CadLights Mini 4g

[snowflake ell]

Hello Nano-Reef,

 

Why is reefing so interesting? Maybe because for most of us reefing has become a passion; a passion to learn. There is always something new, and interesting to learn about our tanks everyday. So I would like to just say a little thank you to the members on this forum for writing, and sharing information about their tanks, and the informative guides to go to when something is going wrong with your reef. So thank you guys and girls for sharing the wealth of information. Thus helping me and others reach their goals with

our tanks.

 

 

 

Anyway I have just purchased a Cadlight's Mini 4 gallon, and I wasn't looking for a tank at first but it was on sale and a saw a few in person and liked how they looked, and how quiet they are. I was looking at some other 4g, before I made the buy just to be sure I'm going to be happy with what I got, but nothing really stood out to me much.

 

For now I'm am defiantly going to keep the stock light, and pump.

Maybe in the future I will upgrade the light to the nano box tide mini, but we'll see what happens.

 

I have I few question that I couldn't find on other 4g mini threads. There's three chambers the 1st chamber is a big sponge, but has anyone made a basket to fit in there? and the second chamber is for a skimmer but I don't think i will be running one so could I turn that in to a refugium? It has a short baffle so could I put something there to stop it from going over and into the return pump? Like something like eggcret. And the third chamber is just going to be the pump and heater.

 

My stock list is mostly going to be zoa's and other soft coral until I change the light and then

I will try some sps's. Live stock a few shrimp most likely sexy shrimp and maybe a Porcelain or pompom crab not too sure on that yet though. And I'm going with a 3g jbj quick crew from reef cleaners and around 1" deep sand bed.

 

Nothing interesting but here it is - me leak testing it

 

 

 

hears the rear chambers

 

 

 

hears the sponge that goes in the back

 

 

and heres a CadLight 30g the back chambers are the same, but a clear back just so you can see a bit better of what i am taking about

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

Max

[Reefkid88]

I love these little tanks,so awesome. Looks awesome so far.

 

I would definitely upgrade the pump,to reduce dead spots and stagnant flow in the tank. Check out Tron's daughters tank. He also has a NanoBox light.

[seanoli]

I have an 8G and made a media basket out of acrylic. I used Sketchup to design it and had it laser cut online. You might want to look into some sort of flow diverter because that nozzle will blow all of the sand out of the front right corner of the tank.

[Livewreck]

 

Hi Max,

 

Are the pictures of your Cad Lights 4G reversed right to left? I am also setting up a new Cad Lights 4G and in my tank the pump outlet is on the left side (viewed from the front) with the skimmer box in-flow on the right. Not that it matters... just curious, is all.

 

If you are interested in seeing how I've dealt with the flow from the main pump, I can post a few pictures.

 

_Larry

[Livewreck]

Hi Max,

 

I didn't want to step on your thread - especially since we have nearly identical setups - so I started one of my own. It shows photos of the route I chose to divert the flow from the main pump.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/354012-yet-another-cadlights-mini-4g/

 

Cheers,

_Larry

[teenyreef]

I haven't seen any media baskets for this tank, but in mine, I cut down the sponge so it's about an inch tall and just covers the bottom of chamber 1. It keeps anything from getting out of the chamber, and I laid a media bag with carbon on top of it, and placed some filter floss on top of that. It seems to work OK and it isn't hard to pull everything out with a long pair of forceps. I rinse the sponge out in old tank water whenever I do a water change to keep the goop from building up on the sponge.

 

You could use chamber 2 for a refugium with some eggcrate to keep things in place. I stuck a ball of chaeto in there without anything holding it in place for a couple weeks with no problems. I think the challenge is figuring out how to light it. I've used the underwater refugium light from inTank but it heated up the tank too much.

[snowflake ell]

I love these little tanks,so awesome. Looks awesome so far.

 

I would definitely upgrade the pump,to reduce dead spots and stagnant flow in the tank. Check out Tron's daughters tank. He also has a NanoBox light.

 

They'er awesome right, and I did take look at his tank thread and the NanoBox does look the best on the CadLights. And i am going to upgrade, imo it's kind of a weak pump .

 

I have an 8G and made a media basket out of acrylic. I used Sketchup to design it and had it laser cut online. You might want to look into some sort of flow diverter because that nozzle will blow all of the sand out of the front right corner of the tank.

 

Sweet, Im using auto cad to design my basket it's very similar sketch up, and if you have any pictures of the basket you design it would be much appreciated. I have a few spare power head parts laying around that should work for now. I think I'm going to up grade the pump, once I get some coral in the tank.

