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Innovative Marine Aquariums

50 Gallon CAD Lights Build


hopkins

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Alright, so here is just a quick overview. I was going to go with a 29 gallon rimless biocube, but when I removed the upper bracing, it wasn't exactly what I wanted. So I scoured the internets looking for that perfect tank, and found the ELOS Midi. Then I saw the price, and started looking again. :) Next up was Cadlights, and they seemed to have great reviews. I called and talked to them for a little while and I was sold. Hopefully their product lives up to their pitch. Later that night a 50 gallon Artisan kit was purchased, and a couple other items. Like many others I am a huge fan of JimC’s aquascaping style, so I sent a picture of his tanks to Reef Rocks and had them mock up a design with their rock. I’m expecting delivery today! Ecotech has always been a great company to work with, so I picked up an MP40. After that I decided to try out an LED fixture. It seems like you can’t go wrong with the AI SOL Blue, so I bought one of those too.

 

Now I have to decide on a controller, and am leaning heavily on the Apex. The price point and feature set is a huge selling point, but there is another reason. I plan on getting the VDM and WXM modules as well.

 

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The tank has arrived and I did a fair amount of work tonight.

 

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Still not sure if I love the rock work, but I leave it for a few days and see if it grows on me. Tomorrow I'll get real camera pictures and not iPad photos.

 

Its a CAD Lights 50 Gallon Artisan II system. 50G Artisan II Series system [1850-ART2] - $1,349.99 : CAD Lights, Thinking outside the cube

 

So far I really dig it! My tank was one of the first new style systems that were shipped out, so I hope they figured out the bugs before mine shipped... It looks really nice though.

 

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Alright here are some non-iPad photos.

 

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90% sure this is the final 'scape, but you never know....

 

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To answer a couple questions. I am not going with the supplied lighting, I picked up an Aqua Illuminations SOL Blue earlier this month. I'll have the LED light that came with the setup for sale in a few days if anyone is interested. Sometime soon I plan on buying the WXM and VDM modules from Neptune Systems for controlling the SOL Blue and Vortech. Also, I need to buy the Eco Smart upgrade for the MP40W. For rock I went with Reef Rocks, which are a bit too "solid" for my taste, so I also picked up some BRS Pukani which is much nicer and more porous. Later this week I'll finally get this thing wet.... Hopefully.

 

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And we have water... Just freshwater for now so I can test everything out. I had to add a little bit of silicone to the overflow in a corner, because it had a little leak and wouldn't maintain a high enough water level. The lock line needs a anti siphon hole drilled which isn't a big deal. I really love controlling my tank over the iPad or iPhone from the house or even work. This will make taking vacations so much easier and help give me peace of mind.

 

Now I need to start adding salt and start the cycle. Have there been any advancements in the cycling business that I should check out? Any new miracle cycle in 3 day additives?

 

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I forgot all about taking a picture of it full of water. Let me see if I can find some time tomorrow to take a few pictures with the lights on. Earlier this week the tank was covered in the typical brown algae you see when a tank is cycling. 3 days later and its almost all gone. I have been dosing everyday with MB7, and I think it has been speeding this whole process up. Next week I am leaving for Florida for a few days and when I come back, the tank should be ready for its clean up crew.

 

 

Read more: http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/members-...l#ixzz1yHlU446M

 

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Here is my latest addition from Reef Solutions.

 

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Sorry for the iPhone image. I didn't feel like getting out an actual camera.

 

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Just had to turn the chiller on, temperature was up to 80 degrees. Who would have thought was going to be that hot in MAY! Anyway, I picked up a few nice frags this weekend.

 

Trop

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Nice yellowish Duncans

Neat Zoa Frag

 

Reef Solutions

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3 different SPS frags -- All very nice, just don't know what they are.

 

Private Seller

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Cali Tort

Tyree Flames From **** Leptastrea

ORA Bird of Paradise

Blue Polyp Birdsnest

 

 

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It has been a busy weekend. I passed another Cisco certification yesterday and today I worked on the tank. First I raised the Ai SOL, so it is now at 12" off the water surface. second I hooked up a new BRS dual reactor running GFO and Carbon. Lastly I found that one of my BRS dosing pumps is not working. It sounds like the motor is getting bound up somewhere.

 

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Auto top off, reactor and small UPS for the vortech.

 

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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Picked up a few things over the weekend.

 

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God of War

 

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Not sure of the name.

