120 gallon blowout

[FishyDP]

Fear drives the world of sales and marketing.

Thanks for sharing that story. I havent heard of a tank giving out after years in service. I had a 70 bow front as well. Great looking tanks when they are filled. Mine was made by Allglass and had a tempered bottom on it. Companies temper the bottoms so that they can use thinner glass. There is a good chance that with thin, more flexible glass the stand is much more important. This could by why some companies won't warranty their tanks if they are not on their stands. I have had the base of a tank crack that was on a stand that was poorly designed. It could have been that the glass was too thin as well. I will never know.

Reading this thread really fills me with things to say. If you are interested, then keep reading.

I keep going back to the stand made by Elos posted earlier. Only supports the tank on the two ends. I don't hear anything about those tanks failing. I admit that they are so expensive that I rarely hear of someone owning one. However, it is an example to me that a well build tank with a solid base can handle much more than I had imagined. It made me look a little deeper. I have a tank right now sits on a styrofoam pad that I can slide a piece of notebook paper underneath. I had another 110 that only sat on 3 corners and was solid. I checked the tanks at my LFS three days ago and at least 30% of them had some gap where the base meets the stand that I could slide a credit card in.

Marketing 101; fear drives sales. I am not sure how long I worked at pet stores, but I am comfortable saying it was more than 5 years. I know from experience that even new tanks have catastrophic failures. Things just go wrong and some tanks are defective. Some tanks just give out when a two year old whacks them with a fireplace poker.

I have been told several times that is a tank is more than 7 years old, or has sat dry for more than 2 years that it needs to be resealed. I have never actually followed these rules, but I did receive an older tank 3 months ago and was pretty amazed at how easily the euro bracing and end walls pulled out. Some tanks are just built better than others.

My opinion is that the best thing you can do is prepare to handle the worst. Everyone should have a water alarm on the floor. Everyone should have a plan of action to temporality house livestock. You don't need a lot of stuff. Keep trash can liners for your big trash cans, water change buckets, air pumps, small power heads, extra heaters, salt mix, possibly pre mixed salt water, know where you can rent a carpet cleaning vacuum and see if your renters insurance will cover collateral damage.

Facts are that most tanks hold water. Personally, I am happy with used tanks. I feel like they have at least been tested. I wont buy anything with a tempered base. I have lots of reasons for that.

I will always agree that it is easier to just go buy another tank. I like the way it feels to buy a shiny new tank with perfect glass. I like the clean finish work some companies do on the silicone. I like some of the all in 1 tanks that would just be too time consuming to build. Some times you will even save money by throwing out the old one and just buying a different used one. If you have a decent job that lets you do overtime, maybe it is more cost effective to just work an extra day instead of messing around for a day with the repair.

I enjoy building things. My husband enjoys showing off the things that I build. I feel like it is pretty easy to do a panel replacement but I have been doing it for a while. My husband who is one of the least handy people I know, occasionally helps when I build tanks. I asked him what he thought of replacing a panel. He said that if someone else took the panel off for him he just didn't think it wold be that big of a deal to put it back on. If something does not work out the way you wanted, grab a roll of paper towels, clean the glass off and try again. I just want to say that if you are DIY at all, don't be afraid to try.

Money that you save on the glass box is money you get to spend for stuff to put inside the box.

Glad to share my stories/experience. I personally dont like to buy used tanks. The 72 bow front that busted a seem on me was used..I just dont think you know what the tank has gone through, rocks smashing against the glass, sitting empty for longer than the seller says etc., and no warranty. I recently bought a "lightly" used large tank that was less than a year old (and still under manufacturer warranty). I dont think it ever had water in it, but was used as an empty display tank at a reef show. I wont say the brand but it is a well known brand from a VERY reputable reef store. It looked great in the store, when it was empty, and I inspected it thoroughly, and so did my friend that I was with.

I got it home and got it filled with water and put lights on it, and noticed a tiny hairline crack that was not visible when it was empty. It was moved by professional movers, and I watched the entire move. Imperfections tend to be more visible when water/lights are in the tank IME. The reef store could not provide a refund because they didnt know what happened after it left the store, and I cannot fault them for that. I know nothing happened. I called the manufacturer and provided pictures and receipts, and they sent me a check for the full amount to replace the tank within 2 weeks, as it was still under warranty.

I have had maybe a dozen tanks over the years and the only ones that have failed me are the 2 used ones I bought. I have one other used tank that is doing fine, but bought this one off a buddy and knew the history of it. My point is, you just never know about a used tank, and no warranty. Luckily the one that had a hairline crack was still under warranty, but this is not a typical situation. Just my .02, from my experience.