Kevin's 60G Cade Cube

[Rjukan]

Thanks! The sand has been drifting a bit on the side opposite from the Gyre. I'm a big fan of fine sand beds, so intend on making this work somehow! I'm planning on getting some sand from TBS which is pretty coarse, so I'll put that in the high flow ares. Hopefully when I get some clams and things plopped down in the sand that should also help.

I did the exact same thing with some tbs sand haha.. but it's still pretty fine. I ended up using crushed coral for the higher flow areas and it seems to have worked out well. But still, if you get any sand sifters or burrowing creatures they will lift it up into the water column. I'm wondering if flow directed at the overflow would help to remove it and send it down to the sump. I was going to start a thread asking about it sometime.

 

[ksliech]

I thank you for sharing this information as I am awaiting my Cade 600 and plan on getting same skimmer. Was your sump running higher than recommended?

Yeah, running higher than the recommendation for the skimmer, but seemingly the right height for what Cade designed for. That's basically set by the baffle height going into the return pump chamber.

 

[Ospreys48]

Yeah, running higher than the recommendation for the skimmer, but seemingly the right height for what Cade designed for. That's basically set by the baffle height going into the return pump chamber.

Thanks for the clarification as I realized I didn’t specify.

 

[ksliech]

More progress! Things are going well, and I've now got some livestock:

• 3 green chromis
• ~6 hermits
• 3 trochus snails
• 1 emerald crab
• A couple of mushrooms and some button polyps

Water chemistry looks great, and I've dialed in my alkalinity and calcium to roughly 9 dKH and 430ppm using B-Ionic. Did my first water change today: 10 gallons with TM Reef Crystals, which had been cooking for 48 hours in buckets with pumps and heaters. Blew out all the rocks with a powerhead, and man did the ReefMat take care of the cloudiness quickly.

Algae-wise, I'm getting some hair algae and what looks like the beginning of diatoms. The dead marcorocks are very slowly getting algae on them, which I'd really like to hurry up because I hate the sterile look!

Inside the cabinet, I added some LED strip lights that turn on when I open the front door. I wanted them to turn on when I opened either door, but there wasn't a way to do it with this particular setup. This is what I bought: Amazon link. Here's how it looks inside all lit up just by 3 of these light bars, I'm super happy with how it turned out. Door open sensor is in the top right corner.

Lastly, I finally got the equipment panel to close. The Neptune Apex Pro A3 unit *is too thick* to mount on the panel and get the door too close on this Cade stand. The Energy Bar can be mounted in there with the door closed when using flat power plug extension. I tried velcroing it in like everything else, but it wouldn't reliably stick. Instead I drilled a couple small holes and mounted the bracket to the panel, thens lid the energy bar on. The power cords are so numerous and thick that all this crap barely fit!

You'll notice my IM Helio heater controller finally working, as they sent a replacement for it and that one worked right out of the box. I can't believe how stable the temperature is compared to the Eheim temporary heaters I had in there.

Another challenge was the Apex Pro, which never reconnects to wifi after losing power. Luckily I happened to have a power line ethernet adapter, which is too slow for normal internet things but not so for this little guy which only needs a trickle of data. As soon as I hooked that up, I got a nice and stable connection. The Apex Pro and its power line ethernet adapter sit next to the tank waiting for me to get a nice little cabinet for them (along with an eventual Trident).

 

[ksliech]

2.5 months old and a lot of progress!

Current inhabitants :

• 3 green chromis
• Mystery wrasse
• Flame angel
• Skunk cleaner shrimp
• CUC consists of a number of trochus, astrea, and cerith snails, with some hermits and an emerald crab.
• A couple mushrooms (which are dividing!) and some zoas

Added cheato to the sump, lit at night with a white Tunze Eco Chic, to help combat the green hair algae that was getting pretty bad. The filter sock compartment is perfect for this and the light mounts magnetically right to the side of the sump (see pic) and is fully waterproof. Been going for a few weeks and seems to be helping (and at least stabilizing the pH). Things also got pretty hot in San Francisco, so I also installed some fans on the sump connected to the Apex that fire up if the tank goes over 79. Sump is now real full of stuff, but manageable!

I added a Nero 5 running opposite my Gyre and I'm kind of sort of happy with the flow in the system now. May swap this out for a second Gyre running vertically on the back, but we'll see. I really wanted the Nero to go on the back glass on the left, but the overflow compartment has two separate panes of glass and is too thick for the magnet to hold on the pump.The equipment panel is now extremely full but miraculously, the door closes.

I've got pretty good control of my water chemistry now, dosing 10ml of B-Ionic alk per day (maintaining a stable 9 dkH), and CA every couple of weeks based on testing. A few weeks ago I put in a bottle each of the two colors of coralline algae in a bottle and I'm happy to report that my dead, white rocks are now getting some growth!

