400 Gallon Tank Crack

[Jer_harbor]

I guess so!... 12 yrs, 7 posts...all 7 about Planet Aquariums

Lol just a concerned citizen standing up for an unfairly slandered company I guess?

To both of you, most of my old post are long achieved by now. I do not post on this forum because I believe it to be one of the biggest problems with this hobby. So much wrong information and "experts" giving their 2 cents makes me want to puke. Also I'm not a hobbyist and find no reason to post crap or slander about companies that I know anything about. I have been in this industry for a long time and have seen what sites like this have done to the industry.

To everyone else on here until you can scan your engineering degree and facts why 1/2" glass is to thin your "opinion" does not mean anything. In my "opinion" most of the people in this thread are just trolls that love to create drama.

No matter what any of us say you will just find things to counter with and say the manufactures are at fault. If it was a tank, light, pump, or heater. So just keep trolling your hearts out and spreading information you know nothing about.

 

[Savant]

I do not post on this forum because I believe it to be one of the biggest problems with this hobby.... I have been in this industry for a long time and have seen what sites like this have done to the industry.

WOW....talk about a troll....

I have found RC to be one of the most informative sources of general and specific knowledge and advice available to a hobbyist anywhere. I think the dissemination of this knowledge has only improved this hobby as well as raised awareness to issues that might otherwise go unnoticed such as shady retailers, the mistreatment of animals or reactionary legislation. Public forums such as RC are just that...Public. Are there trolls and haters? Of course, but these few are generally ignored/called out or just ostracized.

By your statements it sounds as if you think that discussions such as this one should be held on a private forum that insulates people with bad products from criticism? If your product sucks you know it sucks. Man up and admit it. If your product is quality you know that as well, but dont get butt hurt if somebody questions that quality when they believe they have used your product in a responsible manner and it fails. As somebody that sells a product you understand that some failures are beyond your control and may NOT be the consumers fault.

What attributes do consumers want from retailers....RESPECT! Respect from the manufacturer! Thats all, respect. Respect your consumer enough not to display an arrogant attitude when you have to deal with their problems. Respect your consumer enough to know the problem might very well be yours and they didnt do anything wrong. Respect the fact that the only reason you even have a business is because consumers are willing to trust that the product you sell is worth them spending their hard earned money for! Many times people will chime in when they feel somebody with whom they can empathize is being DISrespected by a manufacturer or LFS. If you want to keep the trolls and haters to a minimum dont be disrespectful on a public forum. Suck up your pride and arrogance and your GOOD reputation will only grow stronger because the consumer will RESPECT YOU!

 

[cabinetman123]

If buddy isnt on the payroll....he should be lol

 

[themaddhatter]

To both of you, most of my old post are long achieved by now. I do not post on this forum because I believe it to be one of the biggest problems with this hobby. So much wrong information and "experts" giving their 2 cents makes me want to puke. Also I'm not a hobbyist and find no reason to post crap or slander about companies that I know anything about. I have been in this industry for a long time and have seen what sites like this have done to the industry.

To everyone else on here until you can scan your engineering degree and facts why 1/2" glass is to thin your "opinion" does not mean anything. In my "opinion" most of the people in this thread are just trolls that love to create drama.

No matter what any of us say you will just find things to counter with and say the manufactures are at fault. If it was a tank, light, pump, or heater. So just keep trolling your hearts out and spreading information you know nothing about.

Wow, trolliest troll with a novel approach to trolling. Trolled the whole forum and everyone in it as trolls! No soup for you!

 

[Kenmx10]

I think its kind of ironic that planet aquarium as well as DSA are both spin offs of oceanic. The reason I find this ironic is the fact that there is a similar thread about DSA being extremely difficult about honoring warranty work as well as very poor customer service. Is this from a culture of arrogance that existed at oceanic?

The thing is, both, DSA and PA generally build awesome tanks, but seem to be very difficult to obtain warranty service from. Both Manufacturers have almost identical warranties in regards to extending to 7 years when using their brand of stands. I thought when I first started to read this thread and the OP didnt want to mention the manufacturer it was going to be DSA but when it was mentioned it was PA things started to click. Im not trying to trash either manufacturer I think they both make great tanks but the similarities between these two incidents are there to see.
this is the DSA saga: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2484327&highlight=jerseypete

I think that hopefully this issue can be resolved with good communication with the op's LFS as well as PA. Calm persistence is probably your best ally.

What I got out of this thread about DSA, is that when the OP finally followed the procedures that DSA asked them to follow, DSA replaced the tank for free and paid for the freight to get it there. That told me that DSA was willing to stand behind their products. Even though the OP had been using the tank for a year, trashing them online, and didn't make it available for inspection. And then continued to bash them after they offered to replace the tank for free.

