CADlights 39g Pro build thread

[reeftivo]

Great. I'm still debating between JBJ and Tunze with Tunze be first choice - funds permitting.


My wife also nixed cabinets or shelves, but she likes the wicker idea. We saw baskets the perfect size at Target. So you just pull the tubes and pump out of an empty jug and drop it into a full one? Another good idea.

Skimmer update - it's still foaming over the top. After 24 hrs, I put collection cup on, but no lid and cup is again full of water. I did find by adjusting my sump water level, the cup has a bit less water at 6.5" (85% full) vs. 7.5" (98% full). Talked to Eddie at CAD, and he said skimmer takes 5 - 7 days to break in - I assume that's the full break-in period. Wonder if I need to raise the skimmer by 1/2"?

Good points brought up by timdanger!

What is your Specific gravity?

Post a pic of your output assembly.

 

[coolcorals]

make sure that the ball valve on the output is set parallel to the output pipe ('open').

also, 6.5" is probably the max sump water level i was using when i had the stock skimmer. i would try working with that level until you figure it out.

raising it up might help as well if these things don't work (at least until you figure out what's going on).

i'm no expert, but doesn't "break in" period refer to when the skimmer is running but NOT producing anything? overflowing the cup doesn't sound like "breaking in," right?

also, make sure you aren't adding anything into the tank that might be causing foaming/skimmer overproduction. e.g., i added API Stress Coat yesterday to treat a wounded jawfish, and it immediately began overflowing my collection cup, and it still hasn't quite normalized since then. other things that i've found may increase foaming: new carbon, new GFO (rowaphos, etc.), new/unwashed filter socks, some medications (melafix, stress coat, etc.).

The value is fully open (see photo). I've been wondering about water level - thought 7.5" would be okay. I'll drop the water level to 6.5" and see if that makes any difference.

That is my concern - break in for everyone else seems to be nothing in cup, while my skimmer is foaming and filling up the cup.

After doing more reading, I've come across same info about additives increasing foaming. Display tank is empty except for microbubbles. I did add a rinsed filter sock to drain and rinsed media bag with LRR to sump before turning on skimmer. Wouldn't think that would cause it, but maybe.

I also had added a silicone bead to both overflow and sump - sump had slight leak, so fixed instead of returning. I then went over rest of sump and overflow with silicone to give it a solid seal. Could that be the cause? Skimmer has been running over 2 days.

Good points brought up by timdanger!

What is your Specific gravity?

Post a pic of your output assembly.

SG = 1.026 and here's a picture of the output. Skimmer is still foaming like mad. When I test ran it in freshwater, it worked like I expected - bubbles did not get close to reaching cup. Will lower water to 6.5" and SG to 1.024.

Reeftivo and TimDanger: Thanks again for all the suggestions and help.

 

[timdanger]

holy mackerel.

you don't have a skimmer problem -- there's something that's causing that foaming.

you might want to consider breaking down and giving everything a good vinegar bath to try and rinse out whatever is causing that. i'm talking about bathing the skimmer, the filter sock, the sump, the return pump, EVERYTHING that could be causing this. all that foam in your skimmer chamber is not normal.

 

[schnitm]

Finally I see CAD Lights is offering the 39g Pro tank without the sump etc. Had to pull the trigger! The sump and light were holding me back.

Will be a bit different. Much larger sump in a lot of cabinet space, no skimmer, mostly a refugium with cheato and rock. An ATS too. Light will be Cree LEDs with tight optics on the ceiling.

And just for fun, the tank will be in front of a shaded window in the main room of the house. Oriented so that you look through the tank to look out the window. Next to and just above the front door, the blue glow should catch the eye when coming to the house at night.

Much to do!:bounce1:

 

[coolcorals]

holy mackerel.

you don't have a skimmer problem -- there's something that's causing that foaming.

you might want to consider breaking down and giving everything a good vinegar bath to try and rinse out whatever is causing that. i'm talking about bathing the skimmer, the filter sock, the sump, the return pump, EVERYTHING that could be causing this. all that foam in your skimmer chamber is not normal.

I guess that's my concern - what is causing the foaming? Could it be the silcone? Is it in the water? Only other replacement was the stock standpipe with a flexible PVC version.

Good news, is I've confirmed this is not normal. Bad news, is I have a unknown problem. I'm concerned rinsing won't do much unless I find the source.

