CAD 34 out of production till december!?

[MikeL152123]

I was just on the cadlights website.........as well as the oceanreeflections website and i learned that the 34 gal. cad tank is not going to be in stock until Dec. 10. I'm wondering if it is due to the number of complaints i have seen lately here on reefcentral and nano reef.com. Does anyone have any info on this?

[Illuminati]

The one thing I have heard that would turn me off from buying it is that the moonlights are on the same switch as the atinics. What good does that do! Just like stock nanocubes.
Hopefully that is fixed with the new batches.

[MikeL152123]

I do have to say that I am excited that they have decided to look the tank over and hopefully fix the inperfections. I have been planning on purchasing one of these tanks for a couple of months now and plan on ordering mine on Dec. 10th, assuming they are on sceduel. I love the look of the tank and can't wait to see what they do to improve the tank. What would all of you who own a cad tank say needs to be improved?

[mobujen]

I own a CAD 34. It looks nice but I wouldn't buy one again. Here are my reasons:

1. Although the glass is thick, it is cheap glass with many imperfections.

2. The rounded corners and bowfront look great but distort the view (the reason we have aquariums) inside the tank really bad.

3. The return pump is a piece of junk. Loud and doesn't come close to putting out 450GPH. Replaced at my expense.

4. The MH light is a piece of junk. Poorly made goes without saying. I'm on my second one I received for a warranty replacement. Ive had to replace all the bulbs because the stock ones were very bad as far as their intended color spectrums. I've seen other 150W MH lights before and this one doesn't appear to be as bright. My guess is that the ballast is not pushing the full wattage. A common problem with cheaply made MH ballast.

5. The pieces of glass used in the refugium to seperate the chambers arrived loose. All three of them! Repaired at my expense on my time.

6. The teeth cut into the acrylic back were so wide that any juvenile clown fish would get sucked into or swim right into the overflow chamber. I cut the old one out, designed and fabricated a replacement and glued it on. Again, my time and money.

7. The moonlights are on the same power supply as the t-5's. Useless unless you plan to walk to the aqarium every night and morning to switch the two lights. I bought an aftermarket moon light and installed it myself. More time and money.


Sadly, I could go on, but I don't want to come across as someone who complains a lot.

Buyer beware with this product. I think that the people who make them and sell them are more interested in making money than making a good product and loyal customer base.

I think you could probably do better for the same price by putting your own system together. That's what I would do in hindsight. I would have saved a bunch of time and money.

Mike

[MikeL152123]

Thanx mike, do you happen to have a picture of you cad tank? I guess it would be cheaper and more of a sure bet to just have a custom tank built and pic all of the other components myself.....unless cad really overhauls the tank and their answere in december is something pretty incredible.......

[Rod013]

mobujen

What pump did you purchase to replace the stock return pump?

[mobujen]

MikeL: Here's a picture I have that is about four weeks old. (Level tank-crooked photographer) I've since added a few Zoo's, a brain coral and a few mushrooms. I think you can see Larry, the Diamond Watchman Goby, down near the sand and Nemo and Nemorina, the true Perc's. If you look half way up the rock work on the right side you can see Dash, my Lawnmower Blenny sticking out of his cave. Yes, my 8 and 9 year old are in charge of naming the fish. :)

Personally, I think it would be more fun to put together your own tank. I bet if I added up the initial cost of the CAD 34 and all the additional cost I incured to get it to be a viable sysytem, I could have probably put together a pretty nice Oceanic 30G cube with a HOB refugium or even my own custom made false back for an ALL-In-One type set up.

Rod: The replacment pump is a whole story in itself. I wanted a pump that truely put out about 400 to 450 GPH, was small enough to fit in chamber 4 and was dead quiet. My aquarium in in my sons room so noise is an issue at night.

I bought a Hydor seltz L35. These pumps are well made but expensive. It's rated at 450 GPH. The difference in flow compared to the stock CAD pump was amazing. I bet the Seltz was at least a 1/3 more powerful than the CAD stock pump. The only problem with this pump is it was just a little bit to loud. I then tried a cheap knock off pump from Ebay. This pump stopped after three days. I ended up with a RIO 1400 of all things. I know they get criticized pretty hard but it has been a great pump. It's quiet and pumps almost as hard as the Seltz.

Thats the story guys. If you have any more questions, let me know.

Mike

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b63/mobujen/FullTankShotWeek11-A.jpg

[jvdb]

Did anybody else notice the "NO CHILLER NEEDED!" postfix?

I assume this means a redesign, but hopefully it will mean a price drop too.

[MikeL152123]

yea i noticed the NO CHILLER NEEDED too. the tank already has an open top and the signature series comes with the fuge fan. what else could they do to maintain temperature levels? I'm not planning on getting a tank until December so i guess i'll wait till the hopefully improved cad tank is re-released and see what they've done to it. If i am still unsure of it i will probably just have a cube made by glasscages and customize it myself............

[fishnutz27]

I've had my 34 Gallon signature up for about two months now. I too had a few issues namely the moonlight wiring and the return pump not pumping as fast as I'd like. Everything else has worked very well.

Having said the above, here is why I wouldn't hesitate to buy from CAD again. When I had the issues rather than trying to fix the return pump and moonlights myself I sent Eddie an email outlining my problems. Within three days I had a brand new SEIO M620 intank circulation pump (about $45) to make up for the lower than expected flow of the return as well as two Current Lunar Light sets ($28 a piece at my LFS) which can be put on their own timers. Eddie didn't charge me shipping, didn't give me a hard time and went above and beyond to make sure that I was happy with the tank. Try getting that level of service from any of the big boys and if you are successful you will be lucky indeed.

If you are looking for a tank everyone else has get a biocube or RedSea. If you are looking for a tank that is the envy of your local reef club I'd give Eddie and his team a serious look.

Hope this helps.

-Tom

[fishnutz27]

Forgot to mention that the CAD 34 came with a fan that blows on the refugium which cools the tank about 4 degrees on hot days. I have it on a timer to come on from 12-3 PM and it keeps the tank between 78-80 degrees all day long. It costs a bit in evaporation but it is true that you don't need a chiller.

-Tom

[MikeL152123]

I have heard great things about their customer service, nothing but positive feed back on that. I dont know, i guess there is going to be mixed opinions on everything, so i'll have to just pick one a go for it.