hcp28,

I beleive the name of the maple leaf fish is Acer sacarum 'canadensis'. [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Ryan

I would love to see your tank in person!!!
Where in La are you?

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Bert

Hi Baxter ~

I'm about 30 minutes away from you. The tank is still in our garage covered with a sheet. You are welcome to come by and see it.

Send me an e-mail.

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

P.S. - Oops! Almost forgot. Welcome to Reefland! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

I would have water in that bad boy by now!

Marty

Ninong,

Are you building a stand for the tank, or did you buy one?

[This message has been edited by JG (edited 02-16-2001).]

JG ~

I answered this question a couple of hours ago on page 4 as follows:

My "stand" is already built. Actually it's a built-in china/buffet-hutch that is being converted for use as an aquarium stand.

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]



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Irrational Exuberance!

Ah, I didn't see that [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Ninong, your gonna love the HQI's. I think after the first 10 hours they're intesity increases because when I intialy fired them up, I was a little dissapointed with the output. But 10-20 hours later they seem a hell of a lot more intense. Light is a white, with a hint of blue (doesn't look like 12k's at all)

My InterAmerican 225/230 (they advertise it as a 230) came today and I must say that I am very pleased with it. The glass is very clear, the dimensions are right, the bulkheads are right, the overflows are correct, and the perimeter bracing is very nice.

The tank is 1/2 inch on all sides and the bottom is 5/8 inch. All sides actually look like they are the starphire glass-it is very clear (but I am yet to have it in very good light). The seems are alligned well (not absolutely perfect). The perimeter bracing is with 4 1/2 inch wide 3/4 inch glass along the entire front and back of the tank. The sides have 2 inch wide 3/4 inch bracing. The overflows are made with 5/8 inch glass. There are no center braces. There is no excess silicone.

There are only a few things that aren't perfect. The overflows could be "prettier", however, they look like they are going to work great. The seems are good, but not perfect. I can easily live with these.

The tank was crated with another custom 180 tank and my 50 gallon refugium that they made. There is nothing special about my 50 gallon refugium, but then again, I didn't ask for anything special about it.

Shipment went very well. I was able to track it online and I think it took 9 days. It was held up for a couple days at the Canadian/USA border. The tank was not very dirty when it arrived, unlike Ninong when he finally received his.

Am I happy with the tank? HECK yeah [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] !! Is it absolutely perfect? No, but pretty close. Would I have done anything differently? Probably not. Would I recommend them? Yes, indeed.

The thing to remember is this is different than just going to the LFS and picking up what you see. You need to know what you want, tell them what you want, track the package, and plan on getting the tank from the shipping station to your house (unless the LFS does all this for you). Lastly, there is a bit more peace of mind buying a tank off the showroom floor that is made by a company that really backs their product (Oceanic and AGA seem to have a very good track record here). I do not know what the track record is for InterAmerican, but then again, I can buy 2 and 1/2 of their tanks for the price of the Oceanic, and to me, that is one heck of an insurance "policy".

[This message has been edited by outerbank (edited 02-17-2001).]

[This message has been edited by outerbank (edited 02-17-2001).]

Outerbank, glad to read you are satisfied with your tank. I ordered mine this week, 60x24x27 same specs as Ninong's. When you talk about the overflows are you refereing to the egg crate that is used? I can see where you are coming from, it is diffrent from what we are acustom to seeing in overflow slots.
As far as peace of mind, I think it all washes out. AGA and Oceanic have problems, no one is perfect. Inter-American's warranty is 5 years I beleive, Oceanic's is 90 days if its not on there stand and I am unsure of AGA. I just hope that we will all be pleased years down the road with our decesions now, and wish us all the best of luck in our hobby.
How about some pictures of the new tank [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Paul C
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Einstein

[This message has been edited by Ltspd (edited 02-17-2001).]

Hi Outerbank ~

Glad your tank made it OK and that you are happy with it. Sounds like you have what Oceanic calls a "trimless" tank, and what they charge a LOT more for. Looks like he manages to go 30"H with the 12mm Starphire by using 19mm thick 4.5" wide top bracing front & back, plus 2" top bracing on the ends. Since your overflows are 19mm, I wonder if your back wall is also 19mm? What is your bottom, 19mm or 24mm?

That must have been one gigantic crate if it had your 225g, plus the store's 180g, plus your 50g refugium, all in one box.

Good luck with your new tank! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]



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Irrational Exuberance!

Hi Ninong,
I remeasured everything this morning. The overflows are actually 5/8 inch and the bottom seems that size as well. I haven't heard of InterAmerican tanks failing. The bottom will sit on an entire sheet of plywood.

The perimeter/"trimless" bracing is with the standard greenish tint 3/4 inch glass. The tank looks very solid with the thick 3/4 inch perimeter bracing. It also has the black trim on it. The back is 1/2 inch glass.

Ltspd, I am refering to the eggcrate top on the overflows. Otherwise, the overflows are actually 5/8 inch glass, 8 by 8 inch boxes with 1 and 1/2 inch bulkheads. If you order perimeter bracing, wouldn't go smaller than 8 by 8 if you are going to put in the durso overflows with 1 and 1/2 inch bulkheads or larger. Anything smaller would make it difficult to place the durso fittings. Anyway, you can make more room by pulling off the eggcrate and then siliconing the eggcrate back on. The eggcrate does look like it will provide more flow than glass or plastic "teeth". There is also a plus to the eggcrate top. You can easily modify it based on your water flow. My friend with the custom 400 gallon oceanic tank was here yesterday and he really likes my tank. He had a problem with his center overflow on that tank. His overflow is beautiful, but it can't come close to meeting the flow he needs. He had to do some creative modifications.

Ltspd, I am sure you will be very happy with your tank. If you need to know how to track it, just e-mail me. Basically, I did a search on the internet for "canadian+freightways" and it was one of the top three choices (sorry, I don't have the website right now and I am not a computer brain). Then you just follow the site and enter your PRO number.


Scott [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]



[This message has been edited by outerbank (edited 02-17-2001).]

Oh yeah, the crate was pretty huge!! [img]/ubb/lol.gif[/img] It weighed about 1200 pounds. [img]/ubb/lol.gif[/img] The 180 gallon was a custom made tank for another customer and it was a short but tall (52 inches!) tank. The tall tank was 3/4 inch glass.

Scott

Originally posted by outerbank:
Oh yeah, the crate was pretty huge!! [img]/ubb/lol.gif[/img] It weighed about 1200 pounds. [img]/ubb/lol.gif[/img] The 180 gallon was a custom made tank for another customer and it was a short but tall (52 inches!) tank. The tall tank was 3/4 inch glass.

Scott

Good grief!!! A 180-gal tank that is 52" tall??? What's he going to keep? Jellyfish????

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]



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Irrational Exuberance!

Moved to Tanks, Filtration & Basic Equipment forum.

Ninong,
Doesn't InterAmerican have a plant in Montana? Do you know if they also make the Starphire tanks there?

Also, does anyone know of the web site for FAMA?

Originally posted by Salt Creep:
Ninong,
Doesn't InterAmerican have a plant in Montana?

I don't know.

Also, does anyone know of the web site for FAMA?

I don't believe they have a website because their e-mail addy is famamag@aol.com

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]


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Irrational Exuberance!

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Sicks munce Ago
I coodn't evin
spel gradjuwat
And now i Are One