After 5 months and 22 days..... the tank is here (but not as ordered).

[CMMorgan]

When you say overflow size, do you mean the actual drain pipe plumbing at the bottom of the overflow? Or the bulkheads for attaching the overflow through the back wall?

Yes the pipe at the bottom of the overflow is sch 40 1" pipe. I need to pick up the bulk heads. The returns are 1" random overflow nozzles.

 

[CMMorgan]

Sound like they built it out of what was left over from other tanks as why would the sides be thicker than the front and back. Refuse it

They did... which is fine.... if they had made it as ordered. I don't begrudge anyone from trying to control costs. I fully support small business. The different thicknesses would not irk me so much if they had made the overall dimensions as verified. Now, I have two weeks into building a stand that won't work and a bunch of money into the cost of the skirt.

 

[rossco]

Is there enough room under the overflow to use a couple of 45 degree elbows to bring the drain past the edge of the stand?

 

[1guydude]

Uhg. Stressful. Frustrating. Im sorry. You spent a lot of $ on a custom aquarium for a hobby you prob spend a lot of your time life on.
Get a hold of your builder. See what they say.
D

 

[Thaxxx]

Sound like they built it out of what was left over from other tanks as why would the sides be thicker than the front and back. Refuse it

That's what I was thinking.

 

[Thaxxx]

There are so many things on this tank that don't match your order, it seems like it has to be they sent you the wrong tank.
If they sent you the tank they intended, well, I would not want to do business with them again. Even if they offered to correct it with a new tank.

 

[CMMorgan]

Is there enough room under the overflow to use a couple of 45 degree elbows to bring the drain past the edge of the stand?

That's pretty genius. I'm not certain. I will need to measure the height of the overflow in the morning.

 

[paintman]

He never sent me one... just lots of emails. We reviewed the final over the phone. That said, the dimensions, thickness and color of back are all detailed in the emails.... pages and pages of emails. Thickness and dimensions are also on the Freshbooks invoice.

This tank should never had been built without either a CAD or Hand drawing that both the manufacturer and the buyer had signed off on. This way both of you would have been protected. I can't imagine what kind of a business man this clown is not having a signed drawing before going into production. Having said that, I think you are both to blame. E-mail conversations are not a contract!

 

[CMMorgan]

This tank should never had been built without either a CAD or Hand drawing that both the manufacturer and the buyer had signed off on. This way both of you would have been protected. I can't imagine what kind of a business man this clown is not having a signed drawing before going into production. Having said that, I think you are both to blame. E-mail conversations are not a contract!

Never having ordered a custom tank before, I did not know that ... so yes --- I now know better. That said, the invoice detailing the specs requesting payment and acceptance is a contract.
I'm going to hope that he will step up and do the right thing. I'll give him until Monday.

 

[mike550]

Max hole size for a 1” is 2.67”. So your measurement of 2.75” is very close when using a basic tape measure

@DaneGer21 for a 1” bulkhead I think the hole size is supposed to be around 1.65”. The entire diameter of a 1”bulkhead is around 2.67”. I’m looking at BRS 1” bulkhead dimensions for reference.

 

[CMMorgan]

@DaneGer21 for a 1” bulkhead I think the hole size is supposed to be around 1.65”. The entire diameter of a 1”bulkhead is around 2.67”. I’m looking at BRS 1” bulkhead dimensions for reference.

That's it... ripping off the plastic in the morning and tracing those holes first thing tomorrow. I haven't had a drink since Halloween. I'm not letting this tank change that tonight.

 

[Acros]

Does America Aquarium advertise on r2r? If, so download and save all the suggestions locally before the comments are deleted and thread moved to vendor feedback.

 

[spsick]

Totally unacceptable for a custom tank unless you agreed in advance for some flexibility on dimensions for a discount or something.

 

[iMi]

It’s been said enough already but the whole idea of “custom” means it’s exactly what you requested. What you received may as well be a “stock” option. Off by an inch, off by a mile.

 

[DaneGer21]

@DaneGer21 for a 1” bulkhead I think the hole size is supposed to be around 1.65”. The entire diameter of a 1”bulkhead is around 2.67”. I’m looking at BRS 1” bulkhead dimensions for reference.

