ClearView Tsunami - The modular bulletproof lid that grows with your tank.

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Josh Kraft

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Review of Artfully Acrylic's new Tsunami Lid

The good, the great, the ugly and what seriously needs improvement.

The good: Their/your communications are exceptional.
Shipping is fast.
Overall build quality is excellent,
Easy to assemble.
Excellent design work.

The bad: As I specified a lid for a Red Sea Reefer Nano, why does the lid come as a standard 17"x17" square? The water surface area is not a square, this SHOULD be the standard NOT an option which is easily missed as in my case.


The ugly: Now I am forced to purchase a replacement section for the rear of the lid for $16.12 because Artfully Acrylic either intentionally or hopefully unintentionally misrepresented the lid I purchased in order to make additional income.
Additionally I now need to purchase additional screening as well.
This makes advertised vs. actual cost of the lid deceptive, similar to a bait and switch tactic.

Suggestion for corrective action to is issue, as I have stated above: Making the Red Sea Reefer Nano overflow (an others I am sure) an option at an additional expense is simply wrong, this should be the standard as that is how the aquarium is designed. Include instructions, while the lid is easy to assemble, printed instructions would have been a nice touch. Also please include a printed invoice, not including one is unprofessional.

I still recommend this product to others with the caveat that a person pay VERY close attention to what EXACTLY they are ordering. Hopefully Artfully Acrylic will make the necessary changes which will make a good product into a game changing one but for now purchase with caution because what you thought you ordered may not be what you receive.

I do agree that the standard of just going over the overflow is a little odd, but I do not feel misguided. The lid fits nicely over the box, with or without the lid. The picture clearly shows all the pieces and the description shows what the kit includes. I knew the box would be covered and opted just for an oversized feed door for the front, and let the overflow box be covered.

How often do you open your overflow box?
 

Tiger-Paws

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I do agree that the standard of just going over the overflow is a little odd, but I do not feel misguided. The lid fits nicely over the box, with or without the lid. The picture clearly shows all the pieces and the description shows what the kit includes. I knew the box would be covered and opted just for an oversized feed door for the front, and let the overflow box be covered.

How often do you open your overflow box?

Often enough to expect the lid to be "properly" designed and without the necessary cut-out for the lid around the overflow the lid will not fit as designed or intended.

As I said above I sincerely hope that this was/is an oversight and not intentional because that would be bordering on deceptive business practices.
 
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ArtFully Acrylic

ArtFully Acrylic

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02/13/2018 5:20 pm CST

My order arrived today, it went together as designed and fits well.

Well done.


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Tiger-Paws, we thank you for your initial positive review as well as your revised positive review with critique. We certainly don't want you or anyone feeling that our product descriptions are deceptive in any way. Quite the contrary, we've put great effort into trying to be as transparent as possible and in making option selection as easy as possible. We feel the items included in the kit, and their options, are fairly well identifiable on the individual product pages, though we will take your comments into consideration for future revisions; as our efforts will continually strive to better our representation and improve the education of our customers.

We are concerned however that you went from the simple positive review quoted above, to one with a few critiques, in less than 18 hours. The only thing that we can see occurring in that time period is that we emailed you to thank you for the initial positive review. As we saw the picture of your tank with the review, we made mention of the facts that your lid was facing the wrong direction and that it would sit within the glass edges fully if you had included a cutout for your light mount and cord(s) in your order. We were not aware at the time that you had missed the options, so we pointed out the options, that were available, in the event you wanted to add these features in the future.

From our experience, we see 3 possible reasons for no cutouts on a Tsunami...

1. You don't need them (i.e. no cords or light mounts in the tank or will be removing them in the near future).
2. You needed the lid as fast as possible with intention to upgrade the needed section later (i.e. fish actively trying to escape the tank & not wanting/able to wait the additional 1-2 weeks it takes for cutouts). Some would find the extra $16.12 for a new customized section later to be worth the immediate saving of their fish right now
3. You didn't see the options present on the product page, or the diagram showing no overflow cutout on the stock kit, or the product description stating optional add-ons were available for cord slots, light mounts, etc. (which you stated was unfortunately the case in your updated review).

