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Wisey's first planted tank - TMC Signature 60x45x45

So still no joy with Charterhouse, called them up, spoke to someone different than I spoke to yesterday. This person checks my account and says the only thing they have sent to me is the original order, nothing else has been sent out since. He also says there are no notes on my account about a problem with my original order! I'm now having to wait for the guy I spoke to yesterday to call me back later as he is out at the moment. God knows what is going on, but it is 2 weeks now and this is getting beyond a joke.
 
Yeah, you are not wrong. I was told at 09:15 I would have a call back from Ryan within 45 mintues. Almost 4 hours later I have just had to call them back myself, I got Ryan this time, but althoguh the mail I was sent yesterday was signed off as Ryan and the person I spoke to this morning was going to ask hium to call me, he had no idea of what had happened. He says the canister has defo come in and been sent out to me. He is now off to the courier to find out where it is!
 
Finally got some news back from Charterhouse, hopefully I am going to have the replacement canister by Friday latest, fingers crossed! The courier is doing a search to see where my package has gone, if they find it, hopefully they will deliver it tomorrow. If they don't find it, Charterhouse have ordered in another replacement canister and they will send me that one tomorrow and it will arrive Friday. One way or the other I should have it by Friday!
 
Had to laugh this morning when an automated e-mail came through from Charterhouse asking me to write a review about my experience with this order! Still don't know if the replacement canister is coming today, tomorrow, or ever! I'll certainly be submitting a full and honest review of this experience once the replacement finally arrives!
 
Well I just got the replacement canister from Charterhouse, but would you believe it, they still managed to mess it up again. They shipped a new canister, but one of the parts broken was one of the big grey clips that holds the pump head on. Now on the original they sent, those clips are attached to the canister, not to the pump, so when they said they would send a new canister, I assumed they would send a canister with the clips attached to it. Unfortunately they have shipped it without clips, even though I sent them the same pictures that I posted on here that clearly show that the clip is snapped down the middle. So not happy right now! :(

Edit: Also, although their shop is open, they don't answer the phone at the weekend it seems, so can't get this sorted out until Monday!
 
Wisey said:
Well I just got the replacement canister from Charterhouse, but would you believe it, they still managed to mess it up again. They shipped a new canister, but one of the parts broken was one of the big grey clips that holds the pump head on. Now on the original they sent, those clips are attached to the canister, not to the pump, so when they said they would send a new canister, I assumed they would send a canister with the clips attached to it. Unfortunately they have shipped it without clips, even though I sent them the same pictures that I posted on here that clearly show that the clip is snapped down the middle. So not happy right now! :(

Edit: Also, although their shop is open, they don't answer the phone at the weekend it seems, so can't get this sorted out until Monday!
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Oh man this keeps getting worse! I was at TGM today, 3 1/2 hour drive, great place and top guys working there. Charterhouse seem to of handled this terribly


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Charterhouse have said they will send the clips out in the next few days along with a voucher as I asked for compensation for all the hassle and e-mails and phone calls and trips to the depot! Hopefully they are shipping the next package to my work address. Fingers crossed it gets to me before the end of the week and I can get a filter put together!

After getting all that other rock, I really didn't like it once I started trying to put together hardscape ideas, so ended up picking up some Dragon stone from the LFS and from Dobbies garden centre where they call it "Holey Brown Rock" :)

After chopping up the bigger chunks to try and get some nicer pieces without so many flat sides I started to play around with hardscape ideas this evening. It's all still muddy at the moment, lots of cleaning to do, but just going to get a design then clean the bits I need rather than cleaning all the surplus too. The picture below is just a quick phone shot of the preliminary idea, I am not happy with the right hand side at all yet, but I have lots of bits left over that I can switch in and out. I'm starting to get happier with the left hand side now, but may change a few bits, especially towards the rear of the valley which is not easy to see in this picture anyway. You need to try and imagine it not being so flat as well, once substrate is in there will be a slope towards the rear and banked up substrate behind the rocks. The larger piece of wood going over towards the right will probably be pointing a bit higher up in the final design.

