Shadyraro's Cade 900 S2

[shadyraro]

Looking really good and glad to hear the smart tester is working as expected. Looking forward to additional updates on how it progresses.

Makes me think I should remove the shelf as well. My cabinet is getting extremely tight quick. How’re you liking the pax? How often do you find yourself having to maintain it and what benefits have you seen from it?

Thanks, so far so good on the smart tester!
Yeah the cabinets are pretty tight and I think removing the shelf was a good idea, it's more open now and I can easily access the ATO valve at the back which was a bit tricky previously.
The pax is great, it grows chaeto no problem and as long as you harvest it it does a great job.
With maintenance I remove it usually every 10-12 days to harvest, the whole process takes less than 20 mins.
It's great for nutrient export and I find it keeps my nitrates and phosphates at a good levels.
My phosphates have already dropped from 0.50 down to 0.21 in a week since it's been back online and they usually end up hovering around 0.10 when it’s been running a while.
Nitrates sit around 5 so all in all the pax does a great job.

 

[shadyraro]

Update:

The tank has been cruising along nicely even tho my nitrates bottomed out, I think it was from the pax needing a harvest and also the ReefMat.
I’ve since done a harvest and we’ll see how it goes, but as nothing seemed upset in the tank I’m not too worried about it.
I did a Triton ICP and the test results were pretty good, the only red flag was molybdenum which was high. After researching it I found it can be found in some additives and can cause cyano, I don’t have cyano so I’m not sure if it was a test error but anyway I’ll just monitor the tank for now.
My fish are all doing good and yesterday I added a Naso (lipstick) tang, he settled right in and made friends straight away with my mimic and blue tang. He’s a great looking fish and I hope he likes his new home.
The corals are all going good apart from one of my hammers losing a head, it never looked comfortable since I put it in the tank a few months ago so I’m just monitoring it.
I also added an ultra Goni and that’s settled in nicely.
The smart tester is doing a good job, it’s currently testing twice a day and the KH keeper also tests twice a day. There’s no major variances in the tests and everything is staying stable so I’m just letting the tank do its thing.
One thing I found interesting with the ICP result was I also tested the water at the same time I filled the vials, and my po4 Hanna and salifert tests were 0.25 while the ICP tested 0.10.
Anyway, I’m not one to chase numbers and the tank is doing great so all good.

 

[shadyraro]

Edit:
So after writing in @Randy Holmes-Farley forum about my high molybdenum result, he informed me that the stainless hose clamps that came with my Cade more than likely contains molybdenum. After a quick google search he was indeed correct.
That would explain the high reading as I use 4 clamps that came with the tank, so luckily I ordered some plastic clamps a while ago and I’ll be replacing them soon.

 

[DarkReefer]

Didn't see you'd posted an update in my notifications, but your tank is looking lush! Well done! Envious! haha
I did think twice about those stainless clamps too but went and installed them anyway as I didn't have the plastic on hand, guess I should probably look into those a bit more as well!

That FTS looks great though, awesome job!

 

[shadyraro]

Didn't see you'd posted an update in my notifications, but your tank is looking lush! Well done! Envious! haha
I did think twice about those stainless clamps too but went and installed them anyway as I didn't have the plastic on hand, guess I should probably look into those a bit more as well!

That FTS looks great though, awesome job!

Hey thanks!
My LFS had the plastic ratchet clamps so I just grabbed a handful of different sizes.
I’ve changed the pump clamps but haven’t done the 2 clamps in the RO reservoir yet as I’m waiting for the water to drain out lol.
The whole return pipe has to come out so it’s a bit of a mission, but when I do another ICP it’ll be interesting to see what the result is.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Just brought home a cade 600, I'm going to try to install the reefmat 250 like you have here. I have a reefmat 500 on my larger tank and have been really happy with it

 

[shadyraro]

Just brought home a cade 600, I'm going to try to install the reefmat 250 like you have here. I have a reefmat 500 on my larger tank and have been really happy with it

Nice, you're going to love the 600 they're an awesome setup!
The 250 is a perfect fit for this sump, it has a small footprint but does a great job.

