rlschne
New member
Hi guys,
I've been in and out of the hobby quite a few times now... this is my latest entry
I started feeling the itch to start another tank a few months back... so, at that point in time I bought a fluval edge and setup a heavily planted freshwater tank hoping that would hold me over. It didnt
So.. I started planning this tank. My original thought was just a smallish tank with a few fish and some sofites.. as my planning progressed I decided I really wanted more lps corals.... now I think the plan is a mix of lps / sps.
So.. here is the high-level equipment list (for now):
Full cadlights artisan 50 Gallon cube kit (skimmer, sump, lights, etc) w / white artisan stand
vortech mp10
air, water, ice typhoon III RO/DI
JBJ ATO (selling. Don't like the 14 min cut off, and it seems a bit flaky)
TLF Phosban reactor
Avast! Marine K1 Kalk Stirrer & Auto top off (not here yet)
As for my impressions of the Cadlights tank so far:
1. The tank itself is top notch. The skimmer seems nice, but I can't really judge that just yet.
2. The layout of the sump bugs me a bit, but it looks like the layout of their new sumps (brand new in the artisan II) addresses my issues.
3. The stand is good - once you get it together. As everyone already knows - there aren't instructions. That said it is really easy to figure out how to put it together.
I had two issues with the stand though:
Issue #1 - When they painted it white, they covered up a lot of the holes - so I had to guess where the holes should be and use an awl to clean them out.
Issue #2 - Many of the holes for the cam locks were either not drilled deep enough, or were done unlevel / just weren't finished. I had to use the aforementioned awl to clear those out as well. Helpful hint - don't dig them too deep! It is basically impossible to get a camlock out once you put it in!
4. Cadlights customer service... so, I placed my order... and waited... and waited.. and waited.... finally I decided to contact cadlights to see when my tank was going to ship to me. Long story short - My order caught them in between batches, so my tank took longer to ship out. They aren't the most responsive by email, but once you get Eddie on the phone they are extremely helpful and nice.
Since it took a bit longer to ship my tank out, Eddie set me up with their new 100W light free of charge. I don't have it yet, but it looks like it should be here next tuesday. Will let everyone know how it is - this one actually looks really nice!
Here is the link to it on their site.
http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42&products_id=220
So.. that is my initial write up.. pics to follow!
I've been in and out of the hobby quite a few times now... this is my latest entry
I started feeling the itch to start another tank a few months back... so, at that point in time I bought a fluval edge and setup a heavily planted freshwater tank hoping that would hold me over. It didnt
So.. I started planning this tank. My original thought was just a smallish tank with a few fish and some sofites.. as my planning progressed I decided I really wanted more lps corals.... now I think the plan is a mix of lps / sps.
So.. here is the high-level equipment list (for now):
Full cadlights artisan 50 Gallon cube kit (skimmer, sump, lights, etc) w / white artisan stand
vortech mp10
air, water, ice typhoon III RO/DI
JBJ ATO (selling. Don't like the 14 min cut off, and it seems a bit flaky)
TLF Phosban reactor
Avast! Marine K1 Kalk Stirrer & Auto top off (not here yet)
As for my impressions of the Cadlights tank so far:
1. The tank itself is top notch. The skimmer seems nice, but I can't really judge that just yet.
2. The layout of the sump bugs me a bit, but it looks like the layout of their new sumps (brand new in the artisan II) addresses my issues.
3. The stand is good - once you get it together. As everyone already knows - there aren't instructions. That said it is really easy to figure out how to put it together.
I had two issues with the stand though:
Issue #1 - When they painted it white, they covered up a lot of the holes - so I had to guess where the holes should be and use an awl to clean them out.
Issue #2 - Many of the holes for the cam locks were either not drilled deep enough, or were done unlevel / just weren't finished. I had to use the aforementioned awl to clear those out as well. Helpful hint - don't dig them too deep! It is basically impossible to get a camlock out once you put it in!
4. Cadlights customer service... so, I placed my order... and waited... and waited.. and waited.... finally I decided to contact cadlights to see when my tank was going to ship to me. Long story short - My order caught them in between batches, so my tank took longer to ship out. They aren't the most responsive by email, but once you get Eddie on the phone they are extremely helpful and nice.
Since it took a bit longer to ship my tank out, Eddie set me up with their new 100W light free of charge. I don't have it yet, but it looks like it should be here next tuesday. Will let everyone know how it is - this one actually looks really nice!
Here is the link to it on their site.
http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42&products_id=220
So.. that is my initial write up.. pics to follow!
Last edited:
