Anyone have a Glass Cage tank?

maginter · #1 12/28/2006, 12:30 PM

Hi All -

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

I have a question regarding Glass Cage. I am looking at replacing my Oceanic 65 with a Acrylic 90 to 110 gallon eurobraced tank. Has anyone had any experience with Glass Cage's standard available tanks? There prices are really good...Almost to good.

TIA,

Mark

kngfisher · #2 12/28/2006, 01:31 PM

I have a glasscages 90 acrylic and can say that it is ok for the price. If you can get past the attitude you get when you call them and the fact that they are in complete control over size and placement of overflow/bulkheads they they are ok to deal with. Inspect the tank on the truck BEFORE you sign for it. look the corners over cafefully, mine came with deep scratches most likely caused when they heated and bent the plexi around to for the front of the tank. No seams on the front corners, which is nice. Expect the top and bottom to have a black frame (see pic on their website). The top will not have a large lip which is nice. There will however be a center brace which is ok for my needs. I upgraded the overflow to black because I was going to use a black backing and wanted the overflow to disapear. If I were to order from them again I would fax them a design for the overflow to include dimentions and hope for the best. Yes, cheap price. Easy to get a 90 gal into my CRV with the help of my wife. Pickup was easy.....build quality...ok for the price.....have my tank running for 8 months and no leaks yet but other have had leaks......read and google other opinions re: glasscages.......some have ok experiences with them others well not so much. I was on a budget and my gamble (so far) worked out.....Can you afford a better tank? if not and you can ignore the aditude and poor communication then you can roll the dice. I was not willing to spend 600+ and rolled the dice....I also did not know much about glasscages back then.....If I know then what I know now, I would have just had a tank build by a club member but that was not an option 8 months ago.

jda · #3 12/28/2006, 02:21 PM

Some locals got a few a few years back. The stock tanks went OK. The custom jobs were a distaster, came in wrong and their customer service was terrible - the basically took no accountability to fix anything. I have never owned one, so just repeating.

SDguy · #4 12/28/2006, 02:30 PM

My tank (though a standard size had custome additions) came in fine. Love it. Great price.

manderx · #5 12/28/2006, 02:35 PM

i got a custom glass 36x36x20 trimless and it is ok. lots of bubbles in the seams, a few scratches (only really bad on the bottom), and a chip on the inside of a front seam (so it had to chip before they assembled it). i was worried at first about it being strong enough, but it seems perfectly fine. i am happy with it for the price, but i don't know if i would risk it again with another tank from them.

SDguy · #6 12/28/2006, 04:10 PM

Yikes! Bubbles in the silicone seams? And a chip in the glass? You did say glass, yes?

brad23 · #7 12/28/2006, 04:15 PM

I took a chance and ordered a 280g from them and I'll be getting it this Saturday so if I remember to look for this thread I'll update it.

on a side note a local LFS bought 15 or so 45g tanks from glass cages none had scratches and nothing leaks and they look good. They also ordered a 180g sump which looks ok to me.

Bebo77 · #8 01/01/2007, 10:54 PM

love them or hate them.. that seems to be the feeling i read on RC about them

bj32482 · #9 01/02/2007, 11:29 AM

had a 240 crack at the seam within 2 weeks of filling

jamison74 · #10 01/04/2007, 03:40 AM

got a 90 and a 240 from these guys im happy as a clam!

firewill65 · #11 01/08/2007, 02:52 PM

I'm sure its possible to get an ok standard size tank from them...but as soon as you want any thing customized, you are taking a gamble of it coming out wrong ,as my order did. The bottom line....you get what you pay for...if a few hundred bucks is keeping you from getting a quality tank somewhere else...slow down for a second and pay the extra money. We all want a good deal...but for something that we are going to have for a long time, why cut corners. Just my 2 cents.

tibbs2 · #12 01/08/2007, 03:38 PM

I second what firewill said. I've read a few stories about glasscages and one in particular where they screwed up a custom order and they wouldn't accept a return.

firewill65 · #13 01/08/2007, 04:35 PM

For all you guys that mentioned they had a warranty...Their customer service does indeed suck...they would never return emails or phone calls and I was a paying customer. I can't imagine if you did have a legit problem with your tank and had to make a warrany claim. I can only imagine some of the excuses they would give you, not to replace your tank...that is if they even responded to you. Has anyone ever had to place a warranty claim with them? I'm curious.

