row by row based on the bearers, rather than doing each footing so I didn't have to constantly try and jack different bearers to get the piers & hats under. I also made sure to coat the ends of the freshly cut piers to try help protect from any potential termites.

I had an issue where the 6th pier (furthest to the right of photo) was a little too long originally and I couldn't get the joist to lift enough to get it under, so I had to recut it.

This was the most painful row, having to lean/stretch over all those anchors and concrete edges to try and fit the post up, check levels etc

I then went and cut up the remaining lengths, this time I wasn't afraid to cut it very slightly under what I'd originally marked out (only by approx. 1-2mm).
Then came fitting the second row. Much easier than the first row, but I did cut a few a fraction too short so I had to utilise some shims to close the gap.

By this point it was about 6.30pm or so and I decided to send it and try and knock the final row off.
Finally after 5 long tiring, painful & uncomfortable weekends under the house it was finished.

Feels weird that it's complete. But so very glad it is. Today my body is sore all over. This floor better never move once the fish tank is on!

Here's a sneak peak of where the tank will be going. (next to the existing one, which will eventually be shutdown or moved).

And lastly for today's update, I raided the LFS during the Black Friday sales and picked up almost everything I need for the build minus sand (and the RMS rail which I back ordered).

 

[DarkReefer]

Well, Friday night and Saturday morning was tank move day(s) !
I'd originally made plans for my gf's brother and a mate from work to come help me move it on Saturday afternoon or Sunday but my gf's brother had made plans with a group his mates to sort it Saturday morning for us.

After work on Friday the brother came around and we worked to move the cabinet into place.
I decided I wanted to keep it in the shipping crate until we got it inside as I figured it would be easier to move it without damaging it.
We started by putting it on a heavy duty dolly I'd purchased (pics of the green beast are above in the thread) and then had to push it up the driveway and across the front grass and to the front door. This first section went pretty well, although it was a lot heavier than expected.

Getting through the front door with the crate was a little tougher than I expected though. The crate seemed to be on a slight angle coming through the door, not quite sure how we managed to do that but we did. We struggled with lining it up right, and in the end we had to commit & shove it through a little, taking some door paint and wood with it which I'll have to fix up later. The metal tabs on those crates are sharp and no joke! Once it was inside, it was pretty smooth sailing and we got it into position easy enough.

We unboxed it and picked it up off the dolly and put it roughly into it's place against the wall. That was what I thought was the 'easier' part done. We then had some pizza and called it a night.

The next morning I made an early start and moved the crate slightly to get a bit better access and then unboxed it in the garage. No way I was going to attempt to move it through the door like that again.
The boys all showed up somewhere around 10 or so and we got to it.

We had a bit of discussion about how to do it, where we were going with it etc. (all the usual stuff you should generally do before you start a lift like this). I'd borrowed a couple of suction cups from a guy at work and they handled pretty well though I was skeptical the whole time about how much I could trust them. The ones I'd ordered on Amazon didn't show up until the afternoon (but I'll still use them in future to move the old tank etc).

We finally got underway with 2 of us on each end, kind of supporting the ends and the sides.
It was very heavy, probably more than I was expecting and by the time we got near the front door on the grass. We had to put it down as everyone's fingers started to slip a little underneath the weight.

We took a few minutes for a breather and discussed how best to get through the door again. We ended up putting the dolly in place next to the door, one guy just inside the door to support the weight (as going through the door would see it change to maybe 1.5 guys holding it on that end instead of the 2).
After a few minutes of recovery we got back into it again, as we got to the door the guy on the end got his gf to slide the dolly in place whilst he held onto it and trying to keep her out from under it at the same time. Once it was in place we carefully lowered it onto it and from there we wheeled it around to where the cabinet sat.

One more quick lift and some adjustment to slide it into place and we were done.
Couldn't have done it without my gf's brother and his mates. It was a real eye opener at just how much weight is in those things. We definitely would have struggled to do it with just 3 of us like I'd originally planned I think.

After some donuts the boys took off and I was left looking at this gigantic empty tank in my living room. I then realised I needed to readjust the tank on the stand very slightly (we'd done it originally with everyone there but must have missed it). I managed to shift it around myself until it sat flush. Then I messed around for too long shifting the whole unit around to try and make it centre of the room, adjusting the feet to make it level and straight against the wall.

I moved all the gear over to the tank to clear the dining table.

On Sunday I put the Clarisea filter roller together and for now just sat it somewhere in the sump as I still need to pull out the filter sock section, I also took out the Vectra M2 and sat it in it's spot in the return chamber and then I realised I need to start doing the plumbing so I barely started that before we had my gf's family come over for dinner.

What a weekend and yet there's so much left to do!

 

[DarkReefer]

Yesterday I received my RMS rail and instead of continuing trying to do the plumbing I decided to do the lighting.

It's amazing how bright these are, even at 80%. I think the missus wasn't too pleased by it as she was suggesting it needed to be turned down or something. I think I'm going to end up having to put shades on the xr15's so it's not blinding you whilst watching TV.

Also, my foxface freaked out BIG time when we did first power up of the lights, heard it hit the glass pretty hard at one point, but thankfully it seems to be okay this morning. For being the biggest fish in the tank, it's by far the easiest to startle and the first one to panic.

I got the lights set up on mobius etc. Took a couple of attempts as the first time it did all the firmware updates, then stalled on configuring devices. I had to go and factory reset a couple of the lights and create my tank again in the app as it didn't save, once I did that it all seemed to work correctly.

Apologies for the blown out picture, but it's the only one I've got currently that the gf took.

This morning I tried to put the skimmer together but looks like I'm missing some stuff from the box.... ‍

 

[JonoH]

Following along for this!
Looking great

 

[RJT]

Great start
Following along

 

[DarkReefer]

So after checking out videos etc online and discussing with the LFS, we confirmed I was missing the silencer and controller for the Skimmer. The LFS has been great getting back to me and helping me sort it and they've put these items aside for me which will be sent with an order I just placed that included some MP40 controller holders for the cabinet, some various pipes, elbows and some substrate. I ended up going with the Caribsea Special Grade.

Last night was spent putting together the plumbing in the tank.
Some of this seemed a bit tricky... I'm definitely not a plumbing guru so whilst the instructional video was helpful, they've updated they way they do things a little and it made me second guess a few things.

Overall happy with how it's coming together.

This morning I unboxed 2 of the 4 MP40s, but until I get the driver holders I can't really mount it up properly. I also need to get myself 2x extension cables (or make them?!) for the ones on the left side of the tank so that I can mount the controller in the same place.

 

[DarkReefer]

Been playing around with some the rocks trying to make something I'm content with..
So far I don't mind this arch too much but feel like it needs to have more to the side, hence trying to build up the rocks a bit with all the holes on the side of it.

The separate island piece I feel looks better on the other side

Initially I was kind of hoping to just use the new stuff for the tank, but there's not enough rockwork here to do that so I'll have to add in the old scape also.