Ada or ans?

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 07:08

Which is safer to use? Ada tank or ans tank? Which 1 should I get?

**Shadow** · 11th Jul 2012, 07:13

ADA of course

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 07:32

Haha, isn't ans supposed to be very similar to ada?

**Shadow** · 11th Jul 2012, 07:40

Put it this way I have bought CADE before which everyone said similar or even better to ADA, what happen is after a year the silicon glue start giving up. Another this is CADE glass is softer than ADA glass, CADE glass easily chip/scratch compare to ADA glass. How do I know that? Thanks to my 2 years old son who always use his toy to hit the glass and scare the fish. I see many chip/scratch on my CADE glass but none on my ADA glass.

I do not know about ANS, CADE and ANS is different brand, but I know that ADA is good. Also CADE and ANS is same distributor, is ANS made by CADE manufacturer? who knows.

**illumnae** · 11th Jul 2012, 08:09

Would you rather pay an inflated cost just for a brand name, or simply pay a reasonable price for what you get? ADA for the former, ANS for the latter.

P.S. My CADE tank lasted years, and only 1 scratch which apparently happened during shipping (i.e. before I got it). During my time using it I transported it all over the place from old office to new office, new office to home and various locations around the house. Transport was done by an amateur (me), in one case literally carrying the tank with sand inside and walking from my old office to new office. If it's really so soft, scratches would appear already.

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 08:25

Originally Posted by illumnae

Would you rather pay an inflated cost just for a brand name, or simply pay a reasonable price for what you get? ADA for the former, ANS for the latter.

P.S. My CADE tank lasted years, and only 1 scratch which apparently happened during shipping (i.e. before I got it). During my time using it I transported it all over the place from old office to new office, new office to home and various locations around the house. Transport was done by an amateur (me), in one case literally carrying the tank with sand inside and walking from my old office to new office. If it's really so soft, scratches would appear already.

Bro, moving sand in container won't do much to a container. If it does, all the plastic bags i used to transport sand will be long gone. And I am sure plastic bags are softer than glass and it shouldn't survive, especially when we also compact the sand during packing.

If you move the tank with lr and sand in it, that would be different.

I would think that a child hitting with a toy is a better test for softness? Is ada or ans tempered?

That's just my opinion, I apologise if I sounded harsh as I am bad with phrasing nicely, sorry

**illumnae** · 11th Jul 2012, 08:53

No problem, we're all here to share opinions after all, and I probably didn't describe the abuse in as detailed a manner anyway (my fault). The sand was basically scraped around the bottom of the tank with a heavy, hard object. I had my Eheim 2215 (filled with water, hoses were sealed using double taps) sitting inside the tank, which was sitting on a bunch of boxes on a trolley (should have used "pushed" not "carried") and the Eheim was rolling around inside the tank with the thin layer of sand acting as a "lubricant" to slide it around. Similarly when I transported it from office home the filter was also sitting inside (but lying on its side this time so it wouldn't topple and crack the tank with its weight) on top of the thin layer of sand.

Neither tank is tempered afaik and if ADA really is harder and more scratch resistant (which I doubt frankly), then it simply means it has a higher iron content (which makes the glass harder) and thus isn't as clear. There isn't any "magic" to glass that ADA discovered.

But in any event, just buy what you're comfortable with in terms of brand and budget. Some people are willing to pay inflated prices for brands as they buy into "myth" (then continue to propagate the myth) or because they enjoy the prestige. To me, they're just similar products with very different price points

**gmrobert** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:14

I say ADA. I have one myself (view my gallery) and it is beautiful.

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:15

I need reliability.

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:20

Originally Posted by gmrobert

I say ADA. I have one myself (view my gallery) and it is beautiful.

How much you got it for?

**ZackZhou** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:24

Originally Posted by illumnae

No problem, we're all here to share opinions after all, and I probably didn't describe the abuse in as detailed a manner anyway (my fault). The sand was basically scraped around the bottom of the tank with a heavy, hard object. I had my Eheim 2215 (filled with water, hoses were sealed using double taps) sitting inside the tank, which was sitting on a bunch of boxes on a trolley (should have used "pushed" not "carried") and the Eheim was rolling around inside the tank with the thin layer of sand acting as a "lubricant" to slide it around. Similarly when I transported it from office home the filter was also sitting inside (but lying on its side this time so it wouldn't topple and crack the tank with its weight) on top of the thin layer of sand.

Neither tank is tempered afaik and if ADA really is harder and more scratch resistant (which I doubt frankly), then it simply means it has a higher iron content (which makes the glass harder) and thus isn't as clear. There isn't any "magic" to glass that ADA discovered.

