Has anyone had any luck with these guys? I am having issues and I had a guy come over to help and he said he could not because everything is in metric sizing. I was never told that so now I am stuck with cheap plumbing and no easy way to fix it. I have left a message on their facebook, emailed their support twice, filled out a form on their website and also found an email for one of the owners eddie@cadlights.com. No one has responded since Saturday and I have lost what looks like half my live stock so far since the tank isnt working right and I had to break it down. At this point I am an hour away from their display store so I am thinking about loading it all up and diriving down there to try and return it. With the customer service I have seen thus far I doubt they will let me and I would have to pay some people just to help me get it in the car since its a 100G tank. Anyone on here have any better luck and have some advice for me? I spent over $2000 on the tank and reactor with them and cant get any help. Thanks guys!
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- Thread starter reefsysadmin
- Start date
Issues are hard to show in pictures. its mostly due to the cheap plumbing causing little leaks. I could maybe glue it all down but I will have no replacement parts unless I order from them and get more cheap stuff. I really just want to do a custom PVC job but am not going to be able to find the parts at home depot obviously so I feel like I am stuck with this nice tank and stand which is always going to have horrible plumbing. Really just want to see if they can drill me a tank with normal plumbing or take a return at this point. Not sure if you have ever seen their stuff but its the cheapest pvc ever. I really want to add a check valve and some other things i normally have ona tank as well as add a UV sterilizer but it all seems like a headache with this kind of plumbing.
Wow Jaime that sounds horrible. Yea I am just trying to get out of this situation without loosing money now. They were at a trade show in OC and were telling me how great the thing was and ran through the sales pitch and I was dumb enough to buy one. Now I find out the plumbing isnt standard and no one will answer me. I am about to just drop the stuff off over there and start a small claims in hope to get some of my money back.
I have only had it like 5 days and I already had to break it down so I am going to just drive the hour and talk to everyone I can until it gets returned thats horrible that they dont tell people. Then you call someone to come take a look and they all just go WTF is this? I dont have any parts that will work.
Unfortunately, with all cad tank( except custom tank, made in the USA) their produced in china which comes with metric size holes plumbing. Their is no bulkhead that will fit... [MENTION=8923]reefsysadmin[/MENTION], where are the leaks coming from? The bulkhead or the adapters &/or hoses? As for the bulkhead their should be 2 o-rings or pads that needs to go on both side of the bulkhead and be care that it needs to be aligned properly so it'll seat with holes. Your going to need a buddy to help you with this part, you need to hold the bottom part and he need to tighten from the overflow. Once you get that squared away then you can continue with gluing the rest of the plumbing or convert them to standard....
Not entirely sure if this will help, since i have no idea what your system looks like, but why not just plug an adapter (e.g. http://www.coralvue.com/metric-to-imperial-pvc-adapters) at or near your bulkhead and then redo the plumbing in standard?
Sorry you are having problems. Converting and/or modifying specialty plumbing is one of my personal hobbies, and one I've gotten pretty good at.
Sorry again for not being to help much here, but trying to decipher, process, and convey such information within the context of a thread is like attemping to conduct heart surgery over the telephone.
This is a "hands on/eyes on" situation. If you were closer I would love to help but a 2 hour drive each way is a bit much.
As for CAD Lights:
In their defense (just playing Devil's advocate here)
1) They just finished exhibiting in a major trade show. I for one can tell you this guy is not at home taking phone calls and answering e-mails. If he's smart hes now laying on a secluded beach somewhere South of Barbados, smoking a CAO cigar, sipping Madori Pina Coladas, and listening to a mediocre Ragae band playing in the distance. Yes, that is where that guy is.
2) Products made in China - Yes, Plumbing metric - Yes, inexpensive build quality - Yes
I'm sorry but this is exactly what the doctor ordered! Great companies such as Saturn, Craftsman (the Original, not this Ryobi-branded crap) and McDonnell Douglas all went out of business for similar reasons:
We as consumers want CHEAP, DISPOSABLE (but looks really pretty) CHINESE MADE everything! I'm sorry but the dollar bills votes have spoken. As for the pluming, metric sizing doesn't necessarily mean it is negative or of less quality. Most of the world uses the metric system, North America for some reason chooses to rebel.
