Rimless Tank Manufactures! Who to go with?

[EthanKyle]

Well I have most of everything I need to start my build except the tank and stand. After many revisions, I've decided to go with a 120 gallon glass tank with starphire glass on 3 sides. I'd like some input on the following manufacturers:

Glass Cages
Advanced Aqua Tanks
Lee Mar Aquariums

I don't know if I'm allowed to disclose quotes. I've received a quote directly from Glass Cages and a quote from a LFS for a Lee Mar tank. The difference is huge! Almost 100% toward the Lee Mar tank. I need help here as I have no clue about the quality of their work. I'll get a quote from a LFS for the Advance Aqua Tanks system tomorrow. These are the specs and options I'm looking for.

4x2x2 tank rimless 3/4 inch glass
black silicone seams
center overflow with 2 returns (one on each side of the overflow)
Starphire, 3 sides
Acrylic overflow cover

Let's also talk about the stand. Glass Cages offers an oak stank for $80 cheaper than the stand which is offered by Lee-Mar which is pine.

I'm hoping to get some input from people who have tanks and stands made by these manufacturers. I apologize if I'm posting this in the wrong place.

[aandfsoccr04]

Glass cages is one of the least recommended manufactures on this site. Leemar, miracles, and reef savvy are considered the best according to my research. You get what you pay for.

[EthanKyle]

Fair enough. Now is the current setup I'm looking at worth $2100 excluding the stand? If so, I may just go with an acrylic tank as much as I'd like a rimless tank.

[Adam G]

Very happy with my Miracles rimless 150g (48x30x24). The whole experience was good and the tank is beautiful. Price was comparable to glass cages.

[geaux xman]

Kind of confused by what you said... "100% toward the Lee Mar tank" ?

What do you mean by difference is huge?? GC being 3-400 cheaper than Lee Mar?

When I was getting quotes 2yrs ago, the difference from my Miracles and GC was only 200 bucks.

Then you are saying you might go with acrylic b/c you like the rimless look. Acrylic will most likely WON'T be rimless unless it is 2" thick..


Just make 100% certain those are the dimensions you want.

[EthanKyle]

Originally Posted by geaux xman

Kind of confused by what you said... "100% toward the Lee Mar tank" ?

What do you mean by difference is huge?? GC being 3-400 cheaper than Lee Mar?

When I was getting quotes 2yrs ago, the difference from my Miracles and GC was only 200 bucks.

Then you are saying you might go with acrylic b/c you like the rimless look. Acrylic will most likely WON'T be rimless unless it is 2" thick..


Just make 100% certain those are the dimensions you want.

Huge difference = GC $1200, LM $2100. Almost double the price for LM. Don't really want to go acrylic because I like the rimless and starphire feature of glass tanks. If I go with an acrylic tank, I'll go with a standard tank and it won't cost as much. I never heard of Miracles but will look to get a quote now.

[geaux xman]

The gc quote doesn't sound right. Too low for 3 sided 3/4" starphire. If you are going eurobrace you can do 1/2" glass for much cheaper. 3/4" starphire is expensive.

[acesq]

Since you are in SoCal check out this thread in the SoCal Reefers forum. I went with Leemar through Charlie. Could not be happier.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ghlight=leemar

[EthanKyle]

Originally Posted by acesq

Since you are in SoCal check out this thread in the SoCal Reefers forum. I went with Leemar through Charlie. Could not be happier.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ghlight=leemar

I'll get a quote from Charlie.

[longranger]

Look on craigslist. Give it a few weeks and you will almost certainly find a Lee Mar to your liking at a fraction of the cost of new. I got a 110 that way and had to kick myself and pass up a 220 for about the same price a couple of weeks later. Just a suggestion

[artilespm]

eBay has one starting at 1k and it should be close to you. But it's eurobraced.

[bb]

I just went through the process of getting est for custom tanks. In the end I went with GC due to budget. I have to say I couldn't be happier, just know what your getting. The finishing ie silicone etc is not even close to the quality of a top of the line tank. But when GC was coming in 50-75% less then everyone, larger seems was something I was prepared to live with. The way they handle shipping had a lot to do with that. They charged me 150 to ship, I had to drive an hour to pick it up. Everyone else was quoting me 5-750 to ship.

All in all I am very happy with my tank.


