Anyone ever call Cadlights? if so what number did you call, the ones that are posted on their site seem to be out of service? Let me know if you have good number.
Thanks

1 (718) 763-8023 or 8024

Yea, I called them the other day. Had a bunch of questions to ask, they were very polite and helpful.

Did most people go with the blue or black background???

I may be wrong, but I think they are only making the 34G in black backgound now.

Yep your right.

yuppers... which is better than blue IMO

Don't get blue; I have it and don't like it for 2 reasons:

1) Not fully opaque refugium light comes through.
2) Makes the color of the coraline that grows on it not as nice.

wow th is thread i started got big!! woo woO!

im getting mine on wednesday and other things on thursday. already installed my RO/DI and yummY! water taste good. (if you bypass DI filters)

that sucks though dropdesigh.. if cad does not fix your problem.. dont worry i will write bill gates a letter and have him send you $700!!!

Well, Eddie e-mailed me back today and let me know that because of the Holiday weekend my new lighting will be shipping out today. And to top it off he is hooking me up with some bonus Stuff. Too cool. I have found some fixes for my gripes about the tank so my outlook for this project is getting better. At this point I would say that any short comings that Cadlights may have, they are made up 10 fold by an unmatched customer service that is just unheard of in any business today. Now im going to quit b1tching about the tank, get it set up and start the cycle and post some pics.

Someone mentioned the 'fuge light coming through... on the Cadlights, how much light "spillage" comes from the 'fuge lights at night? Does it affect the look of the moonlights? Will it keep me awake at night if the tank is in my BR?

Thanks,

-George

well, my tank was blue and i do get some "spillage" in the tank, but not too much as you can still see the moolight effect. i dont think the black backgrounds have that problem. My LFS Island aquarium have the black one on display and it doesnt have any spillage even with the UV sterilizer in the back.

has anyone dropped the cooling fan unit into the water yet? i have and it seems to be working fine. it even said water proof design on the box, but just wanted to see if anyone had theirs crap out on them after falling in the tank.

thanks for making such an awesome thread Belatube!

I have light spillage with the blue; I cut a mead 5 start not book (the vinyl black opaque type) and I put it from the light down a couple of inches into the refugium to block the light. Much better...

I had light spillage as well but i made a nice cheap mod. Took the legs off added 2 small strips of velcro. No more overspill

Hydor wrote back to me today saying we that they shipped the NANO!! koralia last month so we should be getting them soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got my tank and stand yesterday. Love the tank but am not pleased with the stand at all.

i went to oak express and bought a damaged oak rolltop desk.
removed everything off the top except the top of the desk
cut the space for the chair out and slid the sides together leaving an 24" hole, built a door from the scrap
BAM perfect oak desk with tons of storage for tank.

That is a great idea, I am going today to search for something better.

i also bought a damaged oak table cut it in half. used half as a base for the new stand and used the other half on the top for added strength.
maybe overkill, but better safe than sorry and together the 2 pieces cost me less then 100$.
go to furntiture row or any oak store....then ask where all the "scratch and dent" or damaged stuff is.
remember to measure twice and cut once.
have a plan.

Hey bilge rat and Rodney013 could you guys post some pics of how you made the stands from the oak desks please.....Mega Thanks.........

GOT MY CADLIGHT TODAY!!!!

Congrats Belatube, let me know what you think of yours?

While I didn't go the oak desk route. I did seek out a dif stand. Love the tank thought the stand looked like cheap office furniture. So I searched the local antique stores. Lucked out at one that was moving and having a ridiculous sale on some pretty nice pieces especially the big heavy stuff. Got a solid maple sideboard that was in great shape wood wise and decent finish. Paid a hundred was orig 275. Bought a bottle of finish restore and voila solid and attractive tank stand. It has clean lines and doesn't compete with the tank but compliments. Other cool thing is the center where the tank sits bumps out in a bow that echoes the tank. Biggest bonus for me though was all the storage since it has cabinets and drawers and the extra inches on each side of the tank to put stuff down. Went and got a couple pieces of faux black marble for the wood exposed on the sides. So I could just put something wet down and not worry ect. It was more than worth a little hunting and effort. Besides spent less on it than I would have a stand I did not care for in the first place.

Seems like more and more Cad owners are coming out.

Also, seems like most are not very pleased with the stands, but everyone does love their tanks. I am on the lookout for another stand as well, but I hate that it is keeping me from setting my tank up. Like you I would like to find one that looks nice and gives me a little more storage and work space. I am thankful for these forums and the pictures people post, becasue it sure helps a newbie like me out.

Good luck with your CAD and please keep in touch.

Ahhhh....I'm so jealous of you guys. My tank arrived last Wednesday, but it was broken. So I am waiting for the next one to ship out, it should take another week for it to get here. Patience is not easy for me!!!

I am using a bowfront stand that I had from another tank. I just lucked out in that this tank has almost the same footprint as my old 28 gallon tank. It's just plain black, but being the girl that I am, I spruced it up with some starfish door pulls.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Hang in there, it will be worth it in the long run.

Oh that is the worst all the excitement and bam broken tank! How anticlimactic. I agree with Rodney though. It will be worth it in the long run.





Yeah the stand leaves much to be desired. But on the other hand I have not exactly been knocked off my feet impressed with the other manufactures stands either. It was not easy to have the tank and not something appropriate for it at first. But it was worth the hunt and extra time. If I had not done it that way? The stand I did not like would always annoy me on some level.
Now I have to get my hands on my camera! lol I want to show off my pretty new toy! oooh something shiny

pICS Bilge!