The Red Sea Reefer Overflow box sits low enough below the glass that it does not interfere with the lid passing over it unabated. Tsunami is all about allowing flexibility in the configuration of your lid. We believe that having the ability to skip the features you don't want/need (and benefit from the added affordability) or having the ability to add options/upgrades as you see fit for your individual needs/desires...all in a product that can ship quickly and still have future adaptability...does make Tsunami the game changing product you say it can be.

On available Kits*, A standard Center Bridge is less expensive to produce than an Overflow Bridge. The Overflow Bridge costs $12 more. As you see from other comments made, some would rather the lid be a bit more affordable and skip the overflow cutout. You think it should be standard in the kit, which would make the kit $12 more for everybody.

The Feed Door Bridge & Feed Door Combo costs $20 more than the standard Center Bridge. In almost 2 years of sales for our Classic lids more than 70% of customers choose to add a feed door to their lid. You opted to not get one, and we are happy that you were able to save $20 on what the price would have been if we had we made this a standard inclusion in the base kit vs being an option.

We have designed Tsunami to let everybody decide individually what features are worth paying for instead of forcing a higher starting price on people that don't really care for or need a certain option.

In regards to needing additional screening, you may in fact not. If you installed spline as 4 separate pieces, one for each section, and you leave the screen/spline intact on the 3 unaffected sections, you can likely remove and replace the new section while preserving the existing screen. We have a video coming up soon that shows this ability in action.

As for printed instructions and a printed invoice, we have chosen to not provide these items in support of environmental preservation. From the time you place your order, all the way up to order fulfillment and packaging, we strive to use only one single piece of paper...for your shipping label. If we could reasonably print the label on the package, we would be a zero paper environment. We provide assembly instructions and guidance via a series of videos on our website. Order Invoices are provided electronically via email. You have the option of printing the invoice yourself, though we encourage our customers to consider it's true necessity before doing so.

We do however understand that some may understand instructions better when written vs watching a video so we will take that suggestion and draft step by step written instructions for assembly. We will post these here on the forum and on the website when they are complete.


*NOTE: ALL kits EXCEPT Reefer Nano are available with the Overflow Bridge option (this is reflected in the product diagram and the option menus). Due to the size of the Nano, the areas to the left and right of the overflow are not big enough to allow a screened area AND the necessary framing. As a result, just as in our Classic Reefer Nano, the overflow cutout would have to be bordered by solid framing and give way to a smaller, rectangular, screened area in front of the overflow. To offer this option on the Nano Tsunami would then require the side sections to be different based on this option selection. As the Nano Tsunami lid only has 4 pieces (vs the 8 of all other kits), having this option would negate the affordable adaptability of the Nano Tsunami by requiring 3 pieces be unique to this option alone. It would make the price of the Nano Tsunami more expensive/equal to that of the Nano Classic lid while also being nearly as costly as a new lid to upgrade in the future....a key point in the advantages that Tsunami is designed to offer.
 
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ArtFully Acrylic

ArtFully Acrylic

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Thanks for all the details and pics! I didn’t even think about the extra spacer since they say it is for mounting on rimmed tanks. I was considering the side multilight setup since I could lift the lid up and slide it back a bit resting over the overflow and back glass to give me more access inside the tank for glass cleaning, etc. with lights on the rear glass it seems like my only option to lift the lid completely off and set it aside.

You are most welcome! I see what you mean with the ability to simply lift and slide the lid back a bit by perching it on the light mounts when using the multilight setup. Certainly an ability limited to the multilight setup however as you have alluded.

As a small percentage of customers use the multilight compared to rear mounted lights, and must therefore lift the lid completely off for tasks that cant be completed through a Standard or XL Feed Door opening, we've made the lid as light as possible while maintaining the frame rigidity at the same level found in our Classic Lids. Lids for Reefer's 3' or shorter tend to weigh 3-5lbs. Lids for Reefer's at 4' in length tend to weigh 6-7lbs. Lids for Reefer's at 5' in length tend to weight 8-10lbs. Reefer's up to 6' in length average 12-13lbs.
 
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ArtFully Acrylic

ArtFully Acrylic

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This is really cool! I've had my clearview lid for about a year now. Absolutely love it.

Thanks for chiming in Logzor. We are glad you are still loving your ClearView Lid!

I have, just line them up closely and use a rubber mallet to put them together. Don't be shy, you won't break it.

I recommend making sure the tabs and the screen slot are facing the correct directions, I didn't and had to take them apart, that is how I ended up learning you can't break this stuff.

