Working with them now. They seem to have quality work and materials for a fair price. The only negative I have to say so far is the owner Mitch has a VERY short fuse and does not treat his customers with the same respect he requires. A bit of a double standard IMO. My advice, skip talking to Mitch and just talk to Ray in sales. I'll update my review and possibly up the rating once I can see the finished product. Ray is a great sales person, and a pleasure to talk with. I highly recommend him as a point of contact. I've upped my opinion of them up one star due to Ray. UPDATE: 09/15/10 Lowering a star, today after being yelled at for no reason by Mitch. He basically told me that he doesnt do computers, including taking a photo and texting it on a cell phone, so I could post it .. I was trying to help him get more business. He basically told me that if he wants too, he'll just cancel my order, and this is after a month of waiting and the tank is late and the fact that I have hired a architect and designed the entire house remodel around this tank. I don't understand why people have to be so rude to paying customers, that are TRYING to get them more business.!!! Guess it doesnt pay to try to help people, they think your out to get them and are paranoid . UPDATE: 11/5/10 the owner Mitch flipped out again today, fired his sales guy (RAY!!!) and said his assistant wasnt supposed to pay for a shipping truck that had a hydrolic tailgate.. long story short he went nuts over $70 (Keep in mind I spent $2,000 for this tank) and started cursing and acting like a lunatic.... while they make decent tanks, that holyer than though attitude is not worth dealing with. My advice stay clear of Bow Valley / Source Aquatics or whatever new name they decide to come up with. Mitch cannot be trusted, one days he's your best friend the next day he's calling you names. It's all good till you give them money, after that Mitch becomes a school yard bully. I'm sorry but seriously, Mitch has problems. Over this time dealing with him, he's called me a "Picky School Child", "Jerk" "Dick" and the icing on the cake was when he... the owner of the company yelled over top of me so I could not explain that he was in fact wrong and he told me "I could suck his ...." You fill that in. My god this man has problems. He's fallen off his rocker and should be on meds. Stay clear guys. Buyer beware. Save 10% percent and by from Lemar in San Diego. read more

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What the others are posting is true. I had a bunch of work done by Mitch that was good and bad. The good was he came quick and was able to re-silicone my aquarium in no time and gave me a great price on a glass top upgrade. The bad: Mitch is a drug addict and only works when he is being paid cash. I was told when I called Mitch was the owner and would come out to my office to re-silicone the tank however as a new customer cash is only accepted. Ok fine. Then it got weird. I asked Mitch to come back to fix a small leak in a bulkhead he put in. He said no problem but would I also want to buy some driftwood. He was asking $100 for the wood, and I didn't need it. He kept insisting I get this wood and then after I declined a fourth time he simply never showed up and stopped returning my calls. The most annoying thing is I never got a receipt. He said someone from his office would fax it to me - I NEED this for my insurance company and taxes, but no one did. I wrote a stern letter but got no reply. Called 5-6 times again no word on that invoice. Mitch says he faxed it and well yeah..... After asking around at some pet stores the story goes like this. Mitch's mom+dad own the business. They are good people and honest. The son works for them and is a drug addict. The dad is so upset he rarely comes into work and so the son is there. Mitch is one of the best guys in the industry however always expect to pay cash, and never pay until the work is done, and expect no warranty. You can often bargain with him for beer and such. Offer him half of any price he asks, then meet in the middle. This way you are getting a good deal for yourself and have extra money set aside for if there are problems. read more

This dude gets zero stars. I wish that I did my research before handing this idiot my money. Thus tank hasn't even lasted one year and I ended up with 180 gallons of water leaking out if the tank. When we called to get him out to look at it -it took weeks to get him out. We lost all of our fish by then and had to surrender them. When he finally came to the house he was denying that a leak ever happened even though the wood underneath is rotting from the leak. He was loud and swearing in front of my kids saying that there was no way that it was leaking. I had to kick him out of my house and on his way out starting making racist comments to my husband! !!!! And in front of my children! Do not ever purchase from this crook!!!!!!!!! read more

