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Wisey's first planted tank - TMC Signature 60x45x45

Oh dear, on closer inspection, the filter has 2 cracks in the clear plastic green case of the filter. That's certainly going to leak! Let's hope getting this returned is not too much hassle!
 
On closer inspection, it is at the top where the green plastic has the extra bit the flares out and is not actually part of the fabric of the water tight filter compartment, but still, at this price I don't want it broken on arrival. I then noticed that the front clip that holds the pump top on is also cracked down the middle, must have taken a hard hit in transit. I guess its pretty hard to pack something this size, the Eheim box itself has no packing at all, just the cardboard box. The box that Charterhouse put it in was a box a bit bigger that it was quite tight in with the double tap sets down the side. There was no other packing in the outer box, so all there was in transit to protect it was two layers of cardboard, which is not really adequate if someone just chucks it in the back of a van.

Front clip
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Top right at the front
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Top left on the right hand side where the crack continues behind the grey upright corner section

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I ordered my eheim canister from thegreenmachine. Similarly packed to what yours was, except the void between the boxes was rammed full of bubble wrap. Thats how it should be done charterhouse. Cant believe they would send it with no added padding


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Yeah, you would have thought so, the inner box only just fits in the outer box, there was just enough room to squeeze the tap sets down the side, but no room for any padding at all. I have raised a ticket on their website and sent them the pics above. I have no doubt that the will sort it out, but it means I have to pay to ship it back, then wait for them to send me another one and refund me the shipping costs. It's just a pain in the backside, especially seeing as they won't ship to my work which is just up the road from home without charging me extra, so it means I have to go pick up from the depot for a second time. God knows how much postage to return this is going to be!
 
Wisey said:
Yeah, you would have thought so, the inner box only just fits in the outer box, there was just enough room to squeeze the tap sets down the side, but no room for any padding at all. I have raised a ticket on their website and sent them the pics above. I have no doubt that the will sort it out, but it means I have to pay to ship it back, then wait for them to send me another one and refund me the shipping costs. It's just a pain in the backside, especially seeing as they won't ship to my work which is just up the road from home without charging me extra, so it means I have to go pick up from the depot for a second time. God knows how much postage to return this is going to be!
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Yea and no company ever compensates for your wasted time which really bugs me


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Yeah, or the fuel for the 10 mile trip to the depot that I am going to have to do twice now.

I also had to raise a support ticket with them, rather than do an RMA through the website as they say you should in the returns page. I went in to my account, opened the order and next to each item on the order there is a link which asks if you need to return it, but clicking that link seems to divert you back to the homepage rather than open the returns page! Getting less impressed all the time :(
 
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Wisey said:
Yeah, or the fuel for the 10 mile trip to the depot that I am going to have to do twice now.

I also had to raise a support ticket with them, rather than do an RMA through the website as they say you should in the returns page. I went in to my account, opened the order and next to each item on the order there is a link which asks if you need to return it, but clicking that link seems to divert you back to the homepage rather than open the returns page! Getting less impressed all the time :(
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Ive not ordered from charters before. Always been very happy with tgm


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TGM and Charterhouse are the same price on the filter, but Charterhouse had the double tap sets that I wanted to set up the water change system so went with them for the order.
 
Wisey said:
TGM and Charterhouse are the same price on the filter, but Charterhouse had the double tap sets that I wanted to set up the water change system so went with them for the order.
Click to expand...
Defo makes sense then


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Fair play to Charterhouse, they have got straight on it today, looks like I don't need to send it back, they have ordered a replacement canister body which they are going to ship next day when it arrives next week. I can then just move the pump head and baskets etc over to the new canister and not have to return the whole thing. Sounds like a much better solution!
 
Yeah, lucky I included the pics, they could see without me sending it back what was wrong and ordered the part straight up. Still leaves me wondering what to do with the glassware, was pricing up the glass spray bars last night, looking at around £100 by the time I get the inflow pipe, the outflow pipe, then an open ended 10cm and a closed end 40cm to give me as much coverage accross the tank as possible. It will be worth it in the end, but was hoping to get it set up with the included spray bar initially.
 
