Cadlights owners help!?!?

[atp0726]

Just received a 42 gallon Cadlights Versa this week and the only thing that is keeping me from adding water is what seem to be the defective bulkheads. The contraption they send in place of standard bulkheads bottom out before they compress the washer creating a watertight seal. Attached pick is the return bulkhead completely closed. For the drain it looks like a standard 1" will work, however, the return is only 7/8" and I think a standard 1/2" bulkhead will be too large.

This seems to be a common problem with these tanks. Is there a solution other than drilling a larger hole that will work? I ordered a standard 1/2" bulkhead and after researching this issue I doubt it will fit. I have spent hours scouring and I can't find a viable solution.

I have called Cadlights twice and they said I must have stripped the bulkheads and that they have never heard of this problem even though it seems to be a common occurrence online. I was told to ship the .50cent parts back to them and they would replace if faulty.

[Ron Reefman]

They aren't suppose to thread all the way together. When mine are pretty snug there is a 1/4" gap which is less than the thickness of the glass bottom. I didn't use them, but they would work. How big a gap is there on yours? How thick is the glass that's suppose to fit between them?

I just set up a CadLight Artisan 125g and I just switched completely to standard bulkheads and standard pvc pipe. I'm not messing around with that metric stuff.

My tank had 3 holes, 2 small ones (15mm I think) that 1/2" bulkheads just barely went through... I had to encourage them a bit with a long pipe and a rubber mallet. Really all I had to do was tap them. The bigger hole was a bit sloppy for a 1" bulkhead, but it works.

[atp0726]

They aren't suppose to thread all the way together. When mine are pretty snug there is a 1/4" gap which is less than the thickness of the glass bottom. I didn't use them, but they would work. How big a gap is there on yours? How thick is the glass that's suppose to fit between them?

I just set up a CadLight Artisan 125g and I just switched completely to standard bulkheads and standard pvc pipe. I'm not messing around with that metric stuff.

My tank had 3 holes, 2 small ones (15mm I think) that 1/2" bulkheads just barely went through... I had to encourage them a bit with a long pipe and a rubber mallet. Really all I had to do was tap them. The bigger hole was a bit sloppy for a 1" bulkhead, but it works.

Thanks for the reply. I actually spent some time on the phone with Cadlights and they offered to leak test new bulkheads and send them to me. They even sent a picture of the bulkheads installed on one of their 42 Versa tanks before boxing them up and sending. I am going to give them a try and see how they work before trying to retrofit the plumbing. Cadlights definitely gained few points in my book today!

[Ron Reefman]

I'm glad to hear that. They treated me very well when I didn't get the plumbing kit with my tank. It's funny, they Fed Ex it to me and I see how it's just a very basic set up and I had intentions of doing much more exotic plumbing. So I put the metric stuff back in the box and out in the garage. Unless I find somebody who wants it, I'll probably just toss it. But CadLight did provide good customer service to me. And I have read several bad things about their customer service here on RC. But I figured I'm a pretty smart guy and I'll take my chances. Most of the time we never really use the customer service anyway. And when I needed it, they did just fine.

Good luck, I'm sure your bulkheads will work OK.