Jump to content

Where to go in Sydney for quality, affordable tanks?


Heavyd

Recommended Posts

I am contemplating building a rack system later this year, so began researching rack systems, plumbing etc.

I was wondering what people's experiences were in Sydney with the various tank builders?

Years ago St George aquariums had a good reputation, but they are gone now.

Since I have recently bought all-in-one aquariums or second hand conventional aquariums, I'm a bit out of touch with the good tank builders around.

Anyone care to share their experiences with quality of workmanship, time it took to build and prices? Incidentally I am probably looking at 3 or 4 foot tanks to divide with a sump system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah I've heard that Aquaristic make good tanks, just want to hear people's experiences with the different suppliers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you tried Aquascapedesign.com.au? Otherwise Aquaristic seems to be the popular choice at the moment or Abyss Aquariums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldnt go abyss. It took them 3 months to make a tank for me and by the end of it i said keep the deposit, i dont even want it anymore. My mates took over 2 months to make a standard 5ft tank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Robert. That's exactly the kind of feedback I am after. Emboli, Aquascape design I think are in Melbourne, so not very practical or affordable for me ordering a couple of tanks and sump from them.

I have rung a few places for quotes and they mention that it costs $30 for every hole drilled. I may have to drill my own I think.

Has anyone had any experience with M.S Aquariums in Moorebank? I know they are very cheap, but have heard rumours that they workmanship is a bit sloppy. Anyone with first hand experience?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Robert. That's exactly the kind of feedback I am after. Emboli' date=' Aquascape design I think are in Melbourne, so not very practical or affordable for me ordering a couple of tanks and sump from them.

I have rung a few places for quotes and they mention that it costs $30 for every hole drilled. I may have to drill my own I think.

Has anyone had any experience with M.S Aquariums in Moorebank? I know they are very cheap, but have heard rumours that they workmanship is a bit sloppy. Anyone with first hand experience?[/quote']

We have seen 2 tanks built by them and both tanks were sloppy as ... Silicon work was shocking

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"west side aquarium" in St Marys. This guy is a "no name" but has experience in large tank building. I had my latest tank (8x2x80cm tall) built, drilled, inc bulk heads... by him and had it brought up to Coffs Harbour. Bloody brilliant quality and cheap enough to be cheaper than any local builder inc the delivery 8hrs away!

worth giving him a call as he has plenty of glass pre cut and takes only a couple weeks to have it home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome. I'll give him a call for a quote during the week.

So it sounds like it may be better to give M.S aquariums a miss until I see their workmanship first hand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a tank made by ms aquarium. they are easy to work with but if you are after quality then i would steer clear. you get what you pay for. i forked out extra for a good silicon job (which was a good effort) but my aquaristics tank still has a better line. I think because you are doing a rack, quality doesnt matter. price does and if i had to build a rack id get my tanks made at ms aquarium. when i got my tank made i called in the morning and had it by midday. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY GETTING TANKS DRILLED AT $20 A POP! drive down the road to my house and ill do them for a slurpee.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have seen 2 tanks built by them and both tanks were sloppy as ... Silicon work was shocking

Garry, you and your misses actually came with me to pick up my 3ft x 2ft starfire. I didnt think it was half bad. Maybe youve forgotten

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a tank made by ms aquarium. they are easy to work with but if you are after quality then i would steer clear. you get what you pay for. i forked out extra for a good silicon job (which was a good effort) but my aquaristics tank still has a better line. I think because you are doing a rack' date=' quality doesnt matter. price does and if i had to build a rack id get my tanks made at ms aquarium. when i got my tank made i called in the morning and had it by midday. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY GETTING TANKS DRILLED AT $20 A POP! drive down the road to my house and ill do them for a slurpee.[/quote']

It's true what you're saying about it only being a rack system. The main thing for me I'd that it's good enough that it won't leak on me.

Appreciate the offer on drilling the holes. Will chat with you later in the year if I can make this happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you dont get stingy and degrade the size of the glass and go with what is recommended then im sure it wont leak or explode. my tank has been holding water for months without any issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Garry' date=' you and your misses actually came with me to pick up my 3ft x 2ft starfire. I didnt think it was half bad. Maybe youve forgotten[/quote']

Your tank was 1 of the ones I was talking about

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Just another thought. Why do people generally seem to go for a larger tank divided, rather than individual tanks of the same dimensions?

I.e. I'm thinking of getting a 60"x20"x20" tank divided in three sections of 20"x20"x20", whereas I could buy 3 20" cubes and place them side by side. Are there any advantages to the single large tank that i cant see? I'm thinking at least with the smaller tanks, it may be easier to disassemble and shift the rack system.

Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure I understand how it's less glass if you are using glass dividers in the larger tanks?

Edit: I get it. Common walls between the divides duh!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldnt go abyss. It took them 3 months to make a tank for me and by the end of it i said keep the deposit' date=' i dont even want it anymore. My mates took over 2 months to make a standard 5ft tank.[/quote']

I had a standard 4 ftr built with dividers and predrilled holes in them was about 3 weeks late but it only cost me $140 and i was happy with the work.

I didnt buy my last tank from tehm though as i dont like being told it will be ready at this time and then have to wait ages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the guys at ms made my 4 x18, more than welcome to come look at it the sump is from abyss so you can compare the quality if you want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the guys at ms made my 4 x18' date=' more than welcome to come look at it the sump is from abyss so you can compare the quality if you want.[/quote']

OR you could take some pics? Either way...LOL!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm long overdue for a visit Sam. I will have a look when I eventually make it over to yours :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

haha yeah. I probably should take some pics. only go t the phonew camera but getting a lens and tripod to see what I can do with it.

as for your visit, the bar fridge is in the shed and the beer is cold... still haven't had a celebratory drink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...