But in any event, just buy what you're comfortable with in terms of brand and budget. Some people are willing to pay inflated prices for brands as they buy into "myth" (then continue to propagate the myth) or because they enjoy the prestige. To me, they're just similar products with very different price points

Agreed. Ada glass be it harder or not than ans glass seriously does not matter much. Cade had a number of complains till the end of it's production, but I had never seen any complaints about ans tank.
I have seen a fully scratched Ada tank, with just regular use and scraping. But that does not mean that Ada tank's glass are softer. The price different I would pay for an Ada tank mostly go towards its branding and better brand = play safe, happier, cooler
However, one thing to note is that ans tank nowadays does not come cheap already. It's retailing at $110 now, whereas Ada tanks are just $70 dollars apart from it. From this price difference, of course I will choose Ada tanks over ans tank after all. I bought my first 2 feet ans tank 60 x 30 x 36 at $65 a year ago! Whereas Ada tanks are still $190 at that time.

**Shadow** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:28

Different low iron glass brand different composition and most likely manufacturing process. I do not know which of these 2 vendor used and I don't pretend to know

. I'm only sharing what happen to the thanks that I currently have (ADA and CADE). And by the way CADE tank was recall due to manufacturing issue according to the distributor, that brand no longer in Singapore, not sure at other country.

Below is the silicon workmanship of CADE tank within a year, this is a picture of my 3ft tank. I'm so angry at that time because my scape is not ready and have to tear down, not to mention competition dateline is coming.

Will try take photo on the chipping to have better idea what I'm talking about. What I'm saying is all this thing you wont know until it happen to you, maybe I'm to rough to the tank

. Do take note that smaller tank (say 2ft) maybe better because less water pressure. Again this is CADE not ANS, ANS maybe better, I'm not saying that both are the same.

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:40

I see, not much reviews on ans tank though

**Shadow** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:51

That why I'm posting, I'm not saying ANS is bad. I'm saying that anything can happen even when the brand have good review. Hey maybe it happen to ADA tank as well

.

**ZackZhou** · 11th Jul 2012, 09:52

Originally Posted by Shadow

Different low iron glass brand different composition and most likely manufacturing process. I do not know which of these 2 vendor used and I don't pretend to know

. I'm only sharing what happen to the thanks that I currently have (ADA and CADE). And by the way CADE tank was recall due to manufacturing issue according to the distributor, that brand no longer in Singapore, not sure at other country.

Below is the silicon workmanship of CADE tank within a year, this is a picture of my 3ft tank. I'm so angry at that time because my scape is not ready and have to tear down, not to mention competition dateline is coming.

Will try take photo on the chipping to have better idea what I'm talking about. What I'm saying is all this thing you wont know until it happen to you, maybe I'm to rough to the tank

. Do take note that smaller tank (say 2ft) maybe better because less water pressure. Again this is CADE not ANS, ANS maybe better, I'm not saying that both are the same.

Yes definitely Robert, when I asked if Cade or ans are from the same macnufacturer, the auntie at east ocean did not give a definite answer

I agree to a Very large extent that you should have a Ada tank when you are talking about 4feet tanks an above.

**illumnae** · 11th Jul 2012, 10:51

I guess I was lucky to get a non-lemon CADE tank then *shrug* Like Zack mentioned, I have also seen badly scratched ADA tanks with just normal maintenance and nothing more. And as Robert mentioned, he's had bad experience with CADE tanks. At the end of the day, what it really boils down to is the glass used. Low iron glass is low iron glass. None of us have the specs of the glass used by ADA, ANS, CADE or any other brand. However, one thing probably can be agreed on - low iron glass is naturally softer than normal glass no matter how you want to look at it. Be it ADA or ANS, if you're using low iron glass, you're opening yourself to more risk from chips and scratches as compared to using normal glass.

Personally, these days, be it small tanks or large tanks (but especially large tanks), for peace of mind I would just go with a custom tank maker like Tank Junction, N30 etc. Look at Mizuworld and their Mizucube clear series (which is made using low iron glass as well) - they're going for mid 2 digit numbers.

**madscientist** · 11th Jul 2012, 10:58

Custom tank is better than ada?

**Shadow** · 11th Jul 2012, 12:16

You will be surprise. My personal opinion is I do not want to pay for ADA (3ft and above) price but I also do not trust other brand minimum silicon workmanship. I will preferred to get local made although the glue are not as thin as ADA but stronger (I'm assuming more glue stronger bond

). You still be able to see the glue (around 0.5cm), not like ADA but small price to pay for safety

**ZackZhou** · 11th Jul 2012, 12:31

Just a side note, I have heard that Ada has increased their price for the tanks. Thus, it's still available to get the older batch now before it's sold out and change to the new pricing.