Glass Cages tanks & sumps

[biecacka]

Right because sometimes based on tank, holes drilled, delivery, etc the others aren't that far off priced
Corey

[spersky]

Got a 300 gallon Commercial class aquarium from GlassCages. It is built like a tank and I had excellent customer service. I believe the commercial aquarium is very high quality and it was a great price.

They showed me the factory and all the various tanks that where in production. Answered my questions, in all aspects. I have zero complaints. They had some truly monster tanks ready or almost ready for shipment. Huge Aquariums for restaurants, stores, huge houses. It was great to get the tour when I picked mine up. I saw an amazing 1600 gallon L shaped aquarium and a huge 600 gallon rimless square tank in production.

I have no negatives about GlassCages. I am not sure who the owner is, but I talked to many people, and no one was rude

[b7fig]

Originally Posted by spersky

Got a 300 gallon Commercial class aquarium from GlassCages. It is built like a tank and I had excellent customer service. I believe the commercial aquarium is very high quality and it was a great price.

They showed me the factory and all the various tanks that where in production. Answered my questions, in all aspects. I have zero complaints. They had some truly monster tanks ready or almost ready for shipment. Huge Aquariums for restaurants, stores, huge houses. It was great to get the tour when I picked mine up. I saw an amazing 1600 gallon L shaped aquarium and a huge 600 gallon rimless square tank in production.

I have no negatives about GlassCages. I am not sure who the owner is, but I talked to many people, and no one was rude

So you speak Spanish?? When I went there, it took me a while to find somebody who spoke English. That being said, they have built a few tanks for me and yes, they are built like a freaking tank! A little sloppy with the silicon, but never had one break or leak. Stands are nice also.

[Planetmacro]

They make quality tanks. I have a rimless 100 gal. 6' x 2' x 12" high made with 1 inch thick glass.

[spersky]

Originally Posted by b7fig

So you speak Spanish?? When I went there, it took me a while to find somebody who spoke English. That being said, they have built a few tanks for me and yes, they are built like a freaking tank! A little sloppy with the silicon, but never had one break or leak. Stands are nice also.

It seemed there where quit a few spanish speaking only workers. I was talking to the foreman for the tour and the manager from the office mainly.

[marinerules]

now going on 10 years on my 240 from them no complaints I to have toured their facility very very interesting and I to, loved looking at their monster tanks

[zooman72]

One of the LFS near me had three (3) large tanks (one display, two for sale specimens) from them fail within a disturbingly short time frame (saw the results myself), and there have been so many issues noted all over the web in various forums - I know that only complainers stand out, but where there is smoke...or if it sounds like a duck...

Long story short (and having seen their "craftsmanship" first hand and up close), you would have to pay me to use one of their aquariums...

[skanderson]

I have 2 tanks from them a 300 cube and a 700. the 300 has been filled for around 5 years, the 700 3 years. the silicone on the 300 was a bit sloppy but no complaints about the service from my experience which was several years ago. I am considering a 36 inch cube tank in around a year and I will definitely consider another glass cages tank. just my 2c.

[amutti]

I purchased a 120 gallon cube from them 3 years ago. It was built like a tank. There is some sloppy silicon work here and there, but not too bad. I drove down to Tenn. and picked it up. They were extremely helpful (but hard to find). We had some trouble getting the tank into my car and they helped with that too.

I also bought a stand from them. That wasn't as nice. If I did it again I'd probably order a custom cabinet from someone else.

The over the phone and email customer service leaves a bit to be desired. The "factory" where they make the tanks is nice enough and they had a ton if tanks, of all sizes, being built.

I'd order again from them.

[Marchillo]

Is it truly a concern that the tank will explode? I was looking at them as well. I want to get a 5 ft long either 120g/150g reef ready. In no way shape or form do I want an increased risk of an exploding tank. I can deal with messy silicon work as long as the silicon is doing what it's supposed to do.

Should I hesitate to go with them? What are other options?

[asonitez]

Originally Posted by Marchillo

Is it truly a concern that the tank will explode? I was looking at them as well. I want to get a 5 ft long either 120g/150g reef ready. In no way shape or form do I want an increased risk of an exploding tank. I can deal with messy silicon work as long as the silicon is doing what it's supposed to do.

Should I hesitate to go with them? What are other options?

With Glass Cages. Any large tank I buy will personally be from GlassCages and no where else. I'm not a GC Fanboy but I can tell you my experience with them was fine. There are fundamental issues with every tank that people just don't seem to understand. I'm not an expert but I did speak to quite a few people that stuggle to understand basic concepts of water pressure, area, and bowing.

