Shadyraro's Cade 900 S2

shadyraro · Aug 18, 2023

So after setting up a Cade 600 S2 last December (link below) I decided that I wanted a slightly bigger tank, so last week I ordered a white Cade 900 S2.
It’s expected to arrive next week and I’ve already be planning on how I’m going to transfer and set it up. I recently did a house move so it should be pretty straight forward, the only difference being it’ll be sitting on a timber floor. So with that in mind, I’ll be removing the 6 feet and replacing them with anti vibration pads.
The 600 is a great tank but it’s a very tight fit in the cabinet/sump area, so I’m really looking forward to the extra cabinet space that comes with the 900. I’ll also make good use of the extra 8 plugs, and I’m sure the fish will appreciate the extra real estate too.
The sumps are exactly the same, but I removed the media basket baffle in the 600 to fit a ReefMat 500 and skimmer. I’ll see if I can rework the 900 sump to fit everything and keep it all original, but if not I can always just swap them over if need be but we’ll see.
I currently have LPS and softies but I plan on having a mixed reef, so a light bar will no doubt be added later on.
So until it arrives I’ll be planning the layout for it and keep the 600 ticking along, it’s be doing good since the house move.

Cube Build - Cade Pro Reef 600 S2

So I’m back in the hobby after a few years away. After doing numerous online searches and lots of visits to my LFS looking at tanks and equipment, I decided on getting the Cade Pro Reef 600 S2. I love the look of these tanks and I think the overall quality is impeccable. The tank currently has...

www.reef2reef.com

Tank: CADE Pro Reef 900 S2
Sump: CADE sump included
Stand: CADE Aluminium/ glass stand included
Lid: OEM CADE lid
Lights: Radion XR15 G5 Blue x 2
Wavemaker: AI Nero 5 x 2
Return Pump: Ecotech Vectra S2
Skimmer: Mantis Tornado 150
ATO: Built-in gravity ATO
Live Rock: Macro
Heating: Eheim Thermocontrol 150W x 2
Dosing Pump: Reef Factory x3
Salt: Quantum Reef Essentials Mixed Macro
RO/DI: Aquatic Life RO Classic 4 Stage
Bio Media: Poly Lab Genesis Rock x 4
Reactor: Aqua Medic Gen 2 for carbon
Extras: ReefMat 500, Reef Factory salinity guardian, Reef Factory PH meter, Reef Factory Thermo control, Reef Factory Thermo view, (Reef Factory KH Keeper Plus to come)

parclife · Aug 18, 2023

Amazing looking tanks! Congrats on the new one

Gumbies R Us · Aug 18, 2023

Great looking tank! Following along for sure!

shadyraro · Aug 28, 2023

Update:

So it’s been a busy last 3 days as my 900 got delivered on Friday, and the weekend was spent getting it setup and ready for the tank transfer.
I unboxed the tank and cabinet and was in awe of the quality of these setups, once again Cade has delivered an amazing tank and I was extremely happy with it.

I had to mark out where the tank was going as it’ll be sitting on a timber floor, and I also had to make sure that the cabinets feet lined up with the beam underneath.
Once it was in position I put 6 4x4” anti vibration pads down for the tank to sit on, this is to help spread the load of the tank onto the timber floor and reduce movement.
The cabinet and tank were then put into place and the plumbing was connected, I did a leak test and found a small leak coming from the ato bulkhead. A quick fix with some thread tape and problem solved!

I filled the tank halfway with fresh nsw and put 2 heaters in there, then I began to dismantle the 600. I removed the return pump, skimmer and ReefMat and moved them all over to the 900. After a bit of tinkering I managed to fit both the skimmer and ReefMat into the sump without having to remove the media baffle like I did in the 600. Success!

I added bio spheres into the media baskets and started to fill the sump with the 600’s water, then turned on the return pump and let the tank fill. Meanwhile I moved the rocks, bio blocks, corals and fish over, and switched on the 2 nero's and skimmer and let everything settle.
I then dialled in the tank to get the water level right, and the tank was running dead silent which was a great feeling!
I continued breaking down the 600 and moved all the reef factory equipment over, I set them up quickly so they were all working and called it a night.
The tank is a lot bigger and even the old rock scape which totally filled the 600 looked very spacious in the 900. I moved the radion and also added a 2nd one I had in storage, and once they were setup the tank looked even better!
I set the neros to get the right amount of flow and we were done, the corals were all opened and swaying and the fish were loving the extra space. I sat back and admired the setup, and my girlfriend even said it looked amazing!

I wanted to do some cable management as everything was just thrown in there, but we had lots on over the weekend so I'll do it when I get time. I do hate seeing cables everywhere as my OCD goes crazy, but at least the doors can hide them for now.
I have the ecotech battery backup and doser still to go into the cabinet, and I'm in the process of building a control panel for all the reef factory displays to go in.

