Alright, so I have been doing research for months and months and I finally decided against the Red Sea Max and the Nano Cube for the Cadlights 39g Pro. I've currently saved up half the money that I need for it, so purchasing it is still a few months away. I've been thinking of different ways types of aquascaping and I am stuck between making a sort of island in the middle of the tank or making a rock/foam wall so it appears like an entire face of reef. Anyway, those are just some ideas I am running through my head. I've heard a lot of people talk about the benefits of a deep sea bed, so I'm thinking maybe a 3"-4". I'll be looking forward to any help I can get once I get the tank.

BTW, funny story, I was in my favorite LFS and they asked me if I wanted to but one of their tanks and I told them about the cadlights and the store owner ran to her computer to look it up. She was so amazed she filled out the distributor request form right there and faxed it over. If she can get it and save me some shipping costs that would be great!

sounds like a good LFS, good luck with your tank.

Thanks maroon, I'm really excited.

I was thinking about going with this setup as well, but decided against it only for personal reasons (needed separate electrical breaker for the setup, setup difficulties, my beginner status) - but it's a really cool setup and I hope it goes well for you.

JL,
Why do you need a separate electrical breaker? My apartment curretnly only has 2 prong outlets in the area where I want to setup the tank. I was just thinking of having a gfci installed by an electrcian where I want the tank installed.

Alright, so the money came in a little faster than I expected. I was going to buy the setup through my LFS, but they were trying to charge me an additional $300. Instead I am planning on buying it from Ken at OceanReeflections. I don't know how he does it but his price and shipping is cheaper than from the manufacturer. I know they used to make a cherry cabinet (which the wife prefers...and you know how important it is to make the wife happy in a hobby like this), so we are hoping to still be able to get that. I plan to order the tank today.

I finally pulled the trigger. The Cherry cabinet was going to cost $175 extra, so I opted for the black instead. Ken at Oceanreeflections has been extremely helpful so far. I guess I have about a 7-14 day wait for the tank at this point.

On my cad i bought a wash stand from ikea and built a granite top and i love it. I have three doinf pump there is enough room for a chiller with a good amount of air flow and a huge storage tank for my ATO water. I know in LA there are a couple ikea's so i thought i might give you another option. Also welcome to the CAD club


http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20141184

never mind it looks like you already bought a stand

Scotty,
Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately I already purchased the stand. I'm happy to be a part of the CAD club. I am very anxious to receive the shipment.

make sure you post your tank when you get it in the CADlights owners thread
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

Hey,

Glad to see that you purchased this as well. I am currently awaiting the shipment of mine. I am definitely curious to see how your setup goes and what other mods, if any, you will be making to it. Do you plan on using the stock skimmer, pump and lights? Do you have any auto top-off? What do you plan on putting in the sump chambers?

Sorry for the questions but these are things I have thought about with my setup. Post pics when you get it, haha.

Thanks.

Actually, I have been pondering the same thing. I think for the time being I will stick with the stock skimmer. If I did switch to anything different, it would probably have to be the Tunze, because I have only heard good things about it. I'm going to stick with stock lights and pump as well, but when I am ready to introduce corals I am looking at adding some Hydor K2's. As for ATO I am undecided. I have heard people liked the JBJ. As for sump, I like the idea of a deep sand bed or maybe some fiji mud. As time goes on and more reefing money comes in I'd like to get a controller.

As far as aquascaping goes I have two ideas in mind. First is a high rise island aquascape. Second is making a foam rock wall using egg crate and foam sprinkled in sand and rubble so that is has the look of being an entire wall of reef that descends forward. What are your thoughts on this?

Sorry, probably should had clarified it up for ya. On paper I was looking at the draw with voltage, and based on where I was going to put it I realized that I didn't have enough room on the circuit - I would have had to run a fat extension or move the tank and neither appealed much to me. It was more of a for-my-situation sort of a deal, running the bigger tank and a separate sump tank and all it would have been more difficult given my electrical shortcomings.

My hope is when we move I can upgrade to something a little bigger, much like this setup.

...how does one avoid going crazy waiting for a tank to arrive? ...it won't even be here for at least 7-10 days...

I'm in the same boat bro.

Well, I guess I can prep by installing the gfci tomorrow...

haha, my cadlights 12 gallon, took bout 18 days to be precise.. to get home, yes i was driving nuts!!!!

luckily i had nano-reef.com to keep me busy, hehe!

gl with ur cadlights, and welcome to the club...they worth every penny...

