Concept Aquariums Canada Experience

[Dr. Reef]

Hey guys
As the title says, I have been looking for a new setup. I shopped many many places in last 1 month and have finally decided to go with Concept Aquariums out of Canada.
Their prices seem very reasonable and tanks look great in pics. I read a few reviews online on other forums and looks like everyone had good to say about them.

Their communication is great and explanations and information tells me they really care for what I want and how i want it.

I am in process of getting

Main tank 96x36x24.
They said they will make it rimless. It will be 3/4" float glass around except for front will be star fire. (In wall setup)
External overflow on left side with 2 x 1.5 drains and 2 x 1" returns.
Single piece eurobraced on top.

They said to place tank directly on at least 3/4" thick plywood or directly on 1" thick foam. Either or and NOT both.
I was under impression that rimless has to go on plywood and foam both. Am I wrong?

Sump is 48x24x24
Acrylic with 1st stage with 3 x 7" socks, then 2nd stage for refugium, 3rd for return.

At this point they require some money down. Then they will send 3d images of tank and sump to verify the design. Once ok they will start working on it. Finish time about 2 to 3 months.

Total cost of tank is quoted about $2200-2500
Sump at $250-300 and shipping from Canada to Oklahoma to my door at $750.

Totals with tax and delivery $5200 CAD or US$3900

Your thoughts???

Here is diagram of tank I made.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Fellow #reefsquad any info will be appreciated.

 

[sde1500]

No experience with them but that sounds very inexpensive for the tank. For the underpayment I’d hope the builders would be able to guide you best on it. I’d follow their advise.

 

[Hillbillyreefer]

There isn’t much bad to be heard about their tanks.

My 120 was made in Calgary by a builder back in about 1992, it’s been going strong ever since. I’ve long suspected but don’t know for sure that the Concept guys were the builders, it’s old enough it may have been built in the garage when they were starting out.

 

[Hillbillyreefer]

Check out canreef.com lots of users on there running Concept tanks.

 

[Kyl]

Should say, I have two Concept tanks and a sump. Who are you dealing with?

 

[Kyl]

I'm going to be live-editing this post with more information as I think of it so I don't clutter this thread up.

------

My experience was mixed with them, but there is a lot of history there. I'll try combing through my thread and link some relevant posts, but my tank was built during a time of staffing flux there and they weren't firing on all cylinders if that makes sense. Ultimately I love my DT, really like my frag tank but the sump had some things overlooked.

Here is what I had to specify for my tank build, if you want it you need to note it and pay for it. They will build everything from budget float to full bells and whistles starphire, but a lot of people seem to waste their time with quotes they don't like the cost of so sometimes they'll leave out things on my list to cut those costs.

• Beveled and fully polished glass
• Black, tooled silicone seams
• Laminated black glass on the overflow panel (though mine is a traditional tank, not in-wall). About 5% more costly than the acrylic insert, but never warps or swells, etc. I should have done this for the frag tank too in hindsight
• If bare-bottom, a layer of black vinyl sheeting since they build / ship the tanks on plywood
• Overflow weir should have been as wide as possible.
• Get the water line about 1/2" lower, mine with the gyres blasting back and forth is about 1/2" from the rim.

In terms of the sump, things got overlooked. Again though I was dealing with them through a hectic time of transition. All the feedback I received locally and on canreef (concept tanks are VERY popular with us Canadians for obvious reasons) were from the era with a gentleman named Denny handling the tank orders / builds. He passed away a few months before I sent my sketchup design in and it was a giant headache for a couple of months before ultimately the owner (Dave) got involved, gave me a call and a long 30+ minute talk about how to get things back on track.

Ultimately when I'm able to upgrade to a larger tank, it will be a Concept built one.


Here's the flickr album of my tank from initial design (my work), to build. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kyl_aquaria/albums/72157689307873955

Posts of note:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/kyles-60g-shallow-reef.312745/page-3#post-4217563

 

[RCS82]

None of my business but since you posted, is the pricing Canadian or American dollars?

 

[Dr. Reef]

I converted the price into US$
total price for everything 5200 CAD or $3900 US

 

[Dr. Reef]

Should say, I have two Concept tanks and a sump. Who are you dealing with?

I am exchanging emails with Ashley.

 

[Dr. Reef]

@Kyl great info and links i appreciate it.

 

[sandswhitson]

No idea on their tank quality but I would add a third drain hole to that overflow so you can run a "beananimal" style drain system.

 

[JoshH]

I've been in there shops a few times and talked to quite a few owners of them. They are based in my city and from what most people are saying you need to be VERY specific with what you want. In the end I wasn't overly impressed with there caulking job on the tanks I was looking at and I went with Miracles based in Ontario instead. But in saying that you will find lots of people who are very happy with there concept tanks.

