DarkReefer's CADE Reef S2 1800

[DarkReefer]

Went and got myself a new addition the other day. Sick of seeing aiptasia in the tank, just seemed to have been multiplying out of control so figured I'd try and combat that with this guy.

I think I've seen it get rid of at least one small aiptasia within the first day, so fingers crossed it keeps eating more of them. Thankfully the other fish don't seem too bothered by it also which I was worried about after one or two of the tangs took out the CBB.

Couple of tank shots also.

 

[DarkReefer]

Had a bit of an interesting Saturday with the tank.
Missus had noticed the water level dropping (I thought it seemed fine, but she was adamant that it was lower than it normally is). I'd checked to see if the ato float was working a day or two prior, gave it a light push and seemed to be working normally.

Whilst we were sitting around after lunch, the missus commented again that she said she thought it was lower still so I figured it was about time I pulled out the return pump and give it a clean just in case. First time doing it since it was installed 2 years ago... whoops. Missus went out to do some stuff and I got to work.

As I was working on it I realised I had a notification from the Apex and initially thought not much of it when I saw the symbol and that it would just be because I'm working on something on the tank, thankfully I double checked it in further detail as the alarm warning looked a little different to what I'd seen. Turns out it was the leak alarm and I saw a slow but constant steady dripping occurring from the ATO piping where it secures to the tank.

Somehow, I wasn't flipping out like I normally would and just got to work on trying to keep water off the electricals by using towels to soak up as much as possible. I then drained the ATO reservoir completely which took a bit of work, my siphon is a bit old and has some cracks etc and I misplaced my extension piece as well so had to find another hose to try suck it out too.

Missus got back soon after I finally finished sucking it all out and got her help to hold the ato pipe in place whilst I had my hand around the back to tighten it back up. Seemed to be quite loose, which both me and the missus thought was odd as she knows how much I usually overanalyze things and how thorough I can be at times, but I managed to tighten it up again as tight as I could by hand and chucked some water back in to test if it leaked. So far so good.

Then I went back to finally pull apart the return pump and gave it a good scrub and clean. That's back in now and sounds like its pumping more strongly than before.
So stressful though. It's no surprise I don't like working on the tank so much these days LOL. I feel like some times that I do something goes wrong!

Really glad the apex alerted me, could've taken me a lot longer to realise that was happening otherwise and potentially caused some damages.

 

[JonoH]

Sounds like you averted a disaster!

I had a seal come loose on my sump after 3 years, its strange as nothing every touches it also! Leak sensors for the win right! (And being home at the right time!)

 

[DarkReefer]

Sounds like you averted a disaster!

I had a seal come loose on my sump after 3 years, its strange as nothing every touches it also! Leak sensors for the win right! (And being home at the right time!)

100%!
I don't know if I knocked something slightly whilst removing the return pump, and if I did it really wouldn't have been by much so was very surprised to see it come loose/leak. Scary stuff though.

Hopefully doesn't happen again!

Got a bunch more clean up of equipment and of the sump in general that needs to happen, just a matter of when I'll find the time lol.

 

[DarkReefer]

During April the missus noticed my foxface looked a bit thin compared to normal. We could actually start to see part of its lateral line (I think that's the right terminology). Since having the bub I'd gotten a bit lazy with regular seaweed and when refilling the food, it looks like I may have not opened it enough (though I thought the mark lined up).
Anyway, thankfully caught it early enough.
Went back to nearly daily seaweed in the clip since, fixed the auto feeder (pondering setting up an additional feed too), and trying to make sure there is some frozen thrown in once or twice a week. I'd be tempted to throw more food at them but just worry about the nutrient levels as I'm terrible at monitoring them (was supposed to do it on the weekend and got sidetracked).
The foxface has definitely fattened back up in the past few weeks so we're very happy there. All other fish seem to be pretty happy as well overall thankfully too, though we are seeing a little bit of push n shove happening between some of the tangs on occasion and even the foxface likes to tell the hippo tang to back off when its feeding time.

The aiptasia eating filefish has been doing good work. Most of the aiptasia is now gone, I think I've only noticed one slightly visible one in the tank currently and it's kind of hidden under another softy so the filefish may not have seen it yet.