 

Hi Max,

 

Are the pictures of your Cad Lights 4G reversed right to left? I am also setting up a new Cad Lights 4G and in my tank the pump outlet is on the left side (viewed from the front) with the skimmer box in-flow on the right. Not that it matters... just curious, is all.

 

If you are interested in seeing how I've dealt with the flow from the main pump, I can post a few pictures.

 

_Larry

 

Hey Larry, no the pictures are not reversed, my pump sits on the right.

 

Hi Max,

 

I didn't want to step on your thread - especially since we have nearly identical setups - so I started one of my own. It shows photos of the route I chose to divert the flow from the main pump.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/354012-yet-another-cadlights-mini-4g/

 

Cheers,

_Larry

 

Larry, I like what you did with the pump I'm going to try that with the left over power head pieces I have.

The tank looks nice by the way, the the rock work looks killer.

 

I haven't seen any media baskets for this tank, but in mine, I cut down the sponge so it's about an inch tall and just covers the bottom of chamber 1. It keeps anything from getting out of the chamber, and I laid a media bag with carbon on top of it, and placed some filter floss on top of that. It seems to work OK and it isn't hard to pull everything out with a long pair of forceps. I rinse the sponge out in old tank water whenever I do a water change to keep the goop from building up on the sponge.

 

You could use chamber 2 for a refugium with some eggcrate to keep things in place. I stuck a ball of chaeto in there without anything holding it in place for a couple weeks with no problems. I think the challenge is figuring out how to light it. I've used the underwater refugium light from inTank but it heated up the tank too much.

 

Thank you for the advise, I was going to try using that light but i guess I will keep looking for a better alternative. And nice tank btw.

 

 

 

I added some live rock and some dry rock to help get the cycle started, before I put sand in, I'm going to do a water change to suck up any thing that has accumulated at the bottom of the tank.

 

 

Thanks,

Max

[snowflake ell]

So heres my order so far.

 

 

I'm swopping out the heater I have in there now for the Cobalt, which looks like it should slide right in to the last chamber. I think 5lbs of sand is plenty.

 

The second rear chamber is 2-1/4"x2-3/4"x10 so I was thinking on putting a reactor in there and this should fit

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/minimax-desktop-all-in-one-media-reactor-innovative-marine.html

but it would be a tight fit so I was going to ask for some thoughts.

 

I'm still looking at return pumps. The Hydor Centrifugal 400 should fit, but I'm trying to find a few more options before I oder a pump

[Reefkid88]

The Hydor Pico 800 (200gph) is pretty small,and adjustable flow makes it nice. Super cheap too. I have 2 of them and they are awesome pumps.

 

Maybe look into a BRS single reactor and just hang it on the wall behind the tank,so it doesn't take up room in the rear chamber. You'll only have to have a pump feeding water to it back there.

[seanoli]

Here it is:

[Reefkid88]

Here it is:

THAT IS SICK

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

I would get the sponge out of there, it really clogs up the flow in the 4g. i just leave it open and threw a bag of chemipure in the 2nd chamber... i upgraded the return pump but only saw minimal improvement... i do however use the hydro flo deflector...

[AJ69]

Here it is:

Bro, may I ask who did that media basket? Is awesome!!! I have the Cad 8 with no sponge to prevent clogged and have a better flow,though would love to put my hands on one of those media baskets.

Plz advise

[teenyreef]

I've got the same heater. It fits fine in the third chamber. I mounted it sideways which allows room for the ATO float.

 

Love that media caddy!

 

I'll second the vote for the Hydor 800. I had one on my 4g Evolve and it worked great. I haven't upgraded the pump on my CAD Lights 4g but if I do that's what I will use.

[AJ69]

Get a Nanobox and you will be set for good

[seanoli]

Bro, may I ask who did that media basket? Is awesome!!! I have the Cad 8 with no sponge to prevent clogged and have a better flow,though would love to put my hands on one of those media baskets.

Plz advise

I made it. Very easy to do. I'll message you w/ info--don't want to hijack the thread.

 

The sponge gets grubby pretty fast. I definitely agree with cutting it down or getting rid of it completely.

[Livewreck]

I have the same heater. I keep it in the middle chamber.

 

Do you really think you'll need a media reactor? It's so easy to do a 1 gallon water change once a week. I'm hoping that will be all that's needed.

[teenyreef]

Get a Nanobox and you will be set for good

+1

 

I made it. Very easy to do. I'll message you w/ info--don't want to hijack the thread.

 

The sponge gets grubby pretty fast. I definitely agree with cutting it down or getting rid of it completely.

@seanoli: I'll bet there's lots of us that want to know how you did that sweet media caddy. Can you post about it in your tank thread? Nice tank by the way

[snowflake ell]

I have the same heater. I keep it in the middle chamber. Do you really think you'll need a media reactor? It's so easy to do a 1 gallon water change once a week. I'm hoping that will be all that's needed.