GC designs their tanks to not fail. This means that in my experience they use thicker glass, more bracing, and more silicone than other manufacturers that do the bare minimum. They are tanks. How many of you think that some of those pine wood dinky stands that Aqueon sells will reall hold up thousands of lbs of water? None of us do although the engineering and physics SAID it will hold up just fine. Same for Deep Blue and their tempered glass and top/bottom bracing.

People complain about "finishing." - when I built my big tank I got quotes that ranged from over 12,000 to 15,000 after the furniture was figured out. GC did my tank for 1250 shipped. and I paid a Contractor to build a furniture grade stand for me for 650. Big difference. The pay off was that price!

1. Yes I had some sloppy silicone that needed to be cut off. The Joints and lines were Fine but there was some "overfill" that needed to be sliced off.
2. Yes I had to silicone the (provided acrylic teeth) to the over flow after working out my plumbing.
3. Yes I built, measured, designed and provided an accurate drawing of my tank with the hole sizes to GC and had them build it to that specification.
4. Yes I had to Go to and Pickup my tank with others from my ReefClub at a location that was 1 hour away from me.


You pay for those services with Miracles. You pay through the teeth. You PAY to ensure that that silicone line is perfect. You Pay to ensure that that tank is crated and shipped from canada and arrives perfectly. You pay to have them design and draw YOUR DREAM TANK themselves and then build it. You Pay to have them build you furniture grade stands with hardwoods instead of plywoods.

From Point A to B a Lamborghini will get you there. A Ford will too. Not everyone can afford the Lamborghini though. Your going to HEAR about it when the ford fails because they are selling 10,000 fords to 1 lamborghini. I dont think they are selling 10,000 Miracles to 1 Glass Cages. The Sample set is smaller with Miracles and if there is a mistake then the profit margin is there to make it right at any cost. GC is volume. It does not behoove them to spend 400 dollars on a plane ticket for someone to fly out and buff out a scratch from a tank that cost 1,000 and their profit margin was 300. 400 From a profit margin of 10/12k.. SURE!!

Also take into account... If you buy a 15k Tank.. You get online and tell everyone because you have a 15K tank. You spent money and want recognition.. (most ppl at least.) You spend 1200... ehhhhh... Its not name brand....its not a lamborghini......so you kinda gloss over that aspect. What ends up happening is that great feedback is viewed by the people that justified their purchase by exhibiting quality. The only time you will hear feedback about a cheap tank is when it fails. Sure you might hear about a miracles tank failing... but that will be the last thing anyone thinks about. It will be praise when Miracles is able to build and ship another one... and STILL profit.

[ajespo85]

I've heard way to many horror stories about them. Their tanks, IMO, should only be used for reptiles and such. They are called Glass "Cages" not Glass "Aquariums".

[deansreef]

they are rude....that's all I am going to say!

[hart24601]

There are so many people that have had bad experiences with them, not only here but even in my local reef club, that despite the fact there are happy customers too I just couldn't bring myself to order from them. Yes they produce a lot of tanks, but the failure rate is just too high imo, it's not like my local club has tons of people, it's quite small and to have GC failures within the club is really bad.

I ended up going with miracles. They were only a little more for the tank (with shipping even) and did custom things that GC wouldn't do. Plus they were not rude. I originally was going to go with great lakes aquarium, but they made it seem like they were doing me a favor by taking my money - being rude does not get my hard earned $$.

[zooman72]

Originally Posted by asonitez

With Glass Cages. Any large tank I buy will personally be from GlassCages and no where else. I'm not a GC Fanboy but I can tell you my experience with them was fine. There are fundamental issues with every tank that people just don't seem to understand. I'm not an expert but I did speak to quite a few people that stuggle to understand basic concepts of water pressure, area, and bowing.

GC designs their tanks to not fail. This means that in my experience they use thicker glass, more bracing, and more silicone than other manufacturers that do the bare minimum. They are tanks. How many of you think that some of those pine wood dinky stands that Aqueon sells will reall hold up thousands of lbs of water? None of us do although the engineering and physics SAID it will hold up just fine. Same for Deep Blue and their tempered glass and top/bottom bracing.

People complain about "finishing." - when I built my big tank I got quotes that ranged from over 12,000 to 15,000 after the furniture was figured out. GC did my tank for 1250 shipped. and I paid a Contractor to build a furniture grade stand for me for 650. Big difference. The pay off was that price!

