Urchinhead's CADLights 39G Pro

[Phixion]

Oh, Tom ehh?

 

The redux looks good!

[new2reef]

You've done a lot of work on the tank - very nice. I just picked up the CAD 39g Pro and have a couple questions, as I set it up.

 

I see you remounted the center support horizontally, instead of vertically. How did you modify the support? Do you have any pictures of the new location of the center support you can share? With the vertical support, the sump is trapped in stand.

 

Where did you mount the Reefkeeper controller and power strip? Pictures?

 

Are you getting a lot of rust on the cams and hinges inside the stand? I'm a little concerned with a closed stand having sump, heater, light, cooling fan, skimmer, etc inside? Is everything okay or would you recommend more ventilation inside stand?

 

Thanks again for all the great info and tips - will rethink my ATO container.

[Urchinhead]

You've done a lot of work on the tank - very nice. I just picked up the CAD 39g Pro and have a couple questions, as I set it up.

 

Yes. Most of it not of my choosing. Thank you. Good for you. It is a pretty good tank overall. I am not at all happy with the sump they provide though.

 

I see you remounted the center support horizontally, instead of vertically. How did you modify the support? Do you have any pictures of the new location of the center support you can share? With the vertical support, the sump is trapped in stand.

 

If you are referring to the post that held the doors in place then I did not place it vertically. I removed it completely. The structural support it provided was negligible and it would not allow my sump/fuge (I designed one) to fit in the stand. Just take it out. It doesn't do anything other than hold your doors in place as well as the shelves. If you absolutely must have the shelves you can rig up something to hold them in place without the center support.

 

Where did you mount the Reefkeeper controller and power strip? Pictures?

 

I took one of the shelves and mounted all of the controls and power strips on it. I used a couple of picture hangers and screws and mounted it to the side of the tank. I then took the center support and cut it so that I could use it as a 'water trap' so that when stuff sloshed out of the tank it didn't hit the controls and power strip. This didn't work as well as I expected so I am now designing a custom acrylic controls box to house everything. I will post pictures of it when its ready for prime time.

 

Are you getting a lot of rust on the cams and hinges inside the stand? I'm a little concerned with a closed stand having sump, heater, light, cooling fan, skimmer, etc inside? Is everything okay or would you recommend more ventilation inside stand?

 

Yes. ALLOT of rust. Not so much that they are falling apart but they are all covered in rust. Overall the stand is ventilated fine for what I have in it. I would recommend that you mount the fan on the tank itself behind the overflow box rather than in the sump. This way you have air blowing over the surface of your tank and dissipating the heat from the MH lights which is your major heat source.

Thanks again for all the great info and tips - will rethink my ATO container.

 

Hope that helps!

 

UH

[new2reef]

UH, thanks for reply and all the info in the thread. Since this is my first tank with sump, I'll be sticking with the CAD sump and skimmer - for now. I know there are better ones out there, but I'll use these as learner equipment!

 

So, the stand is structurally sound without the center piece. Don't plan to put shelves in the stand - not a lot of room.

 

I've been wondering exactly where to mount a controller and the power strip. I'm assuming inside the stand is not recommended, because of the moisture (evaporation) from sump. When you say you hung it on side - was that the tank or stand? Interested in seeing your newest version.

 

I'm very concerned about the rust on the stand parts, esp. the cams which are holding the stand together. Would you recommend spray painting the cams and hinges with Krylon or rust-proof paint to keep them from rusting? Would more ventilation in stand help?

 

Thanks for the tip on the cooling fan - was planning to put over sump, but over the overflow makes a lot of sense.

 

One more question, in an older set of photos in this thread, I think you had pictures of the plumbing between tank and sump - could you post those again? Trying to figure out what to put where. I'm thinking a gate or ball value on both drain and return for maintenance, and a check value on the return to prevent a siphon.

 

This thread and your response have been very helpful. Thanks again!

[SeeDemTails]

Tanks looking good! I am trying to stop fragging in my tank but growth just doesnt allow for it.....I have to lol....then I break stuff and get pissed. The whole frickin colony busts off the rock ect ect.....

[Urchinhead]

UH, thanks for reply and all the info in the thread. Since this is my first tank with sump, I'll be sticking with the CAD sump and skimmer - for now. I know there are better ones out there, but I'll use these as learner equipment!

