Eldritch Blast’s Cade 1200 S2

[Jbmynes]

Right on, Local 32 Seattle here!

Nice! You all are staying busy, I almost headed that way for a call a few months ago haha! Stay safe brother!

 

[Eldritch_blast]

We are up and running! Picking up some Dr Tim’s one and only today and will be getting some ammonia introduced in short order. Feels good!

 

[flashsmith]

Your scape looks amazing. Great job! I'm getting ready to order one of these and I can't find a weight for the tank. My concern is being able to handle it. What would you say the weight is on the tank dry? Thanks

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Your scape looks amazing. Great job! I'm getting ready to order one of these and I can't find a weight for the tank. My concern is being able to handle it. What would you say the weight is on the tank dry? Thanks

Thanks! It’s definitely more enjoyable to look at than my sad attempt at rock stacking in the past, especially being something you made yourself.

I was way concerned with moving it as well. Be aware Algae Barn ships them stacked now, unlike many other threads show them separately. You have 48 hours from when you sign that ticket to report any problems, although Algae Barn was awesome (and my LFS I bought it through) with their correspondence and I’m sure they would have taken care of it after that period, had I been unable to unstack them, but be prepared! The tank is on top.

The tank and the stand can be handled by two men who are somewhat confident in lifting heavy stuff, I moved both of them with just one other person. If you can get access to a couple of those suction cup lifters used for glass, that was handy we only had one but was helpful. Make sure you have a good lifting plan, and discuss every move before you pick such an expensive piece of glass. I’d guess the weight is around 200lbs or so. Make sure you and your help takes off all watches, rings, belts, and anything else that could scratch. Use a cart to roll on if you can, I wasn’t able to l, we carried it about 50 feet.

Good Luck, can’t wait to see your build thread :)

 

[TheWB]

Thanks! It’s definitely more enjoyable to look at than my sad attempt at rock stacking in the past, especially being something you made yourself.

I was way concerned with moving it as well. Be aware Algae Barn ships them stacked now, unlike many other threads show them separately. You have 48 hours from when you sign that ticket to report any problems, although Algae Barn was awesome (and my LFS I bought it through) with their correspondence and I’m sure they would have taken care of it after that period, had I been unable to unstack them, but be prepared! The tank is on top.

The tank and the stand can be handled by two men who are somewhat confident in lifting heavy stuff, I moved both of them with just one other person. If you can get access to a couple of those suction cup lifters used for glass, that was handy we only had one but was helpful. Make sure you have a good lifting plan, and discuss every move before you pick such an expensive piece of glass. I’d guess the weight is around 200lbs or so. Make sure you and your help takes off all watches, rings, belts, and anything else that could scratch. Use a cart to roll on if you can, I wasn’t able to l, we carried it about 50 feet.

Good Luck, can’t wait to see your build thread :)

Which LFS did you go through?

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Which LFS did you go through?

I bought it through Barrier Reef Aquariums, was shipped through AB. They do 10% livestock credit there and matched BRS pricing on everything, so I bought darn near everything through them excluding the rock, mortar, and glue. I actually ordered like less than a week after ecotech raised all their prices, and they honored the prices of all stock items not ordered.

 

[TheWB]

I bought it through Barrier Reef Aquariums, was shipped through AB. They do 10% livestock credit there and matched BRS pricing on everything, so I bought darn near everything through them excluding the rock, mortar, and glue. I actually ordered like less than a week after ecotech raised all their prices, and they honored the prices of all stock items not ordered.

Nice, I like Barrier Reef. Most of my clean up crew and my cleaner shrimp came from there as well as my Gorgonian plus a couple of wavemakers and other supplies. They tend to be my go to for stuff like that but strangely enough I’ve never purchased a fish from there.

 

[VermontReefs]

Following - Fellow Cade 1200 Builder

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Happy New Years!

Ok, so much to get caught up on. Done a bad job of getting updates in here! Was going to pound out a huge update, but have decided I will just break it into smaller sections, as I was going to give up on probably my 5th attempt over the past 2 months to post because there is a lot I can get carried away on. I will actually be re-formatting this thread to look more appropriate and get a nice organized equipment list going. Going is the key word there right? That list will never be completed!