Okay, so I got tracking information today. The tank should arrive July 2nd.

My third replacement tank will be here Friday, July 17th.

What happened to page 2 of my thread?

The site crashed yesterday night. so all posts from july 1st until this morning were lost.

Dude, that sucks. I lost my best work.

Alright, so in light of the fact that most of my posts were lost in the crash I will repost the directions for setting up the sump.

Here is what should come with your skimmer assembly



First attach the airline silencer to the top of the air hose connected to the skimmer





Next attach the greay nipple to the bottom of the air hose



Then attach the skimmer powerhead to the hole on the bottom of the skimmer





Then attach grey nipple to the other socket on the skimmer powerhead





Next take the valve with the double elbows and attach it to the skimmer





Then attach the straight tube to the other elbow





Then place the skimmer in the back left chamber of the sump



It is not recommended, but if you insist on using the bioballs then place them in the front left chamber and place the filter paper on top of that





After that attach the PC light strip to the middle chamber for the refugium. The light has a on/off switch attached to the back, so place in such a way that it is easily accessible, unless you have it hooked up to a controller. I like having it attached to the side wall.





Do not tighen screws until you hear the acrylic crack



Then screw black piece into the return pump and attach appropriate hose to that. After that tighten the nut until it holds the hose tightly in place.



Lastly, I placed the cooling fan over the return pump chamber.



Here are various angle shots of the sump setup









You now have your sump set up. The only remaing thing you will need to do is attach the wider tube from the overflow box in the tank and have it drain into the skimmer chamber of the sump.



For anyone wondering about the glass thickness here are some shots

This is what the second tank that was delivered looked like after UPS was finished with it. The first tank actually looked a lot worse.









I also want to note that I installed a 20 amp GFCI where the tank will be located. The brand I used was from Lowes and featured an end-of-life power lockout which I liked, because I don't need to guess when it is no longer protecting me from electrocution. The unit wont allow power through when it dies.

Here is a picture of what the cabinet looks like before it was built



Here's what it looked like an hour later



Here's what it looks like with doors (it may not look exactly right because they are not yet permanently attached. The sump needs to be placed in the cabinet before the doors are attached.)



And here is a little shelf that can be placed inside. There are two height positions that you can setup. Some people don't like it, but I may try using it. I would advise cutting a second square hole in the other side so that the line into the sump and the return line can pass through. Then maybe you could secure power strips or what not to the shelf. I think it makes it look a little neater.



Now here is what all else came with the tank

Lighting



Cooling fan is quite large



750 gph Return pump



PC Light Strip for refugium



Ballast for the Metal Halides



Bioballs and filter paper



Skimmer assembly



UV Light



Plumbing (notice there are actually 3 hoses there and not two. Two of the hoses are blending together in this pic. The shortest thin hose connects the return plumbing to the lock lines.)



And when everything arrives it comes in two boxes this size

Ugh... so much bad luck with shipping Cadlights 39G tanks.. I've heard awful stories.

Sorry to hear about your cracked tank.

[Update] UPS is coming to pick up the damaged tank and make their third tank delivery. Let's hope no one dropped it this time. I am quite excited that there exists the chance of a tank being delivered in one piece.

Ive heard so many horror stories about these tanks being dropped while shipping, so i was nervous two weeks ago when mine came, but not a scratch on it and thats from new york to canada! i gues i got VERY lucky. The lights' box was DESTROYED but everything seems to work fine.

Maybe their competition has spies working for UPS

Will you hurry up and get water in that tank!

First I need a tank that holds water.

what light fixture is that?

That's the light that comes with tank.

UPS site says tank is out for delivery...don't drop it Forest Gump!

dang it... that light would have been great if it came in 250w. I know what you're going through. UPS broke my Solana on its way to my door. sad day. I'm crossing my fingers for you!

I love the island in the middle of the tank, but they seem very hard to pull off with the epoxy, acrylic rods, etc. That false wall on that tank in the t5HO thread is amazing looking and looked alot more straightforward to pull off. Either one would look amazing, but I would choose the false wall because I'm lazy.

I had been waiting at home all day for the delivery. I went outside and found a delivery attempt made sticker on my door. I had been home in my living room all day and never heard a knock on the door.

I called UPS and they are going to re-deliver today. I have a friend who will sign for me. I am no longer a fan of UPS.

