Our Cade Reef 1500 S2 6 MONTH UPDATE

[afternoondelight]

6 MONTH UPDATE - So far so good. Let’s start with parameters
Salinity 35ppt -learned you better calibrate that refractometer
pH 8.1- calibrate that probe too (theme??)
Total Alk- 7.8-8.2
Calcium-440
Mag-1300ish
NO3-8.1 been within 5 pts for 3 months
PO4-.04 been within .03 for 3 months
We love our Reefi Uno 2.0 lights Learning more everyday with Hydros 10
Biggest lessons learned
-Go slow with corals. You will know when you’re ready for SPS. And when you are go with @Battlecorals (see the 1 week old fuzzy as F millis in the pics)
-Set up a QT tank
-Don’t drink and coral shop.
We have truly fallen in love with this hobby!
-

"Don't drink and coral shop" is my favorite quote!!

Thanks for the update on your tank Kevin.

We just got back from Belize and unfortunately o leave for a 3-day trip today (airline pilot).

Water being delivered on 3 May and I am setting my QT tank up next week as well. I haven't completed my Mixing station yet (four sets of company in 35 days and a 10-day dive trip will do that to your well-intentioned plans!!).

I've had all sorts of problems going from this metric to imperial PVC sizes, but I finally got it licked. Leak-tested and everything seems good so far, but won't know for sure until I get the return pushing out water with the tank full. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Still doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work in the pantry/operations center for the tank. Wife still not too happy about how much stuff is in "her" pantry...lol.

I'll update next week when I get this thing legitimately up and going. Excited and terrified all at the same time… Lol.

 

[afternoondelight]

6 MONTH UPDATE - So far so good. Let’s start with parameters
Salinity 35ppt -learned you better calibrate that refractometer
pH 8.1- calibrate that probe too (theme??)
Total Alk- 7.8-8.2
Calcium-440
Mag-1300ish
NO3-8.1 been within 5 pts for 3 months
PO4-.04 been within .03 for 3 months
We love our Reefi Uno 2.0 lights Learning more everyday with Hydros 10
Biggest lessons learned
-Go slow with corals. You will know when you’re ready for SPS. And when you are go with @Battlecorals (see the 1 week old fuzzy as F millis in the pics)
-Set up a QT tank
-Don’t drink and coral shop.
We have truly fallen in love with this hobby!
-

Kevin...did you QT (observe) your fish (and inverts) or did you prophylactically treat/QT them?? Just wondering what I'm going to do... I will at the very least QT and observe, but I'm not sure because of my job and the fact that I'm gone three days at a time that I can effectively treat them and keep the copper levels at the proper levels… If you understand what I'm saying? I know that doing a full-blown prophylactic treatment is the safest bet, but not sure that's the route I am going to go just because of pure practicability.

 

[Kevinmj70]

Kevin...did you QT (observe) your fish (and inverts) or did you prophylactically treat/QT them?? Just wondering what I'm going to do... I will at the very least QT and observe, but I'm not sure because of my job and the fact that I'm gone three days at a time that I can effectively treat them and keep the copper levels at the proper levels… If you understand what I'm saying? I know that doing a full-blown prophylactic treatment is the safest bet, but not sure that's the route I am going to go just because of pure practicability.

We have a QT tank but have not used it yet. We had a close call with a fish that we were told was QT’d so decided to do it here. Right now on pause for new fish because traveling to for a few weeks. With all that I think QT is very fish species specific. Check out Humble Fish forum for some really good protocols .

 

[Kevinmj70]

"Don't drink and coral shop" is my favorite quote!!

Thanks for the update on your tank Kevin.

We just got back from Belize and unfortunately o leave for a 3-day trip today (airline pilot).

Water being delivered on 3 May and I am setting my QT tank up next week as well. I haven't completed my Mixing station yet (four sets of company in 35 days and a 10-day dive trip will do that to your well-intentioned plans!!).

