Experience with large 300+ gallon tanks from Custom Aquariums or Coast to Coast

[Peter K]

Hi all,

We're in the market for a 350-500 gallon tank in the next few months and have narrowed it down to a few manufacturers, Coast to coast and custom aquariums. I am curious if anyone has experience with LARGE (350+) tanks from either of these manufacturers. I've heard nothing but amazing reviews about Coast to Coast but I'm still waiting to hear back about a quote for a 120x36x24 tank from them and am worried the price is going to put me off a little, whereas the price for custom aquariums in the same size is much more in that $3k-$5k budget for just the tank I'm looking to spend, but I have not personally heard of anyone having large tanks from them. Any thoughts / experiences you all have had will be greatly welcomed, thank you in advance!

 

[Maggie321]

I am following along because I need to know these things for future reference

 

[Albertan_Reef]

I’ve heard great reviews about both companies. Never personally owned either. Sorry for the original comment, thought it said concept aquariums.

 

[James Martz]

I have a 120”x30”x24” from Custom Aquariums. Set-up almost two years ago. Love it, wish I would have gone bigger. Build quality is awesome and delivery/packaging was fantastic.

I went with 4 of the H2Overlows and 4 Siphon Stoppers, 2 of the siphon stoppers would have worked out as well.

Did not go with their stands, too expensive, went with a custom steel stand.

 

[Peter K]

I have a 120”x30”x24” from Custom Aquariums. Set-up almost two years ago. Love it, wish I would have gone bigger. Build quality is awesome and delivery/packaging was fantastic.

I went with 4 of the H2Overlows and 4 Siphon Stoppers, 2 of the siphon stoppers would have worked out as well.

Did not go with their stands, too expensive, went with a custom steel stand.

That's super good to hear, how did they arrange shipping, if you don't mind me asking? I know on their website they list a bunch of shipping info for up to 96" long aquariums but could not find anything about tanks larger than that.

 

[James Martz]

I had it crated and delivered to my work by freight. Picked up a trailer, loaded it and had 4 friends help me move into house.

 

[Peter K]

Was yours 1/2" glass or did you upgrade the panels to something thicker?

 

[DangerDave]

I purchased a 160 gallon tank from C2C last year. It’s 1/2 inch glass, starfire front, the other 3 sides were painted since it’s an in wall aquarium. I went with a scupper box to maximize space. I ended up just under the low end of your budget. Worth every penny. The work was superb, and the customer service was too. I’d buy from them again. I am local to their shop, I picked my unit up.

Best of luck whichever route you go!

Dave

 

[Mark Gray]

I have not had any of the Above but I like TankmeUSA.com

 

[Peter K]

I purchased a 160 gallon tank from C2C last year. It’s 1/2 inch glass, starfire front, the other 3 sides were painted since it’s an in wall aquarium. I went with a scupper box to maximize space. I ended up just under the low end of your budget. Worth every penny. The work was superb, and the customer service was too. I’d buy from them again. I am local to their shop, I picked my unit up.

Best of luck whichever route you go!

Dave

This seems to be the theme with C2C, super super high quality tanks. We aren't all that far from them so we would pick the tank up as well. I should hear back from them this week and if the price isn't to to high I think I'll pull the trigger with them. This is going to be my final upgrade (Maybe) so I'm willing to spend more to get something that will last and I won't regret buying.

 

[lolgranny]

What made you narrow it down to those 2? Just curious as I’ve never got a quote from either when I got my tanks.

Good luck with everything large systems are much more fun and much easier imo.

 

[Fishfinder]

Did you quote tankme USA? Great person to work with and great quality

 

[Skep18]

I just received my 240gal (225gal after subtracting glass volume; 72"L x 30"H x 24"W) from Custom Aquariums.

Excellent company to deal with so far. Super professional, no question there. Somewhere in my conversation with their sales representative he mentioned their tech specialist was out of office doing a large installation at a university or something so I'm pretty confident they do plenty of large tanks.

They are definitely not just a couple of guys running a shop out of their garage. They seem to be a fully legit company if that was ever a doubt.

