DIY Glass Tank Kits. Anyone interested in building your with pre-cut panels?

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I will let you guys confirm what I have proposed. Here is a screenshot from a vendor we are in talks with. Hats off to Woodyman re: PVC bottoms. That is going to be a thing. Take out your calculators.

 

[edd59]

No idea yet. We are looking at tanks in the mid range of gallons. 40 to 200 gallons. Take the cost of a popular brand and multiply their retail price by .70

i dont think 30% savings is worth the risk of 120 gallons of water on your floor, not to mention the damage, and i am a diy for everything in my house. a $1500 stand, diy is probably 75% savings

 

[NoahLikesFish]

We have a product planning meeting every Friday morning and the idea of offering DIY glass aquariums came up again.

The Concept

Offer for sale pre-cut aquarium kits for DIY assembly consisting of beveled and polished low iron glass panels. The kit will include optional AIO systems. The product line will be kit equivalents of all the popular Chinese tanks on the market today. (Many of the popular brand name glass tanks are manufactured by the same Chinese firm). Silicone, spacers and alignment jigs all included.

The Value Proposition

Up to 30 to 40% cost savings over pre-assembled tanks. Significant portion of the savings would come from greatly reduced shipping costs.

We already bought the domain GlassAquariumKits.com and have established relationships with glass manufacturers. This post is part of our market research before we commit to it.

We want to hear from you.

i would love the idea

 

[Reefing102]

So set one is approximately 35 gallons (if I did my math right). Something that small would be an okay DIY kit. I don't know if I’d trust myself at 200 gallons, however I could see an alternate market in the reptile/amphibian area for terrariums and vivariums where they’re always looking for a low cost solution. If we think our tanks are bad, theirs are quite a bit higher it seems (I think a 20L was like 60 or 80 with a screen lid)

 

[5G Reefer]

Can you guys just sell the glass panel for us to cut? It’s really hard to just find glass for sale at a wholesale price

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

So set one is approximately 35 gallons (if I did my math right). Something that small would be an okay DIY kit. I don't know if I’d trust myself at 200 gallons, however I could see an alternate market in the reptile/amphibian area for terrariums and vivariums where they’re always looking for a low cost solution. If we think our tanks are bad, theirs are quite a bit higher it seems (I think a 20L was like 60 or 80 with a screen lid)

You are correct. Especially Something about turtles Btw. We get lots of requests for paladuriums. Turtles.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

would love this!!! I have build many tanks when I had a good supplier of glass, I just suck at cutting it myself. Been looking to order though a glass shop here locally and their communication is garbage. Put me on a list if you are looking for beta testers or even just a first customer!

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

would love this!!! I have build many tanks when I had a good supplier of glass, I just suck at cutting it myself. Been looking to order though a glass shop here locally and their communication is garbage. Put me on a list if you are looking for beta testers or even just a first customer!

I am pretty close on the cost savings? I check and re-check and it adds up.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

I am pretty close on the cost savings? I check and re-check and it adds up.

Depends on the seller you are using. I usually was able to hit 60 percent of the price of the cheapest rimless in that size range. I did not get wholesale quantities either though. but that did not include overflow which I purchased because they suck to build. If you include the overflow this will even outweigh the price of a DIY aquarium at 70 percent (for sizes under 120 because glass thickness shoots up, and I haven’t built anything that big). Looking forward to updates on this!

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Please make this happen. Would love to build a nano reef with sump.

 

[Sshannon]

I'd like this idea for nano and small tanks. Can you post a picture of the spacers and alignment equipment necessary to do it correctly?

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Depends on the seller you are using. I usually was able to hit 60 percent of the price of the cheapest rimless in that size range. I did not get wholesale quantities either though. but that did not include overflow which I purchased because they suck to build. If you include the overflow this will even outweigh the price of a DIY aquarium at 70 percent (for sizes under 120 because glass thickness shoots up, and I haven’t built anything that big). Looking forward to updates on this!

