Perfecto/Marineland Tank Warranty

[tkeracer619]

Unfortunately acrylic isn't immune to seam separations or bracing failures but yes most people do go with acrylic when you start getting big.

[feersomen]

I'm curious if custom aquarium builder will be willing to offer such insurance payouts and protections should one of their aquariums leak. I'm sure leaks can and will happen on almost any aquarium. Will Reef Savy or any other custom fab plant be able to offer a lifetime warranty on aquarium and stand? What will their payout look like if you suffered such a lost?

Maybe since marineland produces aquariums in such high volume the changes of leak stories are more common than a cusom fab plant that may only do a several hundread tanks a year compared to marineland's output of thousands of aquariums.

[dkeller_nc]

This is just speculation, but considering the way that Reef Saavy builds tanks, I suspect that the reason one doesn't see posts about failures of their tanks isn't just that they're sold in much smaller volume than big producers like US Pet (Marineland, Perfecto, etc...).

Their tanks are built to be pretty bomb-proof; one of the clues to their design philosophy is their stated limitations on the water height in rimless tanks - 20" high on 48" long, 1/2 glass tanks, 24" high on up to 72" long tanks with 3/4" thick glass.

[davandwilk]

I had a 150 Deep Marineland tank and I caught mine before it let go. Mine was 3 years old.

I had my tank in a peninsula style so I can walk around the tank. I had noticed the seal in the back panel at the bottom had a bright spot (i have black silicone) when i looked down the glass pane. I had been watching it for a few weeks to see if it was getting bigger. Anyway I missed a few weeks and when I went to check it again there was less than 1/4" silicone by about 3 inches long holding on 1/2" glass at that spot. The tank was 30" high with no extra bracing at the bottom.

After draining and cleaning the tank I was able to peal the silicon off the glass in long strips. (By the way that not supposed to be possible). I ended up cutting the tank up. I thought about trying to reseal it but it ended up in the garbage.

This was 6 months ago. I ended up ordering a tank from Reef Savy. They are expensive but if I would have skipped on the cheap tank in the first place I wouldn't have to buy a second tank. I tell my wife that the tank might be expensive but im saving over 20 thousand in flooding damages to the house.

I couldn't imagine having that much salt water on my floor.

[skid99]

Mpek have you received anything from United Pet Group yet? My tank exploded on 3/31/15 and they offered to pay the clean up bill but after getting a copy of the invoice from my contractor for the damages they turned it over to their insurance and still haven't heard anything.

[Sk8r]

My tank has glass siliconed top and bottom, no rim, actually, just 5/8ths thick glass with access ports siliconned in the same way the bottom is: the canopy covers that part. I think it's probably strong enough to stand on.

[Mpek]

UPG is taking their sweet time in taking care of this. They forwarded my claim to their insurance company Liberty Mutual. Obviously, they don't think my house is worth how much it's going to cost to repair it so.... I'm going to give them one last opportunity before I restart the claim with my homeowners insurance. If that happens I'm hiring a Public Adjuster who is going to get everything he possibly can from my insurance. My insurance then will go through subrogation with Liberty Mutual which will end up costing them way more in court fees and retaining their lawyer. It's in their best interest to just pay out to me directly.

[Hal]

My Miracles tank has eurobracing on the inside at the bottom of each wall.

My Perfecto 150g center brace cracked on its own after a couple of years. After sending a few pics I got a new one under a warrantby claim. I'm selling it.

[Hal]

Originally Posted by Mpek

It's in their best interest to just pay out to me directly.

That assumes they have a brain and a conscious.

Sadly, most large companies have in house lawyers that they forget that they draw a salary. The companies tend to think of them as "free."