 

Do yourself a big favor mate and replace the sump sooner rather than later. It really does make a big difference.

 

So, the stand is structurally sound without the center piece. Don't plan to put shelves in the stand - not a lot of room.

 

Yes. Its fine without it. It was more to hold the doors in place than anything else.

 

I've been wondering exactly where to mount a controller and the power strip. I'm assuming inside the stand is not recommended, because of the moisture (evaporation) from sump. When you say you hung it on side - was that the tank or stand? Interested in seeing your newest version.

 

Take a lesson from me and mount it as far away as you can from the tank. And definitely NOT in the stand. Salt water is one of the most corrosive solutions on earth and you would be amazed at how far splashes can go out of your tank. I have mine hung now on the side of the stand on the outside but as soon as my now control box is ready it is going to go about 3' away. I put a drip shield on the thing but salt water is still creeping in and I am worried about my electronics.

 

I'm very concerned about the rust on the stand parts, esp. the cams which are holding the stand together. Would you recommend spray painting the cams and hinges with Krylon or rust-proof paint to keep them from rusting? Would more ventilation in stand help?

 

You can. I didn't think about it when I put things together. And more ventilation will help with temperature in there but it will also increase evaporation somewhat. I would think that sealing the parts would be better overall.

 

Thanks for the tip on the cooling fan - was planning to put over sump, but over the overflow makes a lot of sense.

 

No problem. Its a question of aesthetics in my mind. I believe there is going to be a higher localized temperature under the MH but the fan is ugly. The fan will cool things in the sump just as well.

 

One more question, in an older set of photos in this thread, I think you had pictures of the plumbing between tank and sump - could you post those again? Trying to figure out what to put where. I'm thinking a gate or ball value on both drain and return for maintenance, and a check value on the return to prevent a siphon.

 

Humm... My plumbing right now is very much sub optimal. If you can wait a month I will have a whole new plumbing scheme and can post photos then. Since I don't think you can let me do my best to explain it to you.

 

First off my plumbing is somewhat unique as my sump is also a fuge and it is a performance tunable sump/fuge so I am breaking out the drain so that a 1" line flows into the sump and a 1/2" line goes to the fuge. I will have a standard i" T with 1/2" reducer on one end for said breakout and two gate valves there for flow control. Looks like the jpg attached (just replace ball value with gate valve). Also for you since you are not doing a breakout you can remove the T connector and the 1/2" stuff.

 

This thread and your response have been very helpful. Thanks again!

 

You are welcome.

[Urchinhead]

Tank update 10-22-08:

 

Found out that the Bartlett's Anthias for whatever reason has a real problem with Chromis courtesy of Reef Central postings. They are fine with pretty much any other fish than Anthias and... Chromis for some reason.

 

Since I like the Blue Chromis better and have found the daily feeding to actually be too time consuming (I have my lights go on at 0600 for 45 minutes M-Th so I can grab 5 minutes during my get up and out the door cycle to feed the tank which actually makes me about 15-20 minutes late for work since I *NEVER* spend just 5 minutes on top of the bi-weekly water changes to keep up with nutrient export) I am going to give the Bartlett's away to a good home.

 

My 4th (5th? Since I lost two to heat at the same time) attempt at a Helfich's Firefish seems (knock on wood) to be working so far. This guy has been in the tank for about two months now and is just beginning to eat from my hand when I feed and competes fine with the other fish. I have found that flake seems to work best for him so I have switched to it.

 

My momma clown who was with me over two years decided to have a go at me again by jumping *AGAIN* into the overflow box. Seriously. I am convinced she would do this just to piss me off. Sadly she missed and managed to go behind the tank. I really liked the look of some Black clowns at my local LFS (PTF) and liked the price even more so I picked one up. She has paired nicely with my male and they are now hosting my Yellow Fiji monster at night and tend to roam the tank during the day.

 

Some photos:

 

In an attempt to get my wife more involved with the tank (and off my arse about it) I asked her to pick a coral she liked while we were at RAP with my son. Of course she had to pick one of the most expensive (since its new) and one of the biggest pain in the arse ones there, the orange Dendro. Seems the bloody little snits need to be fed once or twice a week and prefer silversides which means I get to stand post with my forceps and fend off the cleaner shrimp, star fish, odd snail, and pom pom crab while they eat.

