Custom Acrylic

[uryy4me]

I have ordered a custom acrylic tank and when I did so I was told it would take 6-8 weeks to construct. It has now been 8 weeks and I still have not heard that this has been completed. How do these sort of things normally play out (e.g. does it usually take this long, or longer?) and what is a reasonable amount of time to wait before really getting concerned?

Thanks

- scott -

 

[wade1]

Very much depends on who is making the tank. Many people that make them have real jobs and do it as a side venture. Call whomever it is (if you can find out) and talk to them, they'll let you know. If its a professional shop, they should be able to get it made in the time specified. If you are going through a LFS, then you need to talk to them directly and find out the contact for whoever is making it for them. Its not unusual to have custom tanks take twice as long as first thought though (glass or acrylic).

Its a very subjective thing though depending on who is making it.

Wade

 

[uryy4me]

The tank is being built by http://www.aquariumsforyou.com and initially quoted that it would take 6-8 weeks to construct. Back in May it was projected to be completed in mid June (right on target). The sales rep I have been communicating with has been out of the office on "jobs" for the last week or so so I have not been able to get an update beyond "its under construction"....he has indicated he will be back in the office tomorrow and will then give me a call with more info. I am getting a bit anxious and I do not know if it is founded (I hit the 8 week mark this friday)? I hope to hear tomorrow that it is completed so I can schedule a crew to unload the tank and get it in my house when it arives. If however I hear "its still under construction" or "it looks like its going to be a few more weeks"....got any advise?

Thanks

- scott -

p.s. at this point I suspect the primary reason for being anxious about this situation has to do with a Sept wedding I am hosting in my home and there is a great deal of construction, tank setup and cycling I would like to occur before then (or my wife to be will kill me).

- scott -

 

[fungia]

all the people who i custom order stuff are never on time it is very frustrating to me too. when you talk to him tomorrow i would make sure he knows you are in a big rush or else he may take forever. good luck my friend!

 

[t gallo]

scott auqariums for you made my tank and it took them about 9 weeks , so dont get freaked out and have some restrainte, i know it's hard and your'e probablly super excited but when it comes you will love it they do great work. also find out who the carrier will be , depending on your'e location they usually ship fed ex from there shop and then get a smaller carrier to deliver it to your;e home so you mite be waiting a littile longer.

 

[uryy4me]

Thanks for the feedback T..

I had a good feeling about the company and this is why I chose them. I am not at all "freaked" and did not mean to imply I was, rather I was just trying to levelset my expectations and reasonability and you have helped me with both .

I should have re-read my earlier post, it truly reflects more concern than is actually there (must have been reflective of the early morning chat I was involved in about the household disarray this is causing )

I am extremely happy to hear you are happy with your tank and I am sure I will be with mine.

 

[uryy4me]

Since I originally created this thread a month has passed and rather than write about how happy I am with my custom acrylic my tank still has not been shipped.

After my original post I was given a ship date of either 7/3 or 7/7 depending on if they could get it out the door before the holiday weekend.

When both of those day came and gone I was told it would ship on 7/11.

When I followed up on 7/14 to get the bill of lading to track the delivery I was told it had not shipped but would go out on 7/17.

When I called today (7/17) to get some the final specifications, weight and bill of lading faxed to me I was told it world be sent today and I sure hope this is the case! If not, tomorrow I will once again need to call and find out what is going on. If this occurs it will have been 12 weeks since my tank was ordered, not the 6-8 I was initially quoted and 3 quoted ship dates will have come and gone (not including the initial mid June quote).

So, back to the question I had when I started this thread, what is a reasonable amount of time to wait before really getting concerned?

- scott -

 

[t gallo]

scott, scott,scott, your in the final stages of where's my tank syndrome, dont worry because when the tank finally get's there you will of forgot all that nail biteing, late afternoon visions of your system up and running etc etc. plus if you call them and ask where's my tank, they will tell you it ships tommorow any way. i went thru the same thing with my tank it took about 9 weeks before i got it, but when it came the stress of waiting disapered.

 

[t gallo]

by the way, what did you end up ordering, size wise. what are you planning on keeping sps, what about pumps, lighting etc. have you thought a bout a chiller for the tank.