Here are some pics for ya...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...light=new+cube

[cbonito]

Originally Posted by EthanKyle

Huge difference = GC $1200, LM $2100. Almost double the price for LM. Don't really want to go acrylic because I like the rimless and starphire feature of glass tanks. If I go with an acrylic tank, I'll go with a standard tank and it won't cost as much. I never heard of Miracles but will look to get a quote now.

You can go rimless with acrylic depending on size of tank and thickness of acrylic used.
I have a rimless acrylic tank built in 3/4 inch thick stuff and IO absolutely love it.

It's not a very tall tank, but every time I have to reach into it my elbows thank me since I no longer hit them on anything

[octopus737]

@bb Lets wait and see what saving you money is gonna cost you. I know of a couple of people who had serious problems with glass cages. Good aint cheap and cheap aint good. Did i mention one was a blow out?

[cbonito]

Originally Posted by octopus737

@bb Lets wait and see what saving you money is gonna cost you. I know of a couple of people who had serious problems with glass cages. Good aint cheap and cheap aint good. Did i mention one was a blow out?

Not for nothing, but it appears he got a really nice tank. Maybe this fact will give others who paid a lot more (way too much) a bad case of "burnt cheerio", but I dont see how paying double for what would have been the same thing could have got him anything better.

If the seams were properly done and the tank holds water, who is better than he?

There's a common perception here that spending more automatically gets you better and that isnt necessarily true. I've had instances where I paid a lot more money for something and what I bought was a complete POS.

[kgk]

Originally Posted by aandfsoccr04

Glass cages is one of the least recommended manufactures on this site. Leemar, miracles, and reef savvy are considered the best according to my research. You get what you pay for.

I had a Glasscages tank and it was great for the price. The silicone work is a bit sloppy but the tank was built like a Sherman tank.

Now their stands blow chunks.

[bb]

Originally Posted by octopus737

@bb Lets wait and see what saving you money is gonna cost you. I know of a couple of people who had serious problems with glass cages. Good aint cheap and cheap aint good. Did i mention one was a blow out?

I read reviews on this site for a minimum of 8 hours when researching. I feel confident I made the right decision. It's built like a tank. And for what it's worth in my research I came across people talking of blow outs by other manufactures. Further more I came across plenty of people talking of bow-outs but no actual threads of the actual occurrence. Please provide one.

3 things became clear while researching.
1. many of the negative comments made by people regarding GC tanks were from people who never owned them. I believe many of these people just need to reassure themselves that they weren't stupid for paying almost double for their tank.

2. Many who were actually upset with the quality of the silicone quickly realized it wasn't that bad and could be cleaned up easily. After reading through the entire thread almost all of them end up being very pleased with there tank.

3. Those who actually owned a tank from GC. They were upset because they thought they were going to get an Acura for the price of a Honda. GC is not a BMW, or a Mercedes.

Lastly I will reiterate that I have absolutely no fear of my tank blowing out and i can say that 99.9 percent of those looking at my tank will not be looking at the silicone.

[octopus737]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum.../t-584674.html
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum.../t-488241.html

[bb]

First they are cracked tanks, not blow outs. Tanks crack all the time and this is due more to unlevel floor or user error rather than the manufacterer. Below is just a sample of the first 5 of 20 plus pages of threads when you input cracked tanks. Browsing the first 5 I didn't come across one other GC tank. I also feel the need to point out those are 8 years old.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=tank+cracked

[octopus737]

Kinda getting off topic and pointless. I agree to disagree. To the OP miracles does top notch work. I have seen a couple of their tanks in action. They pay great attention to detail. Just my 2 cents.

[bb]

This is the only true blow out that I came across. IMO a blowout occurs when due to faulty craftsmanship the silicone does not hold and literally the glass blows out.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hlight=blowout

[bb]

Off topic, on the contrary I think we are providing information to back our own opinions regarding the very manufacturers he is inquiring about. To the op. do you own research and do not take any one persons opinion to seriously. There is plenty of good info on here you just have to sift through it.

[Jaysreefworld]

READ THIS:

The customer service is terrible but i just received my cad lights 135g and it is sweet. And it will be cheaper the all of the above except GC, but i was priced at $50 more then GC. And you could probably take a trip and pick it up.

[rrasco]

DSA NEO, 48x24x21, $460

[Draven451]

Originally Posted by rrasco

DSA NEO, 48x24x21, $460

That looks nice! Great price too. I have been following this thread and looking into different manufacturers. Haven't heard of this company before. Will have to check them out.

Thanks for sharing.