choice of tanks

I had just nipped out the room to collect my camera to take a snap of my recent grand efforts in setting up a planted tank, which had finally after a couple months reached a good water balance, plants were finally starting to flourish, first batch of fish thriving (a shoal of 35 cardinals) and the ever breeding B/n plecos, when I noticed a stream of water rapidly running over the tiles, it was not there minutes earlier… I checked the canister and the Co2, all was well. Then I suddenly noticed my worst nightmare.. the corner side of the tank was spurting out water, Titanic style, not great for a relaxing Sunday or a book shelf filled to the brim and music sytem, just a foot away. Yea, it was not the snap shot I had envisaged !

Enough waffle – the nightmare could have been much worse and the leak was quickly stopped by dropping the level and more importantly before the domestic hierarchy returned to witness the chaos and expel any further ideas of still trying to keep a fish tank in the lounge!

Finally my question, I now need to urgently replace/ugrade the old tank, 450lts, which I should have done in the first place. I am keen to purchase one of those tank/cabinet combinations. I see there are several brands available – Jebo, AquaH2O, Boyu to name some of the Chinese imports, which I gather can burst and then the more expensive European makes such as Juwel. I note the lighting set ups they come with are very under par for a planted tank, somewhere close to 1wt per Gl, so any suggestions on how and which of these brand canopies can be adapted/modified to take my T5 lights would be most welcome ?

I have recently also purchased a Fluval FX5 canister so would be keen to continue using this and possibly remove the filters that most of these brands provide in the canopy and so I can create more space for lights. I am looking at a 500 to 800lt tank (1.5 - 1.8m) and would be grateful for any advice or thoughts on my options ? Before my tank splits further, heavens it could be in the early hours of the morning, I need to get this sorted asp.

 

Hi Trevor...

I've been there.. done that. My chinese import 160litre burst in my lounge... carpets soaked, wooden furniture damaged.I was lucky enough that my insuraance covered me, and replaced the furniture, as well as a brand spanking new tank.

My advice is go for the biggest that will fit your wallet, (and wife's agreement), but balance it out with quality. I beleive the Jewuls are fairly good. I was given a Jebo by the insurance. The nice thing about the Jebo is that they have done away with that internal filter, and replaced it with another light.

Don't stress too much about the lighting... that's my honest opinion. The new all-in-one tanks will cater for you. I personally do not see you going an extremely high tech with regards to the planted route... and with the correct fertilizing (get this from the Prof), and reasonably light, I do not see whay you cannot grow plants. I'll update my thread this weekend coming and show you what I mean. I have a standard Jebo 4 ft tank, no modifications to the lighting, and my plants are growing very well. I even have hair grass, which is supposedly classified as a difficult plant to grow, growing!

i didn't modifiy the lighting, I just changed the tubes to higher output, better rated globes!

 

Yer, I would also say go for a Jebo or Buyo. I have found their quality to look the best of the Japanese bunch, and the only ones who do LARGE tanks over 1.5m!

The Juwels are by far the best all in one in terms of build quality, but at a cost! The other issue is that they are limited in size to a max of 400L in the 'Rio' range, and 450L in the Vision range. The best price I've seen the Vision 450 for was R12,000 if I remember correctly, where as teh equivelent Boyu would be around R6000 - R7000!

Another to try would be 'Aqua Best' which I'll PM you details of where they are available in Cape Town! I have a 315L corner tank, and it has been no trouble, apart from when I accidently cracked the bracing with some wood! But that was my fault, and not the tanks!

Regards
G!

 

Yea many thanks Bob & Big G for your wisdom, the general advice I seem to be getting from a couple of sources is to go with Boyu or Jebo on the Chinese front and Juwel if you have the bucks. I would still be keen to utilise all the various T5 tubes and ballasts I recently obtained, but had not yet installed, so I need to do a thorough investigation of the various canopy makes to see how they can be adapted.

Zoom, would be keen to hear which make of tank kept your insurance company busy, so I do not go down the same path or torrent. Perhaps this is PM stuff.

Look forward to getting a PM on Best Aqua..

 

They same happened to me but I consider you lucky because it was small compared to mine.

At 4 o' clock in the morning the whole back of my 3ft tall broke. Was such a mission.

Regards
Peter

 

Even if you did not suport Spain, there is no way you should take it out on your poor fishies !

Anyway my condolences.. and the name of your insurance company and tank make was...
(pm me)

 

I think it was my mothers fault why the tank broke because she insisted to have the tank on two cabinets exactly the same but it think it was ever so slightly uneven but tried to convince my mother in a very pressurized argument but so she got me by saying she bought the tank and so hoping hoping that it would be okay and quite a bit a of pressure from my mother and with the prolonged exposure it cracked under pressure ( no pun intended )

Regards
Peter

Peter

 

Hi Trevor.

I wouldn't worry about giving you the name of the tank that broke. From my investigations after it happened, this brand tank was only imported by this certain LPS... (which they still import), but they not anywhere near CT.

And the insurance that pad out was the "green" one. They found a "loophole" in the contract. I have coverate for accidental glass damage. Although this generally refers to window glazing, tvs and computer screens, because the fish tank is ot specifically excluded, they covered it for me. It really was just an attempt when it happened. I was not expecting cover... but a member on TASA recommended me to give it a try.

I was hoping they would pay me out cash, and then get my own tank custom made... but the insurance company work on the principle that if it is over a certain value, they will replace the item and not the rand value.

 

Thanks Zoom, it seems we are perhaps hitting on an important topic for all aquarists. To check up and make sure your aquarium and the potential damage it can cause is covered in your house hold insurance policy, should the unthinkable ever happen!
If you can get insurance for a leaking greaser then surely we can get cover for our aquariums and at a reasonable premium. I’m certainly adding mine now. Anyway I'm sure this has been discussed in a previous forum or thread before my time.

 

I'm with the same 'Green' company, and I tried to claim, but was told where to go! And I don't mean 'where to go' in the helpful sense!

They said that accidental damage wasn't covered! Maybe they would have covered it if I'd said it was deliberate? I mean come on?? Who needs insurance if you are not insuring against accidental damage??

Anthow, I'm not very happy with this particular company, and will probably shop around next year!?

Regards
G!