I've had all sorts of problems going from this metric to imperial PVC sizes, but I finally got it licked. Leak-tested and everything seems good so far, but won't know for sure until I get the return pushing out water with the tank full. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Still doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work in the pantry/operations center for the tank. Wife still not too happy about how much stuff is in "her" pantry...lol.

I'll update next week when I get this thing legitimately up and going. Excited and terrified all at the same time… Lol.

Sounds like a lot going on. I hope your trip to Belize went well.
I might have missed it but what is your plan for cycling your tank? Do you have your rock cycling now?

 

[afternoondelight]

Sounds like a lot going on. I hope your trip to Belize went well.
I might have missed it but what is your plan for cycling your tank? Do you have your rock cycling now?

Yeah… I had a plumbing snafu so I didn't get the water cycling before we left. I'm going to start it up this Friday. We got home from Belize on Sunday night/early Monday morning and I'm already on a three day airline trip and won't be home until Thursday night. I'm pretty bitter about missing out on having 10 free days of being gone and cycling my tank, but it is what it is.

Belize was awesome!

 

[afternoondelight]

Kevin…how goes it my brother? Checking in to see how things are going with your tank. Finally got mine, cycled and getting it up to speed.

 

[Kevinmj70]

Kevin…how goes it my brother? Checking in to see how things are going with your tank. Finally got mine, cycled and getting it up to speed.

Sorry, I didn’t realize I had logged out of the forum. Things are going well (knock, knock). SPS is growing, have a halichoeres irdis Radiant Wrasse in QT, messing with dosing schedule all the usual things. How goes your tank?

 

[Soggy Frito]

We are seriously considering a Cade 1500. To you Cade owners, anything that you regret / appreciate? How do the upper and lower intakes work in practice? Easy to clean? Any clogging issues?

How is the ATO? Easy to fill? Reliable? Mine would be near the wall (so might require reaching across tank at least partially), but we love the idea of Cade's use of space.

How is the stand? I saw a comment about possibly wrapping one. Anyone done that?

How quiet is the tank?

The CFO told us the tank must be quiet, attractive, and we would do all maintenance... Appreciate the feedback!

 

[lubeck]

We are seriously considering a Cade 1500. To you Cade owners, anything that you regret / appreciate? How do the upper and lower intakes work in practice? Easy to clean? Any clogging issues?

How is the ATO? Easy to fill? Reliable? Mine would be near the wall (so might require reaching across tank at least partially), but we love the idea of Cade's use of space.

How is the stand? I saw a comment about possibly wrapping one. Anyone done that?

How quiet is the tank?

The CFO told us the tank must be quiet, attractive, and we would do all maintenance... Appreciate the feedback!

the ATO should be easy to refill. No regrets with mine. You can get it very quiet. No issues at all.

 

[DarkReefer]

We are seriously considering a Cade 1500. To you Cade owners, anything that you regret / appreciate? How do the upper and lower intakes work in practice? Easy to clean? Any clogging issues?

How is the ATO? Easy to fill? Reliable? Mine would be near the wall (so might require reaching across tank at least partially), but we love the idea of Cade's use of space.

How is the stand? I saw a comment about possibly wrapping one. Anyone done that?

How quiet is the tank?

The CFO told us the tank must be quiet, attractive, and we would do all maintenance... Appreciate the feedback!

I've got an 1800 and have had setup for about 15 months. I do find I get algae/ uneaten seaweed clogging up on the weir a little so I have to use a toothbrush semi regularly to give it a bit of a clean up.

ATO is alright, haven't had any issues with it so far and easy to fill with a tube/hose. (I run a pump from my RO and then just fill it up - lasts about 2 weeks).
Stand seems okay.
Tank is pretty quite for the most part, I don't run socks so I can't comment if you're leaving it set up that way.

