Smite's Stout CDA - 205g Acropora dominant system 50x38x25"

[Acropora52]

looking great. Hard to beat the powermodules for spread and par! I've been toying with adding some rb or orphek bars for mine but may just leave it alone as it does detract from the sleekness of the fixture.

 

[Smite]

looking great. Hard to beat the powermodules for spread and par! I've been toying with adding some rb or orphek bars for mine but may just leave it alone as it does detract from the sleekness of the fixture.

So do you only view day spectrums then or are you running some actinic based lamps in the 2 lamp channel?

 

[Smite]

They way my layout lined up, the true actinic are in the 2 channel, I’m looking forward to seeing what that does alone.

 

[Acropora52]

So do you only view day spectrums then or are you running some actinic based lamps in the 2 lamp channel?

I have the 8 bulb led/t5 combo, so dusk/dawn is the LEDs with the other lights split in 4 bulb banks. I have my LEDs mimicking the P+, actinic combo I used to use for dusk/dawn and then spiking towards daylight, with 80% intensity for about 3-4 hours (though I'm going to slowly increase that as I finish acclimating some corals I just got from a friend who was running fairly low light).

 

[Smite]

Man I think this combo could be very nice. The mounting is pretty low profile but does it look hacky? I’d do some cord management of course. I like the idea of ramping up with full spectrum. The kessil all blue looks pretty crazy with the true actinic lamps too

I picked up two xho but a true 48” they over hang the ati on each side. Plus I may need to drill the fixture, this route I don’t.

thoughts and opinions? There would be another setup to make 4 total

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Man I think this combo could be very nice. The mounting is pretty low profile but does it look hacky? I’d do some cord management of course. I like the idea of ramping up with full spectrum. The kessil all blue looks pretty crazy with the true actinic lamps too

I picked up two xho but a true 48” they over hang the ati on each side. Plus I may need to drill the fixture, this route I don’t.

thoughts and opinions? There would be another setup to make 4 total

That looks great. I think 4 will give you the coverage and shimmer you want.

 

[Duane Fagan]

So it sounds like my tank will be shipping this week or next from CDA. I'm still waiting for some build pictures and will post those once I receive them.

CDA Tank
50"x38"x25"
1/2" glass
3 side starphire
Internal rear corner overflow - 3 drains and 1 return
Steel Stand by CDA
50x38x29"
I'm keeping this one low, it will be in my living room next to the couch and I want to be able to view it sitting down. It will be in a corner, with 2 viewable sides which is part of the reason for the 38" front to back.

Lighting:
Main lighting:
Metal Halide, Lumenbright large refectors x2. I'm still deciding whether I'll need 250w or 400w lamps. Kelvin will be 14k hamilton. I'm using these reflectors so I can mount them 18" above the rim of the aquarium to bottom of pendant.
Supplemental lighting:
4 Kessil A360. These will be for adding more viewing time and also going blue when I want. I'll be controlling them with apex 0-10v ports.
I may add some orphek all blue strips if the kessils aren't bright enough.
I'm looking at building a "floating" canopy for this build. It will be mounted to the wall. I do want to figure out a way to incorporate inserts that will fill the gap between tank and canopy to block overspill for viewing movies, when companies over ect.

Flow:
Return will be a m2 vectra for now. I may upgrade to a RO pump eventually.
In tank flow - all Tunze:
1 Wavebox and 3 x 6105

Filtration:
AA hybrid sump
Considering a cryptic zone plumbed in with a 40g breeder
Deltec skimmer
I've struggled to grow macros for the last year, so I may just skip any kind of plant based refugium altogether.

Control:
I'll still be using my apex classic for this build

Dosing will be my Geo's Reef 618 calcium reactor. I'll be sticking with no water changes and using the Reef Moonshiner's program.


I prebuilt my rockscape soon after placing my order for the tank in May. It has been cycling since then with circulation and heat. I've been adding ammonia every few days. I recently added the biobrick form my sump to the tub. I'll be starting to dose phytoplankton to the tub going forward to try and get a good pod population going. I've kept the rockwork in the bottom 1/3 of the the tank on this one. The goal is to allow for some good sized colonies to grow in and have plenty of free water for fish to swim.
This tank is going to have sand and I'm doing a blend of special grade with a few other types of live sand. The live sand has been in the hot garage all summer, so I think I'm just going to rinse it in tap, flush it a few times with RO/DI and then let it dry in the sun.