Long story short though:

• Successful cycle 5 weeks
• 2 Black Storm Clowns added 10/11 lights still off
• small cuc added nassairus, BL hermits, Astrea, Trochus
• Refugium set up with Starter Kit from Algae Barn, using AI Fuge light and Red Ogo
• Long nosed hawk fish added 11/20
• McKosker's Wrasse Added 11/27
• Lights on 11/28- 10% peak power.
• MP40 dry side Swapped out through warranty with Ecotech-
• CO2 Scrubber for PH stability-fresh air supply added to to do list
• Maintenance cart that rolls into nearby coat closet-keeping stand mostly clean and organized!
• Weekly 10% water changes happening since around thanksgiving
• First Frags ordered courtesy of my lovely Fiancé's xmas gift. Was given a gift card to vivid aquariums and picked out a few different frags, although I cant seem to find my order confirmation now that I am looking for it, I have not been contacted yet to set up shipping so you will just have to wait and hear about those later!
• Notched out jump net for light feet
• Lights have been ramped up to about 50% intensity for about 2 weeks now- Algae explosion not yet evident, crossing fingers my ugly stage is not so the discouraging make you question your hobby and life decisions type of ugly. So far so good.

That's the condensed version for now! Photo Dump attached!!

Edit: would like to add disclaimer about the yoaga mats haha...they are for the dog. Easy traction! He's got bad hips

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Well I suppose I kind of asked for troubles not waiting for all the roads to clear up but I thought everything would’ve been tracking okay. We had snow all week last week, probably better to not order livestock within a week or so of things like that.
I ordered a few frags from vivid aquariums, because I’m home awaiting PCR results from an exposure I had with work protocol so I’d be home for delivery any time. Well it got held up at fedex, for an extra 24 hours I actually was able to get them to track it down and let me go pick it up rather than wait another day.

they appear to be fine, water was pretty cold but heat pack was still warm on top. Any ways I think they will settle in okay hopefully.

All my parameters have been testing pretty stable, I’m getting some patches of gha in my sand bed, I’m keeping an eye on might have to look at adjusting my flow a bit, I don’t really have anything that works the sand yet.

Now that I’m in the swing of things with a good routine, I couldn’t hold out any longer felt like the right time. Went with a couple Zoas and a small Chalice. They threw in a frag with a few polyps of some unknown variety at this time as well. I think they will all be fine.

woot!

 

[TheWB]

Well I suppose I kind of asked for troubles not waiting for all the roads to clear up but I thought everything would’ve been tracking okay. We had snow all week last week, probably better to not order livestock within a week or so of things like that.
I ordered a few frags from vivid aquariums, because I’m home awaiting PCR results from an exposure I had with work protocol so I’d be home for delivery any time. Well it got held up at fedex, for an extra 24 hours I actually was able to get them to track it down and let me go pick it up rather than wait another day.

they appear to be fine, water was pretty cold but heat pack was still warm on top. Any ways I think they will settle in okay hopefully.

All my parameters have been testing pretty stable, I’m getting some patches of gha in my sand bed, I’m keeping an eye on might have to look at adjusting my flow a bit, I don’t really have anything that works the sand yet.

Now that I’m in the swing of things with a good routine, I couldn’t hold out any longer felt like the right time. Went with a couple Zoas and a small Chalice. They threw in a frag with a few polyps of some unknown variety at this time as well. I think they will all be fine.

woot!

I feel your pain with FedEx, same thing happened to me last week. My corals spent an extra night in the freezing cold fedex warehouse at SeaTac and by the time I picked them up in Fife the next day the heat pack was used up and the water was freezing. Luckily 3 out of 4 corals made it but I lost about 15 polyps worth of Speckled Kraks. I absolutely hate it when it snows around here but it wasn’t so bad that FedEx couldn’t have done their job. Never again with them.

 

[danieyella]

It's warm here because FL, but I have to keep reminding myself not to order anything until it warms up everywhere else as well. Not easy. Glad you could hunt them down!