 

[shadyraro]

Update:

Well the hammer that lost a head recently bailed and died, and a torch I had also did the same.
I'm not sure why they bailed but when I checked my notes I noticed that a few corals I’ve lost lately were all from the same shop. This particular shop is not my LFS, but they had reasonably priced corals and I now think most of their systems were just full of BJD and other diseases.
All other corals that I didn't buy from that shop are doing fine, it might be a coincidence but I won’t be going there again!

On a side note I picked up a holy grail hammer from my LFS, I’ve been after one for a while and it’s settled in great and I’m keeping a close eye on it. My Naso tang is also doing good and has settled in nicely even tho he's a fussy eater preferring to eat only nori over any other type of herbivore food. Hopefully he eventually takes a liking to all the other foods on offer.

My Reef Factory smart tester was doing good until last week when it started throwing errors "can't add reagent 2" and "can't clean dropper of reagent 2". After reading up on the errors I attempted to try and fix the issues, but I ended up getting too frustrated so I reached out to RF support.
They were great and suggested I try a few different things, but in the end it was apparent I had a bad batch of reagents. They sent me a new set of reagents for free which arrived today and we are now back in business.
For an expensive piece of kit less than a month old you'd expect little to no issues, but as I have a lot of RF gear in my tank that all work fine I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Happy reefing!

 

[DarkReefer]

Sorry to hear of the losses, don't suppose you can share which LFS was the ones you've had issues with (even by pm), so I can be sure to be wary if I go there.
I know one of the 2-3 I goto seem to have Aiptasia in their tanks and on their corals which is a bit annoying and something I try and keep an eye on but still finding I've got some in my tank.

That pic is really popping, looks awesome.
Glad the Naso tang is settling in well despite it's pickiness and it's good to hear RF were quick to assist and without any additional costs etc to you and that it seems to have resolved your issues. I noticed there's some new testing things coming out soon from various brands that seem to test almost, if not everything that we would usually test. Do you think you'll be picking up something like that or does the RF do this already for you?

 

[shadyraro]

Sorry to hear of the losses, don't suppose you can share which LFS was the ones you've had issues with (even by pm), so I can be sure to be wary if I go there.
I know one of the 2-3 I goto seem to have Aiptasia in their tanks and on their corals which is a bit annoying and something I try and keep an eye on but still finding I've got some in my tank.

That pic is really popping, looks awesome.
Glad the Naso tang is settling in well despite it's pickiness and it's good to hear RF were quick to assist and without any additional costs etc to you and that it seems to have resolved your issues. I noticed there's some new testing things coming out soon from various brands that seem to test almost, if not everything that we would usually test. Do you think you'll be picking up something like that or does the RF do this already for you?

Thanks! I’m pretty happy with how the tanks looking atm, but I might need to rearrange a few corals as my 2 gobies keep building sand castles which ends up covering corals lol.

I’m pretty happy with the RF equipment even tho I know some of the gear is a bit pricey, but the accuracy and ease of use app/ push notifications is fantastic and I can’t really fault them. Their support is prompt and they didn’t hesitate to send me new reagents, so little things like that make it worth it.
They’re fairly new to the industry and there’s a lot of mixed reviews out there, but my experience with them so far has been great.

I’ve seen a few different reviews on some master test kits and they all look good, but most of them are usually one big unit and you’ll need to have plenty of room for it to fit.
With RF you can put any of the test equipment anywhere so for my kind of setup it works better.

 

[mylertitchell]

Real clean system, just real tidy job

 

[shadyraro]

Real clean system, just real tidy job

Thanks!

 

[TheFishKeeper]

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.

I have a Waterbox and a CADE. In my opinion the CADE cabinet is of a much higher quality, being only aluminum and glass. The WB cabinet has an aluminum skeleton, which has to be put together. The WB cabinet walls are made of MDF material. My hinges popped off after 3 months of use. The glass boxes are comparable on both.

