C.A.D. 39 Gallon... Anyone have one yet?!?!

[NaClH2Ofreak]

Ya...you're absolutly right spork, it wasnt really funny at all. But sometimes, when dealing with "insane" situations like trying to get this tank from Cadlights has been, all ya can do is laugh. I thought the same thing about Eddie getting away with all this crap. Have a lot of mixed feelings about Cadlighting since this experience. It has defintly been an absolute nightmare dealing with DHL AND cadlighting for that matter. Just want to get the tank and be done with it already!!!!!!!

 

Dennis

[supreme_spork]

Ya...you're absolutly right spork, it wasnt really funny at all. But sometimes, when dealing with "insane" situations like trying to get this tank from Cadlights has been, all ya can do is laugh. I thought the same thing about Eddie getting away with all this crap. Have a lot of mixed feelings about Cadlighting since this experience. It has defintly been an absolute nightmare dealing with DHL AND cadlighting for that matter. Just want to get the tank and be done with it already!!!!!!!

 

Dennis

 

I hear ya Dennis.

 

I love my CAD 34g because the tank looks so cool and I've fixed all the initial problems, but it was pretty much a disaster during the receiving and setup phase and, after 5 months, most of the original components have failed. Eddie was very nice but, in my opinion, screwed some key things up.

 

This isn't to rain on anyone's parade -- the pics people have been posting of the new tanks look awesome and I can't wait to see what the larger tanks look like when they're up and running. And as for basic tank construction... the glass is so thck that I could probably hit it with a sledge hammer and do no damage, so at least on that front I think CAD got it right.

[Urchinhead]

I asked Eddie about DHL and he responded that they still use manual loading and unloading for large/heavy boxes as opposed to FedEx and UPS who use an automated conveyer belt system that, according to him, has a higher drop rate for his type of packaging than DHL.

 

I think he gets so much slack because he is both nice about it and provides great customer service. Good customer service with a good attitude goes a long way to smoothing over things.

 

UH

[Adam]

I asked Eddie about DHL and he responded that they still use manual loading and unloading for large/heavy boxes as opposed to FedEx and UPS who use an automated conveyer belt system that, according to him, has a higher drop rate for his type of packaging than DHL.

 

I think he gets so much slack because he is both nice about it and provides great customer service. Good customer service with a good attitude goes a long way to smoothing over things.

 

UH

for over $700 for a tank ( seems like the only good thing in the package).. I would be nice too and pray that no one is going to be pissed off about the rest of items.. After all I seen and read.. if I would have the choice now I would go for sure with the CAD PRO tank only.. seems like the best deal.. and the rest of stuff I would buy from other companies - better one.. to save me headache and my nerves.. for now I will enjoy my Solana 34G with no mods - basically "plug and play" good luck to all of U.. can not wait to see it all set up and running.. hope to see pics soon.

[supreme_spork]

I asked Eddie about DHL and he responded that they still use manual loading and unloading for large/heavy boxes as opposed to FedEx and UPS who use an automated conveyer belt system that, according to him, has a higher drop rate for his type of packaging than DHL.

 

considering that virtually everyone who receives a CAD tank complains about the treatment DHL gives the packages -- and considering the fairly high rate of damaged parts due to (presumed) mistreatment during shipping -- i think there's a compelling reason for CAD to experiment with another carrier.

[Mr_Big_Reef]

I'm going to go another way. I am getting a qoute for a custom CADLight tank (we'll see what kind of price it has attached to it... LOL) I want 24x31x20 with the whole back being a 7" deep (front to back) overflow/return).

Here is a quick drawing I did of my design:

 

[dmattlin]

I just received my CAD 39 sig.. and all I can say is .. WOW!!!! This thing rocks.

The tank looks awesome (a lot better than any pictures I have seen), it is very well built, all the parts look great and are in working order right out of the box. This is a very solid tank and is very well built.

 

I am a complete noob at this and it took me about 35 minutes to assemble it. I actually called Eddie to make sure I assembled it correctly (I was sure I had screwed something up).. Eddie was top noch, very helpful and willing to discuss everything with me. And by the way, I had it all set up correctly

 

I would definatly recomend this tank to anyone looking for a sold well built tank that is easy to assemble and looks awesome.

 

I don't have a stand yet, as soon as I do I will post some pics..

[X3-3.0i]

I just got my tank on Monday. i am very excited to set it up but dont have the time to do it until tomorrow on my day off. i have taken it all apart and looked at the tank, cabinet, HQI lights, Skimmer, UV sterilizer fuge light etc. the lighting is super high quality (even better than my Coralife aqua-light pro) the skimmer is really nice i was more than impressed by the quality of the skimmer after reading this thread (its 100%acrylic like my PM Bullet 3). the pump is all plumbed in very nicely with standard black bulk-head fittings (like the ones i use on my large tank). very nice clean plumbing work. it took me about 25 min. or so to put everything in place no sweat! easy to put together since everything is almost pre-done right out of the box for me. i REALLY like the looks of this tank, the glass work is the highest quality i have seen so far. the edges, seams and curves are beautifully done and straight. i measured it and i may be wrong but i measured the tank to be 3/8" thickness (can that be possible for such a small tank?)

