This… the way to go I
Otherwise I also have a sca150 and love it so much, and let me get the sump, stand and plumbing I wanted!
Best options for 100+ Gallon tank
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Otherwise I also have a sca150 and love it so much, and let me get the sump, stand and plumbing I wanted!
562uned
New Member
I also took your advice here and reached out to CDA, not sure I will hear back in time but between the tank, stand and sump, 1500 still seems like a good deal even if I have to order a tank, or get this one resealed in a few years. the sump looks like an eshopps R-300, the stand is solid wood, not plywood or particle board, and the tank is "new". since this is half of my budget, I'll spend the other 1500 on better lighting pumps and tank flow, I'm just going to go for it and we'll see how it turns out!
562uned
New Member
yeah, the SCA tanks do look good, this looks very similar, If I have to buy another tank in a few years, maybe i'll just order a SCA 180 to replace it. I'm hopeful this one will do me well though!
562uned
New Member
Well, I decided to pass on the tank, I did get a response back from cda and it addressed all of the concerns I had.
"Tanks that were built in 2015-2016 are largely built along the "old" Leemar standards (we purchased the equipment and hired Leemar's workers in 2014). Within the first 3 years of being in business, we have developed a number of upgrades/reinforcement features which now come standard on CDA tanks. We also accordingly changed the warranty term from 2 years to 5 years in light of these structural enhancements, which should hopefully give you an idea of how much stronger and well thought-out our tanks are today than they were 6 years ago. If your tank doesn't have the reinforcement features such as bottom perimeter brace, overlapping double top brace, reinforced corners, we highly recommend looking into purchasing a new one. The state of the stand after 6 years (I'm assuming it's a wood stand) could also be of concern as we know wood to be a material that expands and contracts based on the environmental conditions -- which is also the reason we only build steel-frame stands right now.
As far as silicone goes, we do advise to fill the tank with water as soon as possible after manufacturing and curing. There have been a couple of instances (3 to be exact) when silicone on tanks that have sat in people's garages or warehouses for over 2 years seems to have degraded, compromising the seams."
"Tanks that were built in 2015-2016 are largely built along the "old" Leemar standards (we purchased the equipment and hired Leemar's workers in 2014). Within the first 3 years of being in business, we have developed a number of upgrades/reinforcement features which now come standard on CDA tanks. We also accordingly changed the warranty term from 2 years to 5 years in light of these structural enhancements, which should hopefully give you an idea of how much stronger and well thought-out our tanks are today than they were 6 years ago. If your tank doesn't have the reinforcement features such as bottom perimeter brace, overlapping double top brace, reinforced corners, we highly recommend looking into purchasing a new one. The state of the stand after 6 years (I'm assuming it's a wood stand) could also be of concern as we know wood to be a material that expands and contracts based on the environmental conditions -- which is also the reason we only build steel-frame stands right now.
As far as silicone goes, we do advise to fill the tank with water as soon as possible after manufacturing and curing. There have been a couple of instances (3 to be exact) when silicone on tanks that have sat in people's garages or warehouses for over 2 years seems to have degraded, compromising the seams."
562uned
New Member
Just an update.
I did end up finding something, used. I picked up this setup for 2500 bucks, locally, lots of coral, fish, tons of equipment, 180 gallon. Included vortex pumps, powerheads, APEX management, the kessil ap700 lights, tons of testing gear, buckets, tools, etc. etc. I feel like it was a good deal, but a ton to take on.
I am still working through trying to get this up and running, I have corals and rocks all over the living room still.. haha. The tank had Aiptasia, so I have been trying to pull out as much of the coral and put it in a separate tank, while cleaning the rock etc. I'm going to go through and create a new aquascape while I'm at it.
It would have been quite a bit less work starting fresh, but it has been an excellent learning experience. So far only had one fish fatality, one of the fox faces, not sure what happened(probably stress from the move?), he was just at the bottom of the tank one morning, all of the others have been great! Here are some pics. I went through an re-plumbed the system and cleaned everything pretty good while setting it back up. I still need to do some cable management, but it is a work in progress!
Photos from purchase
Current progress
I did end up finding something, used. I picked up this setup for 2500 bucks, locally, lots of coral, fish, tons of equipment, 180 gallon. Included vortex pumps, powerheads, APEX management, the kessil ap700 lights, tons of testing gear, buckets, tools, etc. etc. I feel like it was a good deal, but a ton to take on.
I am still working through trying to get this up and running, I have corals and rocks all over the living room still.. haha. The tank had Aiptasia, so I have been trying to pull out as much of the coral and put it in a separate tank, while cleaning the rock etc. I'm going to go through and create a new aquascape while I'm at it.
It would have been quite a bit less work starting fresh, but it has been an excellent learning experience. So far only had one fish fatality, one of the fox faces, not sure what happened(probably stress from the move?), he was just at the bottom of the tank one morning, all of the others have been great! Here are some pics. I went through an re-plumbed the system and cleaned everything pretty good while setting it back up. I still need to do some cable management, but it is a work in progress!
Photos from purchase
Current progress
Jedi1199
2500 Club Member
Just an update.
I did end up finding something, used. I picked up this setup for 2500 bucks, locally, lots of coral, fish, tons of equipment, 180 gallon. Included vortex pumps, powerheads, APEX management, the kessil ap700 lights, tons of testing gear, buckets, tools, etc. etc. I feel like it was a good deal, but a ton to take on.
I am still working through trying to get this up and running, I have corals and rocks all over the living room still.. haha. The tank had Aiptasia, so I have been trying to pull out as much of the coral and put it in a separate tank, while cleaning the rock etc. I'm going to go through and create a new aquascape while I'm at it.
It would have been quite a bit less work starting fresh, but it has been an excellent learning experience. So far only had one fish fatality, one of the fox faces, not sure what happened(probably stress from the move?), he was just at the bottom of the tank one morning, all of the others have been great! Here are some pics. I went through an re-plumbed the system and cleaned everything pretty good while setting it back up. I still need to do some cable management, but it is a work in progress!
Photos from purchase
Current progress
Congrats on the beautiful new tank. You got a fantastic deal on that!!
Can you post a couple pictures of the sump and equipment?
I was going to suggest that you look into Aquarium Masters, which is where I got my 135 from last month. They are located in Chino, Ca Don't know about shipping costs, but I got my 135g reef ready tank with dual corner overflows for $700 from my LFS. The stand I got was another $400, but came unfinished. I have been spending the last 2 weekends finishing it. I should have it done tonight. Yes, I saved a couple hundred dollars, but the work I had to put into it.. I don't know if it was that much of a bargain. lol
RedoubtReef
Valuable Member
Looks great man!
562uned
New Member
Here is a pic of the plumbing, I added a gate valve and two pump hook ups (eventually will add the second pump) really happy with how it turned out. Pics not the greatest, but hopefully you can get an idea. The one ball valve going down there is in to the refugium, it has a very slow flow, enough to tumble the chaeto.
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