 

[Eldritch_blast]

I feel your pain with FedEx, same thing happened to me last week. My corals spent an extra night in the freezing cold fedex warehouse at SeaTac and by the time I picked them up in Fife the next day the heat pack was used up and the water was freezing. Luckily 3 out of 4 corals made it but I lost about 15 polyps worth of Speckled Kraks. I absolutely hate it when it snows around here but it wasn’t so bad that FedEx couldn’t have done their job. Never again with them.

I’m thinking these issues with garbage/deliveries have to also be due to staffing shortages, and can technically be blamed on road conditions. Out of a crew of 24 people at my job, 9 are out with either Covid or Covid protocol. Everywhere has to be getting hammered with staffing issues.

I need to get in to the local scene here and find some fraggers, ordering scares me I don’t have time to be chasing down packages or being home at 10 AM on a Tuesday, although I’m sure I will get the routine down.

 

[TheWB]

I’m thinking these issues with garbage/deliveries have to also be due to staffing shortages, and can technically be blamed on road conditions. Out of a crew of 24 people at my job, 9 are out with either Covid or Covid protocol. Everywhere has to be getting hammered with staffing issues.

I need to get in to the local scene here and find some fraggers, ordering scares me I don’t have time to be chasing down packages or being home at 10 AM on a Tuesday, although I’m sure I will get the routine down.

I’m sure you’re right about the staffing issues. I’m in the moving industry and our local crews have done a phenomenal job of not catching Covid. I was worried it was going to be a major problem but I have not had one job rescheduled due to unavailable crew members. Getting driver help to load/unload is another story but that luckily hasn’t affected me very much. Things are bad though.

I’m not connected at all to any sort of local scene. Barrier Reef and SeaKing have pretty good selections and pricing so I never really tried to seek anyone else out.
The online vendor I like uses UPS overnight and both times the shipment was right on time at 10:30am.
I’m sure there are some people around here that you could get good deals from once you know who they are. Unfortunately I’m no help with that. If you find anyone let me know lol.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Well I guess I am glad I am kicking myself so early regarding fish disease. Some spots have shown up on the wrasse. One on each fin, and an eye . I noticed them last night. Went out and got a 29 gallon to set up in thae garage and at least get running while I figure out where to go from here. It has been eating, and acting pretty normally. A sleeper goby just went in a couple days ago, and I am not sure if its appearance stressed the wrasse out or what, but next day was when I noticed the spots. Then today when I got home, they seemed more pronounced.

I wasn't sure if I should throw the wrasse into QT right away or not, or if I could maybe toss some of the marine pure balls from my sump in the tank, an alert badge and water change as necessary to maybe start treating right away, but I guess I haven't even yet really been able to ID what exactly the problem is, and am worried tossing it into a tank where ammonia exposure and just a pipe fitting to hide in may do more harm than good.

I had intended to get a QT procedure fit in, just hadn't prioritized it high enough yet, I had intended to run UV.

The goby that was added last Saturday, I wish I would have chosen a bit larger one. I think it felt intimidated by the curious and likely somewhat aggressive hawkish, and wrasse. The goby went straight into munchin sand a minute or two after going in to the tank. I took my eyes off it for like 1 minute and it disappeared to the rocks. saw him in a hidy hole that evening, and then he has moved on to another spot, not sure where that is. Havent seen him in over 24 hours, hopefully he settles in and gets some food.

Have a 3 day weekend coming up, hopefully there will be time to implement the best course of action I can find before then.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Ok so have pretty much waffled as to what action to take with the wrasse this week. Kept spinning my wheels pretty much felt like I was drinking out of a firehouse reading about what to do, then tripping over where to start.

So I set up a 29 Gallon tank in the garage I will be using to diagnose and treat in. I grabbed a few of the marine pure blocks out of my sump to throw in there. I just have a HOB filter, some fittings, a heater, and an alert badge on there. I will probably move my Seneye to the QT to keep a close eye on the NH3 . To start I am going to do a 5 minute freshwater dip on the wrasse to check for flukes or anything else that may yield. Then sadly move to the garage.

I am concerned I am dealing with Flukes on the wrasse now, and if so I think I would have to probably move all fish into the garage for treatment and fallow. I hope not, because I would really like to utilize the fish to assist in nutrient generation for my battle with Dinos I have also started this week.

