glass broken?

NowGlazeIT · May 20, 2020

Can you slide the tank to get a picture from underneath. Place your finger by it for depth and size comparison

mattzang · May 20, 2020

i'll have to remove the water from it to move it, which is the plan. then i can really get an idea what damage there is. i don't see any cracks, even hairline, but the lighting in that garage is also pretty bad. i checked it with a flashlight and didn't see anything, but i just don't think i'll be able to sleep at night..

i just got off the phone with the innovative marine guy, he was really nice and felt bad. he said they do not fix tanks, but offered a 25% off a tank only. so i think i'm gonna take him up on it. i told him what happened with having to move it and what not, he told me the low iron glass is great for clarity, but can be pretty fragile. suffice to say i'm gonna be extremely careful with the next one..

Silver14SS · May 20, 2020

mattzang said:
yeah i sent them an email. i acknowledged it wasn't really a warranty situation and was just hoping if i took the tank to them they could fix it and for how much

Nice, hopefully they appreciate your honesty and can work with you on an amicable solution.

Edit, excellent response from IM

NowGlazeIT · May 20, 2020

Glad you could get some help. Good company there. Happy reefing come back with that build thread haha

mattzang · May 20, 2020

thanks!

well, lets not get ahead of ourselves. I have to go pick up the tank and drive it here from cerritos, so who knows what i can manage to do to a tank in between there and getting it filled

what should i do with the broken tank now? lol

Hugh Mann · May 20, 2020

If you don't mind the potential for a ton of water on the floor somewhere, you could use it as a storage tank for rodi water, without risking livestock.

Or use it as a vivarium, reptiles, arachnids, amphibians.

The latter is my plan with the tank I recently bought that is also useless.

Hugh Mann · May 20, 2020

NowGlazeIT said:
Glad you could get some help. Good company there. Happy reefing come back with that build thread haha

Sorry to cause a bit of a hijacking here, but I have a somewhat similar issue, though my chips are a bit more extensive. I'm guessing it's about as useful for an aquarium as nipples on a batsuit, but would you mind too terribly to take a look?

Refurbishing a used 120 Gallon.

So, I recently aquired a used 120 Gallon aquarium, I was told originally sourced from a fish store going out of business. Anyways, I picked it up for pennies on the dollar, even though it was evident it would need some touch ups. I was told it was used for freshwater in its current condition...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks.

Jimmyneptune · May 20, 2020

I may have missed suggestions, but I think being part of the community here sshould carry some weight with the manufacture. It doesn't sound like you had a hot tub party in the tank, you didn't act in any care free way, granted I may have missed something, so the manufacture may get get some attention from what happened. Its up to them what kind they want.

mattzang · May 20, 2020

Jimmyneptune said:
I may have missed suggestions, but I think being part of the community here sshould carry some weight with the manufacture. It doesn't sound like you had a hot tub party in the tank, you didn't act in any care free way, granted I may have missed something, so the manufacture may get get some attention from what happened. Its up to them what kind they want.

i mean if i felt i was wronged i guess, but i just don't think i can know that in any way. i did inspect the tank, albeit after it was signed for out of the crate, but i didn't see this. maybe i just missed it? possible, but seems unlikely. it's pretty obvious when you look at that side of the tank.

now i know i didn't drop it or anything, but innovative marine doesn't know that. they don't know what i did with it, so holding them to account seems unfair. as much as i hate having to pay for another tank, it is what it is.

possible future critiques would be, why is the bottom panel low iron if it breaks that easily? maybe i'm missing something there, but i don't plan to view my tank from below... so a sturdier glass would seem good? but i don't know a thing about glass or making tanks so maybe there's a reason for that. seems like at most you'd use low iron glass on the front and side panels, then something sturdy on the bottom and back panels, but idk maybe that just isn't how it's done.

when moving the tank i bought heavy duty suction cups and then when we put it in the back of the suv, i tossed a blanket on there (mostly i was worried about it scratching..) but maybe there was something that i missed sitting there? rock? toy? screw? who knows. and then we put it on the stand in the garage and again, nothing on there.. but may have been damaged already at that point

IM fixing the tank would also seem possible, but they said it's because they don't know what else may have been damaged, liability, other stuff that's beyond me. i don't believe they do custom tanks, so expecting custom tank level service from a factory tank maker might be expecting too much, idk. i'm mostly pretty pleased with them tbh. i wish it was more than 25% obviously? but they can't just be handing out tanks for free either. 25 feels like a decently fair amount. i wish it was 50%..