Me==> <==UPS man

I am sure everyone is sick of the UPS storyline here, but what happened on Friday was I stepped away from the living room for a few minutes and the UPS guy came to the door ninja style quickly left a note and ran away. I called them and they were going to re-deliver same day, but after waiting until 9pm the tracking notes stated that I requested to pickup from facility, which I did not. So I called again and rescheduled delivery for monday. I hope forest gump doesn't store my aquarium under a refrigerator over the weekend.

Hoping for a timely delivery this morning.

I used to design packaging, and I can tell you that the foam cushioning and probably the corrugated box are not sufficient for protecting the aquarium from transportation damage. The foam look like slabs of 1" EPS (expanded polystyrene). It is a poor choice for a product this heavy and fragile. There also is not enough empty space between the box and the glass. If the product is dropped, the foam will compress, and a one inch cushion around the glass does not allow enough space for compression for this heavy of a product. A properly designed package with the correct type of foam cushioning and possibly a double or triple wall corrugated box would be better for protecting glass from the rigors of cross country shipment.
I would think that CAD has an extremely high amount of returns from seeing the type of packaging they are using. CAD definitely should seek out a reputable packaging design company that can help them better protect their product. It will cost them more up front, but they will be available to avoid all that money spent on multiple returns and shattered tanks. I'm curious as to what the competitors use for their protective packaging. I don't see many complaints with damage.

It's a shame. I really liked this tank setup, but I don't have the time to deal with multiple returns. Let's hope CAD does the right thing and fixes this packaging problem.

Riz, I hope you will receive your tank in one piece this time around. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

SeaSkull

When I spoke with Eddie he said they started using 2". At this point I think I am more upset with UPS as far as their customer service and inability to deliver a package within a certain time period for those of us who work for a living. Can't keep taking days off just to receive a package.

BTW, I still have not received the new tank. UPS did, however, pick up the damaged tank. I have a feeling the tank has either been lost or broken again at this point. They are "supposedly" going to be delivering by end of day today, but I don't think it's gonna happen. I feel like I am about to have an aneurysm.

We have a tank! ...I still hate UPS though. Here's a quick pic. And yes, it is in one piece!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome, now you can start enjoying things!

Okay, so on with the show. I'll just let the pics speak for themselves here.




































???

















Tadah!




Lastly I'll put a little special something in the sump...

Looking good man.


If you havent, i think you should use a zip tie to sucure in down.

Sweet, looks awesome. Don't forget to glue all your pvc and that return hose as well. Hose barbs work well instead of zip ties. Also, a big pair of channel locks work well for tightening the nuts under the tank.

What room do you plan on running this?

Do you plan on hanging the lights or using the feet?

Can't wait to see some water in there.

What I'm gonna do is fill the tank with water for a test run first to make sure there are no tank leaks or such. After that I will start gluing things together. Since I live in earthquake country I was thinking of sticking with the feet for the lights. I don't want my lights swinging around and I think it looks better IMO. We are in the process of trying to buy a house, so I may have to delay filling with rock,sand,saltwater, which is fine, because I can use the money instead to buy an ATO, Controller, and circulation pumps. I can't afford an MP20, so I will be going with 2 Koralia's (maybe a 3 and a 4) I was thinking of keeping the tank in either the living room or kitchen of the house. I think in the living room the tank will be the most viewable.

Riz,
It's a common misconception that more foam is better protection. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. The EPS he is using is the wrong foam for the job, and more of it will be like the product hitting a brick instead of performing as a protective cushion. A professional packaging specialist should really be called in to review the CAD packaging design. He/she will be able to select the proper foam cushioning and just as importantly, select the correct amount of foam based on it's density and product's weight. They can also perform drops tests and shock and vibration tests that simulate the shipping environment. Like I said, it will cost CAD money, but in the long run they can will save even more money by avoiding all the returns and multiple shipments.

I'm really glad you were able to receive an intact aquarium this time around. Thanks for the photos too. This will be very helpful to people starting out with the CAD 39G. I look forward to your tank being set up. It looks like a great nano tank.

Regards,
SeaSkull

Thanks! I was wasn't doubting what you were saying. I think you're right. CAD should rethink their packaging. I can understand one broken tank, but two in a row is something different. It is such a beautiful tank and I'm glad I went with this instead of the smaller AIO's I was looking at.

I ordered my 39 pro at the end of last week. I hope I don't have as many damage issues as you had.

Now...quit slackin' and get some water in that thing....