Before anyone else says it, some of the layout ideas are very much like Stu Worrall's "Apalala Shore", but that's one of my favourite ever scapes, so I do kinda want something along the same lines although not identical.

All constructive criticism and comments gratefully received!

hardscape%20preliminary.jpg
 
Very nice, very much like Apalala shore but that's no bad thing! I bought 2 jbl e1501 and a whole load of tmc nutrasoil from Charterhouse, prompt delivery and no issues. But you seem to be having a VERY different experience, I hope you get the filter and the compensation you deserve asap!
 
Had another go and used up some of the surplus rock to build it up more and create planting terraces. I'm sure there will be another 5000 versions before I am happy, don't worry, I won't post them all :)

hardscape2.jpg
 
I prefer this, tbh you can always keep changing it but if you ask me this is perfect and you should just go for it. If you agonise too much over the minute details you will never be happy, just plant it!
 
Planting is unfortunately some way off! I'm still waiting for the filter, then I also need to buy the whole CO2 system as I don't have any of those bits yet. Also need substrate, but that's not going to be too expensive as using a base layer and sand cap so not too expensive. The next job is cleaning all that stone, all the holes are jammed with mud at the moment. Hopefully the pieces will look even better once they are all cleaned up and some more of the holes opened up. I'm pretty happy with this one, will rebuild it or something very similar from the picture after cleaning the stone.
 
Wisey said:
Had another go and used up some of the surplus rock to build it up more and create planting terraces. I'm sure there will be another 5000 versions before I am happy, don't worry, I won't post them all :)

hardscape2.jpg
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Liking this one a lot! It will look fantastic once the plants settle in. So sorry to hear about your troubles with CHA I got my eheim from them and no issues at all. I did read the ratings and reviews mind and it seems others have also had issues with them more to do with customer service than the products as things like damage on arrive can happen. I was one of the lucky ones ;)

So what co2 you decided on? Trust me you defianately don't want an inline like the UP or intense. They work great mind you but the look is non too desirable...
 
For CO2 I am going to go to CO2Art and get their dual stage regulator with solenoid and SMC valve and I will run that on a fire extinguisher I guess. Other than that, no fixed decisions made, but pretty sure I will go with the reactor.
 
Wisey said:
For CO2 I am going to go to CO2Art and get their dual stage regulator with solenoid and SMC valve and I will run that on a fire extinguisher I guess. Other than that, no fixed decisions made, but pretty sure I will go with the reactor.
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Good choice... I got the basic valve and now wish I had the smc. The basic was a problem with the inline diffuser but is fine with the reactor
 
Sk3lly said:
Oh man this keeps getting worse! I was at TGM today, 3 1/2 hour drive, great place and top guys working there. Charterhouse seem to of handled this terribly
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So the replacement clip finally arrived yesterday, so thats 2 days short of 4 weeks to get the problem resolved after goods arriving damaged. Hardly what you would call good service. They also said they would send me a voucher as compensation, but the clip arrived from some other aquatics store with a note saying it was in relation to Charterhouse and no voucher, so I now need to e-mail them yet again to ask about that. I assume they can just mail me a voucher code or something, but it's not been done yet.

At least I can now combine all the bits from the three different deliveries and try to make one working filter from all the bits!
 
:banghead: Well at least you can get going now. Such a pity that CH can be like this. I have heard of others having a bad deal with them regarding customer service. So far I've been one of the lucky ones. If they keep it up they will loose a lot of custom! I doubt I will buy from them again because of your experience!
 
It looks like I am going to have to put this project on hold as I have decided for my sanity that I need to move out of my current place and find something better. I'm disappointed after spending so much money and making so many plans that I have to stop for now, I just hope that where ever I end up moving to in the new year does not have lease conditions which prevent me from setting up the tank. I did some research and it seems that some landlords are fine with aquariums are up to a certain size and don't include fish in the "no pets" clause, but some landlords will say no. Property moves very quickly in Aberdeen, so I really won't be able to go around asking before hand if I can set up the aquarium, they will just rent to someone else, I will probably have to rent somewhere then ask the question afterwards and hope I get the answer that I want.
 
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