shermoen
Active Member
Hello friends! I want to start off by stating that this is in no way an attempt bash Fiji Cube or sway others from using their products. This is my experience with them and my thoughts on what I believe about this particular product.
I purchased the 40 gallon AIO 4t gen with the plan to setup a new tank in a penensula format. I did not have the tank because I was waiting for the dollar per gallon sale at petco to happen, and I'm happy that it did!
I am very meticulous when it comes to research and making sure things are going to work best for me and look good in the end. Unfortunately there are not really any reviews out there on this product. While looking at the product dimensions I initially thought that possibly there was a misprint or the tanks dimension on the fijicube website was for the outside instead of inside.
When I received the product I was impressed by the quality and overall really like it. I also bout it on sale which I do for everything, I try to be as frugal as possible. As I started reading the instructions for the install I noticed that it said to fill the sides between the AIO and glass with silicone and to use a paper towel to push the silicone into the space. It didn't seem correct to me. I took measurements of the AIO then went to petco and took inner measurements of the 40 breeder. I was somewhat concerned that the difference in size was just over 1". So I'm thinking to myself am I supposed to fill this entire 1/2" gap over 4" deep on both sides with silicone? I mean that will take a 1/2 dozen tunes to do so.
The instructions also said to make sure to fill the AIO with water first before filling the tank because it could cause the insert to dislodge. The instructions did not say anything about the type of silicone to use either, because normal silicone won't hold acrylic to glass very well.
At this point I'm pretty concerned that I made a bad purchase. I have never used Fiji Cubes products before and was baffled that they would even make this product this way. I sent Fiji Cube an email asking if the dimensions on the insert were correct and if they had any tips on the install. I waited 2 days and no response. So I messaged them on Facebook the same question and they responded fairly quickly saying that it is the correct dimensions, and they do it that way because of the lip on the inside of the tank, and that they hope that helped. Sorry FijiCube it did not help! I have worked customer service in the past and that was not good!!
So this AIO is sold as a do it yourself kit. I would assume people buying it are pretty handy. I was doing it to try and save money and try a budget build. If I would have installed it the way they had instructed I would have spent another 100.00 on silicone probably! I did end up spending another 40.00 to make sure it would work properly. I new I would have to buy silicone bit only bought 2 tubes!!
I will be creating a thread where I show how it made this kit work and what I think Fiji Cube should be selling.
I was going to get the protein skimmer that Figi Cube makes to fit in the AIO but after this experience I will not be doing so. I could not believe they would sell a product like this and when asking for help they offered nothing. Another thing that was concerning to me is that the pictures they have on the page for the AIO are from angles where you can't see how the kit fits, deceiving in my opinion.
So here a pics of how the insert fits in a aqueon 40 breeder. Look for my build to see how I corrected this and made it work.
I purchased the 40 gallon AIO 4t gen with the plan to setup a new tank in a penensula format. I did not have the tank because I was waiting for the dollar per gallon sale at petco to happen, and I'm happy that it did!
I am very meticulous when it comes to research and making sure things are going to work best for me and look good in the end. Unfortunately there are not really any reviews out there on this product. While looking at the product dimensions I initially thought that possibly there was a misprint or the tanks dimension on the fijicube website was for the outside instead of inside.
When I received the product I was impressed by the quality and overall really like it. I also bout it on sale which I do for everything, I try to be as frugal as possible. As I started reading the instructions for the install I noticed that it said to fill the sides between the AIO and glass with silicone and to use a paper towel to push the silicone into the space. It didn't seem correct to me. I took measurements of the AIO then went to petco and took inner measurements of the 40 breeder. I was somewhat concerned that the difference in size was just over 1". So I'm thinking to myself am I supposed to fill this entire 1/2" gap over 4" deep on both sides with silicone? I mean that will take a 1/2 dozen tunes to do so.
The instructions also said to make sure to fill the AIO with water first before filling the tank because it could cause the insert to dislodge. The instructions did not say anything about the type of silicone to use either, because normal silicone won't hold acrylic to glass very well.
At this point I'm pretty concerned that I made a bad purchase. I have never used Fiji Cubes products before and was baffled that they would even make this product this way. I sent Fiji Cube an email asking if the dimensions on the insert were correct and if they had any tips on the install. I waited 2 days and no response. So I messaged them on Facebook the same question and they responded fairly quickly saying that it is the correct dimensions, and they do it that way because of the lip on the inside of the tank, and that they hope that helped. Sorry FijiCube it did not help! I have worked customer service in the past and that was not good!!
So this AIO is sold as a do it yourself kit. I would assume people buying it are pretty handy. I was doing it to try and save money and try a budget build. If I would have installed it the way they had instructed I would have spent another 100.00 on silicone probably! I did end up spending another 40.00 to make sure it would work properly. I new I would have to buy silicone bit only bought 2 tubes!!
I will be creating a thread where I show how it made this kit work and what I think Fiji Cube should be selling.
I was going to get the protein skimmer that Figi Cube makes to fit in the AIO but after this experience I will not be doing so. I could not believe they would sell a product like this and when asking for help they offered nothing. Another thing that was concerning to me is that the pictures they have on the page for the AIO are from angles where you can't see how the kit fits, deceiving in my opinion.
So here a pics of how the insert fits in a aqueon 40 breeder. Look for my build to see how I corrected this and made it work.
