ED3's Displays and Secret Basement Spawning Lab

[ED3]

Hello everyone, my current systems start at the bottom of this page and the plans for the Secret Basement Spawning Lab start on page 2.

Current setups:

- LPS dominant Waterbox Infinia Frag 125.4

-SPS dominant CADE S2 2100 with basement sump, 57 gallon display refugium and 7’ frag runner tank (total volume 400 gallons)

-Softie and rock flower anemone garden 40 gallon breeder

-60 gallon breeder coral QT

-20 gallons long hospital / emergency quarantine

I hope you all enjoy my systems and project!




Hello everyone, its been a few years since I updated the build thread for my UNS lagoon tank (which can be found here). I let this macro algae paradise grow out and other than never fully getting rid of the visible cyanobacteria I considered the tank a success and a great experience. I ended up moving in October 2022 and ordered a Waterbox Infinia Frag 125.4 that was delivered in April 2023 and has been running ever since. I decided to only keep SPS and plan for long term growth when designing my landscape and when considering equipment.

Current Equipment List:

-2x Radion G6 XR30 Pro LED Fixtures

-2x VorTech MP40 mQD Powerheads

-ProfiLux4 GHL Controller with KH Director and 8 additional dosing pumps)

-2x 400W Titanium Heaters (both on inkbird's for backup)

-Vectra S2 Return Pump

-Axium EShopps X-120 Skimmer

-80lbs Coarse Aragonite Sand

-Battery Backup for MP40's

-24 Month Cured Live Rock

-Grow light for reverse cycle refugium

To keep all this equipment seemingly neat and organized, I set up a cabinet on the left of the stand to hold the GHL equipment, battery backup and dosing chemicals because initially I was using a Tunze Osmolator for my ATO and one of the downsides (in my opinion) of this aquarium is the lack of space for equipment under the tank when you use the sump and ATO basin that come with it. I recently switched over to using a GHL dosing pump with level sensors as an ATO and have loved not having to carry buckets of water up stairs nor needing to have an extra care step for the tank when I travel.

Initially I was planning on using an Alkatronic, verca pumps, kalk stirrer and calcium reactor but switched course after not using the equipment for several months. I decided to keep things more streamline by using GHL dosers and a KH director versus the alkatronic and Randy's 2 part for lower pH aquariums until I can't keep up with the two part dosing or pH stability.

I decided to try two different coralline spore cultures and a few different Hydrospace bacteria cultures when I started the initial cycle. The coralline spores definitively worked!

All of this rock, primarily old Marco Rock from 16 years ago I had sitting in boxes, had been cycling in a brute trashcans for 2 years prior to being used. I used the Marco cement for the rockscape and kept the rocks moist while they set. I ultimately added a few more rocks a couple of months after starting the tank

Now that I have the space, all of my livestock and corals are being thoroughly monitored through a quarantine process. I have had some pests sneak in, mainly aiptasia somehow, but peppermint shrimps made quick work of those and I haven't seen any since. I have been using basic setups for QT systems and even since these pictures were taken, the systems have evolved.

And now we have the aquarium today 7/14/24:

Now before the tang police arrest me hear out why I have so much livestock in the pictures. Fortunately or unfortunately, my wife and I found out we would be needing to move by the summer of 2025 and decided to start planning on a larger tank for our new house. Shortly after this I ended up winning the supporting member raffle prize last year from @AlgaeBarn that was a CADE1200 Peninsula that they allowed me to upgrade for the difference in cost to a CADE REEF 2100 S2. Because of this I've been picking up small fish I want for this tank, quarantining them and adding them to the Waterbox. All of the fish are small enough that they are not stressed out and are all very active and happy. If I wasn't actively in the process of upgrading my aquarium I would never buy all of these fish with the hope of upgrading or rehoming eventually.

Several months ago I started cycling the Marco rock I had remaining from the waterbox scape along with a bunch more dry rock. I'm a big advocate of using fully cycled live rock/wild live rock for all reef tanks. I'm also fortunate in the sense that I'll be able to have the CADE up and running several months prior to moving any SPS or livestock into it. Hopefully the uglies get out of the way before I'm in the new house full time.

The CADE will use all of the equipment I'm currently using on the Waterbox except for the skimmer which will be upgraded to a larger one. I'll be eventually adding a dual chambered calcium reactor and will dose saturated kalkwasser to help maintain a higher pH at night. I'll be adding 4 more Radions to my current ones too. This aquarium is still being actively planned but I'll share any updates as they come up.

