I've had the 8g up for about 6 weeks now. The acrylic work is bad. Originally thought it was just an issue with a single piece on the bottom. The entire rear chamber started coming apart yesterday. Also, the pump setup is pretty bad. I would go with a MJ600 and a hydor or other deflector. The 900 or 1200 is going to be overkill unless you have a ton of SPS to reduce the overall flow.
+1 on the acrylic work for the filter section! The bottom section on mine was broken off when I received it and I used some Silicone to re-attach it. The outside walls of the acrylic completely came apart this weekend while simply REMOVING it from my 8 gallon (I also have the 4 gallon)! I am going to contact CADLights about it and see what they will do. On a side note, I did come across a new video on YouTube by someone who works for CADLights that was showing their 18 gallon mini series (it uses two of the 8 gallon light fixtures side-by-side for its lighting). I suspect that if we all continue to have major issues with these tanks, CADLights might finally respond if we start posting comments on their public YouTube videos in which they are trying to market these tanks! Just a thought...
http://youtu.be/V4DPvWWDZPM
As many have already stated, the fp-08 is a weak little pump. I think I will stick with it for now in my 4 gallon as it seems to be "just enough" flow for that tank as I am going to be stocking it with some small inverts only; no corals. But the fp-08 for the 8 gallon is a joke. I've tried numerous options for pumps with my 8 gallon, and when I have time I'll upload videos I took of the different setups. The most comical one is with a Maxi-jet 1200 mounted straight through (i.e. no 90 degree tubing) and connected to a Hydor Flo. To say it is too much flow would be an understatement! lol After all my tests, I ordered a Maxi-jet 600 and plan to mount it straight through and connected to a Hydor Flo. Austin Chap, you have a video in your thread that shows the flow with what you listed to be an MJ 600. Is that correct, or was it the MJ 900 you were using for a while? From the video it looks like you have it mounted straight through. You mentioned the 90 degree you used with the MJ 900 really reduced flow, and I verified the reduced flow from a 90 degree in my tests. Since the Max-jets seem to fit mounted straight through, I decided to use that setup so that I could get maximum flow from a pump, allowing me to select a less powerful pump that should produce less heat (heat is gonna be an issue for me here in South Georgia in a couple months! lol). I'll let you know how the MJ 600 does when it arrives and I get it mounted.
I purchased some egg crate to make custom media baskets for my filtration. I planned to run filter floss, Purigen, and ChemiPure elite, which is how I have my Biocube 14 and Nanocube 24 setup, although I use inTank's media baskets for those. The problem is, given how poorly the acrylic fits on these tanks, I don't think even 1/2 of the water circulating through the pump will actually go thru the filtration media. The other issue I am seeing is almost no surface skimming from the stock setup, even with a more powerful pump. Have others had this issue, and if so, has anyone devised a way to fix it?
Regarding the lights on these tanks, as others have said, they are rather white. I have my 4 gallon setting right next to a 24 gallon Nanocube, and the cube's lights (50-50/10K-Actinic) are MUCH bluer than the CADLights. I have the same Reef Saver rock in each of them, so it is easy to tell the difference in the lighting with them side-by-side. The rocks look bluish white in the cube, and yellowish in the CADLights. Once I post pics and vids you'll be able to "see" the difference, for those interested.
Overall, I am regretting the purchase of these tanks! I see that JBJ is coming out with new rimless designs that look REALLY nice, and I suspect won't have all the issues these tanks have had. The JBJ's don't come with a light so you can select what you want from the start. There's no pricing on the tanks yet, so they may be expensive.
I'll update with pics and vids once I get more time to mess with mine next week. Good luck to all!!!!