[Arcylon]

Mpek amd other Marineland victims, thank you for sharing your nightmare. Mpek, my situation is similar to yours. My 250 DD front seam at the base blew last week. My wife hears the Vortech's going crazy around 4am. 100 gallons has already lleaked from the tank. 1 weeks later and 40K in damages. Fortunately I was able to same my livestock and corals which are being fostered at my LFS for the time being. Glass sat on the Marineland stand which has been up since August of 2013. Crushing experience as my reef was ramping up. I have just submitted everything to marine land and now I am being taken down the insurance claim route. Good news for me as I understand quite well the insurance reinsurance capital markets world and how these products work as I've designed some myself. What I would like to ask you is how your experience was with Marineland's insurance appointed agent (Liberty Mutual is who they said they are insured by), did they come out to view your tank, if so did they take it with them? This thing stinks like crazy and I need to get rid of it and I think they expect me to keep it in the house where it is. Any insight and detail you can provide about your experience going through this process would be extremely appreciated. I'm one week in to the disaster....Regards FYI, I heard from a custom manufacturer that this was a common issue with Marineland's deep dimension tanks... I am surprised there's not a class action suit out yet. Do you think I would benefit to have my attorney involved, who I employ, so really would not be a big deal or cost to me.

[daveM100]

What I don't get is that if there are so many failures from their tanks why are people still buying them? Stop buying their tanks and I bet they fix this crap asap, money talks and if your company loses money they'd be on this. But still to this day I read about DD all over this site. *** people. I was even going to go with one until I researched and found tons of bad experiences.

Arcylon, if I had a lawyer at my disposal he/she would already be on this, someone needs to stop this crap.

[elegance coral]

Sorry. wrong post.

[dkeller_nc]

Originally Posted by daveM100

What I don't get is that if there are so many failures from their tanks why are people still buying them?

That might be a rhetorical question, but the answer is simple: Because they're cheap. Same reason folks buy Chinese-made knock-offs of Tunze stream pumps.

[davidfrances]

Originally Posted by Arcylon

Mpek amd other Marineland victims, thank you for sharing your nightmare. Mpek, my situation is similar to yours. My 250 DD front seam at the base blew last week. My wife hears the Vortech's going crazy around 4am. 100 gallons has already lleaked from the tank. 1 weeks later and 40K in damages. Fortunately I was able to same my livestock and corals which are being fostered at my LFS for the time being. Glass sat on the Marineland stand which has been up since August of 2013. Crushing experience as my reef was ramping up. I have just submitted everything to marine land and now I am being taken down the insurance claim route. Good news for me as I understand quite well the insurance reinsurance capital markets world and how these products work as I've designed some myself. What I would like to ask you is how your experience was with Marineland's insurance appointed agent (Liberty Mutual is who they said they are insured by), did they come out to view your tank, if so did they take it with them? This thing stinks like crazy and I need to get rid of it and I think they expect me to keep it in the house where it is. Any insight and detail you can provide about your experience going through this process would be extremely appreciated. I'm one week in to the disaster....Regards FYI, I heard from a custom manufacturer that this was a common issue with Marineland's deep dimension tanks... I am surprised there's not a class action suit out yet. Do you think I would benefit to have my attorney involved, who I employ, so really would not be a big deal or cost to me.

One of my two (2) Marineland 250 DD's burst a seam back in March of this year. In my experience, Marineland and their representatives were sympathetic, professional, polite and responsive, and my claims were completely satisfied. I wasn't happy it happened, but the folks over at Marineland took care of me.

Just my $0.02 worth.

[Mpek]

Arcylon: Liberty Mutual started giving me the run around and started talking about depreciation. They said that a home that is literally less than a year old has depreciated. It took them over a month to respond to approx. two dozen emails. So, I hired a Public Adjuster and am going through my home owners insurance. After the repairs are made my insurance is going to subrogate against Liberty Mutual and the LFS that installed the tank. After that is complete I'm going to then claim the Fish Tank, Fish and whatever else my insurance won't cover through MaineLand. It's been three months since the disaster and I'm still not made whole....I haven't gotten any form of payment yet and still have the tank in my great room with all of the fried electrical equipment, sand, and not so live liverock. They won't let me get rid of the tank yet but when they start the demo...it's going. My advice to you would be; If you have an attorney that works for you have him/her draft official letters for you to help get the process done quicker. I don't trust any insurance companies and you will never be made completely whole unless you sue them for the pain and suffering. Which, I should bc this is bull crap. I lost thousands in corals that took me years to aquire and my prized fish.