Over the weekend I harvested some of the chaeto for the first time, took out about half as it had finally settled in and filled the chamber it was in which was cool. For a while there I felt like it was doing nothing.

I also had my first attempt at removing some xenia (just one branching piece in particular) as it was really encroaching on one of my leather corals and even started to grip onto it. I think I got most of it off the rock but may have left a little bit behind, will have to wait n see how that goes. Trying to get the piece to latch onto another piece of rock so I can perhaps go trade it at the LFS or to another reefer or something.

I've also been dealing with some annoying salt creep that's been coming from the RMS. It ends up going on the outer glass and wicking moisture down the glass and onto the cleaning magnet. Really annoying.
Starting to consider whether I remove the arms from the tank itself and try and hang the RMS by the roof. @JonoH I saw you have hung lights for your set up. How did you go about it, do you need to get into the roof at all and any other info/tips you would suggest if going this route?

Pics incoming. (Edit: more pics will come but apparrntly the ones I took are too big so heres the fragged piece of xenia and the space next to the leather now)

 

[JonoH]

During April the missus noticed my foxface looked a bit thin compared to normal. We could actually start to see part of its lateral line (I think that's the right terminology). Since having the bub I'd gotten a bit lazy with regular seaweed and when refilling the food, it looks like I may have not opened it enough (though I thought the mark lined up).
Anyway, thankfully caught it early enough.
Went back to nearly daily seaweed in the clip since, fixed the auto feeder (pondering setting up an additional feed too), and trying to make sure there is some frozen thrown in once or twice a week. I'd be tempted to throw more food at them but just worry about the nutrient levels as I'm terrible at monitoring them (was supposed to do it on the weekend and got sidetracked).
The foxface has definitely fattened back up in the past few weeks so we're very happy there. All other fish seem to be pretty happy as well overall thankfully too, though we are seeing a little bit of push n shove happening between some of the tangs on occasion and even the foxface likes to tell the hippo tang to back off when its feeding time.

The aiptasia eating filefish has been doing good work. Most of the aiptasia is now gone, I think I've only noticed one slightly visible one in the tank currently and it's kind of hidden under another softy so the filefish may not have seen it yet.

Over the weekend I harvested some of the chaeto for the first time, took out about half as it had finally settled in and filled the chamber it was in which was cool. For a while there I felt like it was doing nothing.

I also had my first attempt at removing some xenia (just one branching piece in particular) as it was really encroaching on one of my leather corals and even started to grip onto it. I think I got most of it off the rock but may have left a little bit behind, will have to wait n see how that goes. Trying to get the piece to latch onto another piece of rock so I can perhaps go trade it at the LFS or to another reefer or something.

I've also been dealing with some annoying salt creep that's been coming from the RMS. It ends up going on the outer glass and wicking moisture down the glass and onto the cleaning magnet. Really annoying.
Starting to consider whether I remove the arms from the tank itself and try and hang the RMS by the roof. @JonoH I saw you have hung lights for your set up. How did you go about it, do you need to get into the roof at all and any other info/tips you would suggest if going this route?

Pics incoming.

Hanging from the roof wasnt too hard, but you do need to make sure your fixing into timber.
I had to get into my roof and add in some timber for this, i used a laser to find the center of the tank both ways, then measured out the location of the wire hanger from there.
Depends how handy you are as to wether its an easy job or not I guess!

I need to go through another round of Xenia removal in my tank again!

 

[DarkReefer]

Hanging from the roof wasnt too hard, but you do need to make sure your fixing into timber.
I had to get into my roof and add in some timber for this, i used a laser to find the center of the tank both ways, then measured out the location of the wire hanger from there.
Depends how handy you are as to wether its an easy job or not I guess!

I need to go through another round of Xenia removal in my tank again!

Okay, thought that would be the case. I don't currently own a laser so might need to look into that a bit more before I attempt then. There's a manhole right near the tank so shouldn't be too bad to get it sorted... once I can work out where the tank is below the roof LOL.
Not too afraid to give it a shot though, just need to do some research first!

I want to pull a bunch more, but I didn't want to do too much at once just in case it upset things.
I did chuck some new carbon media in a bag in the sump though just in case there were any toxins released.