ayen

My husband asked the guy who sells aquarium supplies why Wal-Mart's aquariums are made by Perfecto too, but they can sell it cheaper even as a kit?

The guy said that Perfecto doesn't make aquarium, they just bought aquariums from manufacturer and put a brand name PERFECTO box over it.
Also, he said that even though the Perfecto glass tank (the kit from WM) looks the same as a Perfecto glass tank that sells individually (from petstore), the one from WM has lower glass density, so it means both from Perfecto, but the WM one would break easier than the other.

Is this true? Or you think the guy just made it up?

COBettaCouple

Good question. On one hand, I wouldn't put anything past Wallyworld but on the other hand, a guy selling aquarium supplies could have his own reasons to not want business to go to walmart.

ayen

That's what I was wondering too, could have been he just made that up and wanted us to buy aquariums from him.
Well, how can I figure out if he's lying?
Does anybody have an answer for this glass density question?

o0Faraz0o

I'm not sure but i think there would be a standard of production. that all tank making companies have to follow.

jsalemi

Sounds bogus to me, but you can find out yourself -- go to a hardware store, and get calipers. Measure the thickness of the WallyMart tank glass, then go to PetSmart or another LFS and do the same.

0morrokh

Yeah whatever the case is, it's not like the Walmart tanks would break (well they shouldn't, anyway) if they're used properly.

jsalemi

True -- the glass has to be a certain minimum thickness to not break under the pressure of all that water. Yes, better made (and more expensive) tanks have thicker glass, as do larger tanks, but that just increases the safety factor. Unless you're planning on putting the tank in an area with a lot of swinging heavy/pointy objects, a WallyMart tank should be just as sturdy as one you get anywhere else.

And while a manufacturer may make a slightly lower quality tank for the discounters, they're still going to make sure it's built well enough to do its job. After all, the odds are if the tank breaks, the customer will more likely remember the brand of the tank, not where it came from.

Gozer_1

I believe it's true that Perfecto doesn't actually produce the aquariums. It could very well be true that they order cheaper tanks to put in the Wally Box Setup. Perfecto is really just a Marineland product. They just package and distribute the tanks. Glass density doesn't necessarily mean thickness. It's more about how much glass is crammed into the same space. The higher density would just mean that it's molecules are tighter together. It would depend on the process used to make the glass.