Should I be taking this tank back?

[bert236]

I'll upload a pic of my aqueon tank later, to show you how it looks full.

Thanks man I appreciate it.

 

[Gtinnel]

I'll upload a pic of my aqueon tank later, to show you how it looks full.

My 125 tank looks the same on that vertical seam, although I don't have as big of a glob of silicone on the top though. I believe mine was made by Marineland, but I'm not positive since I bought it used.

My worry would not be so much about ascetics my worry would be once you have to clean the glass with a mag float or tunze mag and lifting the silicone from the glass and ruining the integrity of the seam, and ending up 8 or 9 months down the road with a leaky tank.

That is something I have to be mindful of when cleaning the glass on my tank. My wife was cleaning the glass for me one day and did scrape up the silicone a little bit, I guess luckily it still has 3/4 of an inch before it makes it to the seam LOL.

 

[bert236]

My worry would not be so much about ascetics my worry would be once you have to clean the glass with a mag float or tunze mag and lifting the silicone from the glass and ruining the integrity of the seam, and ending up 8 or 9 months down the road with a leaky tank.

Never thought of that, good point.

 

[bert236]

Let me throw this out there, humorously... If you invite your neighbor over to see your sparkling water, sand, rock, fish, and corals— and he’s looking at your vertical silicone seams— you’ve done something wrong! Lol!!

Ya lol that was my first thought to. I doubt 99% of people would notice once it’s full and has livestock. I just don’t want it to be ugly because I know it’s there. Also someone mentioned it may peel while cleaning so that’s another consideration. Gonna head to the lfs soon just finishing up a few things around the house quick. I’ll update this with what ever happens.

 

[tehmadreefer]

It’s an aqueon. Cheap mass produced Petco tanks

 

[Cell]

Aqueon tanks always have sloppy, excess silicone. You get what you pay for.

 

[bert236]

Aqueon tanks always have sloppy, excess silicone. You get what you pay for.

Other than going custom what do you buy? I have seen this attitude here a lot but in literally every other industry this would be unacceptable quality. Marine land, Aqueon and Seapora all seem to have this issue on some tanks and those are the only 3 I can buy or even find without going custom. I have also seen plenty of good ones from all of those brands so I figured it should be fine. I didn’t want to buy a full setup like water box or Red Sea because of the price but it shouldn’t be premium quality at premium prices or bad quality for normal prices. There seems to be nothing between.

 

[JumboShrimp]

When it come to algae-scraping, I try to ‘baby’ my seams. As someone hinted at, whether your tank cost $10, $100, or $1,000, you should stop your scraper “at” the silicone seam and not past it. It’s simply the best practice, long-term.

Let us all know how it works out for you. Best wishes!

 

[bert236]

When it come to algae-scraping, I try to ‘baby’ my seams. As someone hinted at, whether your tank cost $10, $100, or $1,000, you should stop your scraper “at” the silicone seam and not past it. It’s simply the best practice, long-term.

Let us all know how it works out for you. Best wishes!

As a noob I had never even considered that so thank you and everyone else for that tip because I wouldn’t have realized until I did it lol.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This cant have possibly passed inspection at their facility, but nevertheless unacceptable and warrants an exchange

 

[bert236]

This cant have possibly passed inspection at their facility, but nevertheless unacceptable and warrants an exchange

That was my thought. I knew they weren’t the best but this seems excessive. Some of the seam are fine wide because they taper flat nice but some are thick at the edge still and one has bubbling luckily not as the seam. Just don’t want to start off my first tank with something I’m going to regret when it’s full.

 

[Oldsman]

Nows the best time to consider an exchange, but sounds its the norm nowadays.
We had siding and gutters done on house this year...you would be agast at the silicone globs used around the gutters. Guess thats why material costs were higher lol

 

[bert236]

Nows the best time to consider an exchange, but sounds its the norm nowadays.
We had siding and gutters done on house this year...you would be agast at the silicone globs used around the gutters. Guess thats why material costs were higher lol

Ya coming from a construction/painting background bad silicone/caulking always bugs me. I sucked at first but it’s not hard to figure it out and do it halfway decent if your not rushing. lol that would make sense.

