Erin's 68 Gallon CAD Lights Reef Build

erinmegan85 · May 22, 2016

So I started my first ever saltwater reef tank in early February. That one is a Biocube 14. (I'll have to start a thread on that one too I suppose!) Anyways, I quickly became addicted to the salt water tank hobby. (Not a bad addiction to have, right?) Flash forward to last month my boyfriend was away for work for the month, and surprise me by buying me a 68 Gallon CAD lights Versa. I was very excited!

We've definitely had a few hiccups in the process of getting the tank since then. He order the tank from Dream Fish Tanks online. (Have no idea how he found their site or why he ordered it from there.) Anyways, it took a little bit for the tank to get here. He ordered it on April 26th, and it was finally delivered this past Monday. (Considering the site said some like a week for it to get here, this was a disappointment). We finally get the tank and unpack and all that was shipped was the tank and the stand. No guts, no sump, none of the extra goodies that was supposed to come with the tank. Needless to say we were really upset about this.

Contacted Dream Fish Tanks, and they pretty much said it was CAD Lights's fault and that they would have to get in touch with them. Now, I've heard that CAD Lights customer service can be crappy, but I was hoping that maybe it would be a little different if a distributor got in touch with them with an issue. I'm still not sure if CAD Lights is the problem at this point or the company we bought the tank from, only time will tell. To make a long story short after constant nagging all week we finally got a tracking number of the sump and "guts" on Friday. (Although that tracking number pretty much was created and it seems as if it wasn't actually picked up by UPS yet.)

Anyways, despite the rough start with getting everything for the tank I am excited to finally have it. We leak tested the tank today and it held water fine with no leaks. Next step is to assemble the stand. There's just one problem with that though: it didn't come with any directions. I did find some IKEA looking instructions for it on Marine Depot's website, so we might just have to roll with that. As far as equipment goes I went with Hydra 52 HD for a light (need to get a mount for it still). I also purchased a Maxspect Gyre. I have ideas of what I want for a skimmer, etc, but I'm holding off getting anything else until we get the sump and whatnot.

So after that long rant, complaint here's the only picture I have of the tank so far from when we filled it up in the garage this afternoon. Haha! I will update this thread as I make more progress

Salt-Lick · May 22, 2016

Sorry for the crazy start. Take your time with everything and remember to enjoy it. You will have many ups and downs. Looking forward to your progress pics

revhtree · May 23, 2016

Sorry for the issues and following along!

erinmegan85 · May 29, 2016

We went ahead and built the stand today. The company we bought the tank from gave us a PDF with instructions. They were pretty worthless, so we just kind of figured it out ourselves. We wanted to get the tank and stand out of the garage and in the house because my boyfriend goes TDY (deploys) for work on Tuesday, so this tank build is supposed to help keep me occupied while he's gone.

Still dealing with CAD Lights/Dream Aquarium Drama, but at this point it is what it is I suppose. CAD Lights said they sent the missing sump and guts out on the 20th. Tracking number never showed it shipped. After calling Dream Fish Tanks every day and them calling CAD Lights. Along with us calling CAD Lights a few time. CAD Lights told Dream Fish Tanks that they were having issues with packing materials and that's why it wasn't sent out on the 20th. Assured them it would be shipped out that day (Monday the 23rd). Finally got CAD Lights on the phone on Thursday and they insisted the sump and guts had been sent the day before, and that it must just have a different tracking number. Took their word for it. Boyfriend checked tracking number that we had on Saturday and is said that the stuff had been shipped on the 27th (Friday), so they pretty much lied to us over the phone.

All I can say about this whole ordeal with CAD Lights is that much like everyone else says their customer service sucks. The fish tank and stand are beautiful, but really not worth all this hassle. If I had to do it all over I would spend the extra money and get a Red Sea Reefer. Definitely won't recommend or buy anything from CAD Lights ever again after this nonsense. Them lying to us was what really tipped me over the edge of being really mad.