One of my friends is a custom Woodcraft, and is making me a custom stand out of Philippine mahogany to match the rest of the furniture in my house. It should be done this weekend; I will post some pics as soon as I get it. The only problem I see with someone mass producing a tank stand for the Cad 34 is the fact that these tanks are formed one at a time and the base is made to match, and as told to me by Eddie at CAD, no two are the same..

just order 2 tunze nano 6025!!! for the cad ... 1650gph total !

Belatube

I just got my 6025 in yesterday and it looks great.

HEY ALL!!
Add me to the CAD Owner list. I spent months doing research and trying to find the perfect tank. I wasn't a fan of the cubes or pods I hate the black rims around the top and bottom of the thanks and their covers. But the CAD is amazing just to look at without anything in it. I went with a 9 gal because it would fit on my desk at work. I just put live sand and live rock in my CAD 9 this week. I am new to saltwater, but have keep freshwater puffers successfully for a year, and decided to go Salt. I love all the color you get with the corals and when you have the right flow the movement of the tank is amazing.

Do you guys have any stocking suggestions?
I really want a clown and a yellow clown goby not sure if I could do 2 clowns with a goby or not.
Any other stocking suggestions and ideas would be much appreciated

What are good corals with the 32 watt lights that come with my CAD?
I always loved the look of clams but am pretty sure I don't have enough light, or even for an anemone.
Is there anyway to get stronger lights without changing the fixture ( I guess get stronger bulbs)? ***Can you tell I am new at this or what ****

What do you think about an auto top-off system for the weekends. I find that the gravity goes up form 1.022 -1.023 a little above sometimes when I come back over the weekend and sometimes I take the levels down to 1.021 before the weekend so it is closer to 1.022 when i come back. What are your opinions on this?

I guess any hits or suggestions you guys have for a successful tank I wold love to hear. I am always doing research and my nano-reef handbook has been like a bible but I always like to hear what other successful reef keepers are doing

So glade we finally have a CAD thread

Thats what i have. It produces quite a bit of flow. I keep them on a wavemaker.

I went to Lowes earlier today and looked at unfinished cabinetry as a possible stand for the Cad34. They had an 18" square cabinet that has a drawer and single raised panel door for $83. It would need a few add-ons to encase the MDF sides and kick plate and then it would need to be stained and sealed. After I made a custom top to match the tank I think the cost would probably be a wash.

I think the final stand would look nice and I can stain it to match my other furniture, but I'm wondering if it is any better that the one from Cadlights.
What do you all think?

probably.

I think it would be much better and last longer IMO.

I like the idea of the drawer for small items

Thanks Rehype

I am gonna get a Top-off system set up soon, nto ging to add anything els till then and till it's finished cycling of course.

Do you think I can keep 2 clowns in this size tank?

two may be too many. I would stick with one.

My New Signature 34 finally Gets Wet Tommorow!

I have had quite an experience in getting my CADLIGHTS 34 Signautre up and running. The first tank arrived with a smashed canopy, cracked tank, and demolished MH Gearbox.

Ken at Oceanreeflections and Eddie at CADLIGHTS provided excellent service, in what could have been a frustrating situation. They sent me a whole new set up, and made everything right. All of my questions and emails about the replacement parts were answered immediately.

For those of you who already have your Signature 34 up and running I have a couple of questions.

First regarding the UV Sterilizer. My Sterilizer did not come with any installation instructions. How did you hook yours up, and how many hours a day are you running the Sterilizer?

Also, the Skimmer does not have a complete instruction manual. Is there any trick to setting the skimmer up, or do you just crank it all the way open?

By the way, I have the Beechwood Stand, and was very impressed with the finish and quality of the stand. Do those of you that have concerns about the stand have beecwood or black?

Thanks for your responses.

I can't wait to fill 'er up!

Cad dont have the black stand so i didnt order it.. but i heard the stand was crappy.. after looking for one stores after stores i found a great one at Home Depot at the "storage lane" and had a base cabinet which was

30"wx16 1/2" deepx36" tall.... even though its stronger than what you could buy at ur local fish store i still added more wood inside to support the weight of the CAD. it looks great!!! and i love how its 36" tall. heres some pics!!



it was only $89



finished product! nice eh??? (no im not canadian)



sorry its blurry.. but i added the brown wood you see for more support. and did some in the back that you cant see.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a flood of Cadlight owners stepping out?

All the cool kids have C.A.D.'s.

Ken from oceanreeflection rocks!

I read that the signature unit comes with a "glass canopy".

Anyone have a picture of it installed?
All the pictures I've seen so far has been "open top".

Does the canopy cover only the top of the main area? Or over the back/fuge area as well?

only the top of the main area.

the glass canopy is useless IMO
just gets in the way..unless they have changed them since my 34...seems
like they changed alot....i have 34g 1.0
As far as the stand goes i didnt purchase one either...too small
i went to oak express, furniture row, oak outlet etc and bought a really nice solid oak roll top desk and oak table out of the scratch and dent piles
paid less than $100.
took em home, took em apart, made the chair opening smaller and built a door to turn it into a cabinet for storage, kept the side of the desk with drawers, cut the top down, reinforced the top and base by cutting the oak table in half and whalla, big ole finished oak deskfor tank with a ton of storage, nice pullout desk top on the side to work on
and room for a sump. id post pics but i just lost my flippin HD about a month ago...and all data....weeeeeee.

I just ordered mine tonight from OceanReflections I cant wait to get it

Yes he does!! Really the best customer service I've seen of any company of course along with Nanotuners.