 

[timdanger]

you may be able to isolate your problem a little bit by running the skimmer in a separate container. maybe get out a rubbermaid tub and put the skimmer in there by itself (in 6.5" of new salt water) and see what kind of results you get.

if it's still foaming, it could be your water, or it could be your skimmer.

if it doesn't foam, then you at least know where to start working from to eliminate other possibilities (e.g. you can run the skimmer in the display tank with 6.5" of water -- no foam = eliminate the display tank from possible causes).

 

[Gillundr]

Is the filter sock new? Some new ones can do that. Also if you washed it and it has detergent on it that would cause foam ups. I had a reefer friend who keeps his ro/di system in the laundry room. Well 1 little drop of soap must have gotten in his bucket and his tank foamed like that for a night. We did a huge WC and ran tons of carbon and got it to settle down. Nothing died thank god but it was looking ify for a while lol. All sps in his tank.

 

[coolcorals]

:mad2: Ugh! Was not a happy camper last night, when I realized skimmer problem would not go away naturally. I do appreciate all the suggestions.

Is the filter sock new? Some new ones can do that. Also if you washed it and it has detergent on it that would cause foam ups. I had a reefer friend who keeps his ro/di system in the laundry room. Well 1 little drop of soap must have gotten in his bucket and his tank foamed like that for a night. We did a huge WC and ran tons of carbon and got it to settle down. Nothing died thank god but it was looking ify for a while lol. All sps in his tank.

Today, ran thru my head everything that I put in tank. Everything was rinsed in tap water (tanks, PVC, tubing, filter sock, media bag) or run thru tap water (skimmer, pump) before setup. Everything should be clean and nothing contaminated.

you may be able to isolate your problem a little bit by running the skimmer in a separate container. maybe get out a rubbermaid tub and put the skimmer in there by itself (in 6.5" of new salt water) and see what kind of results you get.

if it's still foaming, it could be your water, or it could be your skimmer.

if it doesn't foam, then you at least know where to start working from to eliminate other possibilities (e.g. you can run the skimmer in the display tank with 6.5" of water -- no foam = eliminate the display tank from possible causes).

That was a great idea. I decided to start at the beginning and run the skimmer with tap water. First photo shows the tap water about 1/3 the way up the cylinder inside cup (kind of hard to see, but cup is empty). Then ran it in fresh saltwater, and as you can see in second photo, it's foaming like mad and right back up to the top!

I tried 7", 6.5" and even 6" - all same amount foam/water!

Good news is, it doesn't appear to be tank, equipment, plumbing or media. Still unsure whether it's skimmer or water. Will buy fresh SW from another shop, and run same test again tomorrow.

Not solved, but this is definitely progress! :spin2:

 

[reeftivo]

Assuming you have LR or a clean up crew then just change 5 gallons every other day and aggressively run carbon (cannister) you'll be fine! Sounds like water quality to me. I've tried that skimmer at every water level I could and it worked best for me at 7.5 inches and skimmed like a beast!

Whats in your tank right now-LR/CUC or nothing? If the tank has inhabitants then do the partial changes. If it does not then change it all. Remember that unless you use NSW, the skimmer most likely will still freak out a bit for an hour or so.

Tivo

 

[timdanger]

just another piece of information here: when i ran the skimmer with fresh water in it, it didn't make any foam at all. i was actually under the impression (i could be wrong) that skimmers didn't make foam with fresh water?

 

[reeftivo]

Finally I see CAD Lights is offering the 39g Pro tank without the sump etc. Had to pull the trigger! The sump and light were holding me back.

Will be a bit different. Much larger sump in a lot of cabinet space, no skimmer, mostly a refugium with cheato and rock. An ATS too. Light will be Cree LEDs with tight optics on the ceiling.

And just for fun, the tank will be in front of a shaded window in the main room of the house. Oriented so that you look through the tank to look out the window. Next to and just above the front door, the blue glow should catch the eye when coming to the house at night.

Much to do!:bounce1:

 

[reeftivo]

Finally I see CAD Lights is offering the 39g Pro tank without the sump etc. Had to pull the trigger! The sump and light were holding me back.

Will be a bit different. Much larger sump in a lot of cabinet space, no skimmer, mostly a refugium with cheato and rock. An ATS too. Light will be Cree LEDs with tight optics on the ceiling.

And just for fun, the tank will be in front of a shaded window in the main room of the house. Oriented so that you look through the tank to look out the window. Next to and just above the front door, the blue glow should catch the eye when coming to the house at night.