 

[Kyl]

One other thing, they do CNC work on acrylic etc now too. If i was ordering another tank, I would get an overflow top made for the external box. As well I would have asked for two small notches on the edges of the wier overflow grate / guard, so I could run cords out from powerheads on the back wall. If you run Vortechs, or don't care about a mesh lid, that's not an issue.

Also, be VERY careful cleaning Starphire with any type of metal scraping blade. My Tunze glass cleaner with the stainless blade has left a nice little dotted line of glass scratches on the front panel, thankfully only visible when looking up from below (it's about 5" off the sand line). Stick to 100% plastic blades only, no matter how appealing it may feel. I didn't expect Starphire to be so easy to scratch.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Dr Reef, I'm pretty new to the RS group and I don't know anything about the builder you are considering. I just wanted to say that I'm looking forward to following whatever you do here as that is a huge tank. It works out to about 350+ gallons, right? Yikes!

I've been on the opposite side of the 'go bigger' tank process. I had 4 tanks that totaled about 600 gallons a few years ago and now I'm down to a 40g cube with a 40g sump/refugium. My only advice is to take your time with the design and ask for advice from others who have gone with big tanks. This isn't something you are going to want to 'do over' once you have it set up. I want to 'do over' just the insides of my 40g DT and I keep putting it off because it's so much work. The biggest system I had was a 180g DT and a 75g hexagon DT that were both tied into a 180g (10' x 2' x 18") sump/refugium. That was a handful when I wanted to make changes!

Do you plan to have a refugium with this set up?
Is the sump going to be under the DT or do you have a room so the sump can be separate and easier to access?

I'd consider a 180g sump/refugium if you do plan to have a refugium. Either that or do one as a separate tank.

Good luck!

 

[Dr. Reef]

Hi @Ron Reefman
Thank you for all the great tips and information you provided.
Unfortunately I've already been through what you said. I didnt think my first setup out.
It's a 96x24x24 with 48x18x18 sump in wall.
I was new to in wall setups and made a lot of mistakes on the way.
Tank was build by glasscages and sump as well. It's been there for 5 yrs now but I make a lot of mistakes that come to haunt me daily.

So i have decided to redo the whole setup and as I am going to do it again I might as well upgrade to maximum space and already acquired equipment can handle.

Plumbing and electrical is a nightmare on my current setup and will redo everything all over.
Here is my current setup.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I here you. I would have loved to had a room to set up all the 'extra' equipment like that. You're very smart (or lucky?).

In 15 years I went from a 30g to a 75g. Then I added a 35g hex as a display refugium. Then I upgraded to the 180g and 75g hex DTs with the 10' sump. Then I set up a 65g shallow reef (14" deep) with a 25g frag tank and a 125g sump/refugium. The 180g broke and I sold off that system and set up a 125g and 40g DTs with a 60g sump. Then a chiller thermostat broke and the 120g DT full of sps coral all died in one night! I sold off the 125g and kept just the 40g. That's a lot of learning in how to NOT set up systems! But a lot of learning and fun building as well,

 

[Dr. Reef]

its always a learning experience. I went from 46 bow front to 120 to 240 and now going for 350-380ish.
The plan i have is to have an isolated/independent frag tank for corals and 3 x QT tanks which are 48x12x12 with separators.
I would like to use 1 qt for sterile tank, 2nd for copper and 3rd for chloroquine phosphate (CP).
I am selling corals and mostly i have local demand for fish that i sell that are ordered and QT and treated/medicated before i sell them to customer and with a price tag almost certainly cheaper than many online stores.
Anyways this is a rough sketch of what i am planning to do this time.

 

[Rybren]

I am contemplating a new tank and as it turns out, I settled on the same dimensions that you have - 96x36x24. In my case, I plan to have it set up as a peninsula. I will either go with Concept or Miracles for the build.

Haven't moved much on the idea yet - I want to move to a smaller, but single story house (want to avoid all the stairs) and have't been able to find a house where I can fit the tank. May have to have one custom built :)

 

[Dr. Reef]

Hey guys can a same type of structure made out of 2x4 in my current setup will work for my new tank?
my current setup (pic above) is 96x24x24 and new setup will be 96x36x24.
It will be 2x4 stand like above, double legs every 2 feet and 3/4" plywood on top.
This new tank will probably weight about 800 lbs and with rock and water etc will end up about 3800-4000 lbs. My question is really can a stand be ok made out of 2x4 or do i need to build it with 2x6 ir double 2x4 frame etc. any suggestions will be greatful. although i a quick googling shows a structure like my existing stand can hold over 500,000 lbs.