I hope you all enjoyed my tank and future plans!

Eddie

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Your tank is doing great! Love all the coral in there!

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Your tank looks great! We can't wait to see what you do with the CADE once it is set up!

 

[ED3]

First things first, here is a current FTS, sorry for the blue I was lazy, and a picture of 3 months of growth on my two Bill Murray frags that were seen in my first post with the foxface.

Ok so, things are moving fast in life and I'm officially moving to NJ by the end of the year! I'll be posting nearly every day to hold myself accountable and make sure I'm moving along efficiently with setting up my new display reef and fish room.

Now comes planning the fish room and the new display. My plan for the CADE S2 2100 is to use my existing LR and LR I've had cooking for between 1 and 3 years. For now, the livestock will just be what I have in my waterbox plus a clown pair, gold bar possum wrasse and yellow jawfish I have in a 40B softie tank that is being taken down. Eventually I'd love to add some Anthias to the CADE but I'll wait a couple of months before giving the tank a bigger initial shock than it needs.

I initially was going to use most of the equipment from my waterbox to start but instead I'm going to use most of that for planning a separate frag system I'll use in case of emergency. Now the equipment list for the CADE is:

-Skimmer: Red Sea Reefer RSK-900
-Return: Vectra L2 x2
-Lighting: Radion X30 G6 Pro x6 hung long ways from front to back of the aquarium
-CaRx: Super Silent Extreme CR618 SSE 6"
-Controller: GHL Profilux with 3x GHL Doser 2.2 and KH Director
-Heater: 800W Finnex Titanium Heater X2 each on an Inkbird temp controller
-UV Sterilizer: Still deciding, will have one though
-Substrate: 200lbs coarse aragonite
-Circulation: MP40 x2 and MP60x2

The sump will be in the basement directly below the tank along with my RODI storage tanks and mixing station. I'm going to use a 100 gallon stock tank for the sump, nothing pretty here just volume. I'll be using the GHL doser's for AWC and ATO. I am switching to dosing saturated kalk and a CaRx vs 2 part because I think it'll be easier for me to keep up with maintenance, no other reason.

I'm also tying in a 7' frag runner tank and a display refugium (57 gallons) at the start. I doubt the fuge will benefit the tank in any noticeable way but I'd love to have a DSB with some mangroves, piles of live rock and macro algae. I'll probably throw some choice softies and anemones in the fuge too since I intend to keep the display SPS only for now. I'll use AI Prime 16HD's for above the fuge and some G5 radions I have for above the frag portion.

I also like the idea of a cryptic portion of the sump so I'm toying with the idea of tying in the 44gallon Brute trashcan I've been using to cook LR for years into the system.

 

[ED3]

Can’t wait to see these frags grow out in their new home

 

[ED3]

This weekend I finally got the CADE moved into a POD for the upcoming move. My heart sank at one point when the pallet completely gave out and the tank dropped about 2 inches. No visible damage but we'll see once I fill it in a few weeks.

Next week is the closing on our new house, I'll be setting up the water mixing station and the basement sump. All of the plumbing has been planned at this point and all of the gear is here. We're having the floor redone in the room where the tank is going so that'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I'll be moving all of the liverock I have cooking along with a bunch of the live rock from my current display into the sump at a minimum. I'm hoping to have the livestock moved by the start of December. I'll post pictures of the progress next week!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This weekend I finally got the CADE moved into a POD for the upcoming move. My heart sank at one point when the pallet completely gave out and the tank dropped about 2 inches. No visible damage but we'll see once I fill it in a few weeks.

Next week is the closing on our new house, I'll be setting up the water mixing station and the basement sump. All of the plumbing has been planned at this point and all of the gear is here. We're having the floor redone in the room where the tank is going so that'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I'll be moving all of the liverock I have cooking along with a bunch of the live rock from my current display into the sump at a minimum. I'm hoping to have the livestock moved by the start of December. I'll post pictures of the progress next week!

Best of luck with getting everything moved!

 

[ED3]

I've decided on using my 57 gallon as a refugium that'll be inline from the overflow of the display. The overflow will dump most of the water directly into the sump but I do want some of that nutrient rich water to hit the refugium directly and not get skimmed immediately. I'll have this drain into a cryptic sump that'll include a deep sand bed and a bunch of live rock and this will drain into the sump. All of this will be plumbed so each section can be taken out of the system loop if need be.

Hopefully one week from today this will all be starting to take shape.