TDEcoral · May 20, 2020

Too bad you're not in my neck of the woods. I'd take that tank off your hands and replace that pane myself.

mattzang · May 20, 2020

TDEcoral said:
Too bad you're not in my neck of the woods. I'd take that tank off your hands and replace that pane myself.

hmm.. i wonder if i could wander around and see if anyone would do it locally?

IM told me i had about a week to take them up on the 25% offer, I guess i could try calling some glass places? not sure i'd trust a non aquarium maker to do it tho.. then i could sell the tank i guess at least get back some money for it

TDEcoral · May 20, 2020

mattzang said:
hmm.. i wonder if i could wander around and see if anyone would do it locally?

IM told me i had about a week to take them up on the 25% offer, I guess i could try calling some glass places? not sure i'd trust a non aquarium maker to do it tho.. then i could sell the tank i guess at least get back some money for it

I would be kinda surprised if you couldn't find someone to do that for you. I'm not sure what it would cost, but I bet it would be cheaper than buying a new tank from IM. Plus like you mentioned in a previous post, if it's the bottom pane that's cracked there's no reason you couldn't use regular old tempered or annealed glass to replace it.

mattzang · May 20, 2020

thanks, i think i'm just gonna have to buy a new tank, but if i can replace the bottom pane maybe i could resell it so i'm not out a ton of money on two tanks at least? or maybe i can sell the tank and someone else can get it fixed.. i figured the tank was basically a total loss, guess not!

NowGlazeIT · May 20, 2020

TDEcoral said:
I would be kinda surprised if you couldn't find someone to do that for you. I'm not sure what it would cost, but I bet it would be cheaper than buying a new tank from IM. Plus like you mentioned in a previous post, if it's the bottom pane that's cracked there's no reason you couldn't use regular old tempered or annealed glass to replace it.

Time and shipping outweighs new material cost would be my guess

mattzang said:
thanks!

well, lets not get ahead of ourselves. I have to go pick up the tank and drive it here from cerritos, so who knows what i can manage to do to a tank in between there and getting it filled

what should i do with the broken tank now? lol

I would try to sell that tank as is. It could be the right project for somebody.

Hugh Mann · May 20, 2020

How difficult is it to replace panes on aquariums? I looked it up, and it doesn't seem all that difficult. There's a shop in my town that custom cuts glass. Could probably get a couple new panes for significantly cheaper than a new aquarium.

jeffrey750750 · May 20, 2020

Every chip I ever had in a windshield always ended up with a crack. Not worth losing any livestock, that would be devastating. Even doing a single glass pane replacement I know I would always be worried about it. That's just me, I always think what if

mattzang · May 20, 2020

NowGlazeIT said:
Time and shipping outweighs new material cost would be my guess
I would try to sell that tank as is. It could be the right project for somebody.

what do you think would be a fair asking price?

NowGlazeIT · May 20, 2020

Hugh Mann said:
How difficult is it to replace panes on aquariums? I looked it up, and it doesn't seem all that difficult. There's a shop in my town that custom cuts glass. Could probably get a couple new panes for significantly cheaper than a new aquarium.

It can be difficult for a first timer but a glass shop could do it. Something they don’t do often so some might not want to.

NowGlazeIT · May 20, 2020

jeffrey750750 said:
Every chip I ever had in a windshield always ended up with a crack. Not worth losing any livestock, that would be devastating. Even doing a single glass pane replacement I know I would always be worried about it. That's just me, I always think what if

Windshields are made of thin laminated glass. Raw plate cracks differently