DanInMichigan
Community Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2019
- Messages
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Ok, I figure its time to get something out there for my 178G tank experience.
Earlier this year, my marine tank yearning was reawaken and I I ordered a Cadlights 178G artisan II . I really liked the dimensions of this tank, and felt the risk of shaky reviews for the company’s support was at a manageable level.
I want this tank as a FOWLR setup, but maybe grow it into more if I want in the future once I get more experience under my belt.
The tank arrived last week! the first challenge was to assemble to stand. With Artisan II aquariums, Cadlight’s offers a solid maple wood cabinet with two choices of finish: glossy white, and glossy black. When ordering I inquired about other options since we really wanted one with a wood grain finish, but nope. Ok, no biggie. We chose the black. Although it is very contemporary looking, It looks really nice. we can work with that.
Assembling the cabinet is a challenge, gotta say. I guess we were hoping to receive an assembled cabinet, but it came unassembled. Our Ikea-foo is not to a level that makes assembly very fun, and the instructions are horrible. It looks like its a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy and no detail. Also, in one case the predrilled holes were in the wrong place. We have been doing a little every day and are almost done. Still have door assessories to put on, but that’s about it. It does look nice as it’s coming together.
They did ship the wrong cabinet though. I received one that was meant for a custom 180 gallon aquarium and not the standard 178G dimensions. We noticed this, because it was not predrilled for plumbing at the top. The stand will be a few cm longer than usual as well.
We contacted the company and they gave us the option of receiving a replacement, or using this one and drilling our own plumbing hole. They sweetened the deal by offering a media reactor on the house if we did that. So we ended up taking them up on the offer. Haven’t received the reactor yet, but it was nice that they gave me options to addressing their shipping mistake.
So far Cadlights has been pretty reasonable. Most email issues have been responded to within a day. When making the sale, they threw in some extra items. I won’t list them here because I don’t know how often that’s done but it was nice. I’ve exchanged questions with Eric and Scott and both are friendly and seem to want to help.
A few negatives:
- Was told that the DC pump would have a particular GPH rating. The one shipped does not meet that rating. I asked about it in an email and it went unanswered. I interpret this as meaning that what I received wasn't a mistake and they're not going to do anything about it. I’m annoyed by that, and will probably replace the return pump in the future.
- There is only 1 email address for support, but different people you interact with. You never know who you’re going to get. I made one voice phone call so far to the support line, and it went right to voicemail.
- They were rather vague on the skimmer that is part of the bundle. Was finally told it will be a certain model and I know that it is very under rated for that size aquarium. I asked about that and was told that the rating of the skimmer was based on the combined skimmer and sump combination from the skimmer company, but the rating of the skimmer alone is much higher. ok. I googled away, and even went to the skimmer company’s website and saw nothing to back that up. I sure hope I am not just being told some BS. I’ll upgrade the skimmer if I need to, but don’t make up some BS. (no evidence they did, but also no evidence to support their statement). Oh, and was told the skimmer would ship separately and be a few days lag. No matter to me. Im not even close to a point of requiring it. It’s been a week lag so far, and haven’t received my skimmer or a peep from the company on the matter (ie: no tracking number, etc). Just reached out to them for info, and am awaiting a response. I shouldn’t have to do that though.
One thing we didn’t get our heads wrapped around is how big and heavy a 178G is! Wow. The shipping company unloaded the box into our pickup, since going down our rural driveway wasn’t gonna happen. To get the thing out of our truck and into the lower level of our house, we needed a tractor! Our hopes of lifting it ourselves was clearly not an option.
We got it in the house though! Continuing the install might now be halted until next weekend when we can get some friends over to help lift it up onto the stand. After that I’ll get the plumbing put in. and scape it!
stay tuned for updates
Earlier this year, my marine tank yearning was reawaken and I I ordered a Cadlights 178G artisan II . I really liked the dimensions of this tank, and felt the risk of shaky reviews for the company’s support was at a manageable level.
I want this tank as a FOWLR setup, but maybe grow it into more if I want in the future once I get more experience under my belt.
The tank arrived last week! the first challenge was to assemble to stand. With Artisan II aquariums, Cadlight’s offers a solid maple wood cabinet with two choices of finish: glossy white, and glossy black. When ordering I inquired about other options since we really wanted one with a wood grain finish, but nope. Ok, no biggie. We chose the black. Although it is very contemporary looking, It looks really nice. we can work with that.
Assembling the cabinet is a challenge, gotta say. I guess we were hoping to receive an assembled cabinet, but it came unassembled. Our Ikea-foo is not to a level that makes assembly very fun, and the instructions are horrible. It looks like its a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy and no detail. Also, in one case the predrilled holes were in the wrong place. We have been doing a little every day and are almost done. Still have door assessories to put on, but that’s about it. It does look nice as it’s coming together.
They did ship the wrong cabinet though. I received one that was meant for a custom 180 gallon aquarium and not the standard 178G dimensions. We noticed this, because it was not predrilled for plumbing at the top. The stand will be a few cm longer than usual as well.
We contacted the company and they gave us the option of receiving a replacement, or using this one and drilling our own plumbing hole. They sweetened the deal by offering a media reactor on the house if we did that. So we ended up taking them up on the offer. Haven’t received the reactor yet, but it was nice that they gave me options to addressing their shipping mistake.
So far Cadlights has been pretty reasonable. Most email issues have been responded to within a day. When making the sale, they threw in some extra items. I won’t list them here because I don’t know how often that’s done but it was nice. I’ve exchanged questions with Eric and Scott and both are friendly and seem to want to help.
A few negatives:
- Was told that the DC pump would have a particular GPH rating. The one shipped does not meet that rating. I asked about it in an email and it went unanswered. I interpret this as meaning that what I received wasn't a mistake and they're not going to do anything about it. I’m annoyed by that, and will probably replace the return pump in the future.
- There is only 1 email address for support, but different people you interact with. You never know who you’re going to get. I made one voice phone call so far to the support line, and it went right to voicemail.
- They were rather vague on the skimmer that is part of the bundle. Was finally told it will be a certain model and I know that it is very under rated for that size aquarium. I asked about that and was told that the rating of the skimmer was based on the combined skimmer and sump combination from the skimmer company, but the rating of the skimmer alone is much higher. ok. I googled away, and even went to the skimmer company’s website and saw nothing to back that up. I sure hope I am not just being told some BS. I’ll upgrade the skimmer if I need to, but don’t make up some BS. (no evidence they did, but also no evidence to support their statement). Oh, and was told the skimmer would ship separately and be a few days lag. No matter to me. Im not even close to a point of requiring it. It’s been a week lag so far, and haven’t received my skimmer or a peep from the company on the matter (ie: no tracking number, etc). Just reached out to them for info, and am awaiting a response. I shouldn’t have to do that though.
One thing we didn’t get our heads wrapped around is how big and heavy a 178G is! Wow. The shipping company unloaded the box into our pickup, since going down our rural driveway wasn’t gonna happen. To get the thing out of our truck and into the lower level of our house, we needed a tractor! Our hopes of lifting it ourselves was clearly not an option.
We got it in the house though! Continuing the install might now be halted until next weekend when we can get some friends over to help lift it up onto the stand. After that I’ll get the plumbing put in. and scape it!
stay tuned for updates
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