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Elos System 100 or Cadlights Artisan II 70

Jay Wee

By Jay Wee,
in Equipment Forum

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Jay Wee

Jay Wee

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Be careful buying Elos products. They switched distributors and are having a hard time with the change. I bought a new door for my Midi and I've been waiting over 3 months for it. I paid for it on May 9th and I still don't have it.

Yeah I haven't thought about that. It might be hard to get replacement parts if need be. Besides I'm probably gonna skip on the Elos. Just can't justify spending $4000 for a 75G system.

 

So I'm down to 2 options now. SCA or the Cadlights. Been in emails conversations with both. SCA is putting a package deal for me that apparantly they say I can't refuse. So we'll see.

 

And I must say I had my doubts with Cadlights. But they've been really amazing with their email responses. I've been communicating with Scott and he's been a trooper in answering 5000 of my questions and doubts. He will personally oversee my tank if I purchase from them and make sure it's flawless and assured me the new Artisan II 70G is solid build with new upgrades on plumbing, sump, increased drain size, etc. My main concern has always been with the stand. Their Atisan II 70G stand is made in California fully assembled and its not MDF but solid maplewood cabinets. I've had a tank crash into my cabinet and shatter glasses everywhere. Hate dealing with floods. Worst day of my life so I cannot let that happen to me again.

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ReviloM

ReviloM

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Yeah I haven't thought about that. It might be hard to get replacement parts if need be. Besides I'm probably gonna skip on the Elos. Just can't justify spending $4000 for a 75G system.

 

So I'm down to 2 options now. SCA or the Cadlights. Been in emails conversations with both. SCA is putting a package deal for me that apparantly they say I can't refuse. So we'll see.

 

And I must say I had my doubts with Cadlights. But they've been really amazing with their email responses. I've been communicating with Scott and he's been a trooper in answering 5000 of my questions and doubts. He will personally oversee my tank if I purchase from them and make sure it's flawless and assured me the new Artisan II 70G is solid build with new upgrades on plumbing, sump, increased drain size, etc. My main concern has always been with the stand. Their 75G stand is made in California fully assembled and its not MDF but solid maplewood cabinets. I've had a tank crash into my cabinet and shatter the everywhere. Hate dealing with floos. Worst day of my life so I cannot let that happen to me again.

We already know you are getting the SCA but its nice they are throwing you a deal. I have spoke with Scott too before i had ordered my 28g nano. He was very helpful. When i ran into problems when i received the tank, Scott was no where to be found. Took a lot of phone calls till i got someone else who was not helpful.

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terrbelt

terrbelt

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i think it comes down to what you want to get. the Artisan is clearly much better quality. MDF can never take the place of a custom Maplewood cabinet for durability, safety and of course beauty. the 70G is slightly bigger in size also, comes with a glass cover, seamless trapezoid overflow box with laser cut surface skimmers. the sca looks like it was cut with a saw. CAD's 150G Cone skimmer that alone is $225 (im using this in my 100G and awesome performance). herbie drains etc. Tank and cabinets are made here in USA vs China cheapo. you also get a LED refugium light too.

 

Company that will sell something at a price you cant refuse? seems desperate.

 

dollar for quality, you definitely get more with the Artisan.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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i think it comes down to what you want to get. the Artisan is clearly much better quality. MDF can never take the place of a custom Maplewood cabinet for durability, safety and of course beauty. the 70G is slightly bigger in size also, comes with a glass cover, seamless trapezoid overflow box that isnt cut with a saw like the SCA. a 150G Cone skimmer that alone is $225 (im using this in my 100G and awesome performance). herbie drains etc. Tank and cabinets are made here in USA vs China cheapo. you also get a LED refugium light too.

 

Company that will sell something at a price you cant refuse? seems desperate.

 

dollar for quality, you definitely get more with the Artisan.

 

SCA looks like better quality than cadlights imo. The silicone job is much more perfectly aligned on sca tanks compared to that of cadlights. And they're both the same glass, starfire not starphire. Even if SCA were to cost more than cadlights, I'd still got with SCA. It's just better both in quality and style.

 

I've seen cadlights in person at reef-a-plooza, MAX, their tanks aren't that great...

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terrbelt

terrbelt

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how can it be the same glass, if ones made in USA and ones made in China? MDF better quality than real Maplewood? isnt the SCA the bubble-magus Knock off? looks like they are knocking off more than skimmers now.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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how can it be the same glass, if ones made in USA and ones made in China? MDF better quality than real Maplewood? isnt the SCA the bubble-magus Knock off? looks like they are knocking off more than skimmers now.

 

I've seen cadlights in person. Trust me, the quality you speak of, isn't there. If it were, I would've gone with cadlights nano series instead of my current tank.

 

SCA's stand that you speak of, looks much more sturdy than cadlights. Have you seen cadlights in person? Looks like crap. No offense.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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How can cadlights beat this??

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95678355@N03/8954844339/in/photostream/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95678355@N03/8954844675/in/photostream/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95678355@N03/8954844781/in/photostream/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95678355@N03/8954844079/in/photostream/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95678355@N03/8960134606/in/photostream/

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kirkman

kirkman

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I just purchased an Artisan II 50g cube so I can share my thoughts after having it for a few weeks.

 

The cadlights tank itself is great. The glass and seams are all perfect IMO.

 

The stand is pretty cheap quality. It is not MDF but rather some type of hardwood and is put together with IKEA type peg and screw fasteners. The problem is that the holes for the fasteners are not drilled acurately and it just feels kinda questionable when you put it together. However, mine is holding the full tank as I type this so I guess it's doing its job.