 

[uryy4me]

Tony,

I sure hope you are correct. My business is about 50/50 art/science and I know all about exceeding/missing and meeting deadlines so I am totally cool with slightly missed dates, provided the communication link is in place. To be at the point where things have reached or are nearing the point where construction is taking twice as long as estimated is uncool especially when communication about a completion date continues to be unreliable. So please don't belittle my concern.

My tank design is probably a bit more complex than others, but this was also known at the time an estimate was provided. Tank is 72x30x30, it will be an sps tank w/ 10kgph flow through it (2 closed loops + return from 200+g sump/fuge) w/ Tunze Streams to come later and really mess w/ the current. Every thing is pretty much in place to just drop the tank in, plumb it in and roll (bank of 20kk halides, rack of pc's for non primetime lighting, 350+lb lr/sugars sand cured/cycled the sump/fuge, no need for a chiller, generator in place if need be, UPS in planning stage, will need to run some extension cords until an electrical can run some more 20amp circuts for me (and hook the generator into the main panel)a 125g ready to be torn down w/ contents moved into this....all a well orchestrated plan less the tank)...I am ready to rock!....but no tank

I'm a reasonable guy, but how much is too much?

- scott -

 

[t gallo]

any luck have you heard from them yet.

 

[uryy4me]

This morning I was told it shipped yesterday and when I asked for the bill of lading or something to track the delivery I was sent a fax indicating it is being picked up by the freight carrier later today. So, I hope it is on its way, but still nothing to track the shipment with (or verify it has really been shipped).

 

[uryy4me]

Good news, the tank made its way onto a truck and should be delivered wed or thurs!

 

[uryy4me]

I ended up having no good way to get the tank off the back of a semi so I drove to the FedEx distribution center to pick it up (fit almost perfectly in the back of an Explorer). The guy I had lined up to bring the tank into the house bailed on me at the last minute. Thankfully my wife is not as completely tied to the internet as I am and she found The Aquarium Company in the good old yellow pages (duh didn't think to look there when I was looking for a tank builder either). These guys took care of getting the tank in w/ no problems. As an added bonus, I had tank builders unpacking my tank and checking out every aspect of it. The had good things to say about the construction of the tank as well as my design. There was 100% agreement that Aquariums For You had done a great job building this tank.

The design I threw at them was somewhat complex it had an external overflow that ran the width of the tank less 2 inches on each side an only ran 15 inches down (my plan is to slide the overflow into a wall and otherwise have the tank visible from 3 sides), the bottom of the tank had 8 1.5" drains returns in it that will be plumbed into 2 closed loops and the top had 4 1" returns drilled into for water to returning from the sump...they did however forget to round over 2 exposed corners however, once I mentioned this A4U was willing to come pick up the tank and correct the situation.

So, before I try to attach a picture (it may not work cuz it is pretty large?), I do want to suggest to folks looking for tank builders that there are great companies out there. When I first started looking for a builder I knew of Tenecor and ATM, for reasons I won't go into I obviously did not select either of them. I would recommend Aquariums For You and after seeing the portfolio of The Aquarium Company I would certainly have discussions with them about building a tank for me as well.

So, lets see if I can upload a picture (it is large) and then I have to try to locate an electrician to hook up a sub panel for me


...oh well, picture is too big, I'll shrink it and post later

 

[t gallo]

post some pics would you, ive been listening to you ***** and moan about the tank for two weeks and now you cant shrink a picture, you must be kidding me.

 

[uryy4me]

The photo editor (paint ) on my work PC is corrupt I can't reduce the pic so I'll have to do it from home but the the wife has a deck sander waiting for me so it could be a while

...I do have another idea, if it works you'll see something sooner

 

[uryy4me]

this tends to loose quality in the translation from jpeg to gif, but at least it is a picture

 

[uryy4me]

this tends to loose quality in the translation from jpeg to gif, but at least it is a picture

oops, sorry about the double post

 

[Anonymous]

good thing you didnt order it from Aquanetics. we still ahve things from last year we are working on :wink:

 

[t gallo]

sweet ,sweet,sweet tank. man now the real fun begin's, pluming, cutting , glueing, sheetrocking, filling it with water and finding a spot you forgot to glue :lol: . really good luck and post some pics behind were all those hose's will go, sump room please, more pics more pics.