In spite of the negativity that surrounds the guy.... I had no problem with him at all. It appears his situation has possibly changed since some of the previous reviews were written. Mitch does not run a "pet store", so if that's where you think you're heading, turn around. This is a bay in an industrial area and he builds aquariums in it. There are remnants of merchandise on the walls, perhaps from the store his parents had??? Essentially, you're going to a work shop, run by a working guy. He is rather old school, he has no interest in customer service and kissing anyone's ass. He clearly isn't there to cater to anyone. Assume that while you are there, you are in his space and a spade is a spade. Mitch and one of his regular clients, who he is currently building an aquarium for, loaded my aquarium into my truck. Mitch handed me the keys to his truck and asked me to move it..... I hadn't given him a dime, I'd never met the guy before in my life..... I got a great deal on my aquarium, he threw in a bunch of other things, I had zero problems with the guy. In closing, I will say this, I don't think he is a drug addict looking for cash to buy his next hit. I think he's like a lot of small business owners who work for well to do clients, in a specialized field. He likes his craft but isn't necessarily cut out for anything remotely customer service related. He probably has little or no knowledge of book keeping or computers, nor does he have any interest in learning it. He has probably seen a million aquariums and, unfortunately, your $2000.00 aquarium doesn't mean squat to him....... I can draw many comparisons between Mitch and myself, as I am also in a specialized field, however, I enjoy people. Yet, there are times when I roll my eyes and shake my head. I questioned the client that was in there checking on the progress of his aquarium regarding this guys bad rep. He said, "this isn't petland, don't believe everything you read, Mitch is a great guy, rough around the edges". And that sums it up. He swears, he drinks and he builds aquariums. He drives a new truck, he has a fluffy little lap dog, that clearly loves him. His shop is over crowded and dirty, so is mine. I got what I wanted and more. He was not rude. read more

Caution Just ordered a tank 5 weeks ago, still waiting Promises promises to get my tank built but now he is avoiding my calls Looked at my months visa statement and he put more than 2000 dollars worth of charges on my account The tank was worth 550.00 never received the goods and had to phone my visa company for the charges he rang up Beware he has a lot of issues read more

Steer clear of Bow Valley Aquariums! Mitch is next to impossible to deal with, once he has your money he becomes rude and aggressive and will give you every reason under the sun for not having it complete on time. After showing up at the shop at times he agreed to and having him not be there I ended up having to have a friend call to set up an appointment to get work done so I could trick him into being there. He becomes physically aggressive and verbally abbusive, I had to tell him I wasn't leaving the shop until, at the very least, I had the glass so that I could complete it myself because I was tired of trying to chase him down and I had doubts I would receive any product at all. Heres a short summary of the big issues just with the product, this doesn't include any of the interactions that I had to endure with Mitch. -2 terrariums 84" long, 24" deep, 23" tall. Front opening glass doors and 2 3" vents on each rear top corner. 9" kick plate below front doors. All to be made of clear glass. -2 terrariums 41" long, 24 deep, 23 tall. Front opening terrariums and 1 3" vent on opposite rear top corners of each tank. 9" kick plate below door. All to made of clear glass. -3 terrariums 52" long, 22" deep, 22" tall. Front opening glass doors and 2 3" vents on each rear top corner. 9" kick plate below front doors. All to be made of clear glass. This is what I got instead: - 84x24x23 with 9" kick were built as 83x23x22 with 6" kick. I had to assemble these tanks myself and the rear vents were not drilled. The doors don't fit on either terrarium. One side panel was 1/2 an inch to short and the other side panel was cut on a significant angle so was higher in the back then the front. The front side supports beside the doors were cut over an inch too short and 2 inches too wide on one terrarium. -41x24x23 with 9" kick were built to 40x23x22 with a 10" kick. Side panels and rear glass were made with poor quality glass and are showing signs of "rusting". I took this glass up to another glass shop and without even asking me where I had them built they said "these are from Mitch aren't they?" When I asked how they knew that he told me he use to work for Mitch and that he gets scrap and defective glass from other glass companies who are throwing it out and he uses it to build terrariums. He says this is a common flaw when using this type of glass as it has a poor reaction to water. These tanks are not even a month old and after having a reptile in it for a week the discolouration makes the tank look dirty. The doors for these ones do not fit and the tracks for the doors we not installed properly and had to be removed and properly placed. 52x22x22 with 9" kick were built to 51x21x21 with a 8" kick. Side panels and rear glass were made with poor quality coloured glass and are showing signs of "rusting". These tanks are not even a month old and after having a reptile in it for a week the discolouration makes the tank look dirty. These tanks were built with blue glass even after Mitch specifically asked me if I wanted tinted glass before he starter building them and I said no, I want all clear glass. When I picked these up I told Mitch we didn't want them in blue. read more