 

[shadyraro]

Evening vibes

 

[DarkReefer]

I have a Waterbox and a CADE. In my opinion the CADE cabinet is of a much higher quality, being only aluminum and glass. The WB cabinet has an aluminum skeleton, which has to be put together. The WB cabinet walls are made of MDF material. My hinges popped off after 3 months of use. The glass boxes are comparable on both.

Yeah I ended up getting a CADE and happy with it for the most part. The switches are complete junk (as in the lights in them) but the rest seems good.
My old WB is still going strong after 3 years but for a larger tank it's nice having a lighter material compared to the mdf I think.

Evening vibes

Tank looks awesome mate and sump is looking cleeaaan. Much cleaner than mine... I need to vac it or something haha

 

[shadyraro]

Tank looks awesome mate and sump is looking cleeaaan. Much cleaner than mine... I need to vac it or something haha

Thanks, there’s a bit of crap there but I haven’t even cleaned the sump yet so the ReefMat’s obviously doing its job!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Evening vibes

Your tank is looking great!

 

[DarkReefer]

Thanks, there’s a bit of crap there but I haven’t even cleaned the sump yet so the ReefMat’s obviously doing its job!

Yeah nice, can definitely notice it in mine so I'd say yours must be doing better!

 

[shadyraro]

Update:

My tank has been running for nearly 10 months now and when I look back at the startup pics in August last year to now, it’s definitely come a long way.

Aug 2023


June 2024


For me keeping it simple has been why I think this tank has run so smoothly, I've had plenty of minor issues trust me but nothing really major touch wood. The corals and fish are all doing great and my last anemone count was 12, to think there was just 1 of them 14 months ago in my old 600!
I think it's time to move a few of them on before they start taking over the tank.

The algae reactor is doing a great job growing plenty of chaeto and exporting nutrients which keeps my nitrates around 10, and phosphates around 0.15.
Every fortnight I harvest the chaeto, change activated carbon and do a 10% water change. This seems to work well and seems to be enough to replenish the trace elements as I haven’t dosed any alk (9), cal (480) or mag (1500) in nearly 3 weeks!
My salinity sits stable at 1.026, PH ranges from 8.1 to 8.3 and temp is a constant 25c. We’re coming into winter here and I’d been planning to swap my Eheim 150 for another Eheim 250, finally did it so now there’s 2 250’s running.

The ReefMat is doing a great job keeping the tank clean and water crystal clear, I’m still only on my 2nd roll in 6 months which is great and my first roll I got 104 days out of so I'm pretty happy with that.
I also realised I never posted a pic of when I hard plumbed the ReefMat so here’s a pic of how it looks, pretty simple really just pvc with a reducer, a couple unions and a bit of flexi hose at the end.



All the Reef Factory equipment is going good, the KH Keeper and PO4 Smart tester both test once a day and the results are always stable and accurate. Every now and then I'll cross check with hanna and salifert and they're always on point, as long as you keep the gear calibrated you won't have any issues.
Apart from that I’m pretty happy with how the tanks going, although I do need to rescape a few rocks as my 2 gobies like building sand castles and are really ticking off my gonis lol.
Anyway I’ll be making another update video soon so watch this space!

 

[DarkReefer]

Looks amazing mate, the progress is huge. I really envy this tank lol.
Sand looks spotless (in both pics!) colouring is beautiful and everything looks like it's thriving!

Have you had much issues with the nems running around stinging everything? Do you have to move corals or just let nature do it's thing?
Previously when I had nems they were awesome, until they started moving everywhere. I think I ended up having 2 blend themselves in the powerheads for some stupid reason also (despite having nem guard on the nero 3).

What salt are your using ?
I swear some of my nutrients remain low even after a waterchange and starting to consider changing to something else.
Do you use a preset for your radion or custom?

I also seem to be having a little trouble getting my skimmer to skim 'right'. I think for the first bit it worked well enough. These days it either skims too much suddenly and overflows or gets close, or doesn't skim at all/enough LOL