I feel like I am going down the path of trying to fix too much, when I look at all the treatment options available for the different types on here. Amazon had a pretty cheap Microscope, available for same day delivery and I was able to get a few shots and it appears to be a combination of both large and small Anphidinium. My Phosphates have been swinging up and down. hitting 0.00 twice in the past week, I have been testing every day. Highest they have gotten was 0.07. Yesterday it was at 0.04, then this morning it was at 0.0 so I did my first dosing of Neophos and this evening it was up to 0.03. I have stopped my weekly water changes as of this week for now. My Nitrates are at 10. Neonitro, Neophos, MB7, Oceanmagik, and possibly even raising silicates with Spongexcel ( will be reading more into this). As I typed all that out, that is why I said I feel like I am going down the path of trying to do too much. There's a whole bunch of bottles of stuff I pulled out of the bags this weekend...and a microscope...Seems a bit over the top but it does feel good to feel like I am doing something. I think the microscope is actually going to be a super fun thing to have in this hobby, but its just crazy how much stuff you can end up with when you go down the rabbit holes.

Ordered a UV the day I saw the spots on the wrasse, and will be plumbing it to help with dinos first, then running for killing baddies. That shows up tomorrow. I will likely start a thread elsewhere so this thread doesn't become a dino battle thread, hopefully I will be back here soon ( soon setting my bar low here....real low) with good updates for both sick wrasse and a clean sandbed!

 

[TheWB]

Ok so have pretty much waffled as to what action to take with the wrasse this week. Kept spinning my wheels pretty much felt like I was drinking out of a firehouse reading about what to do, then tripping over where to start.

So I set up a 29 Gallon tank in the garage I will be using to diagnose and treat in. I grabbed a few of the marine pure blocks out of my sump to throw in there. I just have a HOB filter, some fittings, a heater, and an alert badge on there. I will probably move my Seneye to the QT to keep a close eye on the NH3 . To start I am going to do a 5 minute freshwater dip on the wrasse to check for flukes or anything else that may yield. Then sadly move to the garage.

I am concerned I am dealing with Flukes on the wrasse now, and if so I think I would have to probably move all fish into the garage for treatment and fallow. I hope not, because I would really like to utilize the fish to assist in nutrient generation for my battle with Dinos I have also started this week.

I feel like I am going down the path of trying to fix too much, when I look at all the treatment options available for the different types on here. Amazon had a pretty cheap Microscope, available for same day delivery and I was able to get a few shots and it appears to be a combination of both large and small Anphidinium. My Phosphates have been swinging up and down. hitting 0.00 twice in the past week, I have been testing every day. Highest they have gotten was 0.07. Yesterday it was at 0.04, then this morning it was at 0.0 so I did my first dosing of Neophos and this evening it was up to 0.03. I have stopped my weekly water changes as of this week for now. My Nitrates are at 10. Neonitro, Neophos, MB7, Oceanmagik, and possibly even raising silicates with Spongexcel ( will be reading more into this). As I typed all that out, that is why I said I feel like I am going down the path of trying to do too much. There's a whole bunch of bottles of stuff I pulled out of the bags this weekend...and a microscope...Seems a bit over the top but it does feel good to feel like I am doing something. I think the microscope is actually going to be a super fun thing to have in this hobby, but its just crazy how much stuff you can end up with when you go down the rabbit holes.

Ordered a UV the day I saw the spots on the wrasse, and will be plumbing it to help with dinos first, then running for killing baddies. That shows up tomorrow. I will likely start a thread elsewhere so this thread doesn't become a dino battle thread, hopefully I will be back here soon ( soon setting my bar low here....real low) with good updates for both sick wrasse and a clean sandbed!

I think the most important thing right now is to just pick a course of action and go from there. It looks like you’ve done that with both the wrasse and the Dino’s.
What made you suspect flukes on the wrasse, is that just based on the spots you’ve seen?
I’m not much help with Dino eradication but there’s lots of info on here and making the identification is huge, now you can just concentrate on the steps to eliminate it.
Good luck, I hope things work out.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

What made you suspect flukes on the wrasse, is that just based on the spots you’ve seen?