Interesting, I had found this via BRS also. Guess it depends which you look at

 

[spfahnestock]

Thanks for the support. My husband told me that these are first world problems.

I think your husband hit the nail on the head.

It is easy to get worked up over this and I can completely understand why you are right now. However, before unleashing the Karens or getting overly angry give the vendor time to respond to you.

While it is easy for me to say as I did not just wait 6 months for a tank to arrive and when it did it was not correct, but maybe think of it this way for the weekend "shipping was delayed". What I am trying to convey is getting angry is not going to solve the problem. Talk with the vendor as in reading this it honestly sounds like they sent you another persons tank. The wrong back color and the height dimensions being off would make me think that.

I hope this works out in your favor.

 

[Buffalou]

I ordered a custom tank from Crystal Dynamic Aquariums and it was perfect. They and I talked and emailed the entire time concerning dimensions, and return holes etc. during construction. They also advised me not to accept tank until after I had checked it and was satisfied with it. I made sure the delivery folks knew this up front. So no issues. Having said all that, did they discuss with you any aspects of the tank after they received the order to build? If it was me I would not settle for tank as is. I think it was probably a very big investment and you will end up regretting all the heartache it will cause for years to come. Your cabinet is awesome and now you have to deal with wrong size tank, that's going to bug you everytime you look at it. The problem we reefers have some time is we want to get started so bad with upgrade or new build we will accept work arounds, this would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[CMMorgan]

So, I pulled back the plastic enough to trace the holes this morning. Much better than eyeballing it through stretch wrap! The three holes for the B.A. overflow are 2.5" (assuming all three are the same size, which they appear to be). The two return holes are 1.75". Looking at BRS (because my local Ace has stopped carrying bulkheads larger than 3/4")... it looks like a thread and slip for the return will be just fine for the return with random flow nozzle threaded in.

The slip / slip bulkhead for the B. A. overflow is within 1/8" of the max cutout size for the 1" bulkheads. That doesn't inspire confidence that it won't slide out of place or the gasket shrinks and I have a later leak. Perhaps I could consider using larger diameter overflow pipes for a better fit due to the large holes? I assume that would mean that I'd need to put a gate valve on both 2 of the 3 pipes to keep the sump from being overrun.

I'm just trying to figure out my options here. I'm hoping this is simply the wrong tank. If it's not... I need to figure out if there is a way to make this work or not. If he actually screwed it up, then I want to be reasonable. I don't want to hurt a small business but I do want them to make an effort to find a fair resolution.

 

[DaddyFish]

So, I pulled back the plastic enough to trace the holes this morning. Much better than eyeballing it through stretch wrap! The three holes for the B.A. overflow are 2.5" (assuming all three are the same size, which they appear to be). The two return holes are 1.75". Looking at BRS (because my local Ace has stopped carrying bulkheads larger than 3/4")... it looks like a thread and slip for the return will be just fine for the return with random flow nozzle threaded in.

The slip / slip bulkhead for the B. A. overflow is within 1/8" of the max cutout size for the 1" bulkheads. That doesn't inspire confidence that it won't slide out of place or the gasket shrinks and I have a later leak. Perhaps I could consider using larger diameter overflow pipes for a better fit due to the large holes? I assume that would mean that I'd need to put a gate valve on both 2 of the 3 pipes to keep the sump from being overrun.

I'm just trying to figure out my options here. I'm hoping this is simply the wrong tank. If it's not... I need to figure out if there is a way to make this work or not. If he actually screwed it up, then I want to be reasonable. I don't want to hurt a small business but I do want them to make an effort to find a fair resolution.

It's very common to use a drain hole size that fits a 1.5" bulkhead. That way you can use 1.5" PVC inside the tank/overflow and immediately step-down/reduce the exterior pipe to 1.25" or 1". It provides sufficient flow from inside the overflow to "collect" at the reduction and helps minimize noise. Think of the 1.5" bulkhead and interior drain pipe as a "glory hole" system leading down to a final 1" drain pipe size...

 

[tsouth]

At the end of the day, are you ultimately going to sit at the tank and think "I should've gotten the right one from the start?" Are feeling like you're settling right now? Is this tank better than the other one at all? Is it a downgrade? Tell me what your thoughts are! I hope they step it up on their end! You deserve a new tank shipped for free AND THEN SOME!