Overflows are no problem. >>> https://tenecoraquariums.com/collections/overflow-boxes-for-glass-tanks
Another R2R member suggested PVC bottoms which would make end user custom drilling very easy. Especially with the acrylic overflows and AIO inserts. I need to talk my staff into this.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I'd like this idea for nano and small tanks. Can you post a picture of the spacers and alignment equipment necessary to do it correctly?

We would develop those items. As it stands today, the "spacers" commonly used are toothpicks or those little silicone cabinet bumpers. The bumpers are not a great idea as they form weak points. Alignment jigs would be similar to everyday woodworking jigs.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

Overflows are no problem. >>> https://tenecoraquariums.com/collections/overflow-boxes-for-glass-tanks
Another R2R member suggested PVC bottoms which would make end user custom drilling very easy. Especially with the acrylic overflows and AIO inserts. I need to talk my staff into this.

Wow!!! I wish I knew about you guys sooner! I’ve been paying big bucks for the sleek type overflows that I don’t really like. With the PVC bottoms it usually is glass layered with PVC on the top as glass does not bind to PVC well enough for load bearing capacity. So drilling would still happen to be an issue. If each of the flat packed aquariums are built to order. It might be nice having a 10-20 dollar fee if a customer wants the glass drilled. Minimum work on your end and lower expense for not as DIY savy customers who don’t want to drill the tanks themselves.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

This project and the fish tank lids are going to be the two ventures we are going to focus on. There was a third idea for selling bulk reactor and filtration media at very large discounts For example GFO for about $20/pound, minimum 50 to100 pounds. The prices we found companies charging are incredibly "ambitious". Here is the lid design we came up with.

 

[mdb_talon]

I love the idea. Seems for small basic tank (ie a 40b) you would never be able to compete with a petco sales price). For those who want larger, nicer glass, rimless, etc i would think you can find a market.

Sign me up for the acrylic kits though if you change your mind there lol. I have made several acrylic tanks and the hardest part for me is getting the absolute precise clean cuts(and find ordering it precut online is a crapshoot and i often have to recut anyway). I find them easy to put together and get the seams strong(never had one leak yet at least lol). However i only do frag tanks so 12" high is most i have went and i am sure that leave a lot more room for error.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Wow!!! I wish I knew about you guys sooner! I’ve been paying big bucks for the sleek type overflows that I don’t really like. With the PVC bottoms it usually is glass layered with PVC on the top as glass does not bind to PVC well enough for load bearing capacity. So drilling would still happen to be an issue. If each of the flat packed aquariums are built to order. It might be nice having a 10-20 dollar fee if a customer wants the glass drilled. Minimum work on your end and lower expense for not as DIY savy customers who don’t want to drill the tanks themselves.

The glass tank kits would not be built to order. We would simply bring a couple container loads of popular sizes and option them with the innards. As I posted earlier, most of the well-known Chinese glass tanks are made by one company. Bringing these in flat saves big bucks. One problem is the cost of a container has gotten crazy high. Fact: the cost of the containers got so high that a fully laden ship sailing from China to the West Coast generated enough profit to pay for the ship! It's like buying a car and paying for it with one Uber ride.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I love the idea. Seems for small basic tank (ie a 40b) you would never be able to compete with a petco sales price). For those who want larger, nicer glass, rimless, etc i would think you can find a market.

Sign me up for the acrylic kits though if you change your mind there lol. I have made several acrylic tanks and the hardest part for me is getting the absolute precise clean cuts(and find ordering it precut online is a crapshoot and i often have to recut anyway). I find them easy to put together and get the seams strong(never had one leak yet at least lol). However i only do frag tanks so 12" high is most i have went and i am sure that leave a lot more room for error.

You want pre-cut acrylic, just email us sizes and gauges. We can figure it out.

 

[5G Reefer]

Tenecor could you respond to my PM thread?

 

[5G Reefer]

Never mind