fishphi784 Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Hi everyone...My name is Jeremy. I have been on the forum for about 6 months, but posted only a few times. This forum inspired my to start a Nuvo 16, then a picotope. When I first purchased my Nuvo, I thought... why would anyone want to keep SPS? The necessary equipment is expensive, they are finicky, and LPS is quite nice looking. Well, I still can't answer that question, but I became obsessed with SPS. I tried keeping frags in Picotope, but the tended to turn brown within a month. I'll save you from the saga that followed, but I will tell you it culminated in the purchase of my current tank, a 50 gallon long Artisan II tank from CAD Lights. I recently got the tank up and running , but will be posting the previous progress a little at time, as their were, how do you say, complications...Equipment list:Tank/Stand-CAD Lights 50 gallon long Artisan II (Starphire, 36x18x18, center overflow, durso drain)-CAD Lights 'piano' finish stand-ADJ 8 plug power centerLife Support-CAD Lights 18 gallon sump (Converted to skimmer chamber, refugium, return)-CAD Lights PLS 150 pipeless skimmer (Rate for 165 gallons)-Kent Marine reactor running phosban & chemi-pure blue-X2 100 watt Eheim Jager -X2 WP25 Jebao pumps w/ twin controller-GFCI outlet to keep from killing myselfLighting-Maxspect 16k 420r 27", 160wattLivestock transferred from Nuvo/Picotope-False Percula Clown (Although to me looks like a true percale) Took back to LFS-Pygmy Angel-Twin Spot Goby, favorite fish... disappeared just before transfer. Thinking a crab got him -Longnose Hawkfish-White porcelain (anemone) crab-2X blue/orange porcelain crabs-Green emerald crab-RBTA-6 red and blue hermits -2 Atlantic turbos-2 Nassarius snailsCorals transferredSoft Coral-Aussie green leatherLPS-Frogspawn-Metallic Hammer-Neon green torch-Aussie red and green blastomussa-Pale green and brown blasomussa-Red/Blue acan-Caribbean rosa coral (came on live rock, cannot buy)-Pink flowerpot, AKA gonipora-Aussi green maze coralSPS-Pink birdsnest-Pink (now brown) monitpora-Pink montipora setosa-Blue (brownish but coloring up) stag-horn acropora-Garf Bonsai (light brown but coloring up slowly)New Livestock since tank filed:-Sand sifting starfishCoralSPS-Red acropora milleporaPlease note, I have a DSLR so the pics will improve. All of the initial shots are iPhone. More to come!Current FTSSump Link to comment
frankdontsurf Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Good detail. Nice tank. Welcome. Link to comment
fishphi784 Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 I received my tank on May 13th on a pallet from FedEx freight. Needless to say this sight in my garage was a very exciting one.However, as I opened the contents I found quite a few issues. Firstly, the tank had a chip on the inside corner of the font panel, near the bottom. There is another thread on that here: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/346438-will-this-cadlights-aquarium-fail-chipped-corner/ Here are some of the pictures:They did end up sending me a new tank. So I can't complain about this issue. There were other problems including a missing durso drain, missing pump cover, a poor workmanship on the cabinet (at least in my opinion). However, the two biggest problems over and above the tank was a leaking sump and a poorly drilled left side cabinet.There sump leaking, slowly, but definitely leakingTop face of left cabinet panel sat higher than back, right, and middle panels. Theoretically, this may have caused stress on the tankI spoke with Jason about 20 times over the course of coming to a resolution. They quickly indicated they would replace the sump. For that, I applaud them. The tank, they were a little less quick, understandably so. Ultimately, they did replace with the last one that they had. Jason or his managers were very reluctant to change the whole cabinet. In there defense, I understand the need to be judicious in replacing significant components. However, this was clearly poor workmanship. We agreed to try and replace the left panel only and hope that this resolved this problem. I waited about a week longer than expected for them to ship the replacements. Once received, I installed the new panel and it was drilled correctly, allowing the top to sit flush across all top faces without adding stress on the tank. I left out a lot of detail here in an effort to not bash CAD Lights. Was a extremely satisfied with the way things were handled, no. Did we come to agreeable terms, yes. Bottom line, there cabinet is so-so and questionable quality control during production. Their tanks are nice. It is not unlikely that some less significant components will be forgetten in your initial shipment. They may or may not pick up the phone when you call. However, given the lower price relative to most competitors for this size tank, the product and customer service were sufficient. From what I have gathered on this forum, other forums, and my experience, they are turning around the customer service. Given some more time, maybe these things won't happen anymore. If for no other reason than it must cost them a lot to fix these issues instead of getting them right the first time. I will have more to say about their pipeless skimmer in a following post. Link to comment
pismo_reefer Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Sorry to hear about yer troubles. Happy they were eventually resolved. Tank looks really nice! Link to comment
fishphi784 Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 Thanks. I haven't arranged the corals yet, just have them in the appropriate light levels. I am thinking I may have put too much rock in. This is my original set-up. Had roughly 20 pounds less rock. Link to comment
frankdontsurf Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Move what is crowding your scape into your sump, you keep the live rock in the system that way. I can't say I love your scape, but it's not "over crowded" either give it time. Worst mistake I made was moving my scape around almost weekly for months, finally used putty to hold it all together and there is no option to change it lol. Link to comment
fishphi784 Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 Thanks for the input. I'm pretty sure rockscaping is the worst part of the hobby, at least for me. I think next time I will go the dry rock route so I can stage. This is where I would like to be(ish): http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/pedro-gnomes-50-gallon-reef-is-omg-awesome Link to comment
fishphi784 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Hi everyone. Going to do an update on my tank. I have a lot to show but first need to tweak my camera skills. Here are a few pictures... DSC_0071 by Bedotdo, on Flickr Untitled by Bedotdo, on Flickr DSC_0083 by Bedotdo, on Flickr Untitled by Bedotdo, on Flickr Untitled by Bedotdo, on Flickr Untitled by Bedotdo, on Flickr Untitled by Bedotdo, on Flickr DSC_0107 by Bedotdo, on Flickr Link to comment
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