Unfortunately some people think the best way to handle matters is to use online forums to slander a company, and try to bully them in to giving them their way. (Not saying that here, I respected the fact that the OP said he would not disclose the manufacturer up front.) I think this has been damaging to the hobby.

Usually someone starts bashing a company and a whole lot of people jump on the bandwagon, not knowing the facts. A few months back a individual was bashing a company for not returning a part that a customer ordered and used, then said he no longer needed the item and demanded a full refund. Come to find out the item that was defective was purchased used from a private individual and not the company, and was defective when he bought it. The company he was slandering had even repaired the item FREE OF CHARGE. Then he starts slandering the company after a part failed at a later date. Even though he bought the item from someone else. In the meantime a lot of people online are saying, these guys are crooks, and don't deserve to be in business, and ill never buy anything from them again.

This ones harder to figure out though. Maybe the 1/2 " glass was proper grade and built within structural limits. I don't know. Even so, if it were me , I wouldn't take a chance on a tank that size without using 3/4. And it makes it more difficult when the OP says, I ASSUMED it would be a year warranty, and I DIDNT KNOW, I had to buy a stand for the 7 year warranty. I don't think you can assume anything and you better know the warranty before you pay for something. Then if theres a problem you don't have to go to a forum to try and get a refund.

 

[Reefmonkey8843]

But yet another day and still no pictures. At this point, I can not back the guy. He refuses to post the pictures. And yet, some expert will jump all over me and try to bash something I said. Or even better something totally off topic.

 

[albano]

Ya. Chesapeake they all look terrible. Again, someone doesn't want to find the truth so they go straight to bashinG. What the heck? San Angelo...

You like to refer to members by their location, BUT you fail to mention your own!

But yet another day and still no pictures.

And yet another day and ALL of your posts are on this 1 thread...
apparently you're very concerned about his stand...I really hope that he posts a picture of it, so you can sleep at night.

 

[jwolcott]

But yet another day and still no pictures. At this point, I can not back the guy. He refuses to post the pictures. And yet, some expert will jump all over me and try to bash something I said. Or even better something totally off topic.

I don't see how you can't see it's the same stand. The crack happened in the back of the tank, if you look at the build pics, the rear of the stand does NOT have a lip, and since it's not visible, has an unfinished cut on the plywood that the tank sits on, although you can see that the top was painted white. Attention to detail, something I especially look for in a landscaper... :lmao:

 

[themaddhatter]

Don't feed the trolls!

 

[Reefmonkey8843]

I just trim banana trees. �� but again he still hasn't settled the picture debacle. Until he does, everything is speculation. But again why personal tracks are you guys insecure with yourselves that you feel that you must try to belittle someone else while sitting at your computer. Come on guys you are better than that. We are supposed to be friends helping here. All I'm asking is for all the evidence.

 

[TangingOut]

Lol, debacle?

 

[themaddhatter]

All you're doing is trolling...

 

[Kenmx10]

But yet another day and still no pictures. At this point, I can not back the guy. He refuses to post the pictures. And yet, some expert will jump all over me and try to bash something I said. Or even better something totally off topic.

Being that you just added a profile to reef central the day this thread came out, and the fact that you keep demanding for a picture of the stand, and are totally one sided, Its pretty obvious you are affiliated with PA and are desperately trying to get some pictures for evidence in case you get sued. Looks like your upset because your desperate attempt to get the photos you want didn't pan out.

If I was the OP I wouldn't post any photos for you, and wouldn't replay to any of your threads.

If your not affiliated with PA, then you've already stated your opinion and nobody seems to care. The more you post the worse it looks for Planet Aquarium and yourself.

For the buyer with the cracked tank, I don't need to see your stand to know what's going on here. And beware of this guy trying to fish for evidence.

And for Reefmonkey, if you can't back him, then don't. It really doesn't matter, like you said, your a landscaper, not a tank builder.

PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY PICTURES OF YOUR STAND!

 

[WhiteShark1]

If you put your order on a credit card just call your CC company and request that they place a stop payment order on the purchase. I've done that before to one company (along with just threatening to do it to a few other businesses) and it usually wakes people up real fast when they realize they'll get no money at all and will have to explain themselves to the credit card company.

 

[DavidinGA]

I'm still on the fence about whether 1/2" glass is sufficient on such a long/tall tank. Personally I would never buy one with anything less than 3/4" myself...

 

[Reefmonkey8843]

Being that you just added a profile to reef central the day this thread came out, and the fact that you keep demanding for a picture of the stand, and are totally one sided, Its pretty obvious you are affiliated with PA and are desperately trying to get some pictures for evidence in case you get sued. Looks like your upset because your desperate attempt to get the photos you want didn't pan out.

If I was the OP I wouldn't post any photos for you, and wouldn't replay to any of your threads.

If your not affiliated with PA, then you've already stated your opinion and nobody seems to care. The more you post the worse it looks for Planet Aquarium and yourself.

