AIO tanks- Cad 42 or JBJ 45?

LetItReef

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Hello,

Planning to get one of these two tanks, Mix reef for an upgrade from a standard 29g .
Any experiences with these two? Price is almost the same but would like to get some pros and cons.
Thanks in advance.
 
That is a tough one, honestly I have heard really great things about both companies.
 
Stay away from cad! Worst customer service I've even seen.

Consider yourself warned.
 
I currently own the versa 42, and I think the tank itself is fantastic. Although it is not an "AIO" tank if that's what you're wanting. It is drilled with a sump. If you're wanting a pure "AIO" then the JBJ 45 would give you that but if you want a sump then the cad light's or another reef ready/plumbed tank would be the way to go. I'll agree that Cadlight's customer service isn't the best, but my situation wasn't near as bad as "ja4207". I just had to call them to ship out a part that was forgotten in the original shipment. With that said...the stand absolutely sucks. If I were purchasing again I'd build a stand or have one professionally built. And the sump and return pump that come with the Cacdlights leave a lot to be desired. The sump looks nice because it's rimless just like the display tank, but the water level in all compartment's are the same. Having a skimmer section with constantly changing water level was annoying. The return pump is also cheap. In the past month I've replaced the sump, plumbing, and return pump from the cad light's tank. If there were an option to only buy the tank, that's the direction I'd go.

Also, my old roommate owned a JBJ45. It's a nice AIO tank. Same situation on the stand though. It's the cheap board material. Also remember getting annoyed trying to clean the algae off the curved edges on the corners of the tank.

Good luck with whichever you choose
 
Like most, I had bad experience with CAD customer service, but once I finally received my tank it was flawless. If you can deal with the customer service I would say cad all the way.
 
I have the JBJ 45 and have no problems with it. I added a sump/fife via a Tunze overflow. Customer service was also great as they FedEx'd me the aquarium mat that my LFS didn't include. If you want to see a great thread on JBJ on YouTube, check out CJ
 

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