Aquatic's 22g Cadlight

[Aquatic]

Hey everyone, as some people may know, I recently poked my head back to this site to say hi and I am glad to have received replies from some of the regulars here. I'm glad to see you guys and all the new members that have joined LR since my hiatus.

So without further adieu I present to you a brand new 20g Cadlight aquarium which I received on 9/25/2012. I've always loved the look of the Cad 22 and wanted an AIO tank which would be not too small and yet not too big. The mini bowfront on it is a very nice artistic touch that is more subtle than profound. It comes with 3 back compartments. One for the surface skim overflow that also has an eggcrate media rack. One middle compartment which has the most amount of space..still deciding on how to make the best use of it. And then there's the 3rd and final compartment which contains the stock pump for the return.

The Lighting on the tank is the stock 96w T5HO with 2x LED moonlights. From all the research I have done, these lights should work just fine for softies. If there was one thing I would like to have, it would be some sort of guard that would prevent the fixture from sliding to the left or right when I do mess with it. I eventually plan to swap out the lighting to something nicer in the future. I was looking at the Kessil a150 15k ocean blue and it's a wonderful light for its cost.

As far as other equipment or things I also purchased, here's a small list of what i'm working with right now that I either physically have or have ordered online and am now waiting for it to come in the mail.

1:Aqueon 100w Heater
2:Small Magfloat
3:15lbs Carib Sea dry sand
4:5lb bag of Carib Sea Ocean Direct live sand
5:Standard thermometer
6:40g Cadlight Nano Protein Skimmer from cadlights.com.(in shipment)
7:Saltwater Refractometer from marinedepot.com.(in shipment)
8:Hydor Koralia Nano 425gph from marinedepot.com(in shipment)

Aside from what I have and ordered, other things I need to get are some buckets, media for tank clarity (i.e. Purigen/Chemi Pure Elite), a basic siphon for water changes, a turkey baster to keep rocks clean, water test kits for PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate, etc. And whatever else that I may need that I can't think of at this minute. I also, for now, plan on getting my saltwater from the LFS hence the buckets. I'm also open to just buying just RO water and mixing my own salt into it. Either that or if I ever decide to, I could set up a RODI unit.

Here are some photos of the new tank/some goodies. Enjoy!

 

[Bifferwine]

Yay!! Nice to see a build thread on this! :)

 

[Aquatic]

I am very excited about the build. Just making this build thread was making me wish I could start putting it together and aquascaping to my hearts desire.

I really like Zoanthids, Palys, Mushrooms, and other various corals that capture my eye. I think it would be great to have one big showpiece coral which would stand out from the rest.

As far as stocking plans, all I want is just a pair of ocellaris clowns for now and that's it. If I did get anything else, it would be a small goby and I would wait to see how the tank does with 2 clowns/corals. After owning a saltwater tank back in high school and obsessing over various reef aquarium forums, I definitely want to do this the right way so there's less heartache. I definitely want to let the tank to cycle for a couple weeks before adding anything at all.

 

[Ted]

Thats a nice looking tank should make a really nice reef.

 

[little_fish]

Yay! A build finally!

 

[Aquatic]

Still awake at 5:12 am, I find myself thinking about the lighting for my tank. I was looking at the JBJ Unibody Dimmable 54 Watt 6500K-20000K LED Fixture and thinking that it would be a wonderful fixture that would go well with my setup.

With that in mind, should I just set up the tank and use the stock lighting I have or wait a couple weeks or so and order this bad boy?

Here's a link to the fixture on marinedepot.

JBJ Unibody Dimmable 54 Watt 6500K-20000K LED Fixture
I almost bought a fully setup 30g jbj rimless tank with the unibody from a seller on craigslist but decided not to because of the distance to travel to transport livestock from his system. That being said, I emailed the seller to see if he still had the setup and wrote that I am still interested in the fixture if he still had it. Since his system has corals in it, I wouldn't mind trading my stock T5 system and cash to buy his fixture if he still has it/is willing to sell it to me. If that doesn't work out, then I may just end up saving for a brand new unibody should I decide to want it.

Feel free to chime in with input!

 

[Amba]

IF you're willing to spend a little bit more, you should invest in an AI fixture. They are amazing.

 

[Aquatic]

IF you're willing to spend a little bit more, you should invest in an AI fixture. They are amazing.

I have looked into the AI fixtures but there's concerns about them which could potentially deter me away from them. First off, the AI Nano works best on cube tanks by which I have read about from reviews. And i'm not sure how the spread would be on my tank (24'' long)

The AI SOL Super Blue/Vega would definitely provide some amazing light/coverage for my tank but it is a bit more expensive and I would have to save up another week or 2 to buy it if I decided on one.