 

[bert236]

The lfs is going to send some pictures to the distributor and see what they say. Main thing is just to get their opinion on the seal and if they did it right but it looks fine to me that way just to much silicone. Worst part is I was having to wait until mid next week for a couple things to show up to start the tank but they all are showing up today now. Getting the patience lesson before even having water in the tank lol. Thank you to everyone who replied I appreciate the feed back especially the tip about watching out for it while cleaning. Hopefully my next update is my build thread finally. Can’t wait to get my first tank going.

 

[Tamberav]

Bought an aqueon 65 gal yesterday. Wasn’t able to unload it until late last night but I noticed the silicone visually looks like dog food. The silicone looks like a mess at 3/8 of the corners and both panes that could be the front have super wide silicone down them that looks brutal. Should I be taking this back or am I going to be stuck with this as I’m sure with the amount of silicone on there it won’t leak.View attachment 2325445View attachment 2325443

They all pretty much look like that

 

[Tamberav]

Other than going custom what do you buy? I have seen this attitude here a lot but in literally every other industry this would be unacceptable quality. Marine land, Aqueon and Seapora all seem to have this issue on some tanks and those are the only 3 I can buy or even find without going custom. I have also seen plenty of good ones from all of those brands so I figured it should be fine. I didn’t want to buy a full setup like water box or Red Sea because of the price but it shouldn’t be premium quality at premium prices or bad quality for normal prices. There seems to be nothing between.

My seapora is no where even close to as sloppy as Aqueon. It is a rimless version though.

 

[Cell]

When I've purchased Aqueon in the past, I shopped around and checked many different units of the same tank to find the best looking, least sloppy silicone job. RS, IM, WB, and Fiji are your mid-tier options. Planet and Cade are probably a step up from that and then custom.

 

[bert236]

When I've purchased Aqueon in the past, I shopped around and checked many different units of the same tank to find the best looking, least sloppy silicone job. RS, IM, WB, and Fiji are your mid-tier options. Planet and Cade are probably a step up from that and then custom.

it had to be ordered in or I would have done that for sure. Small lfs and nothing else really within an hour of me.

Can you really call those mid tier though? IM I can see an argument sort of but to go with anything of decent size you are $2000+ CAD before lighting it. Don’t know anything about Fiji I’ll admit, haven’t seen them around here or any of the stores I have checked online. My 65 gal tank and stand were $500 Canadian, hob filter around $100 and at that point it’s similar to what you get with an aio setup. The Red Sea nanos are twice that price or more, water box is about double the price for something a little bigger than the rs nanos and IM costs a little more for a more cube shaped 40 gallon so still not big and that doesn’t include the stand. I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining here because I’m not it just seems so weird there is nothing in the middle.

I guess it comes down to the fact the vast majority of people owing a tank is a low budget freshwater tank so that’s what the majority of the cheap ones are made for. Reefing is a niche hobby inside of an uncommon hobby so I guess they have to charge more for their stuff to stay afloat and keep making newer products. Hopefully some people like brs will really make this space bigger in the coming years because in theory prices should come down the more people that are buying the product if they can keep up demand.

 

[G Santana]

I have an old 130 gallon and the silicone looks like it was finger painted on. But 34 years later it's holding strong lol

 

[Cell]

If you are on a budget but want to avoid Aqueon and equivalents, consider AIO tanks. You have to remember the mid tier tanks will come with overflow boxes, some degree of plumbing, and other accessories that you will have to purchase separately with a non-drilled Aqueon tank. You are getting so much more than just a standard glass box. Plumbing for a 50G tank can run upwards of $1k depending on how elaborate and clean you want to make it.