The Inventors of Acrylic All in One Aquariums.
Tenecor® was established in the mid 1970's as a manufacturer of commercial displays. Acrylic aquariums did not exist, only glass. There was no internet or "how-to" online videos. We were the first company to build hobbyist acrylic aquariums and many of the processes Tenecor® developed have become industry standards.
Tenecor® Simplicity™. The first All in One Aquarium.
Another Tenecor® innovation was installing the filter into the back of the tank. Back then the phrase "AIO" did not exist. Putting the filter inside the tank was not easy since acrylic aquariums have tops as well as bottoms. It was like building a ship in a bottle. It still isn't easy which is why few companies even try it. In glass tanks you can easily silicone in some pieces for an AIO. If you make a mistake, take it apart and start over. Not so with acrylic. Once the pieces are bonded, they cannot be taken apart.
Simplicity™ AIO. Safe. Reliable. A great value.
The appeal of the Tenecor Simplicity™ aquarium was the same forty years ago as it is now: Easy to set up with no holes to drill and no worry about leakage. Best of all, they were a great value. In 2022, Simplicity™ was replaced by the registered trademark name of Advantage® Aquariums.
Along comes PetSmart®.
In the early 90's, an up and coming Phoenix based retailer asked us to evaluate their store systems. Their existing aquariums were poorly constructed and their store systems were inefficient with high fish losses. They were going public and needed several hundred installations. The company was PetSmart®. We designed their systems and built many of their stores.
Running out of room. Again. And again.
From a single car garage we moved into a larger building and soon moved several times again to ever larger facilities. To keep up with demand a second shift was added and then a third. During the 80's and 90's, Tenecor® was the second largest buyer of acrylic west of the Mississippi, only behind Boeing. We got lots of courtside tickets from our vendors.
It's all about choice. Made to order flexibility.
Flexibility is designed into our manufacturing capabilities. Our production lines can go from a twenty gallon to a 120 gallon, back to a 40 followed by a 65 without any downtime or retooling. This is how we can offer an almost unlimited selection of sizes, styles and varieties.
Today we have the added benefit of CNC technology which was rare and expensive forty years ago. What took hours of manual calculations and cutting can now be done in a fraction of the time on one of our CNC routers or CO2 lasers.
Big tanks are a Tenecor® specialty.
Glass tanks have numerous disadvantages, starting with safety and the incredibly heavy weight. The upper limit of glass tanks is around 300 gallons and around 20 inches in height. Where glass tanks max out, our large tank portfolio begins. We have the specialized tooling and equipment necessary for building the big boys.
Tenecor® Today.
Tenecor® has built more acrylic aquariums than anyone. Our manufacturing capabilities span three buildings, staffed with highly trained American craftsmen. State of the art equipment and software continue to keep us well ahead of the competition in innovation and product quality.
American made. Since 1980.
Tenecor® still designs and manufactures in the great state of Arizona USA and does not offshore, outsource, subcontract or use third party manufacturers.
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| One of the first PetSmart® store systems we designed and built. They still use our designs. |
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| A 550 gallon with tower overflow. We also incorporated a reverse flow undergravel filter into this one. Notice the canopy has no electrical drop from the ceiling. The power supply runs up inside the overflow through a built in dry raceway. |
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| The first Simplicity™ AIO corner pentagon. Prototype. 1979. |
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An original Tenecor® Model 12 Aqua Dome with the Simplicity™ AIO built in filtration. It is still running after 40 plus years. The original compact fluorescent light was replaced with a new LED light. Even the original water pump is going strong. |