Things that bug me
- the electrical cabinet is a great idea and was one of the main reasons I went with the CADE over a Waterbox, but it really annoyed me when not even after a month of use the lights on the switches started going out or dimming. They offered to replace the switches but said I'd have to send mine back first which means I'd have to run some dodgy set up to do it whilst I wait for replacement which I wasn't happy about or prepared to do.
- On the 1800 sometimes the location of the uprights on the stand are in a crappy position to access certain things or the doors don't open a way I wish they did, but I'm sure I'd find that no matter how they were configured unless they made them so you could open both ways. May not affect you on the 1500. Would also be nice to be able to easily remove the door completely with a push button if I wanted to do maintenance.
- The jump nets whilst practical, I don't like. Was another reason I purchased the cade but I just find them annoying to use and when the water rises because something is stuck blocking the overflow a bit they become water logged. With my Ecotech light stand attached to the tank I have to put them on a certain way to get under the big screw that hangs out of them. I'd love to get one of those plastic type ones but quite expensive.

Overall not a bad system though.

 

[Soggy Frito]

I don't run socks

What roller mat did you go with?

Would you buy the Cade again?

 

[DarkReefer]

What roller mat did you go with?

Would you buy the Cade again?

Originally went with a Clarisea SK5000 - turned out to be too small for my set up I think (too much flow going through it) and was causing it to blow out and then ping alarms at me all the time.
Honestly had a lot of trouble with the Clarisea even before it started spilling out of the sides due to the flow.
I changed to the Reefmat 1200 and I've been very happy with it since.

Probably a bit of yes/no if I'd go another one it's hard to say.
It's been a couple of years since I've last looked but I've always been partial to the waterboxes.
I love the way they look.
The black silicone they use on the glass is nice and doesn't show grime etc that may build up on it as much as the Cade does with it's whiteish/clearish silicone.
I also like that the WB has a central weir and the rear glass wall of the tank can be utilized for wave makers etc... something that the cade cannot unless you forgo the feature of it having an ato in the back. (and even then depending on what you want to put in there, there may be issues with trying to fit things into the area.

The cade is nice in that it comes with the electrical boards preinstalled, but they're not exactly great quality and the lights started blowing out on my switches within weeks of being set up. The switch still works but the fanciness of having a nice light up switch to easily see if something is powered or not, is gone.

The rear ato on the cade is handy as it means I didn't have to go and buy a separate pump when initially setting up as it uses gravity/float to refill.

The size tank I got also meant that the WB one I was looking at didn't include jump nets so again another extra cost to initially set up, but the nets that come with the cade are pretty generic and nothing special either and I one day hope to upgrade with a perspex one probably.

I think there's pros and cons (not just with Cade/WB but other brands too) and you've just got to weigh up what you're looking for in the end. The cade isn't a bad tank overall and if you can get past or be aware of the potential switch issue then you'll probably very happy.

For me at the time, the cade came with enough features that it made sense to do it to save on some costs elsewhere in the interim whilst setting up. If I had money to burn on other equipment I'd have gone with the WB because I prefer the black silicone look and could just throw money at something/someone to get the electrical board set up in a similar fashion and the ato pump etc.

 

[afternoondelight]

Kevin,
Are you still rocking your tank, my good man? Checking in to see how things are going.

 

[afternoondelight]

What roller mat did you go with?

Would you buy the Cade again?

I saw this question to Dark Reefer and figured I would chime in…even though you didn’t ask me. I have a Cade 1500 and I have the ClariSea SK-5000 and really love it. I did some modifications in the plumbing of the Cade (using the supplied parts, but different setup with the overflow pipes to make it fit for my installation). It took me a hot minute to figure the ClariSea out, but I’ve had it running now without a hitch for 18 months (hope I don’t jinx myself)!!

I also used the UltraReef Typhoon 200 skimmer and couldn’t be happier with the aquarium and the components of my sump. It’s been up and running now for 19 months and feel like it’s chugging along nicely…