any reviews about these?

Ron Reefman

Ron Reefman

Active member
OK, my 180g tank split a seam. Now I'm looking at a new tank and these are my final choices.

CAD light Artisan 125g
Red Sea Reefer XL 525 (108g)

I'm interested in hearing good and bad in both the build quality, easy of maintenance and customer service.

I've seen the Red Sea close up and I like it a lot. I love the rimless look. I'm not thrilled about the 'tuning' between a complicated drain control valve and the auto topoff system which I have heard can be temperamental. And the auto topoff reservoir is way smaller than I would like.

I haven't seen a CAD system in person. It's $200 less and has free delivery. I like the bigger/open room under the tank (the Red Sea has a vertical divider). I've read that the skimmer and DC pump are low end, but I have my own. I'd rather have rimless, but eurobraced isn't a bad alternative.

No matter which one I get, I'll probably order a similar looking white bathroom cabinet to set beside the tank and set up a display refugium and a bigger auto topoff reservoir and dosing pump and containers.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated, especially negatives. I really want to hear the down sides to either choice.
 
I have the CADLights Artisan 100g system and overall I am pleased. Everything came well packaged without any issues with the tank or stand. Now the plumbing is a whole other issue. My delivery was missing most of the plumbing and communication with CADLights isn't the best for customer service. They did finally send me the remainder of the plumbing but I ended up making my own after a few trips to Lowes. I ended up using both of the 1/2" holes for returns and one drain rather than a Durso/Herbie setup. I also ditched their skimmer as it was temperamental to get it to skim (whole other story but I finally was able to mod it to skim well). I love the openness of the stand, the slots in the back and how high it is for access. The sump is good, not great. I modded the two middle chambers to make one larger refugium section. I have no experience with the RedSea but they look really nice. That all aside when I upgrade to a larger tank I will most likely go Eos or SCA.
 
if you are considering Cadlights then you might as well look at SCA. They used to be one and the same but seems SCA took all of the worthwhile customer service reps with them and Steve is the man...
 
soulpatch said:
if you are considering Cadlights then you might as well look at SCA. They used to be one and the same but seems SCA took all of the worthwhile customer service reps with them and Steve is the man...
Click to expand...

I was this || close to purchasing from SCA and in hindsight I wish I had. I spoke to Steve a couple times and he answered my questions quickly and professionally.
 
I just finished choosing between those exact two options.
I went with the 525XL for many of the reasons listed above.
1) Prefer rimless
2) More trustworthy and proven plumbing design
3) Perceived better customer service
4) I wasn't interested in the CADLights equipment (you can choose to purchase w/o and save $$) -- something to consider as it makes it much more affordable vs the RSR
5) Preferred the RSR sump layout (was worried about no room for ATO in the cabinet of the CAD).

Overall, you probably be in good shape with either choice.
Good luck!
 
I went with the Reefer XL 425. In my new location I was limited to 48".
The quality of the tank and the stand is very good. I love the way the tank hangs over the front cabinet doors for a seamless line. It is dead quite. Took a week for the drain to get slime in it the get the setting just right, water just at the top of the aux drain pipe.

The cabinet is 2/3 for the sump then 1/3 for other items with a divider inbetween. In the smaller side I have electronics, food etc. The inside of the stand has a rubber coating and the outside has a very hard coating.

The sump has a good design too. Plenty of room for every thing.

The ATO system is too small, might last three days but not in a warm room. I use a container in my garage for top off. You have an apex so that would be easy for set up one.

Lighting is up to you. Now a big fan of the pipes from the tank to the sump but hey it works great.

My LFS put the cabinet together for me. Took them two hours but I think doing it all the time helped with their speed.

Might want to look at LFS in your area to see if any carry them to save on shipping. Also heard that Amazon carries Red Sea.
 
soulpatch said:
if you are considering Cadlights then you might as well look at SCA. They used to be one and the same but seems SCA took all of the worthwhile customer service reps with them and Steve is the man...
Click to expand...

