Are large bow front tanks bad?

[little fishes]

I found a great deal on a three year old oceanic RR 175 gallon bow front tank. However- since I am looking for a new tank because my 155g acrylic cracked, I do not want to buy a tank that is likely to give me problems again. Soooo... I am looking for input on & experiances with these tanks. I have heard that they fail more frequently then some. Is this true? If so, what exactly was the problem? Was this a problem only for tanks built at a certain time, or for all of them? And finally- the bottom line- is this a tank to stay away from or is it recomended? Thanks in advance for your input.
Cheers,
Tracy

 

[PickledFish]

Tracy, Hope everything works out for ya! Its too bad that ur IAP 155g cracked. Let me know whehn your ready to move inhabitants!

Good Luck,

Kurt

 

[CarlaW]

IMO, buying used tanks is always a gamble, because you never know what the person used them for. Was there copper in this tank????
Sorry to hear about your tank, that's a bummer.

 

[burning2nd]

IMO, curves= harder to clean

just thinking about it, its enought to clean a flat peace of glass, but to clean a peace of glass that has a curve to it, has to be harder

 

[twilliard]

amen to that! curves suck for cleaning.

 

[little fishes]

Thanks everyone for the input- I can see why it would be harder to clean. It was used as a reef tank (they said no copper). What about the issues you hear about with bowfront tanks leaking/failing? Is this really a concern? For the price I can deal with figuring out how to clean it but I dont want to deal with another tank failing and having to move it all again.
Cheers,
Tracy

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Lets get real here, the amount of curve on a large bowfront is neglegable and one direction. Meaning no real difference in cleaning. As to leakage, not heard of any trend. Most that I hear blow out or fail are custom made flat front acrylics. OMHO

 

[burning2nd]

all i can say, is take a peace of papper, role it up in to a tube, (tape it good) place a heavy opject on top and ballance it, (brick) then take the brick off and dent the roled up tube of papper, and place the brick back on it.


I have no experince with bow face tank's but i do have experince with brick and papper tube's

the consept has to be almost the same

 

[ronj]

i have a 72g bowfront....i have never had any leaks and it hasn't broken yet.....it is hard to clean the front though....if you clean it w/ a magnet daily, you won't have to worry about coralline builup... i do like the look of a bowfront.

 

[CarlaW]

They might take a little more TLC, but they are really nice looking tanks. I was just concerned about what had been in there previously.
I have a 155 bowfront freshwater tank, and it is really nice!!!

Go for it Tracy!!

I bet there is a Sarmentosa frag that will fit in there.

 

[little fishes]

Hey Charlie- the tank is 1 foot longer and 25 gallons bigger than my current tank so that little sarmentosa would have LOTS of room to grow! Thanks for the concern about meds and such-definitely something to keep in mind. How long have you had your bowfront?

Kurt- thanks for offering to help move over the livestock-I will likely take you up on it. I was not going to mention the tank brand but I am kind of glad you did since I have still not heard back from them in nearly a month (and its not like I have not sent multiple e-mails, PMs, and called a bunch).

Maybe making public mention of how attempts to claim the warranty are ignored will get there attention. I certainly would want to keep people with my product happy- word of mouth can be really powerful for people considering a product in this hobby and ignoring me when I really need help certainly does NOT make me want to say good things! And by the way just cuz I am buying a different tank does not mean I will give up on getting that warranty honored!!! Sorry for the little rant I am just frustrated.

So anyway I think I am going to get this 175g tank- just need to arrange for pickup in the Portland area.

Thanks to everyone for there input, if anyone else still wants to chime in about bowfronts, I would not mind hearing from others who have had these tanks.

Cheers,
Tracy

 

[CarlaW]

I have had my bow for about 5 years now, and have not had problem number one Tracy. Just make sure to check the bracing and all!!!
When are you guys gonna head this way to pick up little "sarmy" ?

 

[MikeS]

Hi all

One of the biggest compliants I have heard about bow-fronts is making a good light canopy that spreads the light out evenly over the tank. However, this shouldn't be too problematic, and actually having shady areas towards the front of the tank can actullay be benefical for lower light dependant corals.

Personally, I don't like the looks of them...they give me a headache looking at them too long because of the visual paralax the bow front creates....but maybe that's just me....

MikeS

 

[little fishes]

Charlie, I should get my tank settled again before I get any new additions but I would love to get a look at your tanks. I will actually probably be having a little "fund raiser" with some of my current stock so that I can get the new tank. Then 'WHEN' (being optimistic here) the 155 is replaced I will sell that and buy more stock. Thats the plan anyway- its really easy to want to give up altogether right now but I just love this hobby no matter the frustration or $cost$. Did you say at the PSAS meeting that you would be ready to frag it in November? Patrick and I will likely be passing through you neck of the woods right around x-mas time when we drive to WI and back. We will have to see how things play out.
Cheers,
Tracy

 

[CarlaW]

Tracy, I can wait as long as you want, there is no hurry
All you gotta do it let me know about 2 weeks ahead of time.

 

[shallowreef]

Cleaning and lighting are two reasons why i have steered away from any curved glass tanks. Plus not to mention how much they cost!

 

[little mermaid]

Just like to say I have a 92 gallon bow front. The trick to cleaning the glass is take a razor blade and slide it horizontally, side to side, to clean the glass. It works like charm! The magnets work good too, but I need to replace mine, it's a year old, so it isn't working as good as a new one........hmmm, I think I use that excuse alot to buy new stuff....wonder if the hubby has caught on yet??

 

[shallowreef]

The razor blade does work like a champ but its such a pain to get to the bottom with the razor blade.

 

[little mermaid]

Yes, it is a little bit of a stretch, but I have really long arms for a girl. My complaint about the bowfronts is the equipment needed for them is usually a bit more complicated, as in, you have a hard time fitting a large sump in the stand, getting flow thru the tank, trying to get your rockwork to the top, a canopy, etc...

However, people usually think it is neat, cause it isn't a BOX. I might would go with a BOX, next time, but that is just MO.

 

[shallowreef]

I know i have dosed my tank more than once with deodorant while trying to clean the coraline off the bottom of the glass.