Now I just need to add some more fish and corals as it's looking a bit bare, but I'm just happy to wait until the tank has settled in and go from there.
Happy reefing!

Gumbies R Us · Aug 28, 2023

shadyraro said:
Update:

So it’s been a busy last 3 days as my 900 got delivered on Friday, and the weekend was spent getting it setup and ready for the tank transfer.
I unboxed the tank and cabinet and was in awe of the quality of these setups, once again Cade has delivered an amazing tank and I was extremely happy with it.

I had to mark out where the tank was going as it’ll be sitting on a timber floor, and I also had to make sure that the cabinets feet lined up with the beam underneath.
Once it was in position I put 6 4x4” anti vibration pads down for the tank to sit on, this is to help spread the load of the tank onto the timber floor and reduce movement.
The cabinet and tank were then put into place and the plumbing was connected, I did a leak test and found a small leak coming from the ato bulkhead. A quick fix with some thread tape and problem solved!

I filled the tank halfway with fresh nsw and put 2 heaters in there, then I began to dismantle the 600. I removed the return pump, skimmer and ReefMat and moved them all over to the 900. After a bit of tinkering I managed to fit both the skimmer and ReefMat into the sump without having to remove the media baffle like I did in the 600. Success!

I added bio spheres into the media baskets and started to fill the sump with the 600’s water, then turned on the return pump and let the tank fill. Meanwhile I moved the rocks, bio blocks, corals and fish over, and switched on the 2 nero's and skimmer and let everything settle.
I then dialled in the tank to get the water level right, and the tank was running dead silent which was a great feeling!
I continued breaking down the 600 and moved all the reef factory equipment over, I set them up quickly so they were all working and called it a night.
The tank is a lot bigger and even the old rock scape which totally filled the 600 looked very spacious in the 900. I moved the radion and also added a 2nd one I had in storage, and once they were setup the tank looked even better!
I set the neros to get the right amount of flow and we were done, the corals were all opened and swaying and the fish were loving the extra space. I sat back and admired the setup, and my girlfriend even said it looked amazing!

I wanted to do some cable management as everything was just thrown in there, but we had lots on over the weekend so I'll do it when I get time. I do hate seeing cables everywhere as my OCD goes crazy, but at least the doors can hide them for now.
I have the ecotech battery backup and doser still to go into the cabinet, and I'm in the process of building a control panel for all the reef factory displays to go in.

Now I just need to add some more fish and corals as it's looking a bit bare, but I'm just happy to wait until the tank has settled in and go from there.
Happy reefing!

Glad you were able to get everything transferred over!

shadyraro · Aug 28, 2023

Gumbies R Us said:
Glad you were able to get everything transferred over!

Thanks! it was pretty straight forward just time consuming

DarkReefer · Sep 12, 2023

Following along!
Tossing around the idea of a Cade system, leaning more towards the Waterbox currently if I can get hold of & afford the one I want (waiting on pricing/availability) because they offer one a little longer in the frag style than cade do.
Cade certainly appear to be a solid and well thought out aquarium though.

shadyraro · Sep 13, 2023

DarkReefer said:
Following along!
Tossing around the idea of a Cade system, leaning more towards the Waterbox currently if I can get hold of & afford the one I want (waiting on pricing/availability) because they offer one a little longer in the frag style than cade do.
Cade certainly appear to be a solid and well thought out aquarium though.

Hey mate, If your budget allows I would definitely go with a Cade, the quality is superb and I haven't been able to fault my old 600 or the 900 at all.

DarkReefer · Sep 13, 2023

shadyraro said:
Hey mate, If your budget allows I would definitely go with a Cade, the quality is superb and I haven't been able to fault my old 600 or the 900 at all.

Weighing up my options and trying to work out what is going to be best for us and our house.
The Reef S2 1800 seems to only hold about 100L extra than the WB frag I was looking at (weight being a factor I need to consider). The Cade certainly has some some great looking features about it too. I love that it has the control board and the jump net included
I'm not sure about the look of the clear/whiteish glue on the tank itself (Prefer the black the WB has), but I probably wouldn't notice it as much once it's filled up.

shadyraro · Sep 17, 2023

Update:

It’s been 3 weeks since setting up my 900 and things have been going along quite nicely.
On Friday I installed the KH Keeper Plus and it’s a nice piece of kit. I currently have it set to test twice a day every 12 hours, the first few readings were a bit all over the place but it’s starting to come right now according to my Hanna. I’ll let it settle in a bit first and then look at linking my doser to it using actions in the app.
My corals are doing good and I haven’t added any since the transfer, I’ve just let the tank settle in then I’ll look at adding some more later.
It’s starting to warm up here so I’m going to have to look at getting a cooling device, I’m not keen on a chiller so will look at getting some fans at this stage. I have a reef factory thermo control which has an outlet for a cooling device, so this makes things a lot easier to let that device sort the temp out for me.
I also started to make a shelf to house my reef factory equipment, it’s still in the prototype stages as I want to add a couple more items but for now it’ll do.
And I managed to finish sorting out the cable management in the power distribution side, it took me a while but I think it looks good and I’m happy with how it turned out.
Happy reefing!