Have been waiting for over two months now for my aquarium and still nothing after being told several times it will be done this day and then oh sorry we got busy it will be done this day while this day has come and gone now a half a dozen times. After talking to Mitch he told me to stop whining he would get to my tank when he could I have giving him$1500 and expect to get something back and when I tried to hold him accountable he could only yell, swear and threaten me. Bow Valley might be reasonably priced for good aquariums but it is not thanks to Mitch as he seems only to make side deals under his mothers nose and makes deals he never delivers on. Stay away from Bow Valley and never give them a deposit. read more

Recently, I ordered a 150 gallon aquarium, glass lids and custom 36-inch stand from Mitch. I found that he delivered the goods! He enhanced my order by making the stand out of 2" tubular steel and also put a beautiful blue backing on the tank without increasing the price initially agreed on. The workmanship was impeccable. I would highly recommend anyone who is looking for that special aquarium that they intend to display in a highly visible location in their home or office to give Mitch a call first - I guarantee you will not be disappointed. George R. read more

After reading Stephen's review I agree! Mitch was very good to my husband but the shop has poor comunication! After placing the order for the tank. Mitch called our home asking for us to wire money to him as payment for the tank. We did this as he informed us that he was the owner as all information on the net tells as well. When it came time to ship I noticed that they had also billed our Visa card in the same amount. Trying to get our money back on the Visa tured out to be a problem as Mitch would say he would fix it and then nothing. So after several days of this we Reported the problem to Visa as they were not autherized to bill any money to our card. The card was originally given to place a deposit on but we ended up doing it cash. IT turns out that acording to Audrey the receptionist, She is the owner and not MItch. Mitch turned volitile when I called today to ask for a fax number. He was upset that we repoted to Visa. I will have not further transactions with this buisness. And if Audrey really is the owner she should maybe look at the impact of having this man working for her company. read more

So after many attempts to try and get this resolved it was eventually told to suck his cock! Very unprofessional! Ended up picking up a pile of glass and getting a professional company to finish the work. This guy is a complete lunatic, you never k ow how he's going to be one day to another, he answers emails in such a rude manor I can almost guarantee hes on drugs. read more

I recently dealt with Mitch at Bow Valley aquariums and he was awesome to deal with. I bought a 90 gallon aquarium with metal stand. He used 1/2 inch glass to build it and I am very impressed with the build quality and the service Mitch provided. I am very satisfied and will certainly be recommending their aquariums to my friends and will be purchasing again in the future. read more

I only had GOOD from Mitch. The price was spectacular, the turnaround quick, communications efficient, and the quality is very good. Glass edges could be polished better but not for the $$ I paid. Just be patient, have a respect for Mitch and his team, and everything will work out. Mitch has a great deal of expertise and knowledge in aquarium building and it is not constructive to not take advantage of this because you do not like some of his personality traits. Mitch, thank you, great job! Anna read more

Bought a tank from Mitch a year ago and it was delivered fast and at a great price. Then i decided to buy another one in June. I wanted a slightly smaller one to start a salt water tank. I allowed him to throw half the amount on my cc, and found out 3 days later he doubled the amount with out my approval. After waiting and waiting and waiting, with numerous phones calls to have this finished i finally received it 9 months later, and to my dismay, it wasn't fully delivered, i was missing the piping, the pump and the lids. ( as well as lids i ordered 9 months earlier for another tank that i had ). We set up a time for him to deliver the remaining pieces so i could actually get this tank running. and he no showed, no phones calls no nothing. After reaching him today, he said he had lost my number and was unable to inform me he could not make it, I then told him i have called A LOT of times and did leave my number. his employee that answered the phone in those times apologized for what was going on. Today i talked to Mitch and he called me a baby and saying i was wining about getting it delivered. i said i will come up today, and he said he didn't have all the pieces and the lids weren't finished. He has poor customer service and needs to be knocked down a notch. I did record our phone conversation, and Mitch i hope you read these reviews as i will be contacting the BBB and submitting my phone conversation. The purpose of your customers buying tanks from you is to set them up and enjoy what they put in them. You sir are a brutal business owner and have terrible people skills. read more

This store was selling some aquariums online and I sent them an email to ask about the tanks. I was sent rude, offensive emails back containing profanity. If this is how they treat potential customers who ask only 1 question that was not included in the original information.... STEER CLEAR. They are very rude and terrible to communicate with. Go somewhere else. Anywhere else would be better than this place. I hope you take my advice and spend your hard earned money at another local business that deserves it. read more