Much to do!:bounce1:

Sounds very nice! Welcome to the club!!!

Looking forward to some pics!

Tivo

 

[RealReef]

Well, may CAD 39 Pro just arrived and the bottom of the tank is shattered. I read all the horror stories here put thought it would not happen to me. WRONG. We will see what the folks at Oceanreeflections say. :furious:

 

[reeftivo]

They need to stop using UPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've seen the packaging they use at their shops and from what I saw, it is as good as anyone out there. Did CADlights/or Oceanreflections put "GLASS" stickers all over it? It seems that UPS only pays attention to those labels. I had a Bubble King skimmer get destroyed by UPS and BK's packaging is second to none.

Sorry to hear that! I'm sure you were excited about getting it up and running this weekend.

You've waited a while for the tank and that sucks!

Tivo

 

[coolcorals]

just another piece of information here: when i ran the skimmer with fresh water in it, it didn't make any foam at all. i was actually under the impression (i could be wrong) that skimmers didn't make foam with fresh water?

You are probably right, but was only other water I had available. I did get saltwater from a different LFS, but still have same issue.

Assuming you have LR or a clean up crew then just change 5 gallons every other day and aggressively run carbon (cannister) you'll be fine! Sounds like water quality to me. I've tried that skimmer at every water level I could and it worked best for me at 7.5 inches and skimmed like a beast!

Whats in your tank right now-LR/CUC or nothing? If the tank has inhabitants then do the partial changes. If it does not then change it all. Remember that unless you use NSW, the skimmer most likely will still freak out a bit for an hour or so.

Tivo

Nothing in the tank but LRR - still waiting for heater from DF&S. I did a 2g WC on my BC14 (20-25%) the other day with same SW and no ill affects. Based on that and it's foaming with different SW, I suspect it's a problem with skimmer.

It's been running 5 days without improvement, so thinking of cleaning skimmer with water/vinegar mixture. How does that work? Do I run skimmer in bucket with water/vinegar or do I just rinse it out with that mixture?

 

[Henry Bowman]

just another piece of information here: when i ran the skimmer with fresh water in it, it didn't make any foam at all. i was actually under the impression (i could be wrong) that skimmers didn't make foam with fresh water?

You are correct, no saltwater, no foam.....

 

[coolcorals]

Well, may CAD 39 Pro just arrived and the bottom of the tank is shattered. I read all the horror stories here put thought it would not happen to me. WRONG. We will see what the folks at Oceanreeflections say. :furious:

I think almost every CAD 39 tank I've reading about has been damaged during shipping. Mine came with a bunch of stuff, including sump, inside main tank w/o enough protection. DT survived, but sump didn't. You'd think it would get expensive replacing so many damaged items.

I too ordered mine thru Oceanreflections. It was very easy to get damaged items replaced - a bit harder to get the parts I was missing sent.

Bottom line, they always make things right.

 

[marinetankdiver]

Well, may CAD 39 Pro just arrived and the bottom of the tank is shattered. I read all the horror stories here put thought it would not happen to me. WRONG. We will see what the folks at Oceanreeflections say. :furious:

I thought the same thing. Heck I'm California so just a few truck transfers from their Southern California shipper, the box says glass on the side . . . It'll be OK my tank won't get broken

I bought my tank directly from Cadlights and Eddie was really quick to tell me they would ship out another tank ASAP. Hopefully that means I'll get a complete tank early next week. At least this time they won't have cram all of the accessories inside the tank, just a new sump, which was also broken, and the tank.

 

[Gillundr]

I'm glad I was close enough to drive to the NYC shop and pick mine up.

Does anybody have any of their UV sterilizers that they are not using? I want to pick up a few of them for a side project.
Want to have an auto drip of greenwater in a tank of non-photosynthetic animals. (Gregorians, fans, etc.) I know nobody from here uses the sterilizers so thought I could pick up some for cheap. Let me know.

 

[reeftivo]

I'm glad I was close enough to drive to the NYC shop and pick mine up.

Does anybody have any of their UV sterilizers that they are not using? I want to pick up a few of them for a side project.
Want to have an auto drip of greenwater in a tank of non-photosynthetic animals. (Gregorians, fans, etc.) I know nobody from here uses the sterilizers so thought I could pick up some for cheap. Let me know.

Mine fried when I abused it. I do have an aqua ultrviolet hang on sterilizer I'm not using with aquaclear pump. PM me if you need one.

Tivo