I've got a Kraken lid in the works, and will soon set up a Trident (then later a Dos for 2-part).

 

[Eric Cohen Verified Sponsor]

Looks awesome! You could dose with my Flux Rx and clean up the rock a bit. You would have to remove the chaeto in the sump but other than that it’s pretty straight forward.

 

[ksliech]

A few updates:

Titanium hose clamps!
A small thing but one I want to document there for anyone with a Cade running into this problem: The plastic hose clamps provided for the return pump and ATO are not great quality and 2 of the 4 broke for me. I had a heck of a time finding plastic hose clamps that would actually fit these metric pipes, and at least the ATO sized ones didn't seem to exist on Amazon or anywhere else. However, I stumbled upon these (super expensive) titanium hose clamps at Algae Barn and am extremely happy with them. I never have to worry about them rusting, especially the one under water, and they can handle a ton of range of diameters .

Hanna Salinity tester measuring low even after re-calibration :(
I recently ran into a problem with my Hanna salinity tester being way off, even after calibration. I had been reading 1.026, but found that I was actually running at 1.0275 as confirmed by the Tropic Marin floating glass hydrometer and a Fluval plastic hydrometer. I'm all done using that thing for anything but temperature now.

Out with the Nero 5 and in with a second Gyre
I've been running an XF330 Gyre on the top right side of my tank and really like how it mostly stays out of view on the side that I least look in. I got a Nero 5 for the back wall, but I could not abide the neon teal blades (why don't they sell black replacements?!). So I moved it to the side wall, opposite my gyre, but didn't really like how it interfered with looking through that side of the tank, and you could still see the blue blades if you looked through the other side. Before:

So today I swapped it out with a second XF330, set to the opposite phase of the existing Gyre and the flow I'm getting in this tank now is incredible! I put it on the back glass in the corner, with the magnet sealed up in a vacuum sealed bag submerged in the ATO compartment. By mounting it vertically, you get 4 nice controllable pump outlets that you can point in various directions. So happy with this, and also a very cheap way to do it since the existing Gyre pump controller already supports 2. After:

 

[ksliech]

Just got my @Kraken Reef lid! I had an AFS cut-out and two back corner cord cut-outs added. Exceptional build quality and perfectly sized! I am so impressed with how this looks.

Here's a close-up of one of the corner cut-outs and the AFS cut-out. It really helps hold the AFS in place too which is really nice.

Now I really want to get some covers made for the ATO and overflow compartments...

 

[ksliech]

@Printed Reef Skimmer Stand & Kessil Power Supply Holders
I swapped out my unstable hand-build stand for my Red Sea Reefer DC 300 skimmer for the 9x7" stand from Printed Reef and I love it. The way the feet twist and lock in to make variable heights is really well done, and the whole thing is very sturdy. Sturdiness is surprisingly important when trying to pull the skimmer cup off to clean, and this one is fantastic and pretty minimal in the sump. I also got their Kessil power supply holders and mounted it to the back of my accessory cabinet, which really cleaned things up and got those hot bricks out of the cabinet.

Trident Emits Shockingly Loud High Pitched Noises
I was expecting some noise out of this thing but it's really ear piercing and unacceptable to the other inhabitants of the house, even though it's fully enclosed in a cabinet. First I muffled it by covering it with bath towels and only running it in the middle of the night, but I could still hear it way across the house. I upgraded to covering it in acoustic paneling which helped a lot more, but it's still not acceptable when anyone is around the tank. I think I need to open a support ticket with Neptune about this, as there's no way everyone's is this blood curdling loud.

Tampa Bay Saltwater Sand and Rox Box Added
After a long delay caused by the hurricane, I've finally got some real live ocean sand in the tank, along with a few small pieces of their ocean live rock (I'm currently running with a bunch of Australian live rock). The Sand and Rox Box comes with 3 lbs of small pieces of live rock and 9 lbs of live sand, which was exactly what I needed to improve my biodiversity, particularly with the sand bed. The sand is a lot more coarse than I'm used to, but it has the excellent feature of really staying put when the flow is high. I partially fixed it in with the Fiji Pink sand that I've had in there, and it makes for some nice texture and color contrasts.

 

[Printed Reef Verified Sponsor]

@Printed Reef Skimmer Stand & Kessil Power Supply Holders
I swapped out my unstable hand-build stand for my Red Sea Reefer DC 300 skimmer for the 9x7" stand from Printed Reef and I love it. The way the feet twist and lock in to make variable heights is really well done, and the whole thing is very sturdy. Sturdiness is surprisingly important when trying to pull the skimmer cup off to clean, and this one is fantastic and pretty minimal in the sump. I also got their Kessil power supply holders and mounted it to the back of my accessory cabinet, which really cleaned things up and got those hot bricks out of the cabinet.