[Wryknow]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

Wonder who has more failures now. Glass Cages or Marineland?

I'm sure Marineland has more just based on volume. I have a couple of Glass Cages tanks myself that I've been very happy with. The nice part about GC is that you can upgrade to thicker glass for a higher safety factor - you're not stuck with whatever the factory is churning out. A lot of the Marineland glass just looks too thin for the tank sizes to me. I wonder what safety factor they use in production?

[Mpek]

It's not just the thickness of the glass. It does help to get more surface area siliconed together with thicker glass, but if a knuckle head is doing the sealing then you'll have the same issue I had. Whoever put my tank together didn't do it right and did it on a Monday or Friday. It seams like Marineland is not teaching their guys the proper way to put these tanks together since I've heard of this same issue many times. I'm going with a thick acrylic tank next time.

[usmc1812]

As long as you bought their stand you have a lifetime warranty. Had a 300dd leak. Luckily the stand was the Monterey so it was covered. Sent a new 300 and running fine now.

[SNAKEMANVET]

I have a brand new 180,would they give me my money back if I tell them I don't want to chance setting up and a seam blowing out.I have also thought about buying 1/2'' glass and making urobracing around the top and bottom.I have had the tank for 3 months waiting on getting things ready for install.

[davidfrances]

Originally Posted by SNAKEMANVET

I have a brand new 180,would they give me my money back if I tell them I don't want to chance setting up and a seam blowing out.I have also thought about buying 1/2'' glass and making urobracing around the top and bottom.I have had the tank for 3 months waiting on getting things ready for install.

Not sure I know what you are talking about when you write "...would they give me my money back if I tell them I don't want to chance setting up and a seam blowing out." I suppose you are assuming that all these tanks will fail and you don't want to chance it. I have no idea what percentage have failed, and the anecdotal information is meaningless without an understanding of how many of these tanks have been built - which no one has provided.

See if your Dealer will take the tank back. I would guess Marineland will tell you the same thing. Marineland will not buy your tank back. My guess is, that after 3 months, you're stuck with the tank unless you sell it privately.

As far as modifying the tank, I am certain that will void the warranty. I am not an engineer, and don't know if your proposed modifications will improve or impair the original design.

I do know that Marineland advised me that any modifications to the tank or stand would void the warranty. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[SNAKEMANVET]

I am sure marineland makes several thousand tanks a year,putting euro braceing on will only strengthen the tank.I know all big tanks no matter who builds them,always has a chance of blowing out a seam or cracking from stress.

[Sounds Fishy]

I wish they used thicker glass on their larger tanks.I purchased a Cornerflow 180 in Jan. of this year with one steel stand they built.After I filled it I noticed a blemish in the front,approx. one inch. It turned out to be a stress crack. I am glad it was an obvious location (front centre),because it really wasn't noticeable ,unless you looked for it.Even though it penetrated both sides of the pane it didn't leak,before I emptied it.The manager from the Lfs was excellent,and came over,and made arrangements to ship a new tank to my house,with Marineland.In the meantime I decided to upgrade to a 220XH,for a couple hundred dollars. 72 x 30 x 24 . I did not check the details but I assumed they would use something thicker than half inch,because of the 30 inch depth...however it's the same thickness as the 180 gal. Tank that cracked.It's been running since May.I just wish the glass was thicker.

[ReefMaverick]

Well well guess what....that Tank I've lost back in Dec 2013 (200DD Marineland) the replacement of it.....well it's leaking too....second tank.....lost everything again....plus the floor, Apex, Pump P/S and we also got an electrical fire !

[Vinny Kreyling]

BEFORE the tank is removed take plenty of pictures,and tell them before you do it.
Make them as clear as possible to avoid questions.

[Mpek]

Yup....that sounds about right. Marineland sucks pretty bad. Their insurance company Liberty Mutual also sucks. I had to hire an attorney to fight them. Still haven't gotten my money from the insurance company. It's been over a year now. Marineland....NEVER AGAIN!