ColorMeBlue Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Been reading like mad since October both books, forums and online articles. I've been greatly excited by this hobby. I had planned to wait until I got a bunch of things organized and go with a planted display refugium and a bigger main tank, but because of too many factors in my life and impatience, I decided to go with an all in one to start with. After much waffling, I decided to go with a 22 gallon Cadlights. It showed up on Wednesday, just before the snowstorm, woo! It looks great, and I plan to get familiar with all the equipment before moving forward. And kudos to Cadlights and Eddie, who were very helpful and responsive, though I wish the lights came with assembly instructions. Hope to use this thread to show the progression of my tank. Put in a picture of it with just the leds on, filled with tap water. Link to comment
jonny5er Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Been reading like mad since October both books, forums and online articles. I've been greatly excited by this hobby. I had planned to wait until I got a bunch of things organized and go with a planted display refugium and a bigger main tank, but because of too many factors in my life and impatience, I decided to go with an all in one to start with. After much waffling, I decided to go with a 22 gallon Cadlights. It showed up on Wednesday, just before the snowstorm, woo! It looks great, and I plan to get familiar with all the equipment before moving forward. And kudos to Cadlights and Eddie, who were very helpful and responsive, though I wish the lights came with assembly instructions. Hope to use this thread to show the progression of my tank. Put in a picture of it with just the leds on, filled with tap water. that tank is pretty sweet!nice buy. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 that tank is pretty sweet!nice buy. Thanks! I have to say I like the rimless look of it. It's pretty! Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Well, I decided to take things slowly as I get familiar with all the equipment. Good thing too, since the thermometer I bought at my brother's local fish store, a VIP Aquatics stainless steel hang on tank glass thermometer turned out to be an utter piece of junk. Firstly, I'm still running with just fresh water, haven't emptied it out yet, and after one day in the tank, there was crud along the glass of the thermometer. Thinking it was from the packing material of the tank, I took it out and ran it under the tap. Since it didn't come off, I rubbed at it with a bit of toilet paper. It was the glue or something bubbling up. AND the ink on the 'stainless steel' rubbed off. AND the steel was rusting. After one day! Ordered a new thermometer from Marine Depot instead. Sheesh. Link to comment
nemmy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Sweet tank! Thermometers suck btw.. Pain in the butt. You would think temperature would be one of the easiest things to monitor but its not. You can have 3 different brands and they will all say something different it seems lol. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Sweet tank! Thermometers suck btw.. Pain in the butt. You would think temperature would be one of the easiest things to monitor but its not. You can have 3 different brands and they will all say something different it seems lol. Thanks about the tank! I'm really happy with it so far. So I see. I don't recall this sort of problem back in my freshwater tank days, ages ago. Go figure. Skimmer's on backorder, so should be here in a couple of weeks. Still trying to figure out if I want to do the whole airship live rock/sand thing or do an overnight ship from a different place and just live with the fact that the shipment will sit in the office until I take it home that night. If it weren't for the continually lousy weather, I'd try a trip to the good fish store I've heard about, but it's an hour's drive away. Hmm. Need to find a good battery backup too, as we get lots of little power outages around here. Anyone use any or can recommend what to look for? Link to comment
ggg111 Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Sweet tank!! How is the noise from the pump and/or fan? Do you NEED the skimmer or is it just optional? Thanks Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Sweet tank!! How is the noise from the pump and/or fan? Do you NEED the skimmer or is it just optional? Thanks Thank you! The pump is pretty quiet, especially when you make sure the sump is full of water! ( This is why I'm taking things sloooooow so I get the really newbie mistakes out of the way. ) There's no fan that comes with the stock, but you can buy it as an extra. I don't think a fan is needed, the lights are high enough above the water that air circulation should keep things cool, though we'll see when summer comes along. The skimmer and fuge light were extra. From what I've read so far, skimming is either really good to have or you can do without it, people do both. I'm intending to use it, since from what I read it helps add more oxygen into the water as well as getting gunk out. I plan to cure a live rock and sand *in* the tank from the get go once I get my RO water setup sorted out and I figure the skimmer will come in really handy there. Link to comment