Ditto, I have an SCA as well and agree the service is top notch, and excellent build quality.
I have seen and heard numerous complaints about cadlights CS
 
Thanks for all the comments and info guys, I really appreciate all of them.

Looked at the SCA 120g tank and it looks just like the CAD tank. So I looked at their cabinets... there are none on the website. And the big tanks that had cabinets were very old school and traditional or colonial looking. I like the RSR and CAD stands because they look so clean and modern. In fact they match our new kitchen cabinets.

So far I like the bigger, open area under the CAD tank and the bigger sump. I want a pan or tray under my sump and you can't do that with the RSR because there is no room. I think RSR auto topoff reservoir is a joke. And the filter sock holder is for RS custom socks. Seriously, you want to make me buy filter socks from you because standard sizes don't fit? On the other hand, I'd really rather have a rimless than a eurobraced tank. And CAD's customer service history worries me.

As for the plumbing, I can't say that I see any difference. The RSR drain controler is a black box and CAD is a ball valve. Either way I'm replacing it with a gate valve. Oh, and the RSR return has only 1 outlet and the Cad has 2, I like that better, but it's a very small difference. And CAD does reduce the price if you don't take the pump or skimmer. I have a great skimmer and several DC pumps.

The RSR XL-525 is $2900 delivered and the CAD Artisan 125 is $2125 delivered.

The decision will be made tomorrow...
 
Agree with your analysis. Sounds like you've thought it through very well. As for putting in a gate valve, just be sure it'll be easy enough with the CAD plumbing. Heard many have struggled in converting the metric plumbing (but that may not be a concern for you).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Oldcabin said:
Agree with your analysis. Sounds like you've thought it through very well. As for putting in a gate valve, just be sure it'll be easy enough with the CAD plumbing. Heard many have struggled in converting the metric plumbing (but that may not be a concern for you).
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken both CAD and Red Sea use metric thread fittings, so work on either one will require metric parts or adapters. There are places that sell metric fitting these days as more European and Asian products move into the US market.
 
I've considered the same tanks as you are. There is a large thread in the Red Sea forum in the sponsor area that should be valuable to you in your decision making process. People have customized plumbing & used the ATO for other purposes for example.

I've iwned a Red Sea Max 250 for 6+ years and can say Red Sea has been great for ordering parts (replacement cooling fans & a pdf for installation instructions). My experience has been largely trouble free, but I've seen them field support requests for others and they do a good job. The 250 has proven to be a well made & sturdy product for me.

Sorry to hear about your current tank and good luck with the next one!
 
Just FYI, SCA now has a cabinet maker that provides much better options.
I would at least call them, pretty easy to deal with.
 
Well, I have 5 tanks set up all over the house with coral, fish and inverts and 2 Brutes full of LR and 2 1/2 7g buckets of sand. So I really wanted to move the shopping process along and get something on order. I hate being pressured into a decision, but this one needed to be made. So yesterday afternoon I ordered a CadLight Artisan II 125g system.

Thanks for all the replies, the information was really helpful.

Now I think I'll start a tank build thread as I can't settle for just a CadLight system... I need to make it my own and I have some ideas that I think will be interesting.
 
Oldcabin said:
I just finished choosing between those exact two options.
I went with the 525XL for many of the reasons listed above.
1) Prefer rimless
2) More trustworthy and proven plumbing design
3) Perceived better customer service
4) I wasn't interested in the CADLights equipment (you can choose to purchase w/o and save $$) -- something to consider as it makes it much more affordable vs the RSR
5) Preferred the RSR sump layout (was worried about no room for ATO in the cabinet of the CAD).

Overall, you probably be in good shape with either choice.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

Hi Oldcabin,

I am planning of buying the Red sea Reefer 525XL. I visited the LFS and looked at the other custom aquarium tanks and stands too. Please advise and your experience with the 525XL would be very helpful to make a decision.

Thank you,

asrpdoc
 
asrpdoc, Oldcabin has a build thread in that forum and he shows a lot of his build. You might look over that forum as there are several Red Sea and my CadLight builds there.
 
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