Anyways, enough complaining. My Maxspect Gyre came in. Really pleased with how it was shipped and packaged. Will definitely order products from Marine Depot's site again. It got here before they could even get me a tracking number. Now to start looking at skimmers, heaters, automatic top off, RO/DI unit, etc. (Didn't need an RO/DI with my little Biocube because we just bought the water from the store.) Excited to finally start to get the tank together and get it up and running.

Here's a picture of the tank and stand in the living room.

erinmegan85 · Jun 4, 2016

Finally got my sump and missing plumbing from CAD Lights yesterday. I'm actually impressed with the sump. It's bigger than I had pictured it being. The only problem with what I received is that the glass cover (I'm assuming that's what it was) was smashed into 1,000 pieces. At this point I'm not even wasting my time trying to get a replacement for it. I went ahead and ordered a DIY screen top from Bulk Reef Supply, so I'll just roll with that instead. Now to set up the plumbing!

Excuse the little dog in the pictures, she was fascinated by the sump (which I know has to be turned around haha)

erinmegan85 · Jun 26, 2016

Made a lot of progress with the build. Got the mount for the light and installed that. Also did my DIY screen top from Bulk Reef Supply, which I was pleasantly surprised with the way it turned out. Got my dosing kit, skimmer, and sand in as well. Will but putting the sand in and filling up the tank tomorrow! Super excited!

erinmegan85 · Jul 17, 2016

So I've been a slacker on updating this thread. Filled the tank with sand and water on June 26th:

Had a tough time deciding whether I was going to have my live rock shipped from a place like Gulf Live Rock or drive 2.5 hours to go to a LFS I actually trust to get anything from. In the end I decided to drive to Wilmington to pick up the live rock and put it in the tank on July 2nd:

About a weekish later and finally had a diatom bloom:

While I'm waiting for the tank to cycle I decide to figure out what I was going to do for an ATO because I'm tired of lugging water to fill up the tank every day. Decided on the Tunze ATO and I will be using a 10 gallon tank I had as a reservoir. Needed a place to hide the reservoir so I bought a cabinet today and put it together. All made a nice spot to hide the surge protector and wires.

Now I'm just patiently waiting for ammonia levels and nitrite levels to fall so I can add my cleanup crew. Also have another Gyre coming for a little more slow.

erinmegan85 · Aug 6, 2016

Still cycling. Still waiting. I'm being patient, but it's tough. Ammonia went down. Nitrite went up and came down some. Nitrate is off the charts. I'm having a hard time getting the nitrite to go down to zero. I'll wait it out because I'm sure that's all that needs to be done. I'm just worried my cycle is somehow stalled since the tank has been up and running since July 3rd. Here's a pic of my currently scummy cycling tank. Haha.

tjp123 · Apr 3, 2017

Hey Erin. I'd love to hear more about your tank and how it's doing.

I just ordered my CAD Lights 68 Versa last week ... also from Dream Fish Tanks coincidentally. It's not delivered yet (it's not scheduled to arrive until April 6), but after reading your posts I'm very nervous!

It is certainly a good-looking tank though.

~Tom

erinmegan85 · Apr 8, 2017

Hey, there! Sorry it took me so long to reply as I don't frequent the site nearly as much as I used to. My tank is doing fabulously aside from some pesky cyano that's been popping up here and there. Here's some update pictures:

How did things go with getting your tank? Hopefully better than my experience!

tjp123 · Apr 9, 2017

erinmegan85 said:
How did things go with getting your tank? Hopefully better than my experience!

Only slightly nerve racking so far. The freight truck carrying my tank from LA needed repairs, so they weren't able to deliver it on Thursday. It's supposed to be here between 8 and 12 Monday though. One ... more ... DAY!!

I'll start a separate build thread after it arrives. (P.S. -- Your tank does look fabulous, by the way!)