Trident Emits Shockingly Loud High Pitched Noises
I was expecting some noise out of this thing but it's really ear piercing and unacceptable to the other inhabitants of the house, even though it's fully enclosed in a cabinet. First I muffled it by covering it with bath towels and only running it in the middle of the night, but I could still hear it way across the house. I upgraded to covering it in acoustic paneling which helped a lot more, but it's still not acceptable when anyone is around the tank. I think I need to open a support ticket with Neptune about this, as there's no way everyone's is this blood curdling loud.

Tampa Bay Saltwater Sand and Rox Box Added
After a long delay caused by the hurricane, I've finally got some real live ocean sand in the tank, along with a few small pieces of their ocean live rock (I'm currently running with a bunch of Australian live rock). The Sand and Rox Box comes with 3 lbs of small pieces of live rock and 9 lbs of live sand, which was exactly what I needed to improve my biodiversity, particularly with the sand bed. The sand is a lot more coarse than I'm used to, but it has the excellent feature of really staying put when the flow is high. I partially fixed it in with the Fiji Pink sand that I've had in there, and it makes for some nice texture and color contrasts.

We are glad you love it!

 

[DiscoStuart]

Loving this thread as I plan a similar build. Was one gyre not enough because of your SPS plan or just dead spots regardless? I'm likely doing a Softy + LPS mix, so don't need as high of a flow as you. If one were enough, is there space in the ATO to mount horizontally in the back center?

And if I need two, do you think you could get the flow you want with both gyre's vertically in the back (one right, one left - assuming space in the Weir)?

The two main viewing angles of my tank will be from the left (it is to the right of my desk) and from the right) office door where the family comes in. And less from the traditional front view.

I'd considered Neros on the back glass, but good to know the magnets won't work.

 

[ksliech]

Loving this thread as I plan a similar build. Was one gyre not enough because of your SPS plan or just dead spots regardless? I'm likely doing a Softy + LPS mix, so don't need as high of a flow as you. If one were enough, is there space in the ATO to mount horizontally in the back center?

And if I need two, do you think you could get the flow you want with both gyre's vertically in the back (one right, one left - assuming space in the Weir)?

The two main viewing angles of my tank will be from the left (it is to the right of my desk) and from the right) office door where the family comes in. And less from the traditional front view.

I'd considered Neros on the back glass, but good to know the magnets won't work.

I think with a more open aqua scape and fewer SPS you could make a single gyre work. Good idea about mounting horizontally on the back - I think that might work!

The ATO side has just a single piece of glass in comparison to the two pieces with a gap in between on the overflow side. I found that side to be way too thick for a magnet to work, so you'd be limited to the ATO side for mounting pumps.

I would get a single gyre for now (the controller works with 2, so if you need a second one later you just add another pump) and play with different locations on the back, adding a second if needed.

 

[ksliech]

A couple updates to the setup as it approaches 8 months:

• Significantly Reduced Trident Noise w/ the Printed Reef Trident Mini Housing
  • After moving the guts over to this new housing and wrapping in sound proofing, I can now run it without blood pouring from my ears. See this post: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...ot-of-noise-when-testing.854366/post-13454271
• Added 2x AI Blade Coral Grow
  • This significantly helped with getting even coverage across the tank - having just the 2 Kessils left the rocks with very high contrast shadows, and gives me another knob to fiddle with the color.
• Opened Up and Re-Sloped the Aquascape
  
  • I had too much rock in this thing - a combination of Marco Rocks, real Aussie live rock, and some TBS rock. I built the aqua scape too densely, and noticed the fish were not really casually going through anything but the main cave structure at the bottom. It was also pretty steep on the sides, which is problematic as I start ramping up adding coral.
  • Removed several pieces of Marco Rock and re-organized to make the structure more open and swim-through able. Made a big difference! The fish are casually cruising through it now

Fish are all doing very well, and are keeping each others aggression in check. I added a tailspin blenny, but after being harassed a bit, he disappeared after a few days. I am going try a second one, but have an acclimation box read for it to help manage the aggression from the established tank mates. Here's what I have now:

• Mystery wrasse
• Flame angel
• 3x green chromis

Some corals are doing great and others are meh, but overall things are moving in the right direction.

