New tank with no sealed internal overflow? Need guidance!

[kodock]

Alright so I bought a Pro Star 230 from ProClear Aquatics and the internal overflow box has virtually no seal. They put glass strip in to hold the overflow box to hold the overflow box up, but the glass strip doesn’t go all the way down and there’s no extra silicone or weld on to compensate. The gap you see at the top is virtually the same at the bottom.. The tank is glass and the overflow is all acrylic.

Pro clear says that this is their design and all their tanks are this way, but this means that sand and debris can get into the box, I can never change/fix replace the bulkheads while the tank is up - so if the bulkhead is leaky I’m subject to all display water flooding in.

I have never seen an overflow box intentionally unsealed.. I think that they just didn’t want to mess with the seal at the bottom pane and back pane, so they just left it botched and claim their standpipes and bulkheads are solid… or left it this way because they knew the pressure might burst the seal anyway..

This is a risk for me.. how can I argue their “design” if it’s faulty to me, but apparently not to them. I asked them to send me more pictures of their other tanks. They also have lower weirs, which is also technically risk, and I can’t imagine I’ll get good surface skim.

Also they also sent me a 4.5 year old tank as part of a “new” purchase in December of 2024.. I’m losing 4.5 years on the silicone life on this deal. The stand was made May of 2023 and the tank was made June of 2020.

 

[Hunna]

I’d be asking for my money back. Nothing about the “design” seems right. And sending an almost 5 year old product as a “new” one (assuming at full retail) is shady, at the very least.

 

[kodock]

I’d be asking for my money back. Nothing about the “design” seems right. And sending an almost 5 year old product as a “new” one (assuming at full retail) is shady, at the very least.

I bought it on black Friday. The first one they sent shattered falling off the carrier truck. This one is the replacement. They claim this is by design, but I can’t imagine how.. what if I have a leaky bulkhead in few years? I’m screwed. Means the whole display volume is subject to flood.

 

[kodock]

Here’s some additional pictures of a telescope flashlight in the overflow directed out towards the inside of the tank..

 

[shimshimshinil]

That seems sus

 

[kodock]

That seems sus

Yep.. well they swear it’s how all their tanks are.. allegedly to be able to pull all water volume out for a water change.. but I think it’s simply that they just did a shotty job.

 

[siege]

That… that's not how this works. That's not how ANY of this works.

Did you by any chance use a credit card? Because at this point, I’d be talking to my CC company about how I was sold a product with a clearly and provably defective workmanship or design that the manufacturer is just hand-waving as 'intentional.'

Even if they did mean to design it this way (which is questionable at best), it’s still a bad design. No reputable company leaves an AIO or overflow unsealed like that, it completely defeats the purpose of controlled filtration and water movement. Not Waterbox, Innovative Marine, Cade, Red Sea, or Fluval make tanks like this, and even DIY AIO conversion kits like those from Fiji Cube or InTank are designed to be fully sealed except at the overflow intakes and return outlets.

If they won’t make this right, I’d be looking at every option to get my money back, because this isn’t just a preference issue - this is just plain flawed, whether simply functionally, or fundamentally. Either way, the manufacturer's claims simply don't hold water.

(Good grief what a perfect use of that phrase. Pun fully intended.)

 

[kodock]

That… that's not how this works. That's not how ANY of this works.

Did you by any chance use a credit card? Because at this point, I’d be talking to my CC company about how I was sold a product with a clearly and provably defective workmanship or design that the manufacturer is just hand-waving as 'intentional.'

Even if they did mean to design it this way (which is questionable at best), it’s still a bad design. No reputable company leaves an AIO or overflow unsealed like that, it completely defeats the purpose of controlled filtration and water movement. Not Waterbox, Innovative Marine, Cade, Red Sea, or Fluval make tanks like this, and even DIY AIO conversion kits like those from Fiji Cube or InTank are designed to be fully sealed except at the overflow intakes and return outlets.

If they won’t make this right, I’d be looking at every option to get my money back, because this isn’t just a preference issue - this is just plain flawed, whether simply functionally, or fundamentally. Either way, the manufacturer's claims simply don't hold water.

(Good grief what a perfect use of that phrase. Pun fully intended.)

Exactly! I’ve started the ball rolling on a chargeback and reached back out to the store who processed the order.

I called my LFS and he says that he’s installed their tanks in the past, and the facebook group for prostar, both said this is just poor craftsmanship. Manufacturer wants to talk to my LFS.. curious if he’ll bribe him or something lol

The manufacturer won’t email me back, only phone calls. I guess I’ll tell him I’m recording the next one. I’m not losing $3k+ over this..