 

No not really. I'm just going to do the 1g water change. The water change should keep the water crystal clear any way. It would probably be cheaper and less maintenance In the long run as well .

I'm going to just ditch the sponge and most likely go with a basket. And also I'm going to order Hydor Pico 800 after the cycle is over

Thank you guy for the input,

Max

[snowflake ell]

My sand and cobalt heater a rived today from brs.

I added the sand and boy is the water cloudy, I can even see the rocks.

I'm most likely going to do a water change if it does not start to clear with in a the next 3 days

or is that a bad idea? I also added the whole 5lbs of sand witch is way to much. I'm going to

remove some sand, when would be the best time to do it?

 

Im just waiting on a few more things from drs. foster and smith

[teenyreef]

Remove the extra sand now because it will make everything cloudy again when you do. Use some filter floss to clean up the sand cloud - you can probably change it a couple times a day until the water is clear. Don't worry it will clear up in a day or two.

[snowflake ell]

Okay thanks for the advise. It is starting to clear now, they gave me a bio-magnet pack

that says it will help clear the water but I'm hesitant to add it.

[teenyreef]

The idea with the bio-magnet pack is to build up your bacteria so the tank will cycle faster. There are differing opinions as to whether using bacteria boosters really helps or not, but it definitely won't help clear up cloudiness due to new sand. That's just lots of tiny sand particles getting in the water. How's it looking now that it's had a day or so to clear up?

 

I'm sure you've already done your research on how to cycle your tank, but you normally don't want to do water changes while it's cycling. It doesn't hurt anything if you do, but it can slow down the process.

 

In my tank I used maybe a pound of sand. Two at the most. But I like a fairly thin sand bed because it's easier to keep clean, and I don't have any fish or shrimp that like to burrow, just snails.

[snowflake ell]

The cloudy water was what was bothering me; I'm impatient for it to clear. the tank looks 10x

better though. I'm definitely going to be removing sand this weekend. I will post some pics of it tonight or tomorrow.

 

teenyreef, can I have your opinion on what I'm going to be stocking in the tank.

It will change over time I just want to have a idea of what I'm going to put in the tank.

[teenyreef]

That's great to hear it's clearing up

 

I'm a terrible person to ask for stocking advice, though. In my 4g tank my first selection criteria was whatever I could get cheap, either online or at the LFS, because I had no confidence anything was going to survive. Turns out I was partly right, only about 25% of what I got in the first month or two is still in my tank. And some of that I wish I didn't have any more. For example, my red mushroom looked nice and grew well, but over time it started to multiply so quickly that it was taking over the whole rock it was on and I had to kill it.

 

I did do research on most of my corals before I bought them to make sure they would be compatible with my lighting, flow, the size of the tank, and the other inhabitants. Just look for things you like and put the name in the search box here on NR, you'll find lots of information.

 

My biggest advice would be to go slow and research everything you want before you buy it. Take a look at the smaller TotM tanks here on NR to see what you like and to get ideas.

 

Some "beginner" corals may be good to avoid. They are popular as easy corals to grow but then start to get out of control, especially in such a small tank. For example, GSP needs to be kept on it's own island or it will grow all over everything it touches. And a lot of the LPS corals will eventually outgrow a 4g tank.

 

On the other hand, when your corals outgrow your tank it's a great excuse to upgrade

 

Feel free to take a look at the stock list for my tank on the first page of my build thread. Stuff from my tank that is good for a new tank: zoas, acans, and rics, and maybe favia and/or duncanops. Palys are nice but they are bigger and will take up some significant real estate. There's lot of other stuff I'd love to try, though.

 

If you want anything that's encrusting or plating, you need to plan ahead to have enough space for it to grow.

 

Your plan for inverts looks good. Get the CUC once you see your levels are stabilizing, and give them a chance to work on your algae bloom when it starts. Once all that stabilizes you can add shrimp and crabs and corals.

 

One thing I plan to do differently in my 10g tank that I'm starting is to go more slowly and be more picky about what I add to the tank. Selecting and adding new stuff is one of the most fun aspects of this hobby. It's no fun to buy everything all at once, fill up the tank, and then just sit and watch it grow for the next two years. In hindsight, I wish that instead of buying three generic red acans for $20, I had bought just one really nice rainbow from the WYSIWYG section for $50. Six months later I would have had lots of really gorgeous rainbow acans instead of lots of pretty but not really spectacular red acans. So buy a few low price corals over the first couple months just to gain experience and make sure your tank is stable, but then become a collector. Add one or two prize pieces per month until it's all filled up