Waterbox Frag 165.6 not level, gap on 2 corner, customer support tell me it's "normal"?!?

[IceRain29]

So, I got a Brand New beautiful waterbox frag 165.6 from waterbox aquarium. Fully assembled and find out it has a big gap on almost all corner, I can slide the paper almost everywhere under the tank. The front right corner is the worst of the bunch, I can see a 2mm gap by my eyes if I look it sideway. Contact the customer support, they told me it should be fine to fill up the water, the foam will depress when I fill it up the water.
Sure I did, after one week, still got gap on 2 corner, I can slide the paper on front right and rear left, (I can still slide paper on the front left but not too much), yes it got better, but do I trust it? NO WAY!!! Especially the whole front panel is "floating" on waterbox and redsea design.
I told them I need a replacement, I can even drop it off to their warehouse and pick up the replacement tank so they can save the shipping (They have a warehouse in Toronto). They told me to submit a claim, sure I did.
Today I got a email back from the "Claim Department"
This is the Quote:
"The leveling mat and aquarium are perfectly fine as they are. Waterbox is not designed like a standard aquarium where the side panes of glass need to be supported by cabinet. As you can see this is the intended design - just like the front of the aquarium overhangs the cabinet to be flush with the cabinet doors. Yes, a standard aquarium would require full bottom support on vertical panes of glass - this is not the case for Waterbox design."

Wow, I guess it's a great design, the front panel can be floating in front of the stand, the corner do not need to be supported, 1/2" glass, no euro bracing, no armor seam. Pretty cool, I know how the support works.
check both of my miracle custom aquarium with the "Crappy" DIY wood stand I can't even slide the paper on the tip of the corner.
This is just a tip of the problems I found with the tank, have a bunch of the "smaller problems" Bad silicone job at the bottom, scratch on the front panel, missing O-ring on the manifold, missing one of the filter sock (they did sent it to me right away), and last night when I took the system off, I found out it's missing the sump divider!!!

I took the system off and put all my cycled water in 5 of the 32 gallon Brute Trash Can. Wife is so ANGERY at me right now and I'm exhausted right now, I just wanna say wow, better go with a custom aquarium if you can, forget about the look of the cabinet, I'm So disappointed right now, I think I make a big mistake. I should just order everything with Miracle this time.

I'll talk to Miracle as well, they are doing a custom in house build for my friend's 800 Gallon Build, and he's 2 mins away from my house, I'll show them the tank and ask for their opinion.

 

[Jeffcb]

The paper sliding in doesn't seem correct.

 

[blaxsun]

So can you pull the paper out and re-insert it on the corners? (that wasn’t clear from your video) The scratch sucks, but maybe it won’t be all that noticeable? I have a small one in my right corner but it’s entirely possible it happened during delivery and setup (along with a few small nicks in the black vinyl). Unless you’re running a bare bottom for the tank you may not notice the minor issues with silicone.

 

[IceRain29]

I can pull the paper out and re-insert it all day! Check Warranty 4
I'm running it bare bottom, the scratch was unnoticed when I received it it was almost invisible unless I put my hand behind it.
Better do a through out check up when you received the tank, I did took the video when I first received it but got too excited later on only did a walk around video after I unpack the tank.
tank has 2 marine pure block in the sump and rest is water there's no way I can scratch it with water, lesson learned, just video on everything carefully these days.
I'm more worry about the corner to be honest. I was a Red Sea Reefer 750xxl owner back in 2018, I guess you all know what that means. I thought waterbox will be better than red sea but i guess they are all the same.

Now I end up with an empty tank with an angary wife and 5 32 gallon brute trash can.

 

[Jeffcb]

I am not an expert but from what I understand all 4 corners should be supported.

 

[blaxsun]

My new tank is actually a Red Sea Reefer 750XXL, but it’s the v3 model and there are quite a few improvements, from the thicker glass, corner reinforcements, steel cabinet front lip and aluminum support.

The tank was thoroughly inspected at the LFS, prior to delivery, after delivery, after setup and after being filled. The few minor cosmetic issues aren’t really that big of a concern - I’m just ecstatic I could fine a reliable delivery company that wouldn’t fsck it up during the move.

I really wanted a CADE, but with what I saved I was able to fully automate everything with a Neptune setup, so...

I guess if Waterbox puts it in writing (even after seeing the video) that it’s not an issue, you should be good to go. No warranty for angry wives (otherwise we’d all be putting claims in ).

 

[Jeffcb]

Dose it have a self leveling pad the tank sits on?

 

[blaxsun]

Dose it have a self leveling pad the tank sits on?

I believe he mentioned it did, yes.

 

[HeyJay]

Seems like they didn't understand (or just ignored) the nature of your problem. They note the side panes don't need to be supported on the bottom, which is true, but that's clearly not your concern. Have you tried putting a straight edge on the stand? The issue might be there rather than the tank itself

 

[IceRain29]

Got a reply from waterbox:

"You can post - that is your choice. The responses you will get are not from experts or from an engineering team with decades of experience. Waterbox is not designed like most other aquariums so what is normal for other brands is not what would apply to Waterbox aquariums.



