Firthy's CADE 1500 from downunder

[Firthy13]

Question, where did you get all the tubing and fittings for the union ball valves? Mine are uPVC 1/2” true union ball valves and because of the uPVC, they won’t fit any of the PVC we have here in the states.

I’m finding it extremely frustrating they used this uPVC material because none of it fits the normal PVC fittings.

sfboarders is right. it has nothing to do with the material they are made from. it is metric plumbing. even here in Australia we use standard plumbing and require the use of metric to standard conversion fittings. Luckily alot of the LFS are now stocking the metric fittings required to modify the plumbing on alot of these all-in-one tanks that are made in China.

 

[Firthy13]

Where did those wire holders come from? Lowe’s?
Also do you know what size the return line tubing is?? I have a COR20 pump and can’t figure out what to use - I’m thinking a 1” barb fitting but that seems very tight but the 3/4” is loose.

The 'wire holders' is know as cable trunking or ducting, it can be purchased from Electrical wholesalers for a few dollars a meter.
The return line tubing has an internal diameter of 20mm i believe. so slightly larger then 3/4", if you soak the end of the hose is boiling water for 5 minutes you will have no problems getting on a 3/4" barb.

 

[Firthy13]

I have been doing a bit of work in the sump lately. I decided to add my media baskets back in and reduce the size of my refugium. I shortened the removable baffle that once ran east to west along the sump and now it is running north-south. One thing i was concerned about was the amount of detritus that would get caught in the fuge and not make it way over to the skimmer. This way the incoming water is split between the Fuge and the skimmer.

Here is a current full tank shot. I have not added any coral as of yet, i'm trying to increase my bioload and let everything mature first, being a dry rock set up.

So far i have added a Darwin and a normal clownfish, Royal Gramma, and two Azure Damsels. all 5 are only an inch, if that.

I also have a small Tomini Tang and an even smaller Yellow Tang in QT. The yellow is maybe 1.5".

It is still very difficult to obtain fish here in Australia due to the difficulties in transporting them. Very few domestic flights are going between major cities making cargo space very expensive. Obviously, that cost is passed on to the consumers. For example, a Flame Angelfish that cost us $140-$160AUD pre-COVID is now $280AUD.

After the Tangs are added, my next quest will be to add some wrasse. Being a bare bottom tank, i need to stick to the Cirrhilabrus genus. Any fairy wrasse suggestions are more then welcome. Future plans include a handful of anthias, either a PB or Purple tang and a mandarin once i am confident i can sustain enough food for him.

 

[ddaddy2420]

You mean metric pipes? Coralvue has fittings to convert metric to standard.

https://www.coralvue.com/metric-fittings

The 2 valves off the return read on the side 1/2" uPVC - that's why i didn't think it was metric.

 

[Firthy13]

The Tomini finally come out of QT after 7 weeks. Still getting on top of the HLLE but i think it is starting to heal. He absolutely loves diatoms!

My Little Yellow is in QT under observation for another week but he seems to be eating really well. Still very skittish and easily frightened but i'm sure that will setting down once added to that display.
Also finally added some chaeto to the refugium to start managing some nutrients before i hit the algae stage.

 

[sfboarders]

I shortened the removable baffle that once ran east to west along the sump and now it is running north-south.

How did you take the slot rails out and what did you use to hold them in place?

 

[Firthy13]

How did you take the slot rails out and what did you use to hold them in place?

They were held on with black super silicone. I cut it using fishing line. I reattached them with a very small amount of superglue as I knew silicone wouldn't cure under water. If I ever have to remove them they will come off easily.

 

[Firthy13]

Soooo, its been a while.

the tank is coming along pretty well. The Tomini tangs HLLE has totally cleared. Unfortunately i lost the small yellow tang. When he came out of quarantine, he had a small fluke on his eye which somehow got though the prazi treatments. I gave him fresh water dip and died with in 30 seconds of hitting the fresh water. it had been aerated for an hour before hand and was at the same temp as the tank he was coming from. not sure what happened. anyways, that sucked.

I had a month off adding new fish. i was a little exhausted of the whole TTM process that i had been doing almost non stop for 8 weeks. In early November an opportunity presented itself to acquire a dream fish of mine, a Whitetail Bristletooth tang. Not very exciting for some but i just love them after first seeing a trio of these in SeaLife, Singapore. He was really fat and healthy upon arrival. This was my third attempt at getting one. The first i ordered in to my LSF was accidentally sold before i picked him up, the next died in transit to the LFS from the wholesaler. But as they say third time is a charm and couldn't be happier with him. These guys only get collected once a year from Christmas island or Tahiti for the Australian market, so i was very lucky to get him when i did.

At the same time i also picked up a nice yellow. Not as small as the previous one but close to the size of the WT. I thought putting the two tangs through TTM at once would be the best way to manage aggression and reduce the workload on myself transferring fish ever 3 days.

To put these through TTM i used some black tubs from my hardware store rather then the buckets i use for small fish. i used a bit of egg crate to separate them initially until i was confident i didn't have a hyper aggressive, cold blooded killerin my possession. But both behaved well and ate pellets straight away.

 

[sam.veilleux30]

Sorry for the little yellow tang

 

[midgaar]

Love the tangs and I’m glad you were able to get that whitetail. I couldn’t imagine doing all of that QT, I feel for you.

