CadLights 39G Signature

[fencer]

You might want to put some support clips on the back to prevent the glass top from falling into the tank

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by fencer

You might want to put some support clips on the back to prevent the glass top from falling into the tank

Actually the glass top comes with 4 clips that hang off of the lip of the tank. The glass then sits on the clips. Problem is that if you mount the lights on their legs which in turn also sit on the lip of the tank it is very awkward to install the glass lid.

But the glass lid will come in handy if I hang the lights from the ceiling, which I think I will eventually do. The hanging of the lights will give more room for tank maintenance.

[Oscar]

Although the box looked great on the outside somehow UPS damaged two of the cabinet panels. The only way to do that was to have bent the box on a sharp object or is was elevated at both ends during transport.

[Oscar]

So I called Eddie at Cadlights to request replacement panels for the cabinet. I had thought about fiberglassing the cabinet panels but since they are wieght bearing I figured I should at least start with the right components.

So I opened up the box with the aquarium. The signature series comes with the following:
- pin wheel skimmer
- pump
- UV sterilizer
- bio balls
- 2 filter pads
- refugium light
- cooling fan
- lockline
- Hydor 360 degree wavemaker
- glass tank top
- lights with HQI, actinics and LEDs in one box
- (no heater included)

But does not come with installation instructions. For a newbie this is a bit of a problem but it all worked out.

I had never handled a skimmer before so I was perplexed when I opened the box and discovered the air line and a little piece of black plastic in the skimmer cup. After scratching my head for a couple of days I realized that the black piece of plastic was actually the nipple leading from the pump to which the rubber hose is to be attached.

The nipple is that little black thing on the styrofoam.




So I got out the fiberglass epoxy and glued the nipple to the faceplate on the skimmer pump.

[mseepman]

I'm a little dissapointed that "instructions" are not included. You'd think that with all the time they've been doing tanks that they would include something.

Glad to see that your build thread is coming along though. You can bet you'll see me next time I'm in Summerland.

[Oscar]

While I was waiting for the cabinet panels to arrive I decided to set the tank up on my work bench. This gave me a chance to test out all of the equipment and since it is my first SW gave me a chance to figure out how the full package works.

You will see in this photo, although not very well, that there are 4 chambers. First has bioballs, 2nd has the pin wheel skimmer, the 3rd is the refugium and the final has the pump and heater. The UV sterilizer will also fit in here if necessary.

The red tape is my water reference line for top up.

The large foam pads I installed to reduce the microbubbles from the skimmer. I do not have the lights installed at this stage.





This photo shows the chamber layout a little better.

[Oscar]

So of course once the tank was set up and I kind of figured out how everything worked I needed to do something! So I contacted Chris at InteriorReef and he set me up with LR, LS a heater, test kit and a shwack of other stuff.

I started by running the skimmer and rock in a Rubbermaid tub but had a real problem with temperature stability. So I put the live rock in the tank with the skimmer, pump and heater running.






Then I got the lights setup with timers and went to the Coast for the Easter weekend.




But it turned out the timers were not set properly which meant that my actinics ran for possibly 48hrs straight. That blew one tube and let the algae go wild.

So I went to the local pet store a picked up a couple of hermits and phosphate test kit. You can see the hermits in the lower left. The phosphates are low, although not zero. And the hermits did very quick work on the algae, much more sustantial than I expected.