What definitely sold me was their advertised lifetime warranty. I asked them a ton of questions about this. They reassured me it was legit and they seemed intenional on honoring it if needed. The contract seemed air tight as I read it so I was skeptical. Almost felt like a long list of ways of getting out of payment. But in speaking to the rep (if I recall correctly) he said he'd only ever seen maybe one tank failure which the customer claimed warranty and didn't get it. Something about they had some proof he did something, I don't recall exactly. But while they don't see it often, I recall him saying they have honored replacement tanks in the past. All in all, I remember walking away with the impression they sounded like a transparent, honest company and it seemed they would do right by there customer if it seemed fair. I am personally OK with that. The tight contract language I chalked up to them being professional and, in some areas, making sure customers used their product in ways they felt important (legit stand, proper moving equipment, etc.)

Their packaging is just as legit. It arrived on a custom made pallet. Below is a photo where I removed the OBS board walls. It was delivered on a lift gate truck. The shipper used a pallet jack to move it from the street to my shop as didn't want the semi on my driveway.

Overall, I am definitely not disappointed. I am impressed with their attention to detail and technical expertise. They seem to approach things from an engineering point of view and explain everything as such to tell you why things were done. The sales rep mentioned a few key areas where they had learned from opportunities in the past and made product improvements where they deemed it appropriate.

I'll PM you the sales rep I dealt with. He's a super nice guy, very knowledgeable. They give quotes pretty quickly. In fact, I wanted to buy like the same day when I engaged with them. They sent me a quote right away with way too much stuff on it (all their packages) despite my asking for less. To correct it, I called them to try and move things along. They told me they just send out fully optioned and itemized quotes cuz they know people contact them pricing things out. They were quick to send an adjusted quote which I proceeded to pay.

They have a quote request feature on their site that makes it easy to request a custom quote from them. They also have a list of "standard" pricing for all their tank options and sizes along with a custom price calculator where you can build it all online, kinda like a car buying tool.

Again, just want to echo how pleasant my experience was. Lemme know if you have questions.

 

[Peter K]

What made you narrow it down to those 2? Just curious as I’ve never got a quote from either when I got my tanks.

Good luck with everything large systems are much more fun and much easier imo.

I know quite a few people with C2C tanks that absolutely love them and they aren't too far away so I wouldn't have to get the tank shipped, but I've seen some videos / testimonials on custom aquariums and I know they are a relatively new player to the scene but I'm a big fan of the aluminum bracing and I saw a 90 gallon by them in person and it was spotless.

 

[Peter K]

Did you quote tankme USA? Great person to work with and great quality

Just sent them an email! Thank you for the info.

 

[Swoody]

I’ve had my 255g CTC tank for a month now and the entire experience from quote request to delivery was top notch. The build quality is excellent and it was crated for delivery to withstand a bomb blast! Pat and Chris are great guys to work with. If I were doing another tank I would go straight to CTC.... I had like 5-6 different quote requests out when I was “shopping” my tank and ended up with them. I can only imagine the quality and detail would automatically carry over to any larger tank that they would build.

 

[lolgranny]

I know quite a few people with C2C tanks that absolutely love them and they aren't too far away so I wouldn't have to get the tank shipped, but I've seen some videos / testimonials on custom aquariums and I know they are a relatively new player to the scene but I'm a big fan of the aluminum bracing and I saw a 90 gallon by them in person and it was spotless.

Being local is definitely a plus. These things weigh a lot. You’re looking at 1000lbs plus so bring some muscle or movers. Just make sure if you use movers it’s 100% covered, not just “covered” because that’s vents on the dollar at most places.

I moved my AGE 400g in with 6 of my gym buddies. No stairs and straight shot. Was not easy. AGE sent mine crated from Texas , they have steel bracing and a acrylic bottom on the glass tanks. C2C does overflows for them. Lovely tanks just a FYI. Not trying to sell you on anything if you’re mind is set, just looking forward to a build

 

[ca1ore]

I know folks with tanks from both. I'd probably give the build quality edge to C2C; avoidance of sticker shock to CA. If you do go with CA, do yourself a favor and go with a proper ghost-style overflow. The H2O overflow are lame in my view.

 

[HolisticBear]

I ordered a C2C a few weeks ago, working with Chris was an absolute pleasure. I contacted a few LFS and custom tank builders, and C2C was the only party that was enjoyable to worth with.

The tank should be delivered in a few weeks, very excited.

 

[debby]

I have a custom 180 gallon from c2c. as others said, Chris was a dream to work with and the product is spectacular. I had it delivered to NYC by Manhattan Aquariums service co. Ask me anything you'd like.