uwwmatt Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Nice purchase. I really like my Cadlight. Did you get a stand for it too? Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Nice purchase. I really like my Cadlight. Did you get a stand for it too? Thanks. I'm really happy with mine, too. And no, I didn't get the stand as I'm keeping the tank in my bathroom of all places. There's a nice wide area between the two sinks and it sits on that. Link to comment
uwwmatt Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I'm keeping the tank in my bathroom of all places. There's a nice wide area between the two sinks and it sits on that. You will have to be extra careful that no one uses any hairsprays, air fresheners, mirror cleaners, or other bathroom cleaning products around your tank. The condensation from the shower steam may also cause problems with your lighting and other external electronics. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 You will have to be extra careful that no one uses any hairsprays, air fresheners, mirror cleaners, or other bathroom cleaning products around your tank. The condensation from the shower steam may also cause problems with your lighting and other external electronics. Yeah, something I had thought of, but thanks for pointing it out. Happily, I'm the only one who uses and cleans that bathroom, except for the odd rare guest, so I think I'll be okay. Most of the cleaning products I use (other than Windex) I try to get in gel form rather than sprays and low fume as I'm terribly sensitive to the stuff myself. I have kept an orchid box in there for a few years and had the electronics for the lights and fan going for years with no issues. But even so, this is why I'm sort of wet-running things with just fresh water, to make sure nothing unexpected causes a problem. Ventillation in the room is good, if I open a window, which I always do after showering anyways, to clear away moisture fast, so I think I'll be okay. The pluses sort of outweigh the minuses overall, as the other viable room (which will eventually hold the fishtanks if all goes well, somewhere down the line) is due quite a bit of rennovation and is both drafty and cold. I figure especially as a newbie, a place that I go to morning and evening daily will remind me to keep an eye on the tank as well as give me something to look and enjoy. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Sweet tank!! How is the noise from the pump and/or fan? Do you NEED the skimmer or is it just optional? Thanks I double checked last night and I have to say that as the pump stands, I don't think I'd want it in my bedroom. There's a soft 'cachunk cachunk' that it makes as it runs that I think would drive me bonkers if I were trying to sleep. In the bathroom, even with all the hard surfaces, it's not really bad and I suspect in a bigger room with less things to bounce off of the noise might even be quieter. Just thought I'd mention, since you asked. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Drained out the fresh water today to clean out the tank. Got timers on the lights working, fairly happy with the heater and new thermometer. However, I noticed that the back wall of the main tank, (the plastic that abuts the sump) pulled away from the sump wall, leaving a gap. I see there's gobs of silicone there that should have held it together but peeled away. What's the best way to re-afix it? More silicone? A dollop of super glue? I'm wondering if it refills with water if it'll press back in place by the volume of liquid, but I dunno.... Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 One more thing about this model. Don't buy the glass cover. As it stands, it's not a good design. It comes as two pieces of class, nicely cut, a couple of silicone/plasticky hinges and lots of plastic clips, presumably so you can rest it on the aquarium. Unfortunately the clips only fit on the front of the aquarium as the light fixture takes up the sides. And the back wall is too thin to hold the wide clips. So you have to rest the glass on the lights' ledges, which is there for that purpose. And in cleaning today, I discovered just how precarious that was, as I suspected. I lifted up the first part, so I could remove the turned-off heater and the whole lid slid into the water. Hopefully they send me more of those hinge things as I asked. I think it might be better if I attach them to the back sump plastic (if I can reattach it..) which will keep it from sliding. Link to comment
bps7772000 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Congrats on a CAD tank purchase. With all due respect I have to say I am surprised you would put a 22 gallon reef tank in a bathroom? It seems you would rarely see it unless you have a huge bathroom. I have mine on my computer desk where I spend 90% of my time when I am not working and sometimes I feel I don't see the tank enough. I even question how some people have tanks in the corner in their living/or dining room. But everyone is different and I understand that. That being said this is just my opinion. I'll keep my eye out for your thread for updates and hope all is well so far! Link to comment
