Buying a New Tank

[Europhyllia]

spin off to buying a used tank...

what kind of brands to the LFS carry. If somebody just wants the standard 210 or 220 RR tank with stand what brands would be acceptable? Any brands to stay away from?

Do the LFS have big tanks like that? Is it much cheaper to order direct from places like Glass Cages?

[corydrysdale]

I wanna say Texas Tropical had a Aqueon tank near the back of the store that was 215 Reef Ready with double overflows for around 600.00 It had the molded plastic trim and bracing but 2 months ago they were even throwing in the glass tops for it for free. With a bunch of manufacturers joining together I think the choices are quite limited. I just picked up secretweapon's 215 tank, and by what I can assern, its probably a aqueon.

[Neptune@gabesfish]

In the local area we only have All Glass,Aqueon,Oceanic ( all owned by Central Pet ),Perfecto,Deep Sea Aquatics ,And Ocean View.. all are good tanks but with all very different prices.. at the current time some are harder to get than others

[Europhyllia]

Okay so what are the price differences based on?
I am hoping this will be my last tank for a decade or so so I want to make a good decision.
It's not going to happen right away anyway: got to stock up on the extras I'll need for a bigger tank (more Vortechs, etc.)

[alton]

DSA is top of the line (the old custom division of Oceanic out of Dallas)
The others are next with ocean view towards the lower end. Most of our fish stores sell tanks at or near cost. Most of the tanks come from the same wholesaler in Schertz

[Europhyllia]

Alton,
besides the price what makes a tank top of the line versus lower end?
The bracing? The gla ss (it edited gla ss?! lol)

[Randy@pollyspets]

I still like oceanic and aqueon, the large tanks have a lifetime waranty with stand, and their reps stand by their products. They are also made in the us.

[Europhyllia]

my current tank has a glass brace. I see a lot of tanks now with what looks like plastic braces on top. Is that preferable? Or not as good?

[Big_Pun]

i say go brick, other option is euro bracing

[Europhyllia]

i say go brick, other option is euro bracing

are you going in half on that with me too? ;)
Was Euro bracing the little ledge that goes all around?