• Green slimer acro is growing like a weed and has great color. This was originally in my tank 20 years ago, and I had given it to a friend when I broke the tank down, only to get a piece back several months ago! It had incredible polyp extension up to about a week ago and it suddenly retracted and hasn't re-extended except at night.
• Blue acro frag is growing very slowly but has better coloration than when I I picked it up
• Orange plating monti is starting to grow
• Pink-ish plating monti colored up and is slowly growing
• Tiny red acro frag started putting down a large green encrusting base but shows no other signs of growth
• Orange monti digi browned out and got very light, so I moved it down to the bottom of the tank
• Rainbow acro frag also lightened up so I moved it off to the side in a frag rack for now
• Chalice that was once colorful is now brown, but growing
• Pink zoas are growing like weeds
• Red mushrooms look great and have divided. I can't tell if they divided b/c they're happy or if it was a side effect of a big one racing to get out of the light, by moving to the bottom of its rock
• Red BTA is doing great
• Red goni is doing really well
• Derasa clam is doing pretty good, but not open as much as I would expect him to be
  • I previously lost one suddenly, but it appeared to have been killed by some whelks I didn't realize I had. I also lost a tiny blue maxima clam. The maxima didn't look good, and neither did this derasa, so I fresh water dipped both and found these wild white worms were ejected. The maxima never recovered, but the derasa did and seems mostly ok.

I got my first shipment from @WWC this week and am extremely happy with them, particularly with the packing job. Chilling on the frag rack for now is an Electro Lemon Goni, WWC AIO zoas, WWC Whamming Watermelon zoas, and Ocean Potion Branching Frogspawn. I have a @TopShelfAquatics order coming this Friday that I'm pumped for as well.

 

[ksliech]

Here are some PAR measurements I took recently. The sand bed is a lot brighter than I want, so I may drop the overall PAR down further and dial in the photoperiod.

 

[ksliech]

Worked out a new photoperiod design that takes into account a 5 hour peak and reduced intensity the rest of the day. Still working out the color settings for the blue periods at 'sunrise' and 'sunset'. I have shifted the photoperiod later in the day so I can actually spend some time with the tank after work, but the room the tank is in is quite bright, so the photoperiod is probably technically longer than this because of it. In any case, I built it around 11 hours max, but could shorten it to 10 hours by moving the start time up to noon.

Here's the new profile I just set:

At peak intensity, here's my updated PAR numbers. They're a bit lower than my previous post b/c I made slight reductions when creating it.

 

[ksliech]

Annnnd some shots of the tank:

My ancient green slimer that's put on several inches but recently stopped extending polyps:

Red mushrooms and goni:

 

[kevgib67]

Annnnd some shots of the tank:

My ancient green slimer that's put on several inches but recently stopped extending polyps:

Red mushrooms and goni:

Beautiful! What’s the non chromis fish in the green slimer photo! Stunning.

 

[ksliech]

Beautiful! What’s the non chromis fish in the green slimer photo! Stunning.

Mystery Wrasse! My fav fish. Pseudocheilinus ocellatus.

 

[kevgib67]

Mystery Wrasse! My fav fish. Pseudocheilinus ocellatus.

That has been added to my list when I upgrade later this year, thanks.

 

[DHill6]

A few updates:

Titanium hose clamps!
A small thing but one I want to document there for anyone with a Cade running into this problem: The plastic hose clamps provided for the return pump and ATO are not great quality and 2 of the 4 broke for me. I had a heck of a time finding plastic hose clamps that would actually fit these metric pipes, and at least the ATO sized ones didn't seem to exist on Amazon or anywhere else. However, I stumbled upon these (super expensive) titanium hose clamps at Algae Barn and am extremely happy with them. I never have to worry about them rusting, especially the one under water, and they can handle a ton of range of diameters .

Hanna Salinity tester measuring low even after re-calibration :(
I recently ran into a problem with my Hanna salinity tester being way off, even after calibration. I had been reading 1.026, but found that I was actually running at 1.0275 as confirmed by the Tropic Marin floating glass hydrometer and a Fluval plastic hydrometer. I'm all done using that thing for anything but temperature now.

Out with the Nero 5 and in with a second Gyre
I've been running an XF330 Gyre on the top right side of my tank and really like how it mostly stays out of view on the side that I least look in. I got a Nero 5 for the back wall, but I could not abide the neon teal blades (why don't they sell black replacements?!). So I moved it to the side wall, opposite my gyre, but didn't really like how it interfered with looking through that side of the tank, and you could still see the blue blades if you looked through the other side. Before:

So today I swapped it out with a second XF330, set to the opposite phase of the existing Gyre and the flow I'm getting in this tank now is incredible! I put it on the back glass in the corner, with the magnet sealed up in a vacuum sealed bag submerged in the ATO compartment. By mounting it vertically, you get 4 nice controllable pump outlets that you can point in various directions. So happy with this, and also a very cheap way to do it since the existing Gyre pump controller already supports 2. After:

Newer one 4/2025 came with titanium hose clamps, no plastic clamps