Also, on the first batches they are assembling them before sending them out, so they have been seated once already.

While recording the new assembly videos the other day we got quite a chuckle thinking that those who opt to DIY their own lid will get to experience first hand just how durable the ClearView Lid really is. Those having us build and screen for them won't get this same experience, but they will get the same ultimate level of durability.
 
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ArtFully Acrylic

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Haha, thanks. I was being a coward with the mallet, but then I managed to break two pieces. I'll order some new sections today.

It goes together pretty smooth if you're assertive with the ballet. If you need to take it apart like you said, it's much easier to break.

Actually, he said he didn't break the pieces when he took them apart. You are the first and only customer to break any pieces...much less two. Congratulations! Most likely this occurred from extreme twisting/torque on two unsupported interlocked pieces. The video we posted on disassembly procedures, after you broke the two pieces, makes things a bit more clear on how to properly take them apart.

As we've already communicated with you via email regarding this, and the disassembly video came after your own efforts, we are shipping the replacement pieces to you at no additional cost.
 

HolisticBear

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Actually, he said he didn't break the pieces when he took them apart. You are the first and only customer to break any pieces...much less two. Congratulations! Most likely this occurred from extreme twisting/torque on two unsupported interlocked pieces. The video we posted on disassembly procedures, after you broke the two pieces, makes things a bit more clear on how to properly take them apart.

As we've already communicated with you via email regarding this, and the disassembly video came after your own efforts, we are shipping the replacement pieces to you at no additional cost.

Thank you. It was still my fault. The Reefer 170 long pieces are quite small, there is probably only a 2"x2" solid square area of lexan? I might have been more successful if the pieces were anywhere near the size of the one in the video or the image.
 

Tiger-Paws

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Tiger-Paws, we thank you for your initial positive review as well as your revised positive review with critique. We certainly don't want you or anyone feeling that our product descriptions are deceptive in any way. Quite the contrary, we've put great effort into trying to be as transparent as possible and in making option selection as easy as possible. We feel the items included in the kit, and their options, are fairly well identifiable on the individual product pages, though we will take your comments into consideration for future revisions; as our efforts will continually strive to better our representation and improve the education of our customers.

We are concerned however that you went from the simple positive review quoted above, to one with a few critiques, in less than 18 hours. The only thing that we can see occurring in that time period is that we emailed you to thank you for the initial positive review. As we saw the picture of your tank with the review, we made mention of the facts that your lid was facing the wrong direction and that it would sit within the glass edges fully if you had included a cutout for your light mount and cord(s) in your order. We were not aware at the time that you had missed the options, so we pointed out the options, that were available, in the event you wanted to add these features in the future.

From our experience, we see 3 possible reasons for no cutouts on a Tsunami...

1. You don't need them (i.e. no cords or light mounts in the tank or will be removing them in the near future).
2. You needed the lid as fast as possible with intention to upgrade the needed section later (i.e. fish actively trying to escape the tank & not wanting/able to wait the additional 1-2 weeks it takes for cutouts). Some would find the extra $16.12 for a new customized section later to be worth the immediate saving of their fish right now
3. You didn't see the options present on the product page, or the diagram showing no overflow cutout on the stock kit, or the product description stating optional add-ons were available for cord slots, light mounts, etc. (which you stated was unfortunately the case in your updated review).

The Red Sea Reefer Overflow box sits low enough below the glass that it does not interfere with the lid passing over it unabated. Tsunami is all about allowing flexibility in the configuration of your lid. We believe that having the ability to skip the features you don't want/need (and benefit from the added affordability) or having the ability to add options/upgrades as you see fit for your individual needs/desires...all in a product that can ship quickly and still have future adaptability...does make Tsunami the game changing product you say it can be.

On available Kits*, A standard Center Bridge is less expensive to produce than an Overflow Bridge. The Overflow Bridge costs $12 more. As you see from other comments made, some would rather the lid be a bit more affordable and skip the overflow cutout. You think it should be standard in the kit, which would make the kit $12 more for everybody.

The Feed Door Bridge & Feed Door Combo costs $20 more than the standard Center Bridge. In almost 2 years of sales for our Classic lids more than 70% of customers choose to add a feed door to their lid. You opted to not get one, and we are happy that you were able to save $20 on what the price would have been if we had we made this a standard inclusion in the base kit vs being an option.

