Cobalt C-Vue 26 Gallon AIO

LanM · Feb 24, 2018

Just got this in yesterday...build will commence shortly....and I'm done buying tanks.

Was packed very well, glass looks substantial. Glass partition and baffles are nice, I was expecting biocube style plastic

I am a little on the fence about the aesthetics in regards to the silicone on the front mitered corners. The silicone job on the left corner looks like it was done by a fresh off a bender alcoholic with the DT's, and using a steak knife.

Am I being too anal, or is it a legit concern? A bubble/pocket on the surface maybe?

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wfournier · Feb 25, 2018

I have the same tank arriving Tuesday, that corner does look like crap but as long as there is a solid bead in the seam itself functionally it should be fine. Is this the sort of thing that could be cleaned up with a razor blade? It's hard to tell of this is just squeeze out that wasn't cleaned up or if there is a little glass missing there.

Did you get the stand too or just the tank? I ordered both during the president's day sale (I'm guessing you did the same thing). My plan is to paint the stand white to match the rest of our furniture in the room. I kind of laughed in one the DFS youtube videos when the guy from Cobalt said "the stand is available in any color you want as long as it is black."

LanM · Feb 26, 2018

Ha, yeah I thought that was funny too when he mentioned the stand color.

Nope, I bought the tank only as I'm a non conformist when it comes to stands. I'm doing a tropical blue/teal stand with bamboo trim and a bamboo canopy on the 25 cube I'm putting together now to see if I like it.

If so, I might make a similar stand for the c-vue. If not, itll get a clean bamboo cabinet either in natural, tiger, or antique...not sure yet.

For the corners, those are actually a pic of each corner. They both suck, and what you see in the pic looks like the result of trimming after it cured (not by me). I was hoping for hish end, clean design. If these were in the back corners, no biggie. I am impressed with the tank overall though.
Its not glass missing, its the corner miters not quite lining up, and they seem to have tried to use the silicone to take up the slack. I was expecting minimal silicone as shown in the promo vids.

With the way this one was assembled, theres more than there would be in a standard butt joint like the marineland cube I have. There's no comparison, this one blows the marineland cube away in both glass clarity and construction (the marineland cube panels are off by over a mm on 2 panels)...don't they use jigs for these things...

wfournier · Feb 26, 2018

Ok yeah I can see looking closer that the glass is not aligned properly. I'll have to see what mine looks like when I get it tomorrow.

wfournier · Feb 27, 2018

Mine landed and the seams could be better for sure but I think they are a little better than yours. One is tighter, the other wider, makes me wonder if they didn't center the front panel properly. Overall I think it will be fine but I would prefer a little better fit and finish, the price is good but...

LanM · Feb 28, 2018

Yours seems to be a bit better than the one I received. I wonder if the factory isn't used to mitered corners? Either way its a bit of a black eye on what looked to be an excellent product for the money. Maybe precision at this price point is asking too much?

wfournier · Feb 28, 2018

LanM said:
Yours seems to be a bit better than the one I received. I wonder if the factory isn't used to mitered corners? Either way its a bit of a black eye on what looked to be an excellent product for the money. Maybe precision at this price point is asking too much?

That is pretty much my thought, I don't know where they are made but I imagine this is a little different than assembling a tank with standard construction so it may be taking some time for the factory to get used to the new system. The price point is very attractive but they will need to get this under control.

What are you planning for flow? I have a couple MP10's but I'm tired of the noise so I'm looking at other options (the one I'm using at the moment I did the QD upgrade on).