The tank (120x60x50cm, 10mm glass thickness) arrived safely at my home here the other day after the journey from the manufacturer Nattec, on to the Polish department of the place I work and then on to our Denmark office where I work and then finally home to me. I am overall pleased with the tank! I can understand from other threads that there perhaps isn't any definitive right and wrong when it comes to seam thickness and such so I'll show the tank as is and then you can make up your own mind. It is my first optiwhite tank so instead of giving subjective opinions I will try only to list fact and show details of the tank and then people can make their own conclusions. But as mentioned I'm happy with the tank and especially when you take the price of 230,-GBP into account.
The mat under the tank is a light green but I have masked it with some white tape under the seams and a sand colored towel inside the tank so it wouldn't influence the appearance.
The provider:
Nattec proved to be a pleasure to do business with. As I understand it belio.pl is only a webshop that handles invoicing, warrenty and the listing of the product. I had a really good dialog with Nattec during the entire process and they responded very quickly and competently to all inquiries. Spotless service and excellent language skills!
Production time and shipment:
As mentioned I only paid for shipment from one location in Poland to another in Poland. But the quality of the packaging is relevant as that would also influence an even longer trip to the UK or elsewhere. It seemed just fine and the tank arrived safely. Regarding production time it took approximately one working week to produce the tank.
The tank itself:
When evaluating an optiwhite tank there are several parameters that stand out: Ability to hold water (
), Beveling, color/transparency of the glass, quality of the seams and overall finish. Regarding the color I was at first very skeptic when I looked down in the transport crate. In the dark the glass looked a very dark green. It just looked like normal float glass. But when it was fully unwrapped it looks a light blue and 'optiwhite'. It is my understanding that there are several grades of optiwhite and Nattec send me the datasheet for the Pilkington optiwhite glass used. When looking at the picture below you are looking through 60 cm of glass. The white above is 45 cm of Plexiglas which have totally different characteristics and shouldn't be used for comparison. Are there other tanks that looks more white? Sure! Are they the same size/thickness and/or same grade of optiwhite? I don't know. But it is clear that it is not normal 'green' float glass used but optiwhite!
Regarding beveling the edges looks flawless. Again, I don't have any reference to compare with but I have yet to discover any crooked edges or chipping and I think it looks great.
The seams also looks like they are really good quality. They look even in thickness and I have yet to find a single air bubble. Regarding the width of the silicone extending outside the thickness of the glass inside the tank there are several approaches. Some manufactures make the seam the exact same width as the glass. Others make them wider due to safety considerations. One thing is the tank will hold water in 2 years. But how about 3? 5? It is my understanding from this thread that there are no wrong or right when it comes to the thickness:
Just my little survey (for those with opti-white tanks) | UK Aquatic Plant Society. Would I have likes the old ADA seams with no silicone outside the width of the glass? Sure! But would I risk it if it meant that I would roll the dice every day some years into the lifespan of the tank? No thanks! See the pictures and make your own judgement on the thickness. The glass is 10mm thick. Overall the seams are nicely done. The small error in the top part on the first picture is the extend of the few errors that you can find in less than a handful of places on the tank but they are not disturbing to me in the overall look of the tank.
When it comes to overall finish things are aligned just fine. The second picture shows the extend of the only one seam that is off by maybe by 0.5mm. The others are aligned so you can't detect any discrepancies with the naked eye. There were a few silicone smears here and there that required a razor blade but they are not connected to the seams and are very easily removed.
I have had the tank filled once and only for 5 minutes as I was travelling on a business trip the next day. If I'm unlucky with this parameter I would like to be home for damage control
Here are some pictures with some comments:
The glass looks a little more transparent and a little more neutral white than this mobile picture. The seams looks like the lower part of the picture almost all over. As mentioned only a small handful of minor errors.
The extend of the crookedness of the one pane that is off by maybe ~0.5mm. In reality the glass looks less green and more blue (mobile picture quality is to blame)
One of the lower corners. It might look like there are bubbles but it is just minor smears of silicone I haven't removed yet.
What are you comments? As you can gather my direct hands-on experience with a tank like this is limited. What say thee?