[Mr_Big_Reef]

For someone with the SIG tank what are the mesurements between the glass and the back wall? I was concerned that the loss of the space due to the refugium would coust me too much space...

[X3-3.0i]

After putting everything together, it looks AMAZING. everything is very cleanly tucked away (no loose ballasts, hanging equipment etc.). all the equipment is neatly packed away in the nicely fitted filtration area. the black backing they put on the tak to cover the filtration and the sides is a nice touch. i tried it with the fuge light on and none of the light can pass through the black backing.

 

after setting it all up (without water) i feel i made the right purchase rather than the Finnex and RedSeamax. the tank, skimmer, UV, Lighting, cabinet, return plumbing is way superior than what i have seen with the Finnex and RedSeamax etc.

 

i'm borrowing my brothers digital camera so i will post some pics tomorrow at work.

 

Mr. big reef:

 

i measured it to be 13 1/2 " from the back acrylic wall to the inside front of the tank.

[supreme_spork]

i measured it to be 13 1/2 " from the back acrylic wall to the inside front of the tank.

 

It's about the same for the 34g.

 

I haven't had any issues with aquascaping -- there's enough room to do some cool arrangements, just make sure the rock you get is appropriately sized.

[fastandsneaky]

is the acrylic mod very noticeable? anyone have a problem with it?

[Urchinhead]

considering that virtually everyone who receives a CAD tank complains about the treatment DHL gives the packages -- and considering the fairly high rate of damaged parts due to (presumed) mistreatment during shipping -- i think there's a compelling reason for CAD to experiment with another carrier.

 

Spork you are preaching to the choir. Personally I find that DHL are a bunch of shaved apes who troubleshoot by flinging poo and screeching at the problem. I asked Eddie about that very thing and his response was what I mentioned. It seems the other carriers have more breakage than DHL.

 

UH

[Urchinhead]

for over $700 for a tank ( seems like the only good thing in the package).. I would be nice too and pray that no one is going to be pissed off about the rest of items.. After all I seen and read.. if I would have the choice now I would go for sure with the CAD PRO tank only.. seems like the best deal.. and the rest of stuff I would buy from other companies - better one.. to save me headache and my nerves.. for now I will enjoy my Solana 34G with no mods - basically "plug and play" good luck to all of U.. can not wait to see it all set up and running.. hope to see pics soon.

 

Welcome to my world. That is exactly the decision I arrived at. The tank and the stand are nice and the lights are good to nice but everything else will be coming from other vendors.

 

I am doing a custom sump design after researching the subject exhaustively. I really wanted something COTS but everything I could find was way too large for a nano tank and more importantly the stand underneath and/or was over $300 for just the sump.

 

Seems there is nothing out there designed specifically for the nano community that provides a decent amount of extra water (20%+ of tank volume), a fuge area, a skimmer/filter area, and a return under 24" and or under $275 dollars before shipping.

 

I am also going with a Mag 7 return pump, a Tunze 6025 powerhead, a Tunze 9005 with sump attachment, and either a Aqua Controller III or the new RKE depending on the feature set of the RKE.

 

For those of you who just went "WOAH!" on the controllers I am looking at let me explain. I plan on doing a very automated tank. I will have 4+ water level sensors (ATO, low sump volume, high tank volume, AWC, dosing, etc) and when you get to that number of sensors the AC III is the only player in the market under $1,000. So now I am in a holding pattern until I find out what the deal is on the feature set for the RKE. If the RKE has a similar feature set then I will most likely go with that. If not then it will most likely be the ACIII.

 

For what its worth DarthVader here has a pretty good deal on the ACIII's.

 

Oh and if anyone is interested and in the market I can get a really good deal on the sump/fuge I designed. It is 3 chambers with a total volume of 9.4 gallons with a 2.7 gallon fuge area and an overflow capacity of 2 gallons and room for heater, probes, extra power heads for things like AWC and reactors, and the like in an 18 x 12 x 12 footprint. I will post a drawing if there is interest.

 

UH

 

I'm going to go another way. I am getting a qoute for a custom CADLight tank (we'll see what kind of price it has attached to it... LOL) I want 24x31x20 with the whole back being a 7" deep (front to back) overflow/return).

Here is a quick drawing I did of my design:

 

 

Having just been down that road they most likely won't be able to do the bowfront glass. That is a specialty item that is only cost effective in a mass production run. That said what tool did you use to draw that in?

