My first Aquacave order

[brittlestar08]

I have been shopping elsewhere for too long...

Called up today and placed my order with AC. I was looking for a new vendor that would satisfy most of the drygood needs of my reef hobby. Found thier website, they have some nice product selection. Spoke to Albert who was most helpful with placing my order.

Than I kept looking on the web site and of course I found more items to buy. So, I called up and added to the order which was a breeze. All told about $400 worth in merchendice... That is how confident I felt with my first order.

To top it all off. I'm getting a free bee from the free offers page they have on thier site. How awsome is that? Albert went and opened the box which was practically 1/2 way on the UPS truck already,,, and on top of that a discount for RC membership. What else can you ask for?

Now, I can't wait to get all my toys. Thank you Albert and Aquacave. Wish I found you sooner. Non-the-less I've been doing this for way too long to give this hobby up anytime soon and besides if you saw my tank and sump you'd know I'm commited

Again thanks and hopefully many more to come.

 

[moneylaw]

I am thinking about ordering from aquacave too. Do you have to be a paid member of RC to get the discount or just a registered user to get a discount? we all need every discounts we can get to spend more for our reef tanks. Thanks.

 

[brittlestar08]

unfortunatly there has been a delay with my package still waiting for the items.

 

[brittlestar08]

well I got the package today after the delay and two items were missing amoung other issues with bulbs that I'm disgussing with AC. turns out that two items were never sent in the original box but supposidly are being sent directly from the manufacturer (never recieved tracking info from the manufacturer ofn this- so no confirmation). however, this was never told to me which is a bit disconserting when you open a box to see missing items with an invoice and packing slip that all items were sent. Albert assured me that I will be recieving these items from the manufacturer tomorrow.

I think I should have been told about this when I first ordered.

 

[brittlestar08]

after some run-around. Albert said he would replace some of the bulbs if its determined that they are defective. I'm in contact with te manufacturer to see now. So far though people here on the board agree that XM bulbs that they recieved in the past are not burned in the inner tube. If anyone else has any experience with XM metal halides single ended please post. I have been using XM's now for 4-5 years. Thanks to Albert for being understanding and I hope for continued buisness.

 

[brittlestar08]

after I sent the manufacturer some photos he assured me that nothing is wrong with the bulbs.

I think that this comes down to the correct and detailed explanation that I recieved from the manufacturer on the issue with the burn marks and what I was seeing. its simple. I think you should know about this so you can properly tell others albert so you wont have others that may wonder. the burn marks are caused by RANDOM test fireing of the bulbs for quality control purposes. this is why I got two bulbs with the burn spots and a third perfectly clear. In fact the manf. said that the burn markings will turn clear after some burn in time. So bulbs with burns have been test fired for 5 seconds... bulbs which have the murcury in the inner tube have not been fired... and ones that have a clear inner bulb but no visible burn or loose murcury are bulbs that have been on for a longer period of time. one of the bulbs I got was like this. anyway. XM was super quick to say that I should have any problems after the warantee period that they will take care of me. I was left to feel super confident as always in thier product. great bulbs.

as far as the flourecents... I wish I could say they are great. they are just ok. in fact they are as bright as the old bulbs that I just pulled out of the tank. I did a side by side. when I get new flourecents from the other vendor thay are super super bright. Also, I recieved the other package today and the filters are awsome although I havent gotten a chance to actually change these filters yet. I love the carbon filter. all the other products I am happy with as well. sorry that you felt that you needed to be overly defensive with me. You will come to realize the typeof customer that I am. I just like clear and concise explanations if there is a question and want to be notified if something if being sent under separate box.

so, overall this order started out great with some issues in the middle but happy to say that it ended great. so I plan on coming back again. thanks again.