As for my experience with them...I placed an order with them for a custom 72x18x30 low iron glass with the overflow on one end, as this tank is going to be seen from 3 sides. I paid 100 bucks extra for them to deliver to orlando, which was the closest show listed on their site where they deliver to. Only 4 hours from Miami, where I live.
I drove up there only to find my tank with an overflow on both ends. I told the rep I drove all the way up there, what would they do for me as I was out of the money paid for gas and lodging. She asked me why i drove up there when they had a show in miami they deliver to. I told her it was not listed on their webpage and no one told me! She said for my troubles she will deliver take off the delivery charge and bring it down the next month. I agreed. Well I waited and contacted them as to when they were coming down...she said she had to wait and see if they had enough orders to even come down. So here I was, waiting all this time for something they werent even sure of. Customer service sucks. After being jerked around, I asked for a refund...which eventually arrived on my credit card.
They are trying to make alot of money by pumping out tanks as fast as they can...THE BOTTOME LINE IS THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU, THE CUSTOMER! THE ONLY THING THAT IS GOOD ABOUT THEM IS THEIR PRICE...BUT YOU ARE STILL ONLY GETTING WHAT YOU PAY FOR! GET OFF YOR WALLET AND BUY A BETTER TANK FROM A GOOD BUILDER...IT WILL PAY OFF IN THE LONG RUN!

Plato · #14 01/10/2007, 12:08 AM

If you have a toilet, put you money in it and jiggle the handel a little. After a gurgling noise, you can rest asure your money is in a safer place.

SDguy · #15 01/10/2007, 02:35 PM

I'm not sure what is with the hang up on tank warranties...

How does the warranty help you when 100+ gallons of salt water, corals, rocks, fish are on your living room floor?

kris101 · #16 01/10/2007, 02:46 PM

Wow I just ordered a 135 72x18x24 with the overflow on 1 side. Mine also will be a 3 sided tank. I am supposed to pick it up on the 20th. As far as talking to them I didnt have any problems and they repeated exactly what I asked for so fingers crossed.

I did pay by credit card for the protection

firewill65 · #17 01/10/2007, 06:58 PM

I think if they built the tank correctly, you will be happy with it. Might have to trim a little silicon but for the price, who cares! If they didnt jerk me around with my order, I could have been one of the happy customers as well. Good luck!

firewill65 · #18 01/10/2007, 07:01 PM

Kris,
Have any plans yet for your return line setup or a closed loop? I'll be getting the same size tank just 5inches higher. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to plumb it. Thanks

Will

bubbaOPPD · #19 01/10/2007, 08:20 PM

I got a 240gal 8'x2'x2' tank from them with 3 overflows and I love it I have had it running for 6 months now no problems the thing is built like a tank. It took over 4 guys to pick it up whereas my 220gal only took 2 people move.

kris101 · #20 01/11/2007, 08:52 AM

Firewill

I didnt do a closed loop on this one. I have 2 tunze's and that should give me plenty of flow.

As far as plumbing. I asked them to Drill two 1" holes and two 3/4" holes for the returns. It will take the whole 18" width of the tank and about 6" wide. I am keeping it simple. I plan on running my returns over the top of the tank to the middle and split it to 4 outlets

bigevill · #21 01/11/2007, 10:44 AM

I have had my 135 from them for 6 months, and while it is built like a brick house and sized correctly it scratches super easy. It already has tons of scratches from my mag float all over the front glass. Does anybody know if you can do anything about that?

drrich · #22 01/12/2007, 07:44 AM

IF YOU WANT STARFIRE GLASS, OR ANY GLASS WITH IMPROVED CLARITY, DO NOT USE GLASS CAGES!!!!

I ordered a custom tank which was supposed to utilize what they referred to as low iron glass on the front and side panels. Every site I see on the web shows that type of glass to be very clear, and have no greenish tinge; well mine does. I am not a glass expert, but can their "low iron glass" qualify if it has 21percent iron instead of 23 percent as normal glass does? (made up illustration). EMAILS UNANSWERED-- DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, PURCHASE ELSEWHERE. I WOULD BE GLAD TO POST PHOTOS OF THE TANK WHICH BY THE WAY, MUST STAY EMPTY FOR THE FIRST 30 DAYS OF THEIR 60 DAY WARRANTY!!!!

SOME SCAM.

Plato · #23 01/12/2007, 01:35 PM

Man I am so sorry, drrich. Yes I have heard others complainl of the same thing. They do not carry the PPG Starphire, they carry clear float glass, during the melting process, it is what is skimmed off the top of the batch mixture that is why it is called float glass or low iron, not no iron such as Starphire.

jda · #24 01/12/2007, 02:20 PM

The locals that got burned had to file complaints with thier CC companies before GC would even return their calls or talk to them.

kris101 · #25 01/12/2007, 02:27 PM

I just talked to them today and My tank is already built and ready to be picked up on the 20th.. I hope there are no problems with it. I am very glad I paid by CC