Gauging Interst/Risking Murder (by wife), 7-foot, 250-gallon Coast to Coast Tank

[Kengar]

As reported elsewhere (see https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...-or-coast-to-coast.298745/page-2#post-4133554), the tank I bought from Coast to Coast did not live up to my expectations, and I am currently replacing the bracing. With shipping, it was on order of $6K

I am considering selling it once the re-brace job is finished and ordering a Reef Savvy tank instead. Gauging interest. Tank only, $2600, local pickup in Gaithersburg, MD (20878) only.

As shown below, the tank is 7 feet x 28" wide x 24.5" high. 3/4" starfire on front and both ends. Drilled for a Modular Marine 2-foot overflow. Four return flow holes. One hole in middle, lower portion of rear panel and two holes in bottom for closed-loop. Has additional 4"-long, 1/2"-high strips along the bottom Eurobracing strips, to support a perforated plate above the bottom of the tank to form a plenum. (Plan is to have a reverse-undergravel flow to lift detritus out of the sandbed.) Those could be removed by cutting through the silicone used to attach them.

Originally, tank had double-layer of top bracing. As shown in the linked-to thread, those were butt-ugly float glass, wavy (caused distortion), and silicone between the glass slabs had horrible fissures throughout. So I removed it.

As repaired, there will be a single layer of bracing, 1/2" -thick x 3.5"-wide polished starfire. I am presently attaching 3/4" x 3/4" strips of glass (starfire) along the upper portions of the walls of the tank with black silicone, and the wide bracing strips will then sit down on top and be bonded with black silicone. Thus, the 3/4" x 3/4" strips will fit in the corner/joint between the walls of the tank and the upper, 1/2" x 3.5" slabs of bracing glass. (I presently have installed the 3/4" x 3/4" strips along the front and rear walls of the tank; they are covered with blue tape in the photos below. The black you see on the ends is where I have pre-coated with silicone to get good, uniform appearance through the glass and avoid appearance of trapped air pockets.) In this way, the top bracing strips will be able to "grab" the walls of the tank directly in tension (acting through the corner strips) as well as in shear (acting along the upper edges of the walls, where the wide strips butt up against the edges of the walls).

I've gone to great lengths to get good clean lines along the silicone edges and minimize any spots where there are small air bubbles between the glass and the silicone.

Tank is currently in the garage, where it has sat -- never seen water -- since the day I brought it home.

Please send PM if interested.

 

[James G]

I wish it was only 6 foot!

 

[Kengar]

Let me break out the sawz-all.....

 

[Kengar]

What limits you? Are you local? If so, any other local folks you know of who might be interested?

 

[James G]

My limit is a wall and a window, major house reno or smaller tank? Wife says no to the reno, sorry! Get that sawz-all and the silicone! I will check my LFS and let you know if anyone is looking!

 

[10Seconds]

Hate to see that you are still having trouble after all this time. Good luck with sale

 

[Kengar]

Hate to see that you are still having trouble after all this time. Good luck with sale

Silicone work is a real PITA.......

 

[dh350twin]

Wish it was a peninsula. GLWS

 

[Kengar]

I've had inquiries re the seams and, as indicated above, questions as to why I would sell after all the work to fix. Here's my reply.

Re seams, while I was still under the impression that UPS had caused the chipping and was trying to work with CTC to fix (using Starfire), first they told me that I had voided warranty by removing the bracing:

"Hallo Kenneth,

You do not have any tempered glass.

If you bring and pick up from us it will coast $ 1,300 in Starphire or $950 in regular plate glass .

Please note that when you removed the bracing it released natural pressure , by doing this we can not offer

You any Warranty on your Aquarium.


Ps.If you bring the Aquarium to us it must be on the pallet that we provided."​

However, subsequently, they told me (phone call with owner Patrick after I started to lose my patience with them) that if I brought it back up to them for them to repair it (using the same poor techniques that result in the fissures throughout the bracing panels), they would, in fact, guarantee the tank. Here's the email I sent to them right after that call (but admittedly not referencing fact that he said he would, in fact, guarantee the tank if I brought it back for them to repair:

Patrick,



Thanks for taking the time to discuss the situation with me this afternoon.



Please provide quote to replace the bracing strips with starphire glass, as we discussed, with me dropping off and picking up in NJ. As indicated, I will forego having the holes put in as per the original configuration. This should allow the bracing to be somewhat narrower, as well as reduce cost by the amount to drill holes.



Thanks.​

So if they first tell me that the warranty is voided because I released pressure -- there was not pop or anything of the sort when I pulled off the bracing -- but then tell me that they will, in fact, warrant the tank if I let them re-brace it, well, I look at that and figure bu!!spit! He was just talking out of his asp! Additionally, I note that some manufactures I spoke to for quotes (even Reef Savvy, if I recall correctly) would have done a tank with the same length and width but just an inch or two shorter with no bracing at all. (I had it in my head that I wanted something to hit the 250-gallon mark, which is why I went with the height I did.) Given that, I was comfortable relying on the configuration I am using to rebrace, with corner strips of glass and the single panels just on top. (I would be dead meat if the thing were to rupture, and I tend to be cautious/risk-averse in general.)


As for why I would sell in favor of a Reef Savvy tank, good question and another one my wife wants to strangle me for even considering. (She's at the point where, when I suggested it, she responded with "I don't give a spit what you do with it; I just want it out of the garage so we can pull both cars in!!!!) Originally, I had ordered from Reef Savvy, but when the stated six months came and went with no tank, I got annoyed. Felix offered to eat the fee for crating if I stuck with the contract and accepted delivery a month late -- that is why I have so much more respect for him as a business person than the folks at CTC, whose attitude was "you signed off on it; it's UPS' fault, not ours; it's your problem to deal with") -- and I almost accepted that, but I was peeved at the delay and told him to just cancel the contract. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't. . . . . ..

Although the craftsmanship on the rest of the tank is fine, and although the job I am doing with the silicone work on the re-brace will, I think, turn out as good as any layman could hope for, at the end of the day Reef Savvy tanks do, in my view, have that something-extra beauty/pizzazz. Particularly with the armored seems, as I had originally ordered.

Additionally, there is a sense of being stuck with the child I didn't want given all the crap and disappointment I went through with CTC, and I think this is a large factor in my decision.

And finally, I am on the verge of landing a large client and am about to join a new firm, and it would be a treat to myself. My wife gets the new kitchen floor, I get the RS tank that was part of my original dream build.

I will be working on the tank more this weekend. I hope to have the bracing in place by next weekend, and I'll post pix when I've done so.

 

[Meldrath]

Wish you luck in your tank adventures. Hope you get everything sorted out, nothing worse then getting something you want, only to realize it wasn't really what you wanted. Trust me I know - got an elos 120xl and I hate the danged thing.

 

[Kengar]

how so re elos?

 

[Mari]

Try posting to WAMAS or CMAS