 

[dball711]

You could run a bead of silicone to get a seal but the truth is glass and acrylic will not bond to each other.

 

[kodock]

You could run a bead of silicone to get a seal but the truth is glass and acrylic will not bond to each other.

Would weld-on do any better? I saw this product recommended on a old forum thread.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003HNFLMY/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1A58OC9SFWAZ&psc=1

 

[dball711]

No it would do nothing on glass, it’s used to melt/fuse acrylic panels together. No use here.

 

[kodock]

No it would do nothing on glass, it’s used to melt/fuse acrylic panels together. No use here.

Thanks!

 

[tbrennan]

silicone it, let it cure for about a week. i have done a few over flow box replacements in the pass.

If it was by design wouldnt a hole at the bottom of the over flow box allow pressure from the tank to still flow into the overflow box causing it to overflow the sump during an extended power outage?

 

[kodock]

silicone it, let it cure for about a week. i have done a few over flow box replacements in the pass.

If it was by design wouldnt a hole at the bottom of the over flow box allow pressure from the tank to still flow into the overflow box causing it to overflow the sump during an extended power outage?

Thanks! I’m going to see if I can fight for a newer sealed tank replacement, but if I lose the battle of a refund or replacement I’ll attempt to silicone it.

It wouldn’t overflow in an outage, necessarily, because the drain pipes are even with each other, at the point of the highest wier. It’s not a herbie or derso type

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Thanks! I’m going to see if I can fight for a newer sealed tank replacement, but if I lose the battle of a refund or replacement I’ll attempt to silicone it.

It wouldn’t overflow in an outage, necessarily, because the drain pipes are even with each other, at the point of the highest wier. It’s not a herbie or derso type

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Don't have anything to add here, but 47 UNREAD MESSAGES? That would drive me absolutely insane. Really hope everything works out with the replacement, you got totally conned on this one.
Hope ever

 

[kodock]

Don't have anything to add here, but 47 UNREAD MESSAGES? That would drive me absolutely insane. Really hope everything works out with the replacement, you got totally conned on this one.
Hope ever

Lol it’s all just Spam from reef2reef and revhtree. I keep track of the overall number to know what’s new.

My iphone has 15,633 unread emails (ads mainly)… and my wife can’t stand it.. but I read the important ones.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Lol it’s all just Spam from reef2reef and revhtree. I keep track of the overall number to know what’s new.

My iphone has 15,633 unread emails (ads mainly)… and my wife can’t stand it.. but I read the important ones.

Sounds like you need to opt out of promotional messages lol.

I would have a heart attack.

 

[kodock]

Update: there are a lot of people on the ProStar facebook group that apparently experienced this, so it’s presumably “by design”.. I think it’s a risky design, but… yea

Commenters were saying that they also had the holes. Some siliconed, some did nothing. The claim for the design was the same as what the manufacturer.. “for no deadspots in the tank/overflow”. I’m struggling to get onboard with that, but it is what it is I guess

 

[Jikkermanccini]

The claim for the design was the same as what the manufacturer.. “for no deadspots in the tank/overflow”. I’m struggling to get onboard with that, but it is what it is I guess

Bull. Absolute bull. A tiny gap is nowhere near enough to allow the flow required to "eliminate dead spots". If anything, it would just collect detritus and sand from OUTSIDE the overflow that would normally stay in the display... Y'know, where it can be easily cleaned.
Seems like a first draft brainstorm idea that should not have made it into production if you ask me.

 

[siege]

Bull. Absolute bull. A tiny gap is nowhere near enough to allow the flow required to "eliminate dead spots". If anything, it would just collect detritus and sand from OUTSIDE the overflow that would normally stay in the display... Y'know, where it can be easily cleaned.
Seems like a first draft brainstorm idea that should not have made it into production if you as me.

Right. Because the pump in the return chamber turns that whole chamber into a low-pressure environment, so it's just sucking in unfiltered water past all the... filtration.

Even better, the ones at bottom are just going to suck up sand into the chamber.

If you can't return it, I would either find - or, probably better, have 3d printed - something to fill those gaps while being too big to be pulled all the way through, and then cover it with a bead of silicone on both sides, with focus on the display-volume side, where the pressure will be (not that it will be all that high).

Testing should have been done, and I doubt it was, or it'd be an actively-touted feature with descriptions of said testing results, instead of one people are only finding out about after they receive their tanks and have to argue with them about. Not only does their website not mention any of this, but the manual doesn't either.