mikellini Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 About the glass top... from what I saw/read on the CAD website, it looks like the light should rest on some things coming off the glass top. have a look, maybe? Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Congrats on a CAD tank purchase. With all due respect I have to say I am surprised you would put a 22 gallon reef tank in a bathroom? It seems you would rarely see it unless you have a huge bathroom. I have mine on my computer desk where I spend 90% of my time when I am not working and sometimes I feel I don't see the tank enough. I even question how some people have tanks in the corner in their living/or dining room. But everyone is different and I understand that. That being said this is just my opinion. I'll keep my eye out for your thread for updates and hope all is well so far! It all depends on how one spends the time. I had considered the computer room, but week or more can go by without me setting foot in mine. I ultimately want the reef setup in the family room where I have to walk through every day to get into and out of the house, not to mention watch TV. But at the moment, we're in the process of revamping lots of things so it's not a good location. I spend 4 hours a day commuting, which doesn't allow for a lot of time at home during the week, so I wanted to ensure I'd be able to keep an eye on the tank regularly and the one place I'm sure to go every day is the bathroom. It ensures I don't forget the tank and well, bathrooms are designed to deal with water, so for a short term ( well, 1-2 years) solution, it works for me. The added bonus is the drains are right there, so getting rid of waste water should be a breeze. The bathroom's not huge, but it is long enough to have two sinks with space between them. One sink's never used, so I skootched the tank towards that side of the counter between the two. I'm also thinking of some sort of barrier to prevent accidental splashing of soap or toothpaste into the tank from my using the main sink, since the glass cover's not as useful as I had hoped. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 About the glass top... from what I saw/read on the CAD website, it looks like the light should rest on some things coming off the glass top. have a look, maybe? Well, as I noted above, the glass top consisted of two pieces of glass, a pair of silicone 'hinges' and that's it. The pieces of glass are smaller than the tank, but can rest *on* the little shelves on the lights' legs, not the other way around. I spoke with Eddie on the phone about the design and yes, it is what it is. They redesigned a few things and I suspect the glass top was not quite thought through. There's nothing to secure it in place, and because of the light legs, you can't use the plastic clips on the sides, so the glass can literally slide forward and back (especially back), as I discovered when it slid into the water. My thought is that with more 'hinges', you can sort of do a 90 degree connection to the back wall and the back edge of the cover, which would keep it from sliding around and secure it enough to allow one to raise and lower the smaller front piece. Unfortunately, Eddie's never sent the additional hinges I asked for as he said he would, so I'm trying to find a different solution. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Well, heard back from Eddie last night, replacement tank should be shipped today, he said they had been held up in customs. Still haven't heard about the back-ordered skimmer. And my order with Spectrapure two weeks ago seems to have gone nowhere and they don't respond to emails. Not sure what's up with the company. Pondering cancelling the order (if I can reach a human) and looking elsewhere for an RODI system, as I'm really wanting to get things moving. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Eddie says he'll be shipping the skimmer with the replacement tank. Haven't gotten any shipping info, so I guess we'll see. Spectrapure's been really helpful. Seems they had a massive computer problem, which set them back a few weeks and they're getting unburied from under the backlog. Gave me a shipping # so I'm a step closer to getting the tank up and running! RODI system should be here next week. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Got a tracking # from Cadlights! Yay. Hopefully this is the skimmer and the replacement tank, as they didn't mention what exactly they were shipping....communication, guys!!! Though I see Fedex claims it's 43 pounds, so I assume it's also the replacement tank. Expecting the Spectrapure system tomorrow, yay! Hopefully this means I can actually *start* the tank soon! It seems like it's taken forever. Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Yay, got the Spectrapure stuff, all packaged very nicely! Now to find time to set it all up. The replacement Cadlights is due to arrive today, hopefully FedEx will leave the package as directed, otherwise, no idea how or when I'll be able to get it. And hopefully it's all in one piece, when I do! Link to comment
ColorMeBlue Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 Came home to a Cadlights box. Opened it up to find a skimmer in a ripped bag, no instructions and a broken tank. emailed Eddie with a picture. Will see what they say. Link to comment
mikellini Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Ouch. They really need to fix that packaging Link to comment
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