 

Sadly and frustratingly my blasto's are suffering from melting disease most likely do to some swings in Alk I had in the tank as I was working out the dosing requirements and my not staying on top of adding Part 1 of B-Ionic. Real easy to get lazy and loose several hundred dollars worth of something...

 

As you can see Phixion's Monti is growing well. Hopefully it will grow up instead of out and down like it is now. And my hammer is recovering nicely from the rock falling on it. You can see the nice heads growing.

 

Other than the size my Fiji has grown to nothing really new in the tank. Just some general photos. Including one of the fiji with the 3" bartlett's in the shot for scale.

 

 

And finally a few rare shots of my pom pom including me feeding it by hand. I was also defending the Dendro and this seemed easier than swatting at him and the star fish. Also here is a picture of Money the fire shrimp. My son was with me and wanted to pick something for the tank. I told him to go ahead and he wanted a fire shrimp. So here he is. He named him Money. Don't ask me why.

 

[Phixion]

The monticap is looking well, mate! Just prop it up against the wall like I did with mine and it'll start growing up and scrolling around, lol! I wish I could have seen you and the family at RAP. And sorry to hear about your clown, though I'm jealous of the B&W as I saw the same ones at PTF recently... I just added a pair of false percs to my SCNRS tank this past weekend, courtesy of EelsNlions.

[Urchinhead]

Well I had a rather bad Thanksgiving.

 

Seems that the rains here in Sunny Southern California caused a transformer to catch fire which meant my power was out for 30 hours. The first third of which I didn't know I had no power because the family was out of the house.

 

Came home to find that my UPS had done its job and kept the heater and PH going for the 8 hours I estimated but that the tank wasn't heated or circulated for several hours after that in a very cold house. Tank temp dropped to about 70 and all but my clowns were either MIA or KIA and every piece of coral in the tank was as pissed as a wet cat.

 

Fast forward through me getting a generator setup, setting up a emergency holding tank as I didn't want to run a CO2 chugging generator in my house and had fish that I couldn't find but knew were dead fouling the main tank, and transferring all corals my two clowns abalone urchin two pom pom's two shrimp, RBTA and anemone crab to the tank and we get to the death watch.

 

First the clowns went after struggling and looking to be a bit better only to crash suddenly.

 

Then the shrimp and crabs passed on pretty much all at once.

 

Then ALL of my SPS went into RTN and melted away and the RBTA went.

 

Next my abalone died in literally in front of me in slow motion fighting the good fight but in the end loosing.

 

And as of today, two days after So Cal Edison (who is not on my Christmas card list this year because they turned an 8 hour repair into a 30 hour one for no good reason and never offered an explanation) turned the power back up my yellow fiji that has been with me for the last 2 1/2 years and grown from a wee bugger into over a foot in size is showing signs of tissue necrosis and will most likely not make it through the night.

 

In the grave and not expected to survive condition are all of my blastomussa and my serpent star.

 

In guarded but somewhat stable condition are most of my acan's, mushrooms, clam, and zoa's.

 

So far I have done two 100% water changes and am running Chemipure Elite (I hear it works miracles ) and a skimmer as well as doing a 5 gallon (25% water change) daily just to keep the water somewhat clear as things continue to die.

 

My plan is as follows but I would like second opinions on it...

 

While I nurse the corals that ultimately make it back to a semblance of health I plan to replace the old sand bed in the tank with new live sand (going from white to black), fill the tank with a combination of my own salt water mix and NSW and keep my live rock in a separate tank with PH/heater/water changes for about 2-3 weeks to re-cure and/or stay cured. At that point I would transfer the corals who make it through back into the tank as well as the clam (if it survives).

 

I think I am ok with the above plan for a tank restart but like I said want second opinions on this. Will I be safe on a transfer or should I pass out all the corals to fellow reefers to hold for me and just cycle the tank fresh then wait six months to a year to put my clam back in and add SPS?

[proraptor2]

Like I said on the other board....Once I get my tank established and start growing coral again Ill hook you up bro