 

Thanks,

 

UH

[X3-3.0i]

fast and sneaky:

 

i saw the tank they had set up in their shop and you can notice the acrylic surface skimmmer mod when there is no water. they had the tank running in their shop and because the acrylic is clear, you really dont notice it with the water. it actually looks just like water.

 

Urchin: wow i really admire what you are going for and it sounds awesome, but its going to cost much more money and time to put everything together. i would love to see how the whole set-up will look.

[dmattlin]

is the acrylic mod very noticeable? anyone have a problem with it?

 

Can't see it at all... it just a piece of clear acryllic attached to the inside of the overflows so you don't even see it

 

Spork you are preaching to the choir. Personally I find that DHL are a bunch of shaved apes who troubleshoot by flinging poo and screeching at the problem. I asked Eddie about that very thing and his response was what I mentioned. It seems the other carriers have more breakage than DHL.

 

UH

 

DHL lost my stand and are saying it will take up to 2 weeks to find it. Eddie said that is not acceptable so he is shipping out a brand new one regardless if the old one shows up here or not..

He also said that he is not shipping it DHL, too many problems.

[NaClH2Ofreak]

Well, look at it this way, Eddie is basicly selling twice as many tanks by using DHL; when they break one, they buy it! Works out well!

 

Dennis

[Gvtv44]

OMG he is a genious!

[fastandsneaky]

DHL lost my stand and are saying it will take up to 2 weeks to find it. Eddie said that is not acceptable so he is shipping out a brand new one regardless if the old one shows up here or not..

He also said that he is not shipping it DHL, too many problems.

Thank you for your reply and thanx X3. Sry bout the stand. I guess the opposite happened for you that happened to me. I got my stand but I never got my tank. LOL.

[Torpus]

My broken tank showed up Monday after DHL's tracking said that it would show up the Friday before... I've never had good luck with DHL but in their defense, the package was shipped during a large snowstorm in NY and another ice storm here in Iowa, the lady who dropped off the package said she was out in the single-digit weather all day and wasn't all that gentle with the package, Eddie is shipping another tank and DHL is sending a claim investigator to check out the broken tank. The whole front/right panal is broken out.

 

but everything else made it in good condition, I haven't fired up the light yet other than the LEDs, I was afraid to turn it on after it was in the cold for so long but I'm going to check it out tomarrow since it has warmed up (somewhat, I have a cold apt)

 

The cooling fan is loud but with a temp. controller only turning it on when needed, it shouldn't be a problem...

I haven't checked out the skimmer yet other than looking at it because my holding tank doesn't have room for it. The fuge light is alright, nothing too special... I'm still upset about the broken tank (with DHL not cadlights) but hopefully the second time is the charm.

[Urchinhead]

Urchin: wow i really admire what you are going for and it sounds awesome, but its going to cost much more money and time to put everything together. i would love to see how the whole set-up will look.

 

Thank you. Actually at the end of the day it comes out about the same.

 

39G Pro: $310

CADlights light: $300

CADlights stand: $200 (cherry)

Mag 7 pump: $70

9005 skimmer: $250

Skimmer sump attachment :$50

Custom Sump/Fuge: I am sorry I was asked not to quote price but cheap for what I get

----------------------------

Total: $1,350

 

This vs. the 39G Sig and stand price of $950. So I end up spending an additional $400 dollars for exactly the system I want exactly the way I want it with an additional 7 gallons of water in the main tank (overflow box holds 2 gallons), an additional 5 inches of display area, and an additional 10 gallons of water volume via the sump/fuge.

 

Now please note this doesn't include the controller as I am trying to do a apples to apples comparison.

 

Also note that you could very easily get away with a Mag 5 pump and a smaller/cheaper skimmer and a DIY sump/fuge for most likely about the same price as the 39G Sig. But for me it came down to a cost of my time vs. money question. And at the end of the day it is cheaper for me to just buy what I want and have it look the way I want it to than having to do it myself. I say this because I have zero experience working with acrylic and don't want to take the time or invest the $ to learn how to work with it and I wanted something that looks clean and nice under the stand rather than using a plastic tub or the like.

 

To me its worth it.

 

UH

[bhq100]

Here are some more pics of the tank filled and sand / live rock put in. Eddie sent me the replacement plastic part for the skimmer and it is working very well so far. All in all I am really happy with the signature series kit. The glass top is a bad fit and the overflow was cutt to low but neither causes a problem.

[thelastmucci]

BHQ...if you don't mind me asking how many LBS of LR and LS do you have in their looks tight but good nonetheless.

[Urchinhead]

Damn man! Nice tank and nice rock!

[Mr_Big_Reef]

what tool did you use to draw that in?

 

Thanks,

 

UH

Google SketchUp it's free here

 

http://sketchup.google.com/