So today I went rock "shopping". This is what I came home with, the board it is stood on is just slightly bigger than the base of the aquarium, so way more than I need, but gives me a selection to work with and not all the colours are quite the same, various different browns and oranges. When it is wet it looks darker and the colours are richer. It has passed the vinegar test, so hoping it is ok to use. If anyone knows any reason not to use it, let me know! When I get my PH pen I will do some tests leaving a piece in water and see if the PH changes over a number of days. I'll play around with designs and once I have what I want, I will clean those pieces up, rather than spend hours cleaning it all now and then not use half of it.

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It looks very similar to ADA Kei stone from what I can see. I'm thinking it will make a pleasing contrast with a dark substrate and will also stand out well next to green plants, but any red plants I include will hopefully tone well with the oranges in the rock.
 
Have been messing around with hardscape ideas, but without having my wood, it's really hard to come up with anything that is going to work. I had a wander round a few woodland areas today, but up here in Scotland, so much of the forest is Pine which I have read is not very good for aquariums with the sap and also it is a soft wood. I have therefore ordered up a few pieces of Manzanita from Aquarium Gardens this evening.

Has anyone ever used Mr Manzanita? I tried to place an order there too but the checkout form did not seem to work, clicked the confirm button at the end and nothing happened. His loss is Aquarium Gardens gain :)
 
My Manzanita has arrived from Aquarium Gardens this morning, the box was so light it almost felt empty! Really well packed and the pieces have arrived in good condition. I'll get a picture posted when I get home this evening.
 
I could really use some advice from people on laying out stones and separating different types of substrate. I'm hoping to have a small sand area at the front separated from the main planting area with a bank of stone. I have looked at a lot of videos, people like Tropica, TGM etc. Tropica always seem to stand the stone on polystyrene first which seems sensible, but they then tend to pour in a substrate and cap it with the same material, so you don't often see them separating substrate. They also don't tend to have the stone up against the glass. I'm looking at a U shape layout with planting substrate up to the front at either side as I figure this gives me more planting area rather than just having a line of stone from one side to the other other. I can't really put stone on polystyrene right next to the glass as it will look awful. A lot of people seem to put the stone on to the planting substrate, but that makes it harder to get the separation with the sand.

I will include a pic here of an early idea that I was just playing around with. It is by no means a finished design, but demonstrates what I am talking about. The tape measure is where the front glass is as my board is bigger than the aquarium base. How would I go about stopping substrate creeping round the front of the stones, they are not straight enough to go directly up and form a good seal and I am also reluctant to have them touching the front glass in case of scratches. Anyone have any clever ideas?

arrangement1.jpg
 
So I am still having a total nightmare getting this damaged filter sorted out with Charterhouse Aquatics. It arrived on the 23rd October, reported it damaged. On Friday 24th they told me that a replacement canister was ordered, it would be with them early next week and would be shipped on next day delivery. I therefore expected to have it early to middle of last week. They told me to wait for e-mails about delivery, so when it came to Thursday last week, I sent them another mail asking what was happening as I had heard nothing from them. By this morning, I still had no response to the mail sent 4 days ago, so I gave them a call. They went off to check in to it for me, told me it was shipped, then went off to speak to the delivery company. They then sent me a mail this afternoon telling me it was on the way and would be delivered today with a link to the tracking details with interlink. Looked up the details, said it was going to be here between around 18:00 to 19:00 this evening! Perfect! Went on to check the details again just now and apparently it was signed for 20 minutes ago by someone I don't know, in Edinburgh, when I live in Aberdeen! Looks like they either shipped it to the wrong address or they sent me someone elses tracking information. Either way, thats now 13 days since I received damaged goods and they still have not managed to get it sorted. Of course they are now shut so have sent them an e-mail and will be back on the phone in the morning!
 
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