They're nice fixtures but kind of boxy looking and would throw off the look of the tank perhaps...unless I can mount it via a metal rod that would be installed on a stand for my tank.

I was also looking into the Kessil a150 15k Ocean Blue to potentially buy as well since it looks FANTASTIC in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5UtLxYorUts

And here's a link to a nice video review of the JBK Unibody

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLQWo4wiYiI[/ame]

After seeing the JBJ unibody plus the many positive reviews on it, it seems like a great option for what I want (mainly a softie tank).

Whichever light fixture I decide on getting (if at all), I want to try to offset the cost by selling my stock Cadlight T5HO fixture on craigslist. Being able to sell that off would definitely speed up the upgrade process.

Feel free to come up with pros/cons which could perhaps change my decision or any other alternate lighting options.

As another small update, I think i am getting my Refractometer and Hydor Koralia 425gph in the mail today. I already received my nano protein skimmer and got irritated trying to set it up. I'll update with a couple pictures if I do get them.

 

[Aquatic]

Well I finally got everything setup. I usually go home after work and go to bed shortly after since I work a graveyard shift job.

I found an ad on craigslist where a local enthusiast nearby was selling fiji and takota live rock for $2.50/lb so I decided to go today and picked up about 24lbs of the takota! And it's very nice looking rock!

While I was at his house, I noticed he has a couple giant water reservoirs and I didn't think much of it when I got home but when I did, I called him up and asked him if he would sell me some premixed saltwater and ro freshwater. Surely enough, he agreed so I went back out and grabbed the water too!

Once I got home, I immediately set everything up. I already did my first initial aquascape in the tank before going back to get the water but the way it looked in the tank was pleasing to me so we'll see. I put my 15lbs of dry sand in and mixed the 5lb bag of live sand in as well and started adding the water. All I have to do now is wait for everything to clear up and see how it looks. I tried looking for some filter floss but couldn't find any at wal-mart...I probably wasn't looking hard enough..plus I was tired as hell. I'll go ahead and check wal-mart or home depot out again tomorrow to get filter floss.

Next items on my list to buy is some water quality test kits, chemi pure elite, and perhaps some purigen..whichever is recommended. On second thought, I should probably run to home depot or wal-mart now just to get it out of the way.

I'll update with pictures later today or tomorrow. I should be asleep right now but the excitement of setting everything up definitely makes it worth it!

 

[Aquatic]

All set up! I'll probably check the salinity later and move the powerhead a bit so I can get a more even spread of sand. The takota rock is lovely I still have 3 pieces of LR left that I could use. Everything looks great but I think I might swap out the rock on the top right. It has a bit less branchy texture so I may swap it. for another piece of rock.

-edit-
Just rescaped it now and it looks better. Just got to wait for the water to clear and see how it looks then. The quick rescape also gave a little bit more swimming space.

 

[little_fish]

Love that rock!

 

[Aquatic]

Thank you! I do too. Especially for the price :)

 

[Ted]

Great find on that rock. Looking really good.

 

[Aquatic]

Been four days since I set everything up and things seem to be okay. Might have an issue with my refractometer. I calibrated it with RO water and the line stays straight from left to right at 1.000 sg but when I wipe it down and test my salinity, the line has a very slight slant from left to right. Not sure if it's defective or if i'm not calibrating it correctly. I may end up getting some calibration fluid and see how that goes.

Also ended up getting some filter floss from wal-mart and that's helped a lot in clearing out some surface junk. The skimmer seems to be breaking in a little bit. The cup fills with mostly water but I have been seeing more bubbles come up through the cup so that seems to be good. With the questionable refractometer(or my own incompetence), my sg read right around 1.026 so I just need to take out a little more of my saltwater and replace it with freshwater.

I plan on buying some test kits on thursday and will probably end up buying some filter media such as Chemipure Elite/Phosban, etc. I'll check the levels of the tank and wait about another week while I test til I can determine if the tank is fit for a CUC.

The guy who ended up selling me my rock/water also offered to sell me some starter corals when the tank is ready for that phase. It's awesome to have a local reefer so close by to help me out.

I was also considering getting a nano sized bio-pellet reactor and was wondering if anyone here has any good input. Through a bit of research, it seems that some people swear by them. What would you guys think?

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

you tank looks really good. love the rocks you got a steal on them.

 

[Aquatic]

I finally added a CUC to my setup which consists of 1 turbo snail, 2 bumblebee snails, 2 astraea snails, 4 nassarius snails, and a few ceriths. Also included is 2 emerald mithrax crabs and a peppermint shrimp.

I also changed up my aquascape a little and I found one that looks pleasing to me so I won't change it around anymore. Seems as if my tank has hit the diatom/cyano stage of the cycle as the top of my sand and my rock gets slightly brown. Just have to wait til the nutrients are used up so it can die down. The snails have been taking good care of it so far and everything seems to be very much alive too.