Your Waterbox is perfectly normal and how it is designed. If there was an actual issue we would be more than happy to tell you that and replace as we do not want you to have any issues with your aquarium long term - that would not be good for you or our brand. However, there is nothing concerning with your Waterbox. I would highly suggest filling it back up and reducing the stress on your wife with those trash cans being filled and sitting there.



Thank you"

This claim is officially closed.



Thank you

 

[IceRain29]

Great service and great company to deal with.
A waterbox is designed to hold the tank with 2 corner floating on top of the stand.

 

[IceRain29]

Dose it have a self leveling pad the tank sits on?

It does, it's actually under the tank, not like red sea which is on the stand.
It doesn't leveling up after a week sitting with water.
Will never deal with this company again, ever.
First time hearing someone told me it was normal with the corner of the tank not supported in my 11 years of reefing.
If you are thinking about purchasing anything over 100 gallon, go custom.

 

[HeyJay]

Honestly, I'd just ask them the simple question "Does the bottom panel of glass need to be uniformly supported?"

If they say yes, clearly you can reiterate that you have a problem. If they say no, well I'd love to hear what kind of magical glass they use to build their aquariums.

 

[Tonycass12]

I would make sure its not just the stand. The stand construction is complete garbage. I paid extra to get an upgraded black stand on my 55.2 and It is ikea quality at best. I could have built a stand that looked as nice for the same amount I spent. Had to re tap all the inserts for the leveling feet because they were over sprayed during paint and never cleaned out and 2 of the inserts had collapsed into the stand. I like the aquariums but waterbox lost any future sales with me ill never deal with them again.

 

[IceRain29]

I'm going to ask them right now

 

[IceRain29]

take a good look with the stand, the side panel is off a little bit, some gap here and there, a few of the internal panel that's black has some finish issue, but I don't think it should offset the corner by that much since it has a leveling mat. Wife is demanding me to just sell this piece of junk.
So sad the quality of the most of the quality has dropped by so much these days. I still remember my old reefer 450 was basically perfect in almost every way, sold it to my friend when I upgrade to 750xxl and his tank is still running like a champ, 5 years after I purchase it.
As a Chinese Canadian, I know how they work overseas, you get what you paid for, it's just the company here that want's to cut corner and do not want to pay for quality to make more profit.

 

[John734]

What did they say about the scratches? I know they won’t but they should just send you a new aquarium.
Their customer service is beyond horrible! I know firsthand I have two of their tanks. Never again

 

[IceRain29]

What did they say about the scratches? I know they won’t but they should just send you a new aquarium.
Their customer service is beyond horrible! I know firsthand I have two of their tanks. Never again

They said it's my problem since I missed it on delivery, but it's almost impossible to see and it's inside of the aquarium. There's no way I can scratch it... It's suppose to be a frag system, no sand no rock nothing, just 2 marine pure block in the sump.

The 4 doors never aligned btw, they told me it's "NORMAL", I'm kind of okay with it. Manifold is missing an O-Ring, they told me to use Teflon tape instead, I'm okay with that. Hose clamp does not have any pre drilled holes, so I measure and drill a hole and it doesn't even work, clamp was too thick on the base, I can't connect it to the union, have remove the clamp and patch the holes.

Their customer support is ignoring me now. I got the tank through a local dealer, I know him for a long time. I might have to talk to him about it......

 

[blaxsun]

I just checked my Red Sea Reefer 750XXL, and I can just barely insert a piece of paper between the bottom of the glass and the self-levelling mat along the edges and corners (maybe 0.125-0.375" at most). I don't think I could insert a sheet of paper in as far as you have on your corners, but as these are different manufacturers this should be used as a very loose reference (only). And when I say "barely", I mean I had to jiggle it back and forth to get it to slide even a bit in.

As others have mentioned, I'd really look at your stand. I don't have any experience with Waterbox stands, but I can't help but think that if you have some alignment issues with the doors that this might indicate a slight problem elsewhere in the stand (I could certainly be wrong).

It's unfortunate about the scratch (it obviously sucks to miss something), but I don't think Waterbox's policy re: not catching it on delivery and documenting it from the outset is going to vary substantially from other manufacturers. I don't know about your tank, but my Red Sea arrived packaged in a wooden crate on a pallet - and the stand was in pieces along the sides and bottom. The sump and various plumbing components were all in the tank itself. All things considered, with the faint 1/4" scratch on the bottom right corner (which you honestly can't see unless you put your face up to it) and the few minor nicks in the black vinyl (which can be easily covered with electrical tape) - I probably got off lightly. This could've happened during packaging. It's also entirely possible that these were caused during the move/setup when the tank was unwrapped.

My LFS just became a Waterbox dealer after my Red Sea went in, and in hindsight I was questioning if I made the better choice going with Red Sea. Reading about your experience has reinforced my decision. This isn't an endorsement of Red Sea as I know there are many aquarists that have had issues with certain tanks and stands.

 

[blaxsun]

What did they say about the scratches? I know they won’t but they should just send you a new aquarium.
Their customer service is beyond horrible! I know firsthand I have two of their tanks. Never again

Out of curiosity, what did you switch to? CADE? Red Sea? Something else entirely?