American Aquariums

buck27 · Oct 22, 2019

I was curious as to if anyone has used the company American Aquariums in PA for a custom build? I received a quote from them that was quite nice but I have never seen any reviews on them and they do not show up in a search on here either.

leewish · Oct 22, 2019

I have looked at their stuff on ebay in the past and just now. They have a perfect ebay rating if that helps your decision.

buck27 · Oct 22, 2019

Thanks @leewish I was curious and I know its acrylic but I was really shocked at the price with an external overflow for bean animal system. 96x30x24 for around $2189 with free delivery.

Deep dive coral · Oct 22, 2019

Cant go wrong I've done installs in the past with them for customers

buck27 · Oct 22, 2019

I know its acrylic and I am a little scared of the softness of that stuff but the prices they quote are great! even a steel stand is only $825 vs others at 1200 to 1800 dollars.

HighChiefKC · Oct 22, 2019

I’ve got a tank on order from them. Will be here mid December. I emailed probably 10 or more companies. No one wanted to talk much except just give me a price. Adam at American Aquariums meanwhile, answered about 30
Emails I sent, and answered them all almost instantly. He was a huge factor in me ordering from there. I also followed a build thread here and the guy has an American Aquarium tank also and he was happy with it. The excellent price, and shipping it to my front door was a huge bonus!

buck27 · Oct 23, 2019

You have a link to the build thread the other guy has??? Also, Adam and I text for like 45 min just talking about tanks and stuff, even sent me some pics of a 1280 gallon tank he built. Real down to earth dude. If I decide to go acrylic im gonna go with them!

HighChiefKC · Oct 23, 2019

Eh give me some time to figure out who it was lol
I can picture his fish room in my mind because I’m setting my sump in the same position. Just have to remember his name or thread title

buck27 · Oct 23, 2019

found it I think, @Sticks And Stones

HighChiefKC · Oct 23, 2019

Yep that’s the one! It’s a nice setup

HighChiefKC · Oct 23, 2019

Let me know if you end up ordering one!

buck27 · Oct 23, 2019

So far I am planning to order from them strictly based on price quoted, reviews I have found and their customer service. I was not considering acrylic at all until I found them to be honest.

HighChiefKC · Oct 23, 2019

I couldn’t afford glass, and I wasn’t excited about carrying it down a flight of stairs, plus worried about damage in shipping. And I have 2 little ones that I could see them throwing something at the tank (I’m doing in wall) and I felt like acrylic would survive them better

buck27 · Oct 23, 2019

Im presently trying to figure out my wall now

JoshH · Oct 23, 2019

HighChiefKC said:
I’ve got a tank on order from them. Will be here mid December. I emailed probably 10 or more companies. No one wanted to talk much except just give me a price. Adam at American Aquariums meanwhile, answered about 30
Emails I sent, and answered them all almost instantly. He was a huge factor in me ordering from there. I also followed a build thread here and the guy has an American Aquarium tank also and he was happy with it. The excellent price, and shipping it to my front door was a huge bonus!

When your tank comes in do you mind sharing your experiences in this thread here with American Aquariums??? I have never heard of them up till now TBH

Your thoughts on custom tank manufacturers?

So lately I seem to see a lot of threads popping up on advice on custom tank manufacturers and which ones people would recommend. Last fall I went through the same process myself and landed on a manufacturer here in Canada. But it's recently dawned on me that in my search and even combing...

www.reef2reef.com

Greybeard · Oct 23, 2019

buck27 said:
steel stand is only $825 vs others at 1200 to 1800 dollars.

I took my own design to a local small job fab shop, had a stand welded up to my dimensions, 11g square tube, was like $400. Local powder coat place sand blasted the mill scale off of it and powder coated it gloss black for $100. All local, so no shipping... solid as a rock.

Found a photo before I finished it out...

italquam · Dec 17, 2019

HighChiefKC said:
I’ve got a tank on order from them. Will be here mid December. I emailed probably 10 or more companies. No one wanted to talk much except just give me a price. Adam at American Aquariums meanwhile, answered about 30
Emails I sent, and answered them all almost instantly. He was a huge factor in me ordering from there. I also followed a build thread here and the guy has an American Aquarium tank also and he was happy with it. The excellent price, and shipping it to my front door was a huge bonus!

Where is the build thread on American Aquarium

Duff · Jan 3, 2020

I ordered a 225 gallon tank on October 5th and paid in full that day. I was happy with the price and response at first, but now this Saturday, Jan 4th it will be 13 weeks and still no tank. I’ve emailed him a couple times just to ask how things were going along the way and if he had a ship date for me. Now mind you when he was trying to get me to purchase it he would always email me back right away. Now not so much after he got my money... I would get a email a day or two later and he would just give me the line that everything is on schedule for 10 to 12 weeks from purchase date but most tanks would be shipped out a little earlier than that. I get people are busy but when you spend that much money on a custom tank you expect a little reassurance that you’ll be taking care of. Lastly he gave me a ship date of the week of the 23rd of December, yes not a great week to be shipping things because of the holidays but that’s what he gave me. I waited till the 26th to see if it was still being shipped. The next day I get a email saying that now it’s Jan 2nd that it will be shipped. So last night on January 2nd I emailed him again around 5pm. No response till right now and all he said is yes it’s being shipped and the shipping company has my info and will contact me with a delivery date. Very disheartening to not get a little more than just that. Anyways when the tank shows up I’ll post pics and tell you my thoughts on the tank. Hoping for the best but a little concerned at this point. Maybe I’m expecting to much, just would be nice to have a little better customer service.

tank is 72x30x24 euro with 3/4 acrylic and cost me over $2,500

HighChiefKC · Jan 3, 2020

Same size I ordered. Mine was supposed to be done mid December but got pushed back to Dec 23rd. I said if it can’t be here by Christmas then wait till after new year because I would be in Florida. I contacted him couple days ago and they are supposed to ship it this coming Monday and should only take 3-4 days max to get here is what he told me.

Duff · Jan 3, 2020

HighChiefKC said:
Same size I ordered. Mine was supposed to be done mid December but got pushed back to Dec 23rd. I said if it can’t be here by Christmas then wait till after new year because I would be in Florida. I contacted him couple days ago and they are supposed to ship it this coming Monday and should only take 3-4 days max to get here is what he told me.

Awesome let me know how it turns out for you. When was your purchase date might I ask?