This will be a acropora dominant reef tank. I'll be transferring my main structure from my 75g over and all my current livestock when the time comes. I'll be keeping a gigantea anemone on an island rock in the front corner of the tank. I'll be keeping a few chalices/favia on the sand and a torch coral as well.

Not much without pictures, I know. Hopefully those will come through soon.

Cda as in Crystal dynamic aquarium in San Diego CA?

 

[Smite]

Cda as in Crystal dynamic aquarium in San Diego CA?

Yup, it's a crystal dynamics tank out of SD (oceanside?) CA

 

[Duane Fagan]

Yup, it's a crystal dynamics tank out of SD (oceanside?) CA

Nice how was your experience dealing with them and how do you feel about how the tank came out

 

[Smite]

Nice how was your experience dealing with them and how do you feel about how the tank came out

I'm very happy with my decision.

The tank quality is very nice. I've had a few SC aquariums, 66 & 100g and also a 180g MODE that i had custom made for an external overflow. When compared to those this one is far nicer aesthetically. It's built like an absolute tank. I basically went as tall as I could to stay 1/2" glass with my footprint and I don't regret it with all the double bracing, double pane bottom, with bracing and pvc sheet adhered to the bottom side. I really can't find a flaw with the tank.

Communication is pretty good. I understand they are very busy but I did get a response back in 1-2 business days. The lead time was a little under double of what their original estimate was so take that into consideration.

The stand is very well built. In hindsight I would have paid extra for powder coat, I'm not sure how durable this epoxy coating is? It seems a little thin to me. I really wish companies would start offering rhino truck bed liner for coatings on stands, I've heard thats bulletproof.

Would I recommend them? Absolutely. Very happy with this tank.

Things to consider:

Thing is heavy due to all the bracing and doubled bottom.
The top bracing: Its pretty wide and know that it's doubled, so siliconed together on top of one another. Black so lights not gonna get through there like it could with other eurobraces. My 50x38 has a much smaller opening. Really I should have gone with a 36" light, if I ever upgrade to a hybrid powermodule it will be 36"
They paint the back, it has a slight wrinkly on the backside, so know you can't reliably use suction cups. Painting two sides of mine, cups were out completely.

 

[Duane Fagan]

I'm very happy with my decision.

The tank quality is very nice. I've had a few SC aquariums, 66 & 100g and also a 180g MODE that i had custom made for an external overflow. When compared to those this one is far nicer aesthetically. It's built like an absolute tank. I basically went as tall as I could to stay 1/2" glass with my footprint and I don't regret it with all the double bracing, double pane bottom, with bracing and pvc sheet adhered to the bottom side. I really can't find a flaw with the tank.

Communication is pretty good. I understand they are very busy but I did get a response back in 1-2 business days. The lead time was a little under double of what their original estimate was so take that into consideration.

The stand is very well built. In hindsight I would have paid extra for powder coat, I'm not sure how durable this epoxy coating is? It seems a little thin to me. I really wish companies would start offering rhino truck bed liner for coatings on stands, I've heard thats bulletproof.

Would I recommend them? Absolutely. Very happy with this tank.

Things to consider:

Thing is heavy due to all the bracing and doubled bottom.
The top bracing: Its pretty wide and know that it's doubled, so siliconed together on top of one another. Black so lights not gonna get through there like it could with other eurobraces. My 50x38 has a much smaller opening. Really I should have gone with a 36" light, if I ever upgrade to a hybrid powermodule it will be 36"
They paint the back, it has a slight wrinkly on the backside, so know you can't reliably use suction cups. Painting two sides of mine, cups were out completely.

Thank you very much for the review

 

[Smite]

I was able to get another kessil 360we in good shape. I added that in and will transfer the 4th over after the swap since it runs my frag section currently. I repaired the fan on the Powermodule and got all the wiring management done for the light down to the display. I left a nice long service/drip loop so I can raise the light 2-3' when I really need to get in there and for the day I transfer. I'm using my controller and current UV so I'm really as far as I can go until the transfer.