 

[ED3]

Today I’ll be setting up my mixing station. I wanted it big enough to do at least a 50% water change if need be. You should’ve seen the look on my wife’s face when I pulled up with these

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Today I’ll be setting up my mixing station. I wanted it big enough to do at least a 50% water change if need be. You should’ve seen the look on my wife’s face when I pulled up with these

Best of luck with getting the mixing station set up!

 

[ED3]

Best of luck with getting the mixing station set up!

They look a lot bigger inside haha, sleeping on the final location before I plumb it up tomorrow. I have a couple possible locations.

The Rubbermaid I’m going to use as a sump made its way in today too

 

[ED3]

The tank made the trip unscathed, one less thing to worry about now.

The Mixing station is nearly complete, I bought a flow meter to attach so I can measure out the exact water to make one bucket of salt. I’m putting it between a couple of unions incase it doesn’t work out.

All the equipment for the sump is in, I’m planning on starting to plumb the tank on Thursday after it’s moved into place

 

[ED3]

After the first moving company sent 3 guys, I was able to coordinate moving the CADE into the house yesterday morning. So begins the set up!

 

[ED3]

After 13 hours of plumbing and filling…she’s full! Absolutely nothing is set up besides the return pumps and heaters but my goal was to get the tank going bare bones so I can transfer my livestock. Stay tuned for the circus that will be moving everything from MA to NJ later this week!

 

[ED3]

11 days since I moved everything from MA to NJ. I lost my clowns I'd had for 3 years, a hippo tang and yellow jawfish plus 4 acros that did not like moving to such a new set up.

I do have my GHL+KH Director running dosing my homemade 2 part and ATO but the sump is still far from being finished, the skimmer has yet to be installed and the newest of the rock is starting to get some uglies on it. My parameters have been stable, my pH is a consistent 8.4 and my alk is in the 7's. No mini-cycle which I attribute to using cured dry rock plus all the live rock from my old display. All the corals are showing signs of healing or have already started encrusting and the surviving fish couldn't be happier! Over the next week I'll be finishing my sump, getting the skimmer dialed in and starting to do AWC at about 1% total volume per day.

 

[ED3]

Hoping to set up the skimmer tomorrow, build the baffles for the sump, build the top to help with evaporation and set up my AWC (wishful thinking)

My primary pH probe and one of my doser heads died today but that's what built in redundancy is for! I guess GHL will be getting some more business this week.

I also ordered a pair of clowns, a hippo tang and a blonde naso tang from Dr.Reef about a week ago. Once they're here and go through my quarantine (never can be too careful) they'll be added. I'll then be looking into adding a few wrasses and a harem of an undecided anthias. Slowly but surely we'll get this stocked!

 

[ED3]

Its been a while but not too much has happened since my last update. I've been letting things settle in and haven't been tinkering much. Subpar looks for now but things are definately stable. Since my last update I've configured all the dosing pumps for 2 part, a couple trace elements, ATO and AWC. I had some issues while traveling for work with the ATO and AWC so there was some slight bleaching and some STN on a few frags but ultimately everything is growing at the base and starting to color up finally. Its been a long road since December but things seem to be stabilizing and I'm comfortable adding new colonies and frags finally.

I've added a hippo tang, a blonde naso tang and a pair of black ice clownfish. I currently have a harem of 4 female and 1 male Lyretail Anthias and an Ornate Leopard Wrasse being QT'd for another couple of weeks.

I have a GHL ION Director ordered so that'll be added to the system as soon as it comes and will definitely give me peace of mind when traveling.


I've also built a stand for my frag runner tank and have a Versia return pump and two Mitras lights ready to go whenever I feel like starting it up. I'm not super worried about the light coverage for the time being so I wanted to test Mitras out before I really pack the tank full of frags.

 

[ED3]

Small update, the STN and bleaching was due to the radions somehow switching to 100% intensity. I've been traveling a lot for work and not in the office as much for the past 6-8 weeks so I really couldn't tell the difference in lighting. Fortunately I caught this and everything can start healing.

Thankfully I hadn't added any corals since I moved so I'll be filling her with frags starting this week! Time to start getting this tank filled out!

 

[ED3]

FTS 4/11/25


How the flow makes my sand look between pictures

 

[ED3]

Added a harem of 5 lyretail anthias and a pair of ornate leopard wrasses to the display today along with a bunch of frags from a battle box by @Battlecorals , boy were they chunky and bright! These are the first new corals to go into this system since its been running. I also added an auto-feeder today, set it to feed pellets four times a day to keep the anthias happy and fat.