Aquapod first impressions

[kindaobsessed]

Saw an Aquapod 12 gallon today at an LFS and these are my initial observations: Keep in mind it was empty with no water, lights, or pump running. By the way, I was honestly hoping the Pod would've knocked my socks off.
1. The tank looks significantly larger than my 12 gallon JBJ Nano--taller and wider. A JBJ was sitting right next to the Aquapod model. Maybe its a true 12g versus the approximately 9 gallon capacity JBJ.
2. The lid does not close tightly--at least in the front. Light will escape there. Anal folks like me may find that annoying.
3. The black plastic film glued to the outside of the back compartments looks cheap. It was already bubbling and the adhesive was separating.
4. No LED moonlights were installed. I thought it came with it already in. Also, didn't see a separate ballast.
5. When opening the lid, it made a noticable clicking noise. Not sure why that was.
6. The Current Nano Skimmer is too large to fit in the back of the JBJ, but fit fine in the Aquapod.
All in all, not significantly impressed--yet. While bigger (which is always a good thing), it didn't look like the home run so many have predicted. You'd think a company could've copied all the good of the JBJ and added improvements before selling it to the public. Since there aren't too many cracking issues of the 12 gallon JBJ, the 24 g will be the interesting comparison. The LFS didn't have a 24 Aquapod yet.
Feel free to chime in if you already set up an Aquapod or at least have seen one.
My 2 cents.

 

[devilboy]

i really cant compare mine to a JBJ since i never owned one. but i do like my Pod. like you said light does shine thru the top of the hood, but i think this can be easily fixed by laying down a velcro strip on the tank rim, and the hood.... and i feel that the fan is alittle noisy. but thats the only 2 things i dont like so far
and yes it does have LEDs and yes it does have 2 ballasts along with 3 different power switches

 

[kindaobsessed]

yeah, i was hoping it was set up to hear the fans--i read your posts mentioning the noise. as mentioned, i was impressed with the size. guess it will take a while to see what people think after a sufficient number are used and time to see what quirks occur. i really want to see how the 24 gallon stacks up as that's what i'll be buying next.

 

[devilboy]

here is a photo of mine cycling....

 

[gregzbobo]

Originally Posted by kindaobsessed
Saw an Aquapod 12 gallon today at an LFS and these are my initial observations: Keep in mind it was empty with no water, lights, or pump running. By the way, I was honestly hoping the Pod would've knocked my socks off.
1. The tank looks significantly larger than my 12 gallon JBJ Nano--taller and wider. A JBJ was sitting right next to the Aquapod model. Maybe its a true 12g versus the approximately 9 gallon capacity JBJ.
2. The lid does not close tightly--at least in the front. Light will escape there. Anal folks like me may find that annoying.
3. The black plastic film glued to the outside of the back compartments looks cheap. It was already bubbling and the adhesive was separating.
4. No LED moonlights were installed. I thought it came with it already in. Also, didn't see a separate ballast.
5. When opening the lid, it made a noticable clicking noise. Not sure why that was.
6. The Current Nano Skimmer is too large to fit in the back of the JBJ, but fit fine in the Aquapod.
All in all, not significantly impressed--yet. While bigger (which is always a good thing), it didn't look like the home run so many have predicted. You'd think a company could've copied all the good of the JBJ and added improvements before selling it to the public. Since there aren't too many cracking issues of the 12 gallon JBJ, the 24 g will be the interesting comparison. The LFS didn't have a 24 Aquapod yet.
Feel free to chime in if you already set up an Aquapod or at least have seen one.
My 2 cents.
I must disagree with comment number 6. I have the Current USA Fission Nano skimmer, and it fits just fine in my JBJ NanoCube 12 DX. You just have to arrange the elbows and pump properly. check out the following video, requires Quicktime 7 to play: http://www.smallreefsolutions.com/FissionVideo.htm . That may help.

 

[chipmaker]

I sure do not know why you say the Current Fission skimmer wil not fit in a NANO cube..There is a ton of folks with JBJ Nano's all running their newly acquired Fission skimmers in their cubes, and one or two even managed to fit it in the 6 gal cube.......
I was waiting to see one myself, but unfortunately all 6 that my LFS got in are history. ONe out of 6 managed to make it intact and was sold the day it arrived.......the other 5 arrived cracked.

 

[devilboy]

Originally Posted by chipmaker
I sure do not know why you say the Current Fission skimmer wil not fit in a NANO cube..There is a ton of folks with JBJ Nano's all running their newly acquired Fission skimmers in their cubes, and one or two even managed to fit it in the 6 gal cube.......
I was waiting to see one myself, but unfortunately all 6 that my LFS got in are history. ONe out of 6 managed to make it intact and was sold the day it arrived.......the other 5 arrived cracked.
The AquaPods arrived cracked??

 

[nikibunny]

i love my aquapod 12g. i have moonlights,regular pc's and it all came STOCK. you have to look closely for the moonlights they are LED, they are spacious.... I do see the light now that you mention it, but i am not anal so it does not bother me. I look at the LR and the inhabitants in the tank, not the lid.

 

[pclown]

I love my Aquapod 24G, I had 3 different LFS that told me that the Aquapod was a better product than some of the others, so I bought one and everything has worked great! It wasnt cracked, I wasnt shock or anything else that people try to scare you with. And from what I here about Current USA and how good there lights are, I decided I would go with it.
I am sure there other good options as well but for me I love the Aquapod, even the look of it.

 

[chipmaker]

Yes, they were busted, but it was shipping problems not tank problems......
You have to look pretty close to see the moonlights or you would overlook them and think they are fasteners in the hood.....

 

[charliewww]

My first impression was NOISEY the 12 gallon model anyway. Too niosey for me. I unplugged the fan from inside the hood and the tank works just fine without it. While I was in there I noticed there is actually mounts and 2-wire plugins for two fans. Good to remember if one was to upgrade the lighting to some sort of bulb that creates more heat than the stock ones do. The last thing, the hood is not the best fit. Light shoots out the gap where the front of the hood and tank meet. I will probably get some sort of seal to stop this. The hood also snaps from the back when you open it all the way. All fixable. All around very nice tank.

 

[clown123]

how do u think there noisy i prefer the aquapods way more then the other one! by far

 

[charliewww]

Just the fan. Now that I unplugged it, its super quiet.