Jensalt Sumps: A Horror Story
by Greg Bunch

=

This is a firsthand account of my purchase of 3 acrylic sumps from Jen's Saltwater Haven. In my opinion, they were utterly defective and so poorly built as to be unusable. After Jensalt refused to refund my money or even acknowledge the problems, I broke them up and threw them away. I created this site to hopefully help others avoid a similar experience.

I have tried to be as straightforward and factual as possible when presenting the items I received and the events related to them. The opinions expressed herein are merely opinions, and yours may be quite different. Make your own judgements about this or any other vendor.

I have a 120-gallon tank which will be set up as a FOWLR, carrying a pretty heavy bioload. I'd been playing with Rubbermaids, aquariums etc for use as a sump/refugium, but due to the size limitations of my stand, off-the-shelf stuff just won't work. Because of the limited access to the stand's interior, the sump will have to consist of 3 separate units plumbed together. I came up with a plan for such a system, which you can see here. (Thanks to the input from those on reefs.org whose suggestions helped me finalize the design.) I lack the tools and workspace to construct my own acrylic sumps, so I needed to have them made.

I sent out requests for quotes, and received several replies. One was from Jen's Saltwater Haven. The people seemed very courteous and helpful, and quoted me the best price, but not by much. They said the 3 sumps would cost $200.00 plus shipping. Also, they said they'd put a reinforcing strip around the tops for strength. I liked what I heard, so decided (unfortunately) to go with them. I made some slight design changes which simplified the sumps, and should reduce the cost somewhat. Jensalt emailed back to ask if I wanted them to resize 2 of the sumps slightly so they'd fit inside each other. This would enable them to ship all 3 in one box, supposedly saving me some freight cost. I did some quick calculations, and said yes, since it wasn't much of a loss in water volume. On February 27, 2003, I told them to proceed, and sent them $150.00 via PayPal. I asked for a revised total reflecting the simpler design, as well as the shipping.

After I sent several emails asking why they were taking longer than expected, the sumps finally shipped on March 20 via FedEx. Jensalt emailed to say they'd like to get an additional $25.00 from me if I was pleased with the sumps. This would make it a total of $175.00 plus freight.

I received the sumps on March 25. The box was in good condition, and the sumps had been packed well. I didn't have a chance to look at them until March 27.

When I inspected the sumps, what I saw shocked me.
In my opinion, almost everything about them was flawed, from cosmetics to structural integrity.

Specific problems:

• Not a single cut edge was sanded or finished at all. Every edge was pitted and rough, with sharp corners.  
• The holes for the bulkheads were particularly bad, with large burrs protruding off the edges.  
• The side and end pieces were not cut to the same size, and did not match up.  
• One main piece of acrylic had cracks extending out from several points along its top edge.  
• Several of the "reinforcement" strips around the top were crooked, and others were only half-glued on.  
• About 50% of one of the reinforcement strips was ground off, probably to make up for a size miscalculation. The sumps were supposed to nest together for shipping, and obviously they didn't until the piece was ground off.  
• In at least one place, the pieces weren't cut square, and glue was used to fill in the resulting void.  
• EVERY, and I mean EVERY, glued seam was full of bubbles! Even the best ones had a significant amount of bubbles in them. In the worst ones, the bubbles formed actual gaps - gaps so large that in some cases the seam was far more gap than glue! In some places, you could see where the acrylic dust settled down into the gaps. There were even spots where the gaps went all the way across the seam, and where you could insert a toothpick between the two pieces of acrylic.

There's no way that I would trust the Jensalt containers. Even if they had been watertight,
the joints were so poorly glued that they would almost certainly fail under a full load.
Flooding my house with 50 gallons of salt water was not a risk I was willing to take.

Main page

Cracks & Seams

Leaks!

Corners & Edges

Final Installation

Note: The paper you see in the photographs was put there simply to
give the camera something on which it could focus.

Customer Non-Support

March 27: I immediately emailed my feelings to Jensalt and asked for a refund. (Note: Unfortunately, I had paid via a PayPal eCheck (bank draft.) Had it been a credit card, I would have disputed the charge upon seeing the sumps.)
March 28: Jen replied, apologizing and saying she'd forward it to her husband, who would get back to me.
March 28: I thanked her, and said I'd let her know when I heard back from her husband.
April 1: After almost 4 days of waiting, I emailed back, asking that they please handle my request.
April 1: She replied, saying that I hadn't "discussed my preferences," that everyone else is satisfied with their sumps, and that they could not help me. She also said that there were no structural problems with the sumps and that they did hold water. (See these pictures showing a seam with gaps all the way through it.)
April 1: I emailed back, stating that this wasn't a matter of preferences, but rather a total lack of workmanship and structural soundness. I also offered to reduce my refund by the amount it would cost to return the sumps, and just discard them instead.
April 1: Jen replied, saying that all their sumps are built like this, and that nobody else has been unhappy with them. She also stated that there were no cracks when they shipped, and that I should file a claim with FedEx. (See these pictures showing these cracks, and judge for yourself if they were caused by shipping.)

Jensalt insisted that their sumps have no problems, that all of their sumps are made like those I received, and that everyone who has bought them, except me, is happy with them. They refused to refund my money when I expressed my utter dissatisfaction.

In my opinion, these sorry excuses for sumps are defective in every conceivable way. If all of Jensalt's acrylic work is, as they say, the same as this, I can understand why they don't show any on their website. Never in a million years would I have bought from them had I seen a picture of their acrylic first.

Final Installation

Since the vendor refused to take them back, I destroyed these worthless containers on April 4. Needless to say, it wasn't very hard; they fell apart at the seams with a mild kick. Believe me, it felt great! Finally, I put them where they belong - in the trash can.

Epilogue

Since I wasted $150.00, my budget no longer allows me to have custom acrylic sumps made. I did a lot of research, and ordered some ideally-sized polyethylene tanks, which are designed for long-term storage of liquids, are used for aquaculture as well as other applications, and are inexpensive. I will post a page on the 120-gallon tank as it progresses.