Video by Reef Builders · Specs extracted by AllCorals · Watch on YouTube ↗

Reef Builders

Building the Australian Reef Tank Tank Pt. 1: Installing all the Equipment

1

Tank Featured

14

Minutes

2020

Released

Reef Builders' Jake Adams installs all the equipment for an Australian-style reef aquarium built around a Cade Australia 105 gallon system with included schedule 80 plumbing and gravity-fed top-off. He mounts Dalua Great White skimmer and return pump, Illumagic Blaze Mini lighting, a Maxspect Nero 3, and an eCoral controller and doser, filling the tank leak-free. The build is deliberately a low-energy, low-light, higher-nutrient LPS tank, with aquascaping and coral stocking planned for the next videos.

⏭ Skip to a moment

00:00:47Cade Australia 105 gallon plumbing overview 00:01:38Schedule 80 plumbing, dual drains and gate valve 00:02:00Gravity-fed auto top-off system 00:03:01Conduit light bar for hanging equipment 00:03:22Return pump and Nero 3 flow 00:04:04Illumagic Blaze Mini lighting 00:04:25Marco Rocks dry rock 00:04:46Dalua Great White skimmer 00:05:03eCoral doser and dosing pump 00:05:29Great White return pump from Dalua 00:07:59Custom light-hanging with ratchet loops 00:12:46Low-energy low-light LPS philosophy

The Build

Tank Specs

Every spec, brand, and livestock mention pulled from the host's narration. Click any tank tour above to compare.

Tank 01

The Australian Reef Tank (Cade Australia 105 gallon LPS build)

85

Gallons

LPS

Style

Cade Australia (105 gallon system)

Brand

Jake Adams sets up an Australian-style Cade 105 gallon (referred to as ~85 gallon) reef, an intentionally low-energy, low-light, higher-nutrient LPS system. It uses Dalua Great White skimmer and return pump, Illumagic Blaze Mini lighting on a conduit bar, a Nero 3 for gentle flow, and an eCoral controller/doser. Aquascaping and stocking with Australian scolies, bowerbankis and bubble corals come in later videos.

Lighting

Illumagic Blaze Mini ×1

Skimmer

Dalua Great White (2nd generation, DC)

Return Pump

Illumagic Great White (30-40 watt controllable DC)

Flow

Maxspect Gyre Nero 3 ×1 $359.99in stock

Controller

eCoral eCoral controller (monitors temperature, pH, salinity)

ATO

Cade Gravity-fed top-off with included float valve and reservoir

Dosing

doser

Filtration

berlin

Husbandry & Practices 7

Building a deliberate low-energy, low-light, higher-nutrient LPS tank rather than high-energy SPS.
Start with a single small Illumagic Blaze Mini and add a second for uniform light field.
Use Nero 3 flow pump mainly to flush the tank overnight, minimal daytime flow.
Balance return pump against gate valve to tune continuous siphon overflow rate.
Run controllable DC pumps tuned to needed flow instead of throttling with back pressure.
May run skimmer part-time to keep nutrients higher for LPS corals.
Hang lights from a conduit light bar to adjust height, angle, and lean over the tank.

Corals

5

Australian scoliesBauer bankies (Wellsophyllia/bowerbanki)bubble coralschaliceseuphyllia

Shop the build

Featured products from our catalogue

Equipment mentioned in this tour that we cover in our gear catalog. Click through for full specs, retailer comparison, and where-to-buy.

Reef Controller

Mentioned as: eCoral eCoral controller (monitors temperature, pH, salinity)

Illumagic 2 × Mini X

Mentioned as: Illumagic Blaze Mini

Maxspect Gyre XF350

Mentioned as: Maxspect Gyre Nero 3

In their own words

Notable Quotes

It's alive, there's that feeling every single time you've set up a brand new reef tank.

This is going to be one of the lowest energy LPS aquariums.

There's about 200 or more of plumbing included in the aquarium.

I don't think there's enough people that are as devoted to having a lower energy, lower light, higher nutrient LPS aquarium.

I have more than enough corals to just totally do up this tank.