1. Yes I had some sloppy silicone that needed to be cut off. The Joints and lines were Fine but there was some "overfill" that needed to be sliced off.
2. Yes I had to silicone the (provided acrylic teeth) to the over flow after working out my plumbing.
3. Yes I built, measured, designed and provided an accurate drawing of my tank with the hole sizes to GC and had them build it to that specification.
4. Yes I had to Go to and Pickup my tank with others from my ReefClub at a location that was 1 hour away from me.


You pay for those services with Miracles. You pay through the teeth. You PAY to ensure that that silicone line is perfect. You Pay to ensure that that tank is crated and shipped from canada and arrives perfectly. You pay to have them design and draw YOUR DREAM TANK themselves and then build it. You Pay to have them build you furniture grade stands with hardwoods instead of plywoods.

From Point A to B a Lamborghini will get you there. A Ford will too. Not everyone can afford the Lamborghini though. Your going to HEAR about it when the ford fails because they are selling 10,000 fords to 1 lamborghini. I dont think they are selling 10,000 Miracles to 1 Glass Cages. The Sample set is smaller with Miracles and if there is a mistake then the profit margin is there to make it right at any cost. GC is volume. It does not behoove them to spend 400 dollars on a plane ticket for someone to fly out and buff out a scratch from a tank that cost 1,000 and their profit margin was 300. 400 From a profit margin of 10/12k.. SURE!!

Also take into account... If you buy a 15k Tank.. You get online and tell everyone because you have a 15K tank. You spent money and want recognition.. (most ppl at least.) You spend 1200... ehhhhh... Its not name brand....its not a lamborghini......so you kinda gloss over that aspect. What ends up happening is that great feedback is viewed by the people that justified their purchase by exhibiting quality. The only time you will hear feedback about a cheap tank is when it fails. Sure you might hear about a miracles tank failing... but that will be the last thing anyone thinks about. It will be praise when Miracles is able to build and ship another one... and STILL profit.

I call BS here - if you want to sing the praises of GlassCages, go ahead (not too many go to this length to do so), but to compare them to Miracles as a way to "prove" your point, and make it seem is if they are comparable in quality is a stretch to say the least.

All of these aquarium builders profit, but it is the way they go about it that makes the difference. There is a certain risk of failure for all aquariums, commercial or custom, but some simply have a greater failure rate than others. A large commercial aquarium tank and equipment company recently seems to have gotten out of the curved front pane aquariums because of a larger than acceptable number of failures. GlassCages may have also improved over the years, but one or two examples of success here on this forum cannot erase what many others have experienced.

I see a lot of Miracles tanks here because they are only a couple of hours away, and they are simply a much better aquarium. I have yet to come across one that failed (could there be one, sure, but I have not come across one locally or otherwise), and yet I have seen three (3) GC store displays fail within a few weeks of each other. This was several years ago at the closest LFS to me, and they were replaced with Miracles tanks with no further issues. In fact, three of our area's best reef aquarium stores use Miracle's displays, and I doubt that is because they have money to burn.

Please note that I do not own a Miracles aquarium, but if I ever decide to run another large reef in the future, I would not hesitate to own one, and I cannot say that about GC.

[Raul-7]

Not only that, but from what I hear it's near impossible for them to get it just the way you want it. Meaning missized holes, reversed height and width, etc. I've read too many stories about such issues.

[asonitez]

Originally Posted by zooman72

I call BS here - if you want to sing the praises of GlassCages, go ahead (not too many go to this length to do so), but to compare them to Miracles as a way to "prove" your point, and make it seem is if they are comparable in quality is a stretch to say the least.

All of these aquarium builders profit, but it is the way they go about it that makes the difference. There is a certain risk of failure for all aquariums, commercial or custom, but some simply have a greater failure rate than others. A large commercial aquarium tank and equipment company recently seems to have gotten out of the curved front pane aquariums because of a larger than acceptable number of failures. GlassCages may have also improved over the years, but one or two examples of success here on this forum cannot erase what many others have experienced.

I see a lot of Miracles tanks here because they are only a couple of hours away, and they are simply a much better aquarium. I have yet to come across one that failed (could there be one, sure, but I have not come across one locally or otherwise), and yet I have seen three (3) GC store displays fail within a few weeks of each other. This was several years ago at the closest LFS to me, and they were replaced with Miracles tanks with no further issues. In fact, three of our area's best reef aquarium stores use Miracle's displays, and I doubt that is because they have money to burn.

