CADlights 39g Pro build thread

[coolcorals]

Fingers crossed! Hope all settles down!

Skimmers? yes! owned many, sold many and even have given some away.

The thought of bubbles cleaning water fascinates me-LOL!

Probably have spent more time staring at skimmers than my displays-LOLOL!:lmao:

The tank is keeping me busy. Always seem to be adding something or changing something or trying to save something or trying to kill something (have a minor Aiptasia issue and some Bubble Algae - need to cut back on feeding). Then my BC14 started to have issues from being ignored!

Everything seems to have settled down. Right now 90% of the Blue Milli frags are alive, but a couple are showing signs of STN. I hope at least 50% of frags survive (4 out of 8).

I'm new to skimmers - CAD is my first one - so appreciate all the help and info I've gotten from you and others in this thread.

 

[coolcorals]

I am finally setting up my tank after nearly a year of owning it. I have a question though for anyone that upgraded the return pump to the Tunze Silence 1073.20. How are you connecting the pump to the return bulkhead? The fitting on the return pump requires larger tubing than what fits on the barbed bulkhead connector that shipped with the 39G Pro. I realize I'm going to have to make some mods. Assuming I use the OEM bulkhead for the return, what sort of adapters and tubing do I need to connect the pump to the bulkhead?

I have a Tunze 1073.20. Just love it - super quiet! I also have an old CAD system (late 2008). Mine has the 1/2" barb off the bulkhead. I decided to start with larger tubing at pump (3/4"? - have forgotten exact dimension, but I think these are correct sizes), then used a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer near the BH connection. Use plastic hose clamps to secure connections (no leaks).

I think I bought the reducer from Marine Depot (or could've been a local hardware store). Anyway, MD has them for $1.39.

Works just fine (have pump turned down to medium flow). Have virtually no noise from the overflow (skimmer, light fans, coolling fan and cabinet fan are all louder).

 

[coolcorals]

anyone looking for a deal on a BM NAC6A skimmer w/ SWC bubble box?

PM me if interested. It's my old one that's been shelved for a while.

Figured I would let the Cad peeps have first dibs

Tivo

I might be interested, but I don't think it would fit in my sump (old style glass 12g sump).

 

[meinestrasse]

Thanks reeftivo and coolcorals. I am working away on setting up the tank this weekend. I managed to get the return running with a 3/4" to 1/2" barbed reducer. Man, I am disappointed with the turnover though even with the pump turned all the way up. The reducer's external diameter is 1/2" on the one end, which means the inside diameter is more like 1/4", which seems like a huge bottleneck. The turnover is higher than the stock CAD pump but not impressive. If Eddie would make return hole in the bottom of the tank a bit larger we could run a 3/4" tube all the way up through the return bulkhead. That would be awesome!

 

[meinestrasse]

Help!

The overflow box is filling up with water as I fill the main tank -- even when I only have a few inches of water in the main tank. Is this supposed to happen?

I thought the overflow was supposed to fill as the water reached the slots at the top of the overflow box and then waterfall into the overflow. As a result, the water in the overflow is really calm, and not much water seems to pour in like Niagara Falls, like I had expected. Isn't the overflow box supposed to be water tight to the water in the main tank, and then flow over the teeth at the top?

Anyone have any ideas? I thought I recalled reading about this several months ago.

 

[meinestrasse]

Sorry for the barrage of posts. My stock fixture shows it supports a max wattage of 250 watts, so does this mean I can upgrade the stock bulb to a 250? Has anyone tried this?

 

[reefinmo]

meinestrasse, I think we got our tanks around the same time as I remember your posts from around that time. So I think we have the same overflow design. My tank has a main glass overflow with a black acrylic cover that is a little larger than the glass. The black acrylic has teeth in the top and bottom, so the space between it and what I would call the real (glass) overflow does fill with water when filling the tank. But the glass overflow shouldn't fill until the level in the tank overtops it.

Can't help with the stock light fixture. I'm in the process of replacing mine.

Good luck getting everything set up!

 

[meinestrasse]

meinestrasse, I think we got our tanks around the same time as I remember your posts from around that time. So I think we have the same overflow design. My tank has a main glass overflow with a black acrylic cover that is a little larger than the glass. The black acrylic has teeth in the top and bottom, so the space between it and what I would call the real (glass) overflow does fill with water when filling the tank. But the glass overflow shouldn't fill until the level in the tank overtops it.

Can't help with the stock light fixture. I'm in the process of replacing mine.

Good luck getting everything set up!

Thanks. Yep, that's the same design as mine. The glass is leaking then. I sent Eddie and e-mail, but will probably just drain the tank and see if I can repair the leak myself.

 

[meinestrasse]

So I drained the tank. Problem is that the holes for the bulkheads are too close to the inside wall of the overflow box. As a result, the bulkheads don't seat flat on the glass on the bottom of the tank. Rather, the bulkheads touch the sidewalls of the overflow so that when you screw them down they push outward on the overflow wall glass and downward on the silicone bead. Looks like mine took the silicone seal with it when I screwed in the bulkhead. Had the holes been drilled closer together, problem would've been avoided.

