Anyone Bought an Aquarium Setup Directly from China?

[MoKan Reefer]

So, has anyone custom ordered a custom tank or setup from one of these companies on Alibaba or similar?

Here recently I got sick of constantly seeing the ad to download the Alibaba app and decided to go ahead. For the most part its obvious a wholesale bulk distributor for tons of companies but I also found a company or 2 that advertise some really nice aquarium setups.

I found the company that told me they manufacture Cade Aquariums, Wuxi AllyAcme Technology Co., Ltd, which referred me to their US distributor, Algae Barn which Cade doesn't make a setup near as big as I'm looking for and the representative told me point blank than they'd be outrageously expensive to do a custom setup...

Fair enough.

The other company I found was Taizhou Yingtai Plastic Co., Ltd, a company comparable to the first. I've been speaking with their representative, Timothy Zaho for a few days now. And am currently waiting for him to hear from their shipping agent for shipping and freight quotes. They're not only more than willing to build the tank to my specifications but they're cheaper by leaps and bounds than anywhere I've gotten quotes from just for a decent custom tank.

Even for their largest possible setup that'swithinmy heightrequirements: 3000mm x 1000mm x (my max height) 635mm tall which roughly measures 118" x 40" x 25" tall which includes the custom rimless "ultra white" (basically their version of starfire) glass tank with their custom external overflow, their super nice stand, sump customizedto my liking, power center, and all plumbing for $3,200!!! The 72"x36"x25" custom rimless "ultra white" glass tank with their custom external overflow, stand, custom sump, power center, and all plumbing, for $1,450!!! He already warned me that between the pandemic and relations between China and the US currently, shipping and freight will probably be high. I kinda figured. But even if it costs another $1000-1500 for packing, shipping,customs, and freight, that's still dirt cheap for either custom setup.

These are the pictures they have on their ads for the style aquarium setup im enquiring about:

I know Cade and I'm sure alot of other aquarium companies have their tanks made in China and shipped to their distributors here and I even had my Orpheks shipped from their factory painlessly in early August but thats a bit different than an individual buying and receiving something of this size.

I've also never messed with getting anything through customs or anything (not sure if they're taking care of that with their shipping and freight charges or what) so there may be another question depending...

So, does anyone have any experiences buying a custom aquarium setup or other large equipment from China?

Any experiences, advice, insight is welcome!

 

[MoKan Reefer]

Other pics from the ads:

Definitely looks like quality craftsmanship

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Look pretty good to me

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Probably costs a ton in shipping

 

[Cell]

I think Fiji Cubes are from China.

 

[MoKan Reefer]

I figured after the cheap build estimates, even if shipping costs $1000+, it's still cheaper than the name brand systems

 

[RVA REEF]

looks very similar to cade but it will prob leak if its not filled with china toilet water

 

[debug3000]

looks very similar to cade but it will prob leak if its not filled with china toilet water

What are you talking about? What's that mean?

 

[cryptodendrum]

You know you can still come across Chinese manufactures that do produce lesser quality goods, so you have to do some research, but more and more, their quality standards are becoming on par or better than the West. All my 10 liter clownfish fry / quarantine tanks are chinese made (but bought via a local retailer) and sported glass that was twice as thick as the locally manufactured aquariums + the front facing vertical corners were rounded with a single piece of glass for the front and sides of the tank, where the 5 euro more expensive local tank was standard silicon corners all the way around.

 

[debug3000]

You know you can still come across Chinese manufactures that do produce lesser quality goods, so you have to do some research, but more and more, their quality standards are becoming on par or better than the West. All my 10 liter clownfish fry / quarantine tanks are chinese made (but bought via a local retailer) and sported glass that was twice as thick as the locally manufactured aquariums + the front facing vertical corners were rounded with a single piece of glass for the front and sides of the tank, where the 5 euro more expensive local tank was standard silicon corners all the way around.

Agreed. Fish tank is not something high tech stuff. As long as they want to do it with sound quality, they can...

 

[Hydrahawk]

So I guess there is no warranty on the tank?

 

[Brian_68]

The biggest concern for me would be if the tank was damaged in transit as you may not have any recourse.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

What are you talking about? What's that mean?

In Hong Kong they pipe in fresh saltwater for their toilets so the fish stores use that toilet water for their fish tanks

 

[Stanley Wong]

What is flushing the toilet with Saltwater has anything to do with building the custom tank ? Sorry, I’m lost.

 

[Tamberav]

So what happens when it arrives damaged? Seems like you probably pay shipping again.

 

[polyppal]

Aliexpress cant send me a keychain without it taking 6mos and arriving broken... No way id trust one of those sites with a tank

 

[shanescycling]

I haven’t bought fish tanks from China but have bought multiple carbon bike frames directly from alibaba factories.
Both these products are expensive when you buy brand names and simple technology but if they fail it’s going to suck.
Things to keep it mind:
Make sure everything is in writing and very very clear. They mean well and are good to their word but things get lost in translation and might get missed.
Use PayPal and have the invoice documented on there, at least if something goes wrong you can contest it, even if you have to pay 3% more to cover fees.
Get extra plumbing parts, they probably won’t be very costly but if you need them in the future getting metric sizes in the US might be a challenge.

 

[Arthacker87]

Plus you'd have to quarantine for 9-14 days after receiving it......

 

[Smite]

Most of the name brand tanks come from China, even some of the custom ones. I know my custom 180g MODE came from China. SCA is china, I'm sure Cadlights (now mode) was china. IM is probably china and many more.

My concern would be transit and any type of customer service. Have you hit up GlassCages, I got a quote that was fair. Not sure on shipping costs for them though.

 

[josvanmeer]

that looks dope. Stand doors literally look like nuvo aps from IM lol.
if it gets to your house without waiting a whole year, I would do it personally tbh.