Please note that I do not own a Miracles aquarium, but if I ever decide to run another large reef in the future, I would not hesitate to own one, and I cannot say that about GC.

Chill Dude. I sang the Praises of MY experience with GC. Using Miracles to compare to GC was very valid. Your opinion is valid but since you have never owned either one your are basing your opinion on others experiences right? I have owned both (miracles 2nd hand).. and would go with GC again. Like I said man.. when I got my tank I didn't run to the biggest forum and sing their praises. A LOT of people DONT. Most people can't be bothered to write about their experiences positively. That is QUITE the opposite of a Negative Response/Experience. GC Might not be the prettiest but it certainly gets the job done.

[zooman72]

Originally Posted by asonitez

Chill Dude. I sang the Praises of MY experience with GC. Using Miracles to compare to GC was very valid. Your opinion is valid but since you have never owned either one your are basing your opinion on others experiences right? I have owned both (miracles 2nd hand).. and would go with GC again. Like I said man.. when I got my tank I didn't run to the biggest forum and sing their praises. A LOT of people DONT. Most people can't be bothered to write about their experiences positively. That is QUITE the opposite of a Negative Response/Experience. GC Might not be the prettiest but it certainly gets the job done.

I am "chill", and while you might have been trying to note your personal experience, you went further than that by striking a negative tone with the cost of better/ higher quality aquarium builders, specifically Miracles. This is the very first time I have ever noted and promoted the use of Miracles tanks here on RC, and only the second or third time I have commented on GlassCages.

I haven't owned a GC for good reason, and no longer run a large system, although I have had larger tanks in the past (75g, 120g and 125g) - if I were to decide on a larger new build I would not hesitate to employ a Miracles aquarium after seeing more than a dozen over the last 2 years. I don't need to own one of my own when I can view them in detail firsthand - this is a typical tact when considering equipment.

I personally expect some owners to come here and note their success, and have zero issue with it unless they are dishonest or really clueless. I think you are neither, but I thought your rant about the "over-profiting" of an outfit like Miracles in defense of GC was misguided at best. Lets face it - saying GC "designs their tanks not to fail" and "the only time you will hear feedback about a cheap tank is when it fails" is pushing the common sense barrier. No one designs their tank to fail (I know you were pointing out the "overbuilt" properties as a positive), and people ***** about stuff failing all the time online, whether it was cheap or not, and always applaud the inexpensive equipment that works well (see ReefBreeders LEDs). GC would not have the negative comments they have had over the years (this really isn't new) if they had not had a greater number of failures than expected, or the relatively poor customer service many (but not all) have noted.

[odj22sailor]

Glasscages, I just had a warranty issue with them I was very surprised by there response. I purchased my tank in 2012...they are standing by there tank and the parts.

[SPS911]

I have both a Reef Savvy and GC tank.
I'm happy with both and got what I paid for in both situations.

GC
Ordering was easy, I followed up once to make sure it was correct and on track. They met me 40 min from my house on time. It had excess silicone but who cares, cleaned up in 10 minutes. It was a bargain price.

Reef Savvy
3 times as expensive but it's a work of art. Delivery date was 5 months late but worth waiting for

[ps2cho]

If your on the west coast just use oceans by design. The guy called me to tell me he found the tiniest chip in the bottom pane that was not integral to the design and out of sight, but wanted to see if I wanted the bottom redone or not.

Price wasn't much more that crap-cages.

No brainer.

Their Facebook is fun to browse through too

[wakesetter]

bottom line, you get what you pay for. Their tanks suck. sloppy silicone. lame overflow box covers (you have to cut the teeth into the top edge yourself and they don't even come glued to the tank, you have to do that as well). And the 400 gallon tank I ordered had a quarter sized chip in the bottom edge of the front panel. Terrible service as well. There are so many other places to order a quality tank that I will not give them my business again.

[joesfiddy]

I've bought 2 glass cages tanks no problems here

[cham]

I don't prefer to back anyone one way or another. I'll just simply say I bought my tank, 120 star fire rimless with custom holes drilled in the back wall and an extra in the overflow box. I ordered it knowing the customer service flaws, going in with a mindset of ordering from a wholesaler versus a retailer. Which is really more of what they are.

Everything came out perfectly. The silicone was a bit sloppy which I expected and it cost me some time with a razor blade to clean it up a bit. That was 8 years ago and it's running great. As others have mentioned they are heavy