 

The worst part so far for me has been the plumbing. It is all metric plumbing so if you need to make any modifications (which I had to do because the drain tube I received would not go into my sump without kinking) you will be pretty much screwed. Oh and by the way, when I e-mailed asking about purchasing a tank I got replies. When I e-mailed asking about plumbing issues, I got nothing. At the end of the day I was able to get a metric adapter and make things work. As far as the terrible customer service, I was warned ahead of time by reading threads on here. Now you are too.

 

The return pump I received was broken. Just completely broken. I e-mailed cadlights and they said they'd send a new one to me after "some testing". Haven't heard back yet and don't expect to.

 

For me, I knew that the service would be lacking and I took a chance based upon the super low cost of the package. You get a great tank with sump and everything else for a pretty good value. But when you factor in the fact that you will need to immediatley replace some stuff and go through some hassle I can't help but think that I should have paid a bit more for a better customer experience.

 

Would I buy it again?.....No.

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terrbelt

terrbelt

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Posted

i own a 100G Artisan for the last year and it works great. i got it when they had both MDF cabinet $350 and the Maplewood cabinets ($500) available for upgraded cost. i chose the Maplewood instead. it comes fully assembled already and is real wood finished, definitely furniture quality build, solid with no rocking at all. from tank, cabinet and equipment i cant find anything better than my 100G Artisan unless i go the custom route. ive recommended many people to them and Scott or Andrew always gave us great service and attention.

 

The Artisan has great details like a reinforcement tab on top of the surface skimmers for extra support, LED refugium light CAD also built a beautiful 265G aquarium for my friend. with that kind of experience, i definitely trust the tank to be of the highest quality.

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Bill Nye

Bill Nye

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Posted

i own a 100G Artisan for the last year and it works great. i got it when they had both MDF cabinet $350 and the Maplewood cabinets ($500) available for upgraded cost. i chose the Maplewood instead. it comes fully assembled already and is real wood finished, definitely furniture quality build, solid with no rocking at all. from tank, cabinet and equipment i cant find anything better than my 100G Artisan unless i go the custom route. ive recommended many people to them and Scott or Andrew always gave us great service and attention.

 

The Artisan has great details like a reinforcement tab on top of the surface skimmers for extra support, LED refugium light CAD also built a beautiful 265G aquarium for my friend. with that kind of experience, i definitely trust the tank to be of the highest quality.

 

CADlights under cover???? :D

 

Im glad you had a good experience but obviously the large trend with CADlights is problems. I am currently sitting and looking at my cadlights tank and can attest to having problems with them. The build quality is sloppy and the design is poor. I really wanted to buy American and support these guys (which I did) but the experience is pretty poor so there is no reason to go back. I am hoping companies like SCA will force companies like CADlights to clean it up, take a lap and get their heads back in the game. I know I will be purchasing a SCA 301 for my new build...

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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Posted

i own a 100G Artisan for the last year and it works great. i got it when they had both MDF cabinet $350 and the Maplewood cabinets ($500) available for upgraded cost. i chose the Maplewood instead. it comes fully assembled already and is real wood finished, definitely furniture quality build, solid with no rocking at all. from tank, cabinet and equipment i cant find anything better than my 100G Artisan unless i go the custom route. ive recommended many people to them and Scott or Andrew always gave us great service and attention.

 

The Artisan has great details like a reinforcement tab on top of the surface skimmers for extra support, LED refugium light CAD also built a beautiful 265G aquarium for my friend. with that kind of experience, i definitely trust the tank to be of the highest quality.

 

You work for cadlights?

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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Posted

CADlights under cover???? :D

 

Im glad you had a good experience but obviously the large trend with CADlights is problems. I am currently sitting and looking at my cadlights tank and can attest to having problems with them. The build quality is sloppy and the design is poor. I really wanted to buy American and support these guys (which I did) but the experience is pretty poor so there is no reason to go back. I am hoping companies like SCA will force companies like CADlights to clean it up, take a lap and get their heads back in the game. I know I will be purchasing a SCA 301 for my new build...

 

Yes. I agree, SCA will shove cadlights to the dumpster for a while.

 

Like this.

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terrbelt

terrbelt

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Posted

if MDF cabinets for 700LB tanks and "saw cut" surface skimmers, China Cheapo are a trend then i guess so illu :)

 

until then Maplewood cabinets and (laser cut) reinforced surface skimmers, Made in USA are way better on the CAD.

 

i do hope that CAD can improve their customer service too. though me and my friends havent had any complaints, but it does seem there are some people who arent happy.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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how can you say that without having owned any of their stuff personally illu? MDF, saw cut, Cheapo china knock off isnt quality.

 

I go to reef-a-plooza, max. Cadlights has their own booth there. I've inspected their tanks/stands/silicone jobs. Terrible when it comes to quality scale.

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farkwar

farkwar

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Posted

I shopped both Cadlights and SCA hard before making my buying decision.

 

Neither Cadlights or SCA aquariums use real Starphire glass.

 

Cadlights uses plywood for their stand. SCA uses particle board. As to quality, take a look at the Cad pics of their stands, even their own studio pics the doors dont line up.

 

There is an Ebayer who sells the SCA stuff and suspect it's the same guy. Both are named Steve and both are based in Rancho Cucamonga.

 

Because the Cadlights plumbing is metric, I suspect that they get the tank blanks from the same Chinese wholesaler.

 

 

If I were you I would get the Elos, and then be satisfied with the decision.

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