For the buyer with the cracked tank, I don't need to see your stand to know what's going on here. And beware of this guy trying to fish for evidence.

And for Reefmonkey, if you can't back him, then don't. It really doesn't matter, like you said, your a landscaper, not a tank builder.

PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY PICTURES OF YOUR STAND!

And you do what? That doesn't matter a hill of beans. Just like being a landscaper. I don't work or have any affilatation in the fight. I would be happy to say hey I'm wrong as long as everything is out there. But instead, people jump on folks to dismiss the fact that we haven't had all the answers out there. If your going to post just be able to back up what you say. Again, how long ago did he buy? Stand adequate? Did a rock fall? How long did the store have the tank was it made for him or did they have it in storage and could have caused damage? Did he drop the tank while installing? Not trashing the guy or calling him a liar. But just asking for the facts. Before jumping on the band wagon.

 

[ca1ore]

I'm still on the fence about whether 1/2" glass is sufficient on such a long/tall tank. Personally I would never buy one with anything less than 3/4" myself...

I'm not a structural engineer, and assume you are not either, so what we 'think' don't amount to a hill-o-beans. The reality is that commercial tank manufacturers have been using 12 mm glass (nominally 1/2") for decades on rimmed/braced tanks in this size range. Whether there are different qualities/strengths of glass (other than just tempering) I cannot say, but I know somebody with a 1/2" glass 220 that's been running crack-free for close to 20 years. So, I'm not on the fence.

FWIW, while I cannot comment on the legalities (not a lawyer either ), when I was exploring the viability of buying a custom tank two years ago, all of the companies I spoke with offered only a short warranty for their tanks on 'non approved' stands.

Lastly, is it just me, or does the location of the crack in the OP's original photos seem like a strange place. Seems like it started inside the panel (rather than on an edge). Maybe indication of a flaw in the glass at that point.

 

[jmm]

I had a tank built in Dallas in 1974. It was 96 x 36 x 36 and was built of 1/2 inch glass, heavily reinforced with glass cross bracing and what we would call euro-bracing on the top and along the bottom seams. It wasn't drilled since these were the days of undergravel filters powered by (in this case huge) air pumps. The stand I made was a sandwich of 3/4 inch plywood on the top and bottom of a custom cut piece of boat dock styrofoam 96 x 48 x 14. A piece of indoor/outdoor carpet separated the bottom glass (flush) from the plywood.

This tank didn't bow and didn't leak for 3 years. I moved to Lubbock and the movers brought the tank and unloaded it with a forklift. I set it up temporarily with fresh water in a boat dealership on a stand made of 4 x 4's and 2 x 4's. It was not dead level. One corner was slightly high. The bottom broke at that point. It was a slow leak. I took the bottom piece of glass off and replaced it and to help level it, placed two thicknesses of acoustic ceiling tile between the plywood top of the stand and the tank bottom.

It didn't leak for two years. A catfish grew so big he decided to wallow out his cave. He knocked a large rock over that hit the side of the tank. It cracked top to bottom down the side and opened up like a double door. The force of the water washed boats sideways and threw fish 50 feet in the showroom. I replaced that end piece of glass. Three days later the bottom cracked. I determined the acoustic ceiling tile had gotten soaked and collapsed the tank back down to the uneven stand.

I was going to fix the tank but the owner of the boat dealership had enough. He told me to get it out of there. I took it home, replaced the bottom glass and ordered another piece of boat dock styrofoam and set the tank up like I had originally when I lived in Dallas.

It worked flawlessly for 15 years as a salt water tank before I sold it to a fish store. Their movers broke it on one of the 8 x 3 sides while getting it out of my house. They repaired the tank and the fish store put it on display. I lost track of it 5 years later when I moved back to Dallas.

I write this not to express an opinion of the customer service of the aquarium manufacturer but to tell my experience with 1/2 inch glass on a large aquarium. The guy that originally built it was experienced with much smaller tanks and spent many hours on the phone with Pittsburg Plate Glass and Dow Corning technical advisors while in the process of building this tank.

 

[billsreef]

But yet another day and still no pictures. At this point, I can not back the guy. He refuses to post the pictures.

Seems to me he did post pictures.

In any event, since the possible perfection of the stand or a slight variation in height from one corner to the other (sufficient to cause a stress fracture) would not be apparent in a photo, any possible further photos the OP could post really wouldn't tell you (or anyone else) anything. So no point in beating that dead horse any longer.

As for impact damage, I don't see any chipping or starring which would be typical of impact damage. So IMO we are left with either a structural flaw in the tank (such as flaw in the glass) or a stress fracture from the stand. In any event, nothing any of us can determine via pictures and posts on an internet forum. So no point speculating or trolling.

 

[billsreef]

BTW, when did they start growing banana trees in Texas? Come to think of it, I never knew there was a town named Dubai in Texas either.