Aussie aquarium brand Cade has added a premium polycarbonate lid option to all its saltwater tanks. Cade aquariums already come with precut, pre-assembled aluminum frame jump nets as standard, but now Cade owners have the chance to upgrade, and purchase the Cade Polycarbonate Jump Net separately from the company’s website.
The downside of every rimless, braceless aquarium is that fish can easily jump out to their deaths, as well as the copious drips and splashes caused during tank maintenance. Net lids do the important job of keeping fish in, but their looks can leave a lot to be desired, especially when investing thousands in a new, state-of-the-art tank, there is another way.
Third-party jump nets are already available in both acrylic and polycarbonate, but Cade opted for the premium clarity, weight, and rigidity of polycarbonate, resulting in one of the sexiest cover net options we’ve seen to date. But like all things in life, premium, sexy objects do come with a premium price tag. Let’s look at the stats first.
Available for all 18 marine models of aquarium, the Cade Polycarbonate Jump Net is being offered for all Reef S2, Altumate, and Reef X tanks. They’re made from high clarity 10mm thick polycarbonate with cutouts, feeding ports, and removable covers built-in, as well rail mount cut-outs on Reef S2 900 and larger for those who run lights like Illumagic with bars that span the length of the tank instead of clamping on the back. The cutouts could be used to clamp an auto feeder too.
The lids sit over the tank’s glass edges to offer extra chip protection and also feature an anti-capillary action design to reduce salt creep. For those who have used acrylic net and frame options, acrylic can be prone to warping and discoloration, with polycarbonate being a better, yet even more expensive build option.
Pricing
Prices start at 225 Australian dollars for the Reef X 560, and up to 1050 Australian dollars for the Reef S2/P 1800 model. That converts to $150-710 USD, but a quick Google search reveals that solid 10mm thick polycarbonate just isn’t cheap, and that’s before all the laser cutting, labor, netting, and packaging. We were also quoted similar pricing from an unconnected third-party lid maker a few months back so guess that if we could afford a large Cade reef aquarium, and were obsessive-compulsive enough, we’d probably bite the bullet, and we would want the best lid with a Cade logo, and would buy-in.
Availability
We found the Cade Polycarbonate Jump Nets on Cade’s own Australian website, the only outlet where Cade owners can purchase them currently, but envisage them becoming available to all international Cade distributors in the future.
