CADE Reef S2/P 1200
Started – December 2022
Capacity (Inhabitable) – 504L / 133 gal
System Capacity (Total) – 571L / 151 gal
Dimensions – 1200x700x600 (LxWxH)
My first reef tank. It’s all learning and lots of experiments.
Aquascaping / Substrate
- Aqua Natural Oolitic Fine Aragonite Sand
- Various dry rock pieces. DIY arch made from Marco rock
Filtration
- Deltec 600i protein skimmer
- Reef Pure RO Systems C02 Scrubber
- ClariSea SK-3000 Gen 3 filter roller – the nice thing is the XL/SK-5000 floss rolls fit it
- Maxspect Nano Tech Bio-Spheres – as much as I could fit in the media area
- Original CADE filter sock(1)
- Bag of ROWA Phos
- ROWA Carbon in Media Reactor
Circulation
- Ecotech Vectra L2 Pump – main return pump
- Ecotech Vectra M2 Pump – feeding the Clarisea filter roller
- Schego Membrane Pump – for additional air circulation
- 2 * AI Nero 5 Submersible Pumps
- 2 * AI Nero 3 Submersible Pumps
Lighting
- 3 * Reefi Uno Pros
- 2 * Reef Factory Reef Flare Bars Version 1 – L/120cm
Controllers/Monitors/Dosers
- Reef Factory Salinity Guardian
- Reef Factory KH Keeper Plus
- Reef Factory Thermo Control
- Reef Factory Dosing Pump X4
- Coral Essentials – Carbonate + Trace
- Coral Essentials – Calcium + Trace
- Coral Essentials – Magnesium + Trace
- Coral Essentials – CVE+
Heating/Cooling
- 2 * Schego Titanium Heaters 600W
- Teco TK1000 Aquarium Chiller
ATO
- Auto Aqua Smart ATO Duo – auto top off system from RO water reservoir
- Auto Aqua Smart ATO RO – fill RO water reservoir
Misc
- Reef Factory Smart Feeder
- Ecotech Versa – for automatically emptying protein skimmer cup
- Reef Revolution Pro-bio Blast – Hand dosed daily
Water/Water Parameters
- I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt
- Alkalinity: 8.5-9.0 dKH
- Calcium: 400-500 ppm
- Magnesium: 1300-1400 ppm
- Salinity: 1.026
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Temperature range: 25.5-26.5 degrees C
- Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
- Phosphate: 0.01-0.09 ppm
Feeding
- 2 * Cubes of Ocean Nutrition Frozen Marine Mix – morning and evening
- 1 * Sheet of Julian Sprung’s SeaVeggies Green
- Ocean Nutrition Flakes (various) – 4 times a day on the smart feeder
- Little Creatures Zooplankton and Aquaculture Phyto (various strains) – 100-200ml before lights out each day
- Coral Essentials Coral Power Aminos – Every second day
- Top up copepods monthly (Little Creatures Zooplankton and Aquaculture)
Backups
- Ecotech Battery Backup connected to return Vectra
- Tesla Powerwall v2 + 13kW Solar
CADE Reef S2/F 900
Started – November 2023
Official Capacity (Inhabitable) – 189L / 50 gal
Official System Capacity (Total) – 238L / 63 gal
Dimensions 900x700x350 (LxWxH)
Second hand frag tank. I fell in love with the CADE 1200 and when I saw a marketplace ad pop up from a local reefer moving interstate I jumped on it straight away. My reasoning was I wanted a tank if my display had issues and also the extra space for frags. Plus the longer I have it up and running the more stable it should be by the time I want to do frags from my display.
Aquascaping / Substrate
- Single piece of Marco rock covered with Zoas
Filtration
- Great White Skimmer GW7
- Reef Pure RO Systems C02 Scrubber
- Reef Factory Smart Roller M
- Combination of
- Mantis Bio Spheres & Maxspect Nano Tech Bio-Spheres – as much as I could fit in the media area
- AF90 Media Reactor filled with Maxspect Nano Tech Bio-Spheres
- 3 * Maxspect Nano Tech Bio-Blocks
- Bag of ROWA Phos
- ROWA Carbon in AF90 Media Reactor
Circulation
- Ecotech Vectra M2 Pump – main return pump
- Schego Membrane Pump – for additional air circulation
- 2 * AI Nero 5 Submersible Pumps
- 2 * Reef Factory Smart Wave 20 – I use one in the sump for additional flow
Lighting
- 2 * Reefi Uni Pros
Controllers/Monitors/Dosers
- Reef Factory Salinity Guardian
- Reef Factory KH Keeper Plus
- Reef Factory Thermo Control
- Reef Factory Dosing Pump X4
- Coral Essentials – Carbonate + Trace
- Coral Essentials – Calcium + Trace
- Coral Essentials – Magnesium + Trace
- Coral Essentials – CVE+
Heating/Cooling
- 2 * Schego Titanium Heaters 300W
- Teco TK500 Aquarium Chiller
ATO
- Auto Aqua Smart ATO Duo – auto top off system from RO water reservoir
- Auto Aqua Smart ATO RO – actually piggy-backs off the tank above so both refill when 1200’s reservoir gets low
Misc
- Reef Factory Smart Feeder
- Ecotech Versa – for automatically emptying protein skimmer cup
- Reef Revolution Pro-bio Blast – Hand dosed daily
Water/Water Parameters
- I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt
- Alkalinity: 8.5-9.0 dKH
- Calcium: 400-500 ppm
- Magnesium: 1300-1400 ppm
- Salinity: 1.026
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Temperature range: 25.5-26.5 degrees C
- Nitrate: 5-10 ppm *Currently sits around 40 ppm and hard to keep it down.
- Phosphate: 0.01-0.09 ppm
Feeding
- 2 * Cubes of Ocean Nutrition Frozen Marine Mix – morning and evening
- Little Creatures Zooplankton and Aquaculture Phyto (various strains) – 100-200ml before lights out each day
- Coral Essentials Coral Power Aminos – Every second day
- Top up copepods monthly (Little Creatures Zooplankton and Aquaculture)
Backups
- Ecotech Battery Backup connected to return Vectra
- Tesla Powerwall v2 + 13kW Solar
Maintenance
- Daily – check pumps and skimmers are behaving for peace of mind
- Daily – check inhabitants
- Weekly – water testing (NO3, PO4, Alk, Calc, Mag)
- Monthly – change out ROWA phos and carbon
- Quarterly (roughly) – ICP
- Quarterly (roughly) – Re-calibrate equipment
- Yearly – change out C02 media
- Yearly – change out RODI media
- As needed – change roller fleece (roughly every 3 months)
- As needed – clean glass
- As needed – top up reagents and dosing liquids


