Who build the best aquariums and stands

[FrugalReefer]

I love my Waterbox. It’ll be 4 years old this year and I haven’t had any issues with it.

 

[cobraz]

Innovative Marine...
Very well made...thick clear glass.
All in One's and Sump models as well.
Now with aluminum stands...strong and never a water issue.
My 4th INM tank to date.

 

[Stang67]

Glasscages all day every day and twice on Sunday. The stands are furniture grade and are beautiful. Tanks and stands are made in house. I was fortunate enough to get a tour and the attention to detail and workmanship of the stands and tanks is beyond belief. The customer service is just icing on the cake.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

What size did you guys get?

The 50.3 AIO! Graduating from the biocube 16. Getting started on the ‘scape tonight after the baby’s in bed, hoping to be up and running by the end of the month.

 

[Chris1971]

So this has been discussed before, but now 2025 has come and it's a new year for reefing. Who would you recommend builds the strongest, safest, and high quality aquariums and stands?

Almost every tank I have owned there's always this little thought in the back of my head that this 2000 lb beast might explode one day and flood my basement. I'm never confident in the stand and I'm surprised some of the stands that come with tanks now can even support the massive weight. With money being no issue where would you buy your dream tank?

DD.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

It is drilled. They were still running their custom drilling program at the time, so it’s a single overflow, peninsula style

Hey I am the best Dad ever!!!!

 

[kbrabble]

I would look into Maxspect. Made in South Korea. The stand is aluminum with melamine panels. Very robust. Tanks are well made with bevel edges and low iron glass. Well made and thought out.

 

[ElementReefer]

My Waterbox tanks are immaculate. Exceptional quality and beautiful.

The stand, not so much. It’s a joke, really. I’d write them about it, but they already know. They don’t care.

 

[sushiboss]

I am somewhat new to saltwater but I like Ultum Nature Sytems on the freshwater side. I've purchased their 20 gal UNS 90LA Dual AIO.

Once I have space for a bigger setup I think I will be looking into their R Line of Full Reef System tank, cabinet, and built-in sump combo. Looks easy to set up and it matches my aesthetics.

Their R line is honestly the most impressive reef ready system I have encountered.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I did quite a bit of research on this when I decided on getting back into the hobby and have settled on Glass Cages. I'll be making that purchase gere in about 6 months. Haven't heard one bad thing about them. They're more expensive, but it's like anything...You get what you pay for......

 

[alindell]

Great glass.
Great material.
Great modern designs.

....only negative is their black silicone is a little sloppy inside the tank.... meaning rough edges.... areas of excess "glob". not a fine finished look.

probably by design bc once the silicone has the glass set, they don't want to wipe away excess silicone.

some see this as sloppy, I see it as "leave it alone" and let the silicone seal itself.

plus...who's looking at seals when you have a dramatic reef popping your eyes out with how great their glass is.

Immaterial imo

if I were to buy a new tank, Planet is #1 on my list (comes from two outside expert opinions also)

.

Are they more expensive than glass cages. I was quoted 15k on Joe's site for an 8 ft 28 by 26 with euro bracing and stand, low iron and cabinetry

 

[Sdbuehler1]

ok, here is where big tank manufactures make tanks:
Red Sea: china
waterbox: china
planet: texas
aqueon: wisconson
fluval: us, England, France, Germany, Italy, malaysia
glass cages: tennesse
IM: cali
JBJ: us
NYOS: germany
noopsyche(trustworthy light manufacture): china
AF: poland
Maxspect: china
and ya wanna know what the most trusted/most purchased tank manufactures are? the ones made in china XD
just cause they are made in china, doesn't mean they are bad(well, except Red Sea, that's different) but waterbox makes exceptional tanks, and im betting, that if you did deeper, most of these companies use Chinese sourced materials
all of these are the most trusted IMO, Red Sea and waterbox were just a good example

Where is this information sourced from? I’m curious about waterbox as my google searches indicate they are manufactured in Florida. There is also the distinction of where components or raw materials are sourced from versus where it is assembled. I also keep hearing folks say that waterbox stands are wobbly and I’m wondering which model tanks this is referring to. I can assure you my infinia 230.6 stand with 10 leveling feet is very sturdy. On the other hand my IM EXT 100 stand is wobbly and the whole tank shakes when I clean the glass.

 

[MizzouMark]

I have two Miracles tanks (220 gal, 340 gal) and stands. Both are high quality. Derek is very easy to work with. I highly recommend them.

 

[Pierre96]

I don't have their stand but for a tank I got Glasscages. The service was really great and Joe was too. I had a new planet tank and it was setup for 8 months and leaked (really bad experience, just my personal experience). They were not responsive or in anyway helpful. Same stand new tank. I love my tank.

 

[stE25wy14]

Where is this information sourced from? I’m curious about waterbox as my google searches indicate they are manufactured in Florida. There is also the distinction of where components or raw materials are sourced from versus where it is assembled. I also keep hearing folks say that waterbox stands are wobbly and I’m wondering which model tanks this is referring to. I can assure you my infinia 230.6 stand with 10 leveling feet is very sturdy. On the other hand my IM EXT 100 stand is wobbly and the whole tank shakes when I clean the glass.

and a lot of other places, idk where u finding that....

 

[Tamberav]

So this has been discussed before, but now 2025 has come and it's a new year for reefing. Who would you recommend builds the strongest, safest, and high quality aquariums and stands?

Almost every tank I have owned there's always this little thought in the back of my head that this 2000 lb beast might explode one day and flood my basement. I'm never confident in the stand and I'm surprised some of the stands that come with tanks now can even support the massive weight. With money being no issue where would you buy your dream tank?

I used midwest custom aquariums, I have no worry that this tank will be around in 20 or 30 years. It's acrylic so it's not going to leak from a seam, no silicone to get old or damaged, and the stand isn't a mass produced wobble/sag stand...

Anything mass produced/cookie cutter is going to be a downgrade from custom and price seems to be similar if you have a place local to you and can skip the shipping and pay in cash to skip any CC fee's

 

[reneeL]

Alu-fab stand, very strong. After Red Sea I went with a Planet aquarium. I am sure custom tanks are great as well. The red sea stand was not the problem.

 

[jmcdona6]

That's funny as I was just was going through a thread that was saying water box makes absolute worst quality weak stands that sway when being touched.

I have a larger model waterbox with their newer stand. Assembled properly, it's solid. But that's not as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of ways to mess things up. Instructions that aren't clear or outright missing steps that should be included. Most importantly, every bolt has to be tightened properly. Even the ones that are factory installed/assembled (instructions don't mention this and I think is part of many complaints). The wrench they provide isn't sufficient either for consistent torque.

That said. I still lose sleep over it. Solid...no wobble...but feels underbuilt. I think if I forced the matter I could make it sway...granted with more force than I would ever purposely apply. Love the tank and sump...great quality... but I'd have paid more for a better stand if they offered.

I've had DIY and custom stands that were rock solid...but they were all overbuilt/engineered without profit being a motive...