I added 120-140lbs of special grade and that gave me about 1.5" deep sand bed. Some dry and rinsed but the majority "live" sand. I don't trust that for the day of transfer so I'm adding it early. I had about a 1L left of MB7 so I added that to the sand, a few drops of ammonia and about 50g of fresh mixed NeoMarine. Basically making sure the sand is seeded, truly living and ready to rock come transfer day. I've also got an airstone in there to help out the bacteria.

I've got another 55g of salt mixing right now and I'll be adding that tomorrow. That should get me enough water height to add my rock from the bin in the garage. I picked up some 3" ABS PVC in case I want to cut some shims to lift my scape up.

My plan is to get the tank filled with the sand and rock all in place. I need to test, but I'm assuming after all this time of adding ammonia to the bin in the garage the nitrates are for sure high and possibly with phosphates as well. I wont be using that water, I want 100% fresh neomarine in the new tank. So once the rock is in it'll just be a waiting game for nutrients to rise close to that of the 75g. I'll manipulate the major parameters to match the 75g, then I'll be swapping everything over.

I have some fish that have been looking decent in QT/Observation. They've made it through both general cure treatments and are eating. No signs of internal parasites so far. They'll be going in while I wait/get everything dialed into the new tank. They are the newbies so that will give them time to acclimate before all the other fish make the jump.
Ornate Leopard Wrasse. Slept for the first 48 hours. Caught him waking. Not to stoked on the new place

Copperband Butterfly - eating live only, so I may hold him back. Also twitching even after two full rounds of GC and is flashing occasionally. I've had him a few weeks so that seems pretty odd to me. Hard to make out ich on a white fish but no other fish have signs of anything?

Yellowtail Fang Blenny. I'm so stoked on this fish. Hard to beat the blue and yellow combo with that black slash through the eye.

And I may regret it but a Yellow Watchman Goby. Not sure if I'll be adding a pistol or not. I really like that relationship and don't plan to keep much on the sand but it could get annoying I'm sure.

I'd really like to get another blenny of some type, scopas or purple tang and possibly an angel of some type.

 

[galantra]

Loving that yellow tale.

Looking very good when will you be adding the rock in? Also what kind of rock?
So excited to see this

 

[Smite]

Loving that yellow tale.

Looking very good when will you be adding the rock in? Also what kind of rock?
So excited to see this

Thanks, he's very bold and active so a very cool fish!

I was able to make just enough water to get the system running today. I added the rock I plan to use along side my existing 75g tank. Seeing it in the tank, I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to use the right piece, I really want to try and keep an open feel with good flow and I'm worried it may end up being a little crowded. I'll be able to play around with it a little more once it clears up some.

For now here are some cloudy silhouette pictures

 

[Smite]

She's a beast. 15 minutes in and we got solid foam going

 

[galantra]

Looks like a minimalist look from what I can see. Or maybe the cloudiness makes it harder to see the true view. This is all live or dry rock?

 

[howaboutme]

Nice! What are you doing w/ your UNS??!!!

 

[Smite]

Looks like a minimalist look from what I can see. Or maybe the cloudiness makes it harder to see the true view. This is all live or dry rock?

I’m not sure it will be considered minimalist once my other rock is in there but I am trying to keep it a bit more open than my previous systems. It's all cured live rock. It started dry but I've been curing it in a bin since I ordered the tank in May. Once it cycled I took some of my bio-brick that was in the 75 and a few sump rocks and put it in the bin to hopefully seed it with some sponges, copepods ect. I've been adding live phytoplankton to the rock a couple times a week as well. So hopefully it's nice and seeded by now!

 

[Smite]

Nice! What are you doing w/ your UNS??!!!

I'll be transferring everything over to this system and breaking it down. Sad to see it go, it's been a very fun system but I know myself and I'm not up for the challenge of running two separate systems.

 

[Smite]

Still foggy but starting to clear up. rocks aren’t in their exact positions.

one thing I’m very happy to see is the kessil shimmer cut through the 10 lamps of the ATI. Very close to a MH look so I’m pretty stoked on that!