Did a near 5 gal water change this morning so I could get some nutrient export...so far so good on everything. Last time I checked my water quality, the levels seemed to be pretty standard for a new tank but I plan on testing my water again to see where i'm at.

I also have a bag of Chemi Pure Elite that's hanging from the media rack in my setup as well. It was recommended to me to use half the amount so that's what I did. I might go out tomorrow and get either my first fish and/or first coral(s). The salinity after the waterchange was right about on the money at 1.025 so there hasn't been an issue with that so far.

I wish I had a better camera and better picture taking skills but here's a few.

 

[Amba]

Been four days since I set everything up and things seem to be okay. Might have an issue with my refractometer. I calibrated it with RO water and the line stays straight from left to right at 1.000 sg but when I wipe it down and test my salinity, the line has a very slight slant from left to right. Not sure if it's defective or if i'm not calibrating it correctly. I may end up getting some calibration fluid and see how that goes.

Calibrating with RO water is not really an accurate way to calibrate. You can get a bottle of good calibration fluid for less than $6.

Also ended up getting some filter floss from wal-mart and that's helped a lot in clearing out some surface junk. The skimmer seems to be breaking in a little bit. The cup fills with mostly water but I have been seeing more bubbles come up through the cup so that seems to be good. With the questionable refractometer(or my own incompetence), my sg read right around 1.026 so I just need to take out a little more of my saltwater and replace it with freshwater.

Where are you using the filter floss? If your skimmer is filling with water, turn it down a bit, it won't really produce skimmate until it breaks in anyway.

I was also considering getting a nano sized bio-pellet reactor and was wondering if anyone here has any good input. Through a bit of research, it seems that some people swear by them. What would you guys think?

There are several people on here that swear by biopellets. Check the water chemistry section, fast wrote a great write up there about Warner pellets. You don't really need a biopellet reactor on a nano tank, but if you want one there are a lot of products out there. I know people swear by Warner marine and I hear good things about vertex also. Some people love the BRS pellets and others say they are low quality, so do some research before you buy!

 

[Aquatic]

Calibrating with RO water is not really an accurate way to calibrate. You can get a bottle of good calibration fluid for less than $6.



Where are you using the filter floss? If your skimmer is filling with water, turn it down a bit, it won't really produce skimmate until it breaks in anyway.




There are several people on here that swear by biopellets. Check the water chemistry section, fast wrote a great write up there about Warner pellets. You don't really need a biopellet reactor on a nano tank, but if you want one there are a lot of products out there. I know people swear by Warner marine and I hear good things about vertex also. Some people love the BRS pellets and others say they are low quality, so do some research before you buy!

I may just order some calibration fluid for better accuracy for sure. I am using the filter floss directly where the surface skimmer is on the tank. There's an piece of egg crate that's supported by 2 acrylic lips near the surface skimmer. I cut about 4 layers of the floss and put it directly on top of the egg crate. The bag of chemi pure is zip tied to hang directly underneath that same egg crate.

The only thing I don't like is that the surface skimmer isn't an overflow. The water just goes through the surface skimmer but doesn't flow down like a little waterfall into the back compartment. I called Eddy at Cadlights and he told me that they designed it that way to reduce noise. So to better explain it, the water level in the display area of the tank is the same level as on the other side of the surface skimmer. I have the powerhead and return nozzle aimed upwards to both get some surface agitation and to have surface water flow to the surface skimmer as well.

If you look at the most recent FTS pictures I just submitted, you can actually see the filter floss directly behind the overflow. I toyed around with the floss so that the back side of the floss is higher than my water level to ensure that it catches all the gunk...I have rinsed out the floss 2-3 times already so it seems to be doing its job.

 

[Amba]

I don't know much about the tank but it sounds like the surface skimmer does not really do much, or maybe I am confused. I use the BRS calibration solution. Is the skimmer HOB then?

 

[Aquatic]

Okay so I recently took a small video of my tank with my phone. Only the blues+moonlights are on and I wish the clarity could've been better. I went out to a LFS last saturday and got myself a healthy looking frogspawn to add to my tank. I was thinking about getting 2-3 more frogspawns to place next to the one I have for a really nice colony of them unless that's a bad idea. I have 2 tomato clowns in there and they seem to be doing well so far. One of them likes to be a clown and just hangout by the thermometer as shown in the video. I also took out the tall rock to the left and made the area a bit more flat for some added swimming space and more places to put coral as well.

Here's my video!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoLLDqltOc"]22gallon CAD - YouTube[/ame]

And to answer your question Amba, no, the skimmer isn't HOB. It sits inside of the 2nd back compartment of my tank as of now.