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ALLCORALS REEF TANKS & GEAR
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Reef Builders

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

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

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.
Video by Reef Builders
Equipment

Gear in this tank

Lighting
Illumagic Blaze Mini ×1
Skimmer
Dalua Great White (2nd generation, DC)
Return
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

Protocols & Practices

  • 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.
Stocked

Livestock

Corals
5
Australian scoliesBauer bankies (Wellsophyllia/bowerbanki)bubble coralschaliceseuphyllia