Well, a simple silicone repair is not going to fix this. Either the whole overflow box needs to be removed and reseated and shifted over a tiny bit, and/or I need a new glass bottom. Not sure how Eddie is going to handle this, but I will let him know. It's been close to a year since I bought this tank, and only now am I setting it up. Man, I had so much trouble getting this tank to my house without being broken. I think Eddie sent like four tanks before I got one that wasn't shattered.

Any advice on how to handle with CAD?

 

[reeftivo]

can you dremmel off a flat edge of the bulkhead insert and use a razor blade to trim the washer so there's a slightly flat side?

Sucks man! That's bad QC! The overflow plumbing on these should all be assembled dry before any of these tanks go out. That only takes about 10 minutes to make sure thigs fit correctly. It would save them alot of money and us reefers alot of headaches.

AAARRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

HAng in there!

 

[meinestrasse]

If I dremeled the bulkhead, I'd have to also trim the silicone gasket. To be honest, I don't want to take that chance.

I have a few e-mails and a phone call into Eddie, but I haven't heard back. I wonder if he's closed today for President's Day.

In the mean time, I tried to remove the overflow box by scoring the silicone bead that attaches to the back wall of the tank, but that sucker is on there tight. So I will wait for Eddie.

 

[reeftivo]

http://etanks1.reachlocal.com/coupo...c_proxy=1&primary_serv=etanks1.reachlocal.net

http://etanks1.reachlocal.com/coupo...c_proxy=1&primary_serv=etanks1.reachlocal.net

these are some bulkhead options for tight spaces. they are slotted or hexed

may be an option?

 

[reeftivo]

sorry the link failed to show the specific bulkhead fittings

The pieces are under bulkhead fittings 1"-1 1/4

hex or slotted

 

[meinestrasse]

Wow, so after a couple of diligent hours I was able to finally remove the overflow box. I used a combination of straight edge razor blades, box cutter and sharp putty knife to score, slice and pry the silicone away.

Tivo, thanks for the links and your help, as always.

I am having lots of new ideas now that the overflow box is off.

Does anyone know if it's possible to enlarge the hole for the return in the bottom of the tank? I've never cut glass before, but was wondering if it was even possible to enlarge?

 

[reeftivo]

yes it's doable

check these guys out!
http://glass-holes.com/

go to the drilling page for step by step videos

 

[reeftivo]

the 39's aren't starfire so cutting is fine

 

[meinestrasse]

Good stuff, tivo. I placed an order tonight. Any ideas how I would close the exiting holes in the bottom of the tank. I was thinking of siliconing a piece of glass over the holes.

 

[meinestrasse]

So I am still waiting to hear back from Eddie at CAD. I've gone ahead and removed the overflow box from the tank. The overflow box was positioned too close to the drain hole (sloppy QA on CAD's part), and screwing in the bulkhead forced the overflow box seal to separate from the glass on the bottom of the tank, causing the overflow to fill from the bottom up. I was hoping to reposition the overflow box properly so that both the drain and return bulkheads would seat properly, but now I'm having other problems.

When I removed the overflow box, the silicone bead between the back wall and the glass bottom are now compromised at the points where the overflow box once sat. I attempted to clean up and cut out the silicone bead at those two points and had intended to just re-bead those two points. But I had read elsewhere on-line that once you compromise the seam, you have to remove the entire seam from the entire tank (sides and bottom), and then re-seam the entire tank with a fresh bead of silicone.

Has anyone heard of this? Or can I just re-seam the points that were ruined by the overflow box removal?

 

[reeftivo]

Glass over the holes is fine. just prep everything with rubbing alcohol first before applying sealant. silicone (polydimethylsiloxane) has oils in it that dissapate when fully cured. It may be that if you place a bead of new silicone onto cured silicone, it may not form a complete seal because the oils wont let the new silicone completely bond with the cured.

I'm not positive but that seems to make sense

 

[coolcorals]

So I am still waiting to hear back from Eddie at CAD. I've gone ahead and removed the overflow box from the tank. The overflow box was positioned too close to the drain hole (sloppy QA on CAD's part), and screwing in the bulkhead forced the overflow box seal to separate from the glass on the bottom of the tank, causing the overflow to fill from the bottom up. I was hoping to reposition the overflow box properly so that both the drain and return bulkheads would seat properly, but now I'm having other problems.

When I removed the overflow box, the silicone bead between the back wall and the glass bottom are now compromised at the points where the overflow box once sat. I attempted to clean up and cut out the silicone bead at those two points and had intended to just re-bead those two points. But I had read elsewhere on-line that once you compromise the seam, you have to remove the entire seam from the entire tank (sides and bottom), and then re-seam the entire tank with a fresh bead of silicone.

Has anyone heard of this? Or can I just re-seam the points that were ruined by the overflow box removal?

I'm sorry to hear about your hassle. Unfortunately, I think QA is almost non-existent at CADLights. At least, that's what I went thru on my tank - several issues that should've been caught before system shipped. Like you, I had waited a yr to assemble and found the return pump and skimmer to not be working and the stand to have an issue. Because it was a yr later, Eddie was unwilling to do anything - understandable, but it still was their fault due to lack of QA. Hope you get better results.

I think I read you can't put new silicone over old, since they won't bond (this is just a guess, I'm no expert). I'd definitely be concerned about any compromises to the seal on the tank itself. Best to talk to Eddie - even if he can't help, at least he should know whether tank is safe to repair/use.