We have designed Tsunami to let everybody decide individually what features are worth paying for instead of forcing a higher starting price on people that don't really care for or need a certain option.

In regards to needing additional screening, you may in fact not. If you installed spline as 4 separate pieces, one for each section, and you leave the screen/spline intact on the 3 unaffected sections, you can likely remove and replace the new section while preserving the existing screen. We have a video coming up soon that shows this ability in action.

As for printed instructions and a printed invoice, we have chosen to not provide these items in support of environmental preservation. From the time you place your order, all the way up to order fulfillment and packaging, we strive to use only one single piece of paper...for your shipping label. If we could reasonably print the label on the package, we would be a zero paper environment. We provide assembly instructions and guidance via a series of videos on our website. Order Invoices are provided electronically via email. You have the option of printing the invoice yourself, though we encourage our customers to consider it's true necessity before doing so.

We do however understand that some may understand instructions better when written vs watching a video so we will take that suggestion and draft step by step written instructions for assembly. We will post these here on the forum and on the website when they are complete.


*NOTE: ALL kits EXCEPT Reefer Nano are available with the Overflow Bridge option (this is reflected in the product diagram and the option menus). Due to the size of the Nano, the areas to the left and right of the overflow are not big enough to allow a screened area AND the necessary framing. As a result, just as in our Classic Reefer Nano, the overflow cutout would have to be bordered by solid framing and give way to a smaller, rectangular, screened area in front of the overflow. To offer this option on the Nano Tsunami would then require the side sections to be different based on this option selection. As the Nano Tsunami lid only has 4 pieces (vs the 8 of all other kits), having this option would negate the affordable adaptability of the Nano Tsunami by requiring 3 pieces be unique to this option alone. It would make the price of the Nano Tsunami more expensive/equal to that of the Nano Classic lid while also being nearly as costly as a new lid to upgrade in the future....a key point in the advantages that Tsunami is designed to offer.

Without getting into a long and drawn out discussion regarding my complements, complaints and suggestions I refer you to the highlighted information above which you provided but did not make abundantly clear in the original product description.

An image (not a drawing) of the completed product in all of its different configurations would have explained your product offerings more clearly. I stand by my original complements and complaints because it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to accurately and as clearly as possible show what their product is designed to accomplish.

There is no question that the Red Sea Nano and other Aquariums are designed with a built-in overflow, this was not an aftermarket modification, so to make the cutout optional is an attempt to make an additional $16.12 rather than making the price of the lid more expensive.

To say otherwise is disingenuous at best.
 

mdh71

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I have setup my Tsunami for my Reefer 425. For me this was perfect timing for this cover to come out. Setting up a new aquarium I am not sure exactly what cut outs I might need in the future, I love the ability to be able to change out a section if I need a new cutout.

When I started to assemble the lid I through that there is no way the pieces would fit together, but with a few hits from a rubber mallet they snapped together. The pieces fit together securely, so I I have no fear of the pieces coming apart when moving the lid.

I put in a large feed door in the front, a section around the overflow, two cut outs for lights, and four cord cut outs. They have changed the ordering section, so it is easier to understand than when I placed my order. I sent a drawing showing how I wanted the cutouts and they sent me a drawing they did to confirm what the lid would look like.
 

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Thanks guys, The Tsunami lids are amazing and affordable. Iv wish i new there guys before i bought the RedSea DIY. This lid was cut to size with custom cut that work with what i needed !! thanks again man.
 
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ArtFully Acrylic

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If you could make these for the Nuvo 30l that'd be cool, Cheap price would be even cooler since i'm just a kid.

Stay tuned Kamden, we have the Innovative Marine lids in Tsunami form coming up soon!

Thank you. It was still my fault. The Reefer 170 long pieces are quite small, there is probably only a 2"x2" solid square area of lexan? I might have been more successful if the pieces were anywhere near the size of the one in the video or the image.

Well, we told you that if you could break it, we would replace it lol...so we did! But thank you. The 170 long side sections are indeed quite small. They are 4x2.5 in size. We made it a point to use the Reefer 170 pieces for our assembly and break down videos specifically so as to give guidance on how the pieces lock together on smaller setups. The process is the same. Only difference from the larger lids is how much 'extra' you have to hold onto while lining things up.

We'd love to see some pics and hear your input once you have it all put together. You should have received the replacement pieces we sent you by now, but we understand life gets busy at times.
 