I’m extremely lucky that my LFS puts all of their fish through a 28 day QT before they even go on the show floor. I was able to order all 6 of my tangs in one order and the LFS did the QT for me. I hen I went to pick them up they were already friends and the only fish in one display tank. It felt good to be able to tell the young employee girl, “I’ll take all of the fish in that tank there.”

How is your fuge doing? I’d like to see some “ugly” photos of your fuge and display. I’m finding it difficult to keep my cheato alive. Go figure.

 

[Firthy13]

Love the tangs and I’m glad you were able to get that whitetail. I couldn’t imagine doing all of that QT, I feel for you.

I’m extremely lucky that my LFS puts all of their fish through a 28 day QT before they even go on the show floor. I was able to order all 6 of my tangs in one order and the LFS did the QT for me. I hen I went to pick them up they were already friends and the only fish in one display tank. It felt good to be able to tell the young employee girl, “I’ll take all of the fish in that tank there.”

How is your fuge doing? I’d like to see some “ugly” photos of your fuge and display. I’m finding it difficult to keep my cheato alive. Go figure.

You guys in the US are lucky you are able to do traditional quarantine. Here in Australia, a lot of medications are heavily controlled and only available by prescription from a doctor. Vets wont give them out either. Metro and any sort of copper treatment are near impossible to acquire. liquid Prazi is also unobtainable as of recently.

Struggling to get any growth out of my chaeto. A bit of cyano and maybe dinos are starting to appear in the fuge also. I'll put up some photos of the tank and sump over the next day or two.

 

[Firthy13]

Sorry for the little yellow tang

Thanks, it was a very disappointing. He was such a good eater and i had him eating out of my hand. He would of been a great fish.

 

[AlgaeBarn Verified Sponsor]

Love the tangs and I’m glad you were able to get that whitetail. I couldn’t imagine doing all of that QT, I feel for you.

I’m extremely lucky that my LFS puts all of their fish through a 28 day QT before they even go on the show floor. I was able to order all 6 of my tangs in one order and the LFS did the QT for me. I hen I went to pick them up they were already friends and the only fish in one display tank. It felt good to be able to tell the young employee girl, “I’ll take all of the fish in that tank there.”

How is your fuge doing? I’d like to see some “ugly” photos of your fuge and display. I’m finding it difficult to keep my cheato alive. Go figure.

Is this in your new CADE?

 

[midgaar]

Is this in your new CADE?

Yessir. Not sure if it is low NO/PO or light is too weak/strong.

 

[AlgaeBarn Verified Sponsor]

Yessir. Not sure if it is low NO/PO or light is too weak/strong.

In a newer system, it is most likely due to lower nutrients for the macro. You can try some type of supplemental macro dosing. ~Shaun K.

 

[Peach02]

sorry to hear about the yellow and congrats on finding the whitetail

 

[Firthy13]

Tank is coming along okay, i guess. I'm really struggling to raise my nitrates above 1ppm at the moment. I Added a few kgs of Seachem matrix in early December and the nitrates have been heading down ever since. Phosphate is about 0.09. Getting a fair bit of dark brown/reddish algae forming on the rocks. The Tangs and CUC are in to it, but are hardy making a dint. I'm sure as things mature, it will pass. I never really got a bad ugly stage when i went through the initial cycle so this is probably it.

I started to get coraline growth over the last few weeks so i decided it was time to add a few test corals just to see how they go.
I went with a small branching hammer, Duncan, Dallas, Monti cap, and some assorted birdsnest and digitata. They have been in for 1-2 weeks and everything has good polyp extension but time will tell. I need to sort my dosing out and get the doser calibrated. With my low nitrates, i'm doing my best to stop the weekly water changes for a while to try and build my nutrients up enough to be able to establish my chaeto in my fuge.

I may even need to start looking at some more flow. I have about 2500L/hr through my sump and 2 MP40s on reefcrest @ 85% and have noticed my duncan and hammer are not moving as much i want. I have yet to decide if i'm going to get more MP40s or try a Gyre like the reefwaves or similar. While i love the idea of the gyres, i hate cables in display tanks so i need to weigh that up.

 

[Rhoads238]

Tank is looking great! I love the how the aquascape came out. great job

 

[Firthy13]

Tank is looking great! I love the how the aquascape came out. great job

Thanks, i think it will come in to its own once covered in coral and nice and grown in.

 

[Firthy13]

Quick update.
I have turned my refugium off and let nutrients accumulate for a month or two and has appears to have help alot. I also dumped 30+ small turbos in to help with algae control.
I returned my AI Prime Fuge as is was having major connection issues and it was factory resetting itself frequently and unfortunately AI customer service could help. I'm now researching new options for nutrient control. I'm thinking of going down the algae scrubber path.
I have the last of my fish going through QT. I'm adding a small purple tang, Goldrim tang and small school of lyretail anthias. After these are introduced to the DT together my only remaining livestock to acquire is some wrasse. I have haven't decided what I'm going to go with yet but seeing as I'm running a BB, I'm only really looking at Fairy's and flashers.

I have been a little time poor so haven't bothered adding too many corals since last update.

The Cade is still performing flawlessly. I highly recommend these tanks. Could not be happier after its first year of running.