I don’t know, i guess just really not wanting it to be flukes has made me worry about it. After turning in just the blues what was a very difficult to see kind of ashy or chalky look near the top of its body became a bit more noticeable I think my concern level just went up a bit.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Well I’ve still been unsuccessful at removing the wrasse to isolate, diagnose, and treat. Still eating good. I did treat food for 5 days with focus/metroplex. This might have had an effect as I’m not really seeing it hanging at return pump as often, and the flashing has subsided. I’m going to trap it, once it warms up to the trap I’ve put in, today is day 2 with it in and it’s still wary but I think it’s getting tired of watching the hawkfish lay down in there eating all the food.
Really the only symptoms I am noticing at this point is since I’m running mostly blue lights right now there is a noticeable white or almost chalky outline on some of the scales near it’s spine, but I can’t see anything if I have any white on. Hard to feel like I’m not doing the wrong thing taking a really slow and lazy approach to removing this fish from the tank. If I were more confident I wasn’t just going to kill the fish learning how to appropriately ID and treat it in a quarantine tank then I would put the effort in and just pull my rocks and net it. But since I’m weary of my skills as a fish Dr. Observing and learning whatever there is to learn the route I’m going now seems fine.

Last weekend I got the UV sterilizer installed. I went with using a delegate pump rather than a manifold as it seemed more versatile for options, without much hassle. Nice to have a second pump if one fails anyway.

As for whatever dino issue I was getting ready for battle on, either it wasn’t Dino’s or it never got a foothold l. Someone in the Dino thread also suggested perhaps golden algae chryro-something or another don’t remember off hand. But my sand bed couldn’t be cleaner. Still some snotty looking strands here and there on the rocks but it isn’t growing. I’m testing about 3-4 times a week and havibg to watch po4 closely, as every week or so I’ve seen it bottom out and have been adding a little neophos, it then tests out at .04 most of the time.

The few frags I’ve tossed in all seem to be doing well. I’ve got a Chalice and then a few zoas and palys.

Hopefully I can trap that wrasse and see exactly what I’m dealing with here because I would like to continue stocking the tank if I can. Going to hunt some more inverts for now!

 

[TheWB]

Well I’ve still been unsuccessful at removing the wrasse to isolate, diagnose, and treat. Still eating good. I did treat food for 5 days with focus/metroplex. This might have had an effect as I’m not really seeing it hanging at return pump as often, and the flashing has subsided. I’m going to trap it, once it warms up to the trap I’ve put in, today is day 2 with it in and it’s still wary but I think it’s getting tired of watching the hawkfish lay down in there eating all the food.
Really the only symptoms I am noticing at this point is since I’m running mostly blue lights right now there is a noticeable white or almost chalky outline on some of the scales near it’s spine, but I can’t see anything if I have any white on. Hard to feel like I’m not doing the wrong thing taking a really slow and lazy approach to removing this fish from the tank. If I were more confident I wasn’t just going to kill the fish learning how to appropriately ID and treat it in a quarantine tank then I would put the effort in and just pull my rocks and net it. But since I’m weary of my skills as a fish Dr. Observing and learning whatever there is to learn the route I’m going now seems fine.

Last weekend I got the UV sterilizer installed. I went with using a delegate pump rather than a manifold as it seemed more versatile for options, without much hassle. Nice to have a second pump if one fails anyway.

As for whatever dino issue I was getting ready for battle on, either it wasn’t Dino’s or it never got a foothold l. Someone in the Dino thread also suggested perhaps golden algae chryro-something or another don’t remember off hand. But my sand bed couldn’t be cleaner. Still some snotty looking strands here and there on the rocks but it isn’t growing. I’m testing about 3-4 times a week and havibg to watch po4 closely, as every week or so I’ve seen it bottom out and have been adding a little neophos, it then tests out at .04 most of the time.

The few frags I’ve tossed in all seem to be doing well. I’ve got a Chalice and then a few zoas and palys.

Hopefully I can trap that wrasse and see exactly what I’m dealing with here because I would like to continue stocking the tank if I can. Going to hunt some more inverts for now!

Goodness, that’s a real bazooka of a UV, isn’t it? Good luck with the wrasse, hopefully the trap works soon so you can see what your dealing with.