HolisticBear

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We'd love to see some pics and hear your input once you have it all put together. You should have received the replacement pieces we sent you by now, but we understand life gets busy at times.

IMG_20180221_170008.jpg

IMG_20180221_170021.jpg

IMG_20180221_170034.jpg


Assembled last night. Thank you for the pieces.

For others. It took more time than expected to assemble it and screen it, however I could assemble another screen in far less time. I suspect people will get sort of frustrated assembling their first DIY cover (from any manufacturer). My recommendation is to accept it's probably a bit frustrating assembling your first, but you'll end up with a good product.

On the plus side, fast shipping. You don't have to hacksaw (trim) the end pieces like the Red Sea DIY. It is solid. If you're gonna spend $100 on a lid, it might be worth spending the extra $20 to have an overflow cutout. It's easy to slide the screen aside a few inches when I want to pour food directly into my MP10. It's so easy to move (on small reefers), feed door probably isn't necessary. The cord cut-out is really nice for the gyre.

I don't worry about my cave basslet jumping and barely notice it's there. Recommended. I might suggest skipping the feed door, doing the overflow cutout, and having patience while screening.
 

Tamberav

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Looking forward to these being available for IM tanks! I hope it does not cover the rear chambers or at least has a cutout available and large enough to fit the huge arrangement of skimmers.
 
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Looking forward to these being available for IM tanks! I hope it does not cover the rear chambers or at least has a cutout available and large enough to fit the huge arrangement of skimmers.

Offerings for Tsunami on IM tanks will be coming up soon. We look forward to providing Tsunami options for all branded lids we offer in our library as well as for fully custom setups. Our master lid files for IM tanks do not cover the rear chambers since we aren't usually trying to keep fish contained in this area and it would unnecessarily increase complexity and cost.

Stay Tuned for availability soon!
 

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Recently got the ClearView Tsunami Lid for my Red Sea Reefer 525xl.

Fits perfectly.
Looks amazing.
Quality is top notch.
Customer service was great.
Exceeded all expectations.
Overall TG a very happy customer.

Thanks Artfully Acrylic. You guys have it together.

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83279826-916A-4318-9360-9FB4C34FCBB5.jpeg
 

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I've purchased 2 lids so far and both times the product was perfect and as described. I'll be purchasing another lid again for my Red Sea 525XL because I want the lid to have a smoked glass look so I don't have to deal with looking at water spots. This would be a really nice option in the future btw.

I do think its a bit harsh to overly judge a company due to a consumer's failure to follow ordering instructions. After all, there is a schematic that details the order instructions, and a simple drop down of 5 - 6 options for ordering. I did not find that process all that complex, nor deceptive.
 

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I've purchased 2 lids so far and both times the product was perfect and as described. I'll be purchasing another lid again for my Red Sea 525XL because I want the lid to have a smoked glass look so I don't have to deal with looking at water spots. This would be a really nice option in the future btw.

I do think its a bit harsh to overly judge a company due to a consumer's failure to follow ordering instructions. After all, there is a schematic that details the order instructions, and a simple drop down of 5 - 6 options for ordering. I did not find that process all that complex, nor deceptive.

I am not knocking the overall qulaity of their product or the design, but not everyone is computer/ordering savy and their ordering system is confusing.

So YES I am knocking the company for not correcting this issue, as stated above I am NOT the only one to make this mistake, and while I can correct the mistake for additional money I 100% FAULT AA for making their ordering system confusing.

AA KNOWS that a Red Sea Reefer Nano (and other aquariums) have a in tank overflow and yet they make someone PAY MORE in order to make the ld fit correctly, this is little more than bait and switch in order for AA to make their product look less expensive.

They are at best negligent and as they are fully aware of the problem and that makes them deceptive in their business practices.
 

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I've purchased 2 lids so far and both times the product was perfect and as described. I'll be purchasing another lid again for my Red Sea 525XL because I want the lid to have a smoked glass look so I don't have to deal with looking at water spots. This would be a really nice option in the future btw.

Not the best photo, I'll have to dig out a real camera. But I hit the bottom with 600 grit wet sand paper in one direction length-wise , then used a window frost coating for the top. Now I don't have to look at water spots or the eventual scratches that come with dealing with plastics.

IMG_1417.JPG
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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