 

About 10 more frags that I haven't had a chance to photograph.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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albertthiel
Alright, so here is just a quick overview. I was going to go with a 29 gallon rimless biocube, but when I removed the upper bracing, it wasn't exactly what I wanted. So I scoured the internets looking for that perfect tank, and found the ELOS Midi. Then I saw the price, and started looking again. :) Next up was Cadlights, and they seemed to have great reviews. I called and talked to them for a little while and I was sold. Hopefully their product lives up to their pitch. Later that night a 50 gallon Artisan kit was purchased, and a couple other items. Like many others I am a huge fan of JimC’s aquascaping style, so I sent a picture of his tanks to Reef Rocks and had them mock up a design with their rock. I’m expecting delivery today! Ecotech has always been a great company to work with, so I picked up an MP40. After that I decided to try out an LED fixture. It seems like you can’t go wrong with the AI SOL Blue, so I bought one of those too.

 

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Very very nice and sophisticated indeed ... I like the control from the cellphone capability. I happened to see one demonstrated the other day at Pure Reef in Alpharetta ... very nice as the owner controlled every single piece of equipment and got all the readings he wanted ... and that included switching the chiller on and off.

 

Albert

 

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Check the Ask Albert Thiel a Question Thread

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Very very nice and sophisticated indeed ... I like the control from the cellphone capability. I happened to see one demonstrated the other day at Pure Reef in Alpharetta ... very nice as the owner controlled every single piece of equipment and got all the readings he wanted ... and that included switching the chiller on and off.

 

Albert

 

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Check the Ask Albert Thiel a Question Thread

 

The controller makes it a lot easier to go on vacation. When I had a large SPS tank a few years ago, I was scared to leave the house for more than a weekend. Now, I get an alert on my cell phone if anything goes wrong. Yesterday the power was out for 30 seconds and thanks to the controller and a battery backup, I knew about it. The Apex also allows for redundancy, which is very nice. For instance, my heater has a built in controller, but the Apex is also controlling it. So unless both devices get "stuck on" at the same time, my tank should never over heat.

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Visited Cherry Corals over the weekend and picked up a few new SPS frags including this Strawberry Shortcake:

 

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New Zoos

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albertthiel
The controller makes it a lot easier to go on vacation. When I had a large SPS tank a few years ago, I was scared to leave the house for more than a weekend. Now, I get an alert on my cell phone if anything goes wrong. Yesterday the power was out for 30 seconds and thanks to the controller and a battery backup, I knew about it. The Apex also allows for redundancy, which is very nice. For instance, my heater has a built in controller, but the Apex is also controlling it. So unless both devices get "stuck on" at the same time, my tank should never over heat.

 

So what can the Apex control meaning what parts of the tank and equipment installed ?

 

Guess I 'll have to go on the net and read up on it ...

 

I know what you mean by going away ... a number of years back when I still lived in Norwalk CT and had to go to Europe I asked a friend who was an aquarist to look after my tank.

 

When I came back the tank was dead ... everything, and the nastiest smell in the house.

 

Wondering what had happened I talked to my friend and asked him what happened ... he said well I went in that one day and there was a leak and I did not know what to do about it or how to fix it so I just had to let it go and hope for the best ... sure ... obviously the small leak must have been a little more than small because that 55 gallon was totally empty and everything in it dead and decomposing hence the nasty smell ...

 

Just goes to illustrate that even other aquarists are sometimes stumped with what goes wrong and don't know how to fix it. Of course he could have asked other friends at the local aquarium society but I guess he obviously did not do so

 

Note that the leak was at a PVC joint that somehow I guess had not been glued correctly and came lose and caused the leak and over the period I was away (2 weeks+) that leak drained the whole tank.

 

Easy fix I would have thought but not for the "friend" unfortunately .... oh well ... we all learn ..

 

Albert

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...
Sk8n Reefer

 

I could sit there and watch these guys all day long.

Haha! For sure- endless job going on right there- great placement in the front of the tank! Your tank is coming along great!

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Steensj2004

 

I could sit there and watch these guys all day long.

You hit the proverbial jackpot with where they decided to build thier den! lol

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I really need to start gluing coral on to actual rock instead of frag plugs. I hardly have anymore real-estate on the sand anymore.


MIR-3030,large.1426890560.jpg


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Here are some of the more active inhabitants.


MIR-3057,large.1426890565.jpg


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Cherry Corals Pink Kush Paly

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  • 2 months later...

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