Glasscages or coast to coast? for 400 gal tank

[tozzi]

Im considering upgrading to a 400 gal 72"x48"x26" I got 2 quotes so far. glasscages for about 3,000. But i have heard some people say their work is sloppy, and what i dont like about them is they only have a 90 day warranty. I spoke to someone from there and he said its a full warranty for 90 days, i told him another company has a warranty for 10 yrs and he said that it was most likely a limited warranty so his is just as good. I didnt like that at all.

I loved everything anout Coast to Coast aquariums. Except for their price of 5,500 for a tank that was only 72"x36"x26" way smaller on the width. So im guessing the 48" width will be around another thied of the price like 7,500. It's just so much more than glasscages. I did like that chris was very helpful, and the 10 yr warranty is great.

Anyone have any experience with either of these companies? It's a big investment so any info is appreciated. I picked these 2 cause c2c is about 2 hrs from me so i can pick it up, and gc delivers 1 town away from me for 150 bucks.

 

[beex215]

with the amount of more then twice as much, id go with gc on this one. i never had a custom but if i were you id go this route.

 

[cdeboard]

I have heard gc's larger tanks have issues with silicone and things. If you were okay with the 36" I would go with a marineland deep dimension. Would be considerably less, they also will customize overflows and things if you want, starphire etc. Otherwise, glasscages if you want to save and chance it or coast to coast.

 

[mfinn]

I have had 2 of the Glasscages tanks and currently have a 4 year old 240 gallon wide tank.
The Glasscages tanks are a great budget tank and you get no frills with them.
It's true about the silicone on many seems being sloppy, only by being excessive.
They exposed vertical seems were done pretty straight. Mine had a bottom euro brace which is completely hidden. The top euro brace looked a little shabby, but very strong.
The tank was delivered by their own delivery semi tractor trailer rig. It was a little dirty when it arrived and even had sharpie marks and measurements written on it.
It took a little cleaning, but I would have done that with any tank.
If the warrenty is important to you, I would question them closely and find out exactly what the 10 year warrenty covers.

 

[Garage1217]

Heck if you could settle on the smaller 72"x36"x26" size, you could have a dealer order it through lee-mar for less than 1/2 of what you are looking at "$5500" and the tanks are spectacular. Also Miracles seems to be close to the price of lee-mar and they also make outstanding tanks.

Here is a 72x30x25 225G eurobraced lee-mar I just received. Fit and finish is spectacular. Epoxied back, bottom looks to be plastic under the glass, 3 sides starphire, machined / beveled edges "that glass cages cannot do"... simple awesomesauce and cost way less than 1/2 if what you are looking to currently spend.

 

[mfinn]

That is a beautiful tank.

 

[tozzi]

Yeah i really want the 48" width though. Also it will be a penninsula viewable from 3 sides all starphire. Return/overflow will be on one of the short ends. Ill chech out lee-mar

 

[Garage1217]

The bummer with lee-mar is you can only order the tank through an authorized distributor. Miracles is direct.

 

[James77]

he said its a full warranty for 90 days, i told him another company has a warranty for 10 yrs and he said that it was most likely a limited warranty so his is just as good.

Ummm, yeah. Maybe if they had more confidence in their tanks, they could extend their full warranty to 1+ years. 9 years down the road, even a limited warranty will be better than a full warranty that ended 8yrs 9mos ago, right?

 

[tozzi]

Ummm, yeah. Maybe if they had more confidence in their tanks, they could extend their full warranty to 1+ years. 9 years down the road, even a limited warranty will be better than a full warranty that ended 8yrs 9mos ago, right?

Exactly. Thats what i was thinking, 90 days is a bit tooo short.

 

[tozzi]

I got a quote from miracles in canada. Very close to glasscages price. But.... it includes bottom eurobracing,and all beveled and polished edges. But the shipping is also a killer, 600. Also i have over an hour drive to pick it up cause it goes to a depot not to my house. The guy at miracles was very helpful and seemed more interested in figuring out exactly what i want. Glass cages kind of gave me a price then wanted to get off the phone

 

[adamfajge]

Reality is most tanks that are going to fail fail in the first few weeks. A year later and if there is any leak its usually not due to the tank. I am going with eurobraced just for that extra guarantee. I was cleaning to good into the silicone and I made a leak in my tank. I will never be that anal about cleaning around the edges again

 

[Johnny C]

Glass Cages and Miracles shouldn't even be used in the same sentence... seriously, save yourself a major headache and go with a C2C or Miracles. There are 35+ Miracles tanks locally (including two of my own), I have yet to see one look flawed. Both locals who ordered Glass-Cages tanks had them leak and fail. JMO

 

[tozzi]

i think im liking miracles at this point

 

[James77]

Both locals who ordered Glass-Cages tanks had them leak and fail. JMO

I hope it was at least inside the 90-day warranty.

 

[tozzi]

me too. That really suxxx.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Well having just dealt with GC a week ago having some glass cut for overflows for one of their tanks. I wouldn't but anything from that man who owns GC, First off the parts I ordered were not cut correct, The Acrylic covers were short of covering the glass they cut and on and on. Then after ordering on the Phone making arraingements to pay upon P/U by Check (Which the lady I talked to said was fine) This jerk went off about they don't accept checks for anything from anybody, Huh!!! After driving 75 miles to get this crap and then having to use a credit card he lost a customer, Period. I highly reccomend
you go elsewhere, And I've seen lots of their tanks, Most are less than good craftsmanship at best. Buyer Beware I say.
Bill

 

[stan zemanek]

Not that i am bias or anything but you can't go wrong with Coast to Coast. I just got my new tank back in June. When i went to finalize the specs back in may, they gave me a completion date of june 10th. Well would'nt you know they called me on June 8th and told to come get my tank. These guys where great to work with (just 2 guys) run the whole show.
All their glass is cut and polished by an outside vendor and then shipped to them for assembly. Heres some pics of my 96x23x20tall front side is starphire. bottom is 3/4" and sides are 1/2" I can tell you that my tank is built like a tank and the silicone work is perfect!!. Final price was $3100 with 3-1 1/2 bulkheads and 2 sets of 1" locline

 

[scubasteve06]

I'd go with the Miracles or Lee-Mar tank in the width you want don't settle when your buying the tank of your dreams. Go miracles I've seen a lot of good work come out of them, but I've heard that shipping from Canada can be expensive so..but when it comes down to 2 tons of water being possibly dumped on your floor I'd make sure it was a 'solid' investment...no pun intended...

 

[tozzi]

Not that i am bias or anything but you can't go wrong with Coast to Coast. I just got my new tank back in June. When i went to finalize the specs back in may, they gave me a completion date of june 10th. Well would'nt you know they called me on June 8th and told to come get my tank. These guys where great to work with (just 2 guys) run the whole show.
All their glass is cut and polished by an outside vendor and then shipped to them for assembly. Heres some pics of my 96x23x20tall front side is starphire. bottom is 3/4" and sides are 1/2" I can tell you that my tank is built like a tank and the silicone work is perfect!!. Final price was $3100 with 3-1 1/2 bulkheads and 2 sets of 1" locline
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Yeah id love to go with c2c but their price is just way outta the ballpark. Glasscages is the cheapest so i dont really want to go with them, too much bad publicity. I think it is def miracles at this point. I think my quote was like under 4000 with the stand. Great price and i never heard anything bad about them, no messy seams, no failure, plus miracles has all beveled edges and bottom eurobracing!