New Marineland 180 Seals, yay or nay?

[Tinkanator2000]

Here's the deal, I bought a new Marineland 180 last summer for a tank build and just now got to the point of fully unboxing it. Before cutting it free from its pallet and removing all the cardboard I had to get a few measurements, and pulled back some of the cover to do so. After removing the side panels I discovered some very crummy silicone work. I'm looking to get some opinions on weather it'll be a good idea to fight for an exchange (despite having lost the receipt, and it being bought a year ago. Though I did fill out some paperwork when I bought the tank, so there should be a record I hope) with the fish store. Here are some shots of what I'm working with:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2467_zps571108e6.jpg
In this shout you can see that the silicone has been squeezed out of this seam and left to dry that way. You can also see the bubbles in the seam itself.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2469_zps3f4799ae.jpg
Here you get a better view of the top half of the seam as it seals the 2 panels

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2468_zps3d27b368.jpg
Here is a shot of the lower half of the seam

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2470_zps5d43ecd0.jpg
And finally for this seam the very bottom corner mess

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2471_zpsb2dc766b.jpg
This shot is of the back left seam, but is kind of hard to make out what I'm attempting to show. The gap between the panels that is filled with silicone is about 1/8"... normal?

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2472_zpsa58b81c0.jpg
Here is a different angle of that same seam

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2473_zps0abd083a.jpg
Here shows the bubbles in the front right seam

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2474_zps895d51cd.jpg
Here is a zoomed out view of that same front right seam

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w54/RyanRX7/New%20Marineland%20180/IMG_2475_zpsca959779.jpg
And lastly a shot of the tank in its still fully boxed state.


Thanks

[E.Rude]

That doesn't look good, man. I think it's worth the trouble of trying to get an exchange. It's not like Marineland to let that get through QC.

[Palting]

That tank is no good, IMO. I would contact the vendor, the people you bought it from. Then I would contact Marineland directly. Both are responsible for selling you a defective tank.

I bought my Marineland 150 gallon tank from Foster and Smith. The tank came with a central brace, and the central Metal Halide bulb of the supplied fixture melted that brace. Bothe F&S and Marineland got together and supplied a replacement tank custom built with two top braces rather than a single central one.

[Tinkanator2000]

I have emails in to both That Pet Place and Marineland both. I hope they don't give me too much trouble.

[whiteshark]

That Pet Place is pretty good with returns IME. I've had my troubles with Marineland...

[steveo9043]

Now I must go home and double check the seems on my new marineland tank

[GQuinn]

That is one of the worst silicone jobs I have ever seen.

[GroktheCube]

That top picture is a bit worried. IME, most mass manufactured seems have some SMALL bubbles in the silicone, and that's generally not a structural problem from what I've read.

However, in those top two pictures, it looks like you have bubbles running through basically the whole width of the seam, and that'd make me more than a little nervous, especially with a tank that large.

[ghellin]

Just put my Marineland 180 on my stand last night, i noticed some sloppyness but nothing that bad. I agree with above I would fight and see what happens I usually hear good stories about marineland fixing things.

[Tinkanator2000]

Thanks for all the replies folks, I'm going to give That Pet Place a call first tomorrow to see if they'll help me out. If not, Marineland is getting a call next.

[Tzwizzle]

I returned my original Marineland 60g cube because one of the seams was questionable. Lucky for you, you don't have stuff in it as I did. Customer service was 'ok'. You'll want to call them. Took them 2 weeks to respond via e-mail. Took about 2 or so weeks to get a new one but wasn't hassled.

[ca1ore]

Silicone 'squeeze out' can be removed easily enough from the outside with a razor blade. The thing that would worry me, and I cannot tell for sure from the pictures, is what appear to be sizable voids in the seam.