acrylic tank bottom/front seam separating

F

fhmama

Registered Member
Jul 18, 2005
3
0
0
Hawaii
We have a brand new 100G acrylic tank, bought through a local store from Tenecor. One week after we put it online we noticed some cracking on the bottom of the front pane, about a foot from each rounded corner. Upon close examination it appears that the weld between the front and bottom panes is not very good at two places on the front. Is it possible to repair this by welding square acrylic to the front/bottom over the seam, and perhaps weld a flat piece of acrylic over the cracks? The cracks are not huge, maybe 2 or three inches long, but there are multiple cracks. I'm afraid warranty of the tank leaves much to be desired. Tenecor wants to look at the damage, but won't guarantee (even with all the pictures we've sent them) that they will warranty the tank 100%, and the cost to ship it back to them is more than 50% of the cost of the tank! :sad:

Anyway, please let us know if this seems like a repairable situation. If you need pictures let me know and I can figure something out.

Thanks in advance!
 
musky48in said:
Sorry to hear that. That is just bad customer service with a tank that you just bought.
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I agree,if those people want to stay in buisness I think they should warranty that tank 100% and include shipping.
 
Yes it's been really frustrating. I would dearly love to smack those people! :). Unfortunately most of the problem is that we live in Hawaii, and just shipping the tank back to them will cost us around $300. The dealer we bought the tank through is a good friend and has been on the phone with these guys almost every day. He even offered to pay the shipping back, if Tenecor would guarantee the tank warranty 100%, but they won't do it. :devil: They even tried to accuse us of not doing a good job on the stand. However, we already have a 240G and another 100G from these guys with no problems, and my husband has built all the stands himself, plus at least 14 other stands for our glass aquariums (and may I mention that the only broken tank we've ever had was when our oscar decided he was mad at us for putting him in a 20 gallon tank for 4 days and smacked a crack in his new 40 gallon tank!). So anyway, it's definitely defective material or workmanship but it looks like no joy in that area.

Ok, enough ranting. :) The guy we bought the tank through suggested that we try getting the tank repaired. I've never done that and neither has my husband with an acrylic tank (just glass). I've looked around online and it sounds doable, but we aren't sure exactly what we need. From what I've been reading, it sounds like it should be possible to use a similar approach as we've used to repair glass aquariums: glue a piece of acrylic over the cracked area. Is this the case? If so, what kind of glue should we use? Is there a recommended way to do the piece of acrylic? Should we use one long piece across the whole front of the tank, or two smaller pieces? Pleas let us know what you think.

Thanks in advance!
 
One week after we put it online we noticed some cracking on the bottom of the front pane, about a foot from each rounded corner.
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were you planning on selling it again? maybe you can find a buyer for it who needs a snake cage.
 
Ha ha ha, that's funny! Snakes are illegal in Hawaii, otherwise my husband would have a collection...and an iguana, and goodness only know what other kinds of reptiles.

We could keep tree frogs or the local chameleons in it, but they're running wild around our house anyway.

Unfortunately for us, the only option right now is to try and repair the damage. We have a small bottle of Weld-on #4, which I understand is used for this type of thing. I looked at chefkeith's link and there are some good articles there that will help us, so hopefully we can get this to work.
 
I feel your pain... :)

I just got a 60G SeaClear from Petland Kahala...
"Lifetime warranty"...
Read the fine print...
"Must ship to manufacturer in California..."
Even if CASCO decides to replace it, it would've costed the same just to buy it for the shipping to and from Hawaii!

doh

No living coral...
No taking live rock...
No snakes...
High shipping...

double doh!
 
what we talking about here $600? hire a lawyer. i will be next time i get waranty screwed. they probably shipped known inferior products to hawaii knowing it wouldn't be cost effective to ship it back. A registered letter from a lawyer would probably be all it would take. It probably still cost you $300 but you be more satisfied.

Either that or write up an official letter and cross ship it to BBB(bbb.org) and the company registered mail with pictures and "official" affadafit (sp) from someone stating the problem(nothing fancy, from the LFS guy/girl would work) might help to get a notary public to sign off on it also to make it more "official" probably cost you about $30-$50 all round.

a free way to do it is just goto bbb.org and file a complaint. wait about 3-5 weeks and company should contact you alot more willing to work with you.

Of course you could get a letter back saying the tank is fine. fill the bi*** up and sit all kinds of expensive stuff aorund it .. when it explodes you got a good law suit going probably. this probably not work btw, don't do it :)

sorry this is a sore spot for me. call me a whiny brat or an *** or whatever. I spent the first 25 yrs of my life bending like a reed and im tired of corporate america "servicing" me (reference to george carlin).

I'm tired of these "waranty only good during a blue moon" crap.
 
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