LBCBJ · Sep 20, 2023

You have an awesome cabinet setup and cable managment going on there. Looking forward to following along.

shadyraro · Sep 20, 2023

LBCBJ said:
You have an awesome cabinet setup and cable managment going on there. Looking forward to following along.

Hey thanks!
I've still got to make a few adjustments to the shelf and should get it finished this weekend, it actually turned out better than I thought.

shadyraro · Sep 27, 2023

Update:

So I finally finished the Reef Factory equipment display in the cabinet and I’m pretty happy with the end result. There’s room to access plugs and the ato valve at the back if need be, and the whole shelf is easily removable anyway.
I also added a frogspawn and Duncan coral on the weekend and they’re settling in nicely.
But now one of the radions is playing up and keeps turning off. The error message “short circuit” keeps appearing and I have read about this common issue with radions and it’s pretty annoying. The fix is either send it in, upgrade circuit board or replace!
I have been thinking about getting a Reef Factory Flare Pro Blue light for a while, they’re great lights with wifi so now might be the time to get one.
I’m not sure whether the large (3 cluster) or medium (2 cluster) is the way to go, as RF recommend one 2 cluster for a 3ft LPS softie tank.
Anyway something to think about, another XR15 would be the cheaper option but we’ll see.
Happy reefing!

shadyraro · Sep 28, 2023

Update:

So I went into my LFS today and they just happened to have a barely used XR15 G6 blue light in store, and for 40% off RRP I couldn’t refuse!
So I now have one g5 and one g6 light, there is a slight difference in colour but it’s fine by me.
I’ll keep an eye out for another g6 blue light but for now I’m pretty happy with this issue being resolved.
I also started running some GFO in a reactor to help drop my phosphates which are currently at 0.3. I have patches of algae appearing and I put it down to the high po4 causing it, so I’ll monitor it and see how it goes.

DarkReefer · Sep 28, 2023

That cabinet looks clean, well done.
Tank also looking great and good job on the light deal !

shadyraro · Oct 18, 2023

Update:

It’s been nearly 2 months since I setup my 900 and it’s all going pretty good.
The corals all seem happy and thriving, and I think I’ve finally got my flow and lighting on point for them. I added 2 banggai cardinals a few weeks ago and one has basically vanished overnight, I looked everywhere but I’ve come to the conclusion he’s in fish heaven.

All the other fish seem happy and my 2 snowflake clowns are finally hosting my anemones which is awesome to see.

The KH keeper is doing a great job and it’s finally dialled in, the readings are on point and I’ve put my doser back on line to add or adjust cal, mag and alk as needed thru the actions portal in the RF app.
The GFO in the reactor has been keeping my phosphates down around 0.10 so I’m pretty happy with that, but now my nitrates are on the higher side.

On the flip side, I managed to get a great deal on a pax bellum n18 algae reactor, I just had to adjust my cabinet a bit for it to fit and it’ll be good to go.
Once it’s online I’ll remove the gfo and reactor, and the bag of carbon as I won’t need these once the chaetos running. It came with its own pump, but I’m trying to decide whether to use it or use one of the Cade outlet connectors.
Anyway we’ll see how we go, I’m loving this tank and I’ll post a progress video on it soon.
Happy reefing!

Gumbies R Us · Oct 19, 2023

shadyraro said:
Update:

It’s been nearly 2 months since I setup my 900 and it’s all going pretty good.
The corals all seem happy and thriving, and I think I’ve finally got my flow and lighting on point for them. I added 2 banggai cardinals a few weeks ago and one has basically vanished overnight, I looked everywhere but I’ve come to the conclusion he’s in fish heaven.
All the other fish seem happy and my 2 snowflake clowns are finally hosting my anemones which is awesome to see.

The KH keeper is doing a great job and it’s finally dialled in, the readings are on point and I’ve put my doser back on line to add or adjust cal, mag and alk as needed thru the actions portal in the RF app.
The GFO in the reactor has been keeping my phosphates down around 0.10 so I’m pretty happy with that, but now my nitrates are on the higher side.

On the flip side, I managed to get a great deal on a pax bellum n18 algae reactor, I just had to adjust my cabinet a bit for it to fit and it’ll be good to go.
Once it’s online I’ll remove the gfo and reactor, and the bag of carbon as I won’t need these once the chaetos running. It came with its own pump, but I’m trying to decide whether to use it or use one of the Cade outlet connectors.
Anyway we’ll see how we go, I’m loving this tank and I’ll post a progress video on it soon.
Happy reefing!

Tank is looking great!