3) As a business man myself, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there IS NO all-Amercian girl named Doris sitting at a desk waiting to answer our phone calls, much less a Polytech trained engineer available to answer our questions. We want CHEAP, remember? Ohhhh, don't deny it (I see you there shaking your head no) Tell me you didn't just last week pass up the nice thick cast-acrylic media reactor for some cheap extruded plastic POS from Southern XENIAHAI (or however its spelled/doesn't matter) Cheap doesn't allow for quality materials, Cheap doesn't allow for warranties, and most of all, cheap doesn't allow for full time employees with accompanying payroll taxes, health plans, pensions, holiday pay, and year-end Christmas Party.....NOPE, cheap doesn't recognize such concepts.
We are ALL guilty people, for the crap that we receive. Sorry if that is not the motivational speech of the year but at least it is accurate. More importantly, it is the truth.
Sorry again for not being to help much here, but trying to decipher, process, and convey such information within the context of a thread is like attemping to conduct heart surgery over the telephone.
This is a "hands on/eyes on" situation. If you were closer I would love to help but a 2 hour drive each way is a bit much.
As for CAD Lights:
In their defense (just playing Devil's advocate here)
1) They just finished exhibiting in a major trade show. I for one can tell you this guy is not at home taking phone calls and answering e-mails. If he's smart hes now laying on a secluded beach somewhere South of Barbados, smoking a CAO cigar, sipping Madori Pina Coladas, and listening to a mediocre Ragae band playing in the distance. Yes, that is where that guy is.
2) Products made in China - Yes, Plumbing metric - Yes, inexpensive build quality - Yes
I'm sorry but this is exactly what the doctor ordered! Great companies such as Saturn, Craftsman (the Original, not this Ryobi-branded crap) and McDonnell Douglas all went out of business for similar reasons:
We as consumers want CHEAP, DISPOSABLE (but looks really pretty) CHINESE MADE everything! I'm sorry but the dollar bills votes have spoken. As for the pluming, metric sizing doesn't necessarily mean it is negative or of less quality. Most of the world uses the metric system, North America for some reason chooses to rebel.
3) As a business man myself, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there IS NO all-Amercian girl named Doris sitting at a desk waiting to answer our phone calls, much less a Polytech trained engineer available to answer our questions. We want CHEAP, remember? Ohhhh, don't deny it (I see you there shaking your head no) Tell me you didn't just last week pass up the nice thick cast-acrylic media reactor for some cheap extruded plastic POS from Southern XENIAHAI (or however its spelled/doesn't matter) Cheap doesn't allow for quality materials, Cheap doesn't allow for warranties, and most of all, cheap doesn't allow for full time employees with accompanying payroll taxes, health plans, pensions, holiday pay, and year-end Christmas Party.....NOPE, cheap doesn't recognize such concepts.
We are ALL guilty people, for the crap that we receive. Sorry if that is not the motivational speech of the year but at least it is accurate. More importantly, it is the truth.
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the myth of superior american made quality is greatly exaggerated.
we live in an age of world economy now, and Americans are the primary consumers of manufactured goods.
chinese products aren't "cheap", their labor is, their overhead is, but the machinery is no less sophisticated than what the american factories use. The chinese are so far ahead and more advanced than the US in manufacturing, it's not even funny.
here's a fun read on when Steve Jobs needed something done, and there was no possible way an American company could produce it. http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-new-iphone-screen-2012-1
we live in an age of world economy now, and Americans are the primary consumers of manufactured goods.
chinese products aren't "cheap", their labor is, their overhead is, but the machinery is no less sophisticated than what the american factories use. The chinese are so far ahead and more advanced than the US in manufacturing, it's not even funny.
here's a fun read on when Steve Jobs needed something done, and there was no possible way an American company could produce it. http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-new-iphone-screen-2012-1
here's the original article on the dialog between Obama and Jobs on the prospect of making iphone / ipad / ipods back in america.
[MENTION=5085]newtothis[/MENTION] I have the plumbing on correctly I am sure of that. the bulkheads dont leak although they are so cheap im waiting for that next. Its the cheap rubber hosing that goes onto the bulkheads. I would normally just use pvc and glue it. they supply plastic clips that I have so tight around the hose and the bulkhead that it should not leak but still does. Even if I move it around a bit and tighten it again and it holds for a bit I will feel like im just waiting for the day it starts to leak again.
