have this up in the FOR SALE forum- what do you guys think is a fair price?

microbubbles

New member
after verrrrry long and careful consideration, i decided that selling my almost-new/never-seen-a-frag-or-fish-system might be for the best.

what i'm selling is an in-wall project that was about 98% complete that never got completely off the ground for whatever reason. nearly all of the components are basically new (used for a 1-2 month period where i was getting the new tank ready for inhabitants before i decided, after several years of reef-induced stress, that i think i finally hate this hobby. i spared few expenses getting together the best components i could after very thorough and lengthy research. all in all, this project has cost me well over 9 thousand dollars and months of work and careful planning. the installation is clean and professionally done and she is one mean machine. everything except the chiller (1 yr of use), ozonizer, and the kalk reactor were all purchased new for this project.


tank: lee-mar 225g 72x30x24" eurobraced, black back, tempered glass on back and lower panels, drilled for 1.5" plumbing, center black overflow, 2x1.5" drains w/ dual durso (no splash noises whatsoever), 4 main return inlets and 4 closed loop inlets (2 closed loop drains are towards the upper 25% of the tank). i plumbed the tank with respect to the way i wanted to design my aquascape and the idea of having an almost completely SPS dominated reef, the resulting waterflow is remarkably well distributed through the 4 main returns and the closed loop. paid 1750 for tank alone

plumbing: all schedule 80 grey pvc plumbing and fittings, ball valves/gate valves/check valves hayward or spears. over 1k was invested in plumbing alone. unions and ballvalves are everywhere for easy takedown/maintenance/moving well over $1000 spent on plumbing. 9 hayward union ball valves, 3 spears gate valves, 1 hayward check valve (serviceable w/ removeable weight plug... not a cheap piece of plumbing), drains/plumbing are all 1/5" and skimmer plumbing is 1"

pumps: 1 sequence reeflo barracuda (main return), 1 hammerhead (closed loop), 1 genx pcx-55 (becket skimmer) (approx 700+ paid) plumbed for easy dry takedown

stand: 40" tall (plenty of head and neck room to work under there), beveled, powder coated (virtually salt-water and rust-proof with nominal maintenance) braced steel stand. initially my project was an in-wall so i had no need for a furniture stand/canopy setup 250+. there are a few VERY impressive stand makers here on RC who i've seen put together some DYNAMITE facade furniture for this type of steel stand setup if you prefer not to go for in-wall.

lighting: 4x96w power compacts on 2 pfo ballasts (every bulb has an on/off switch... ran for less than 100hrs), 2x65w NOVA pc fixture (in-sump-refugium, new bulbs but has a year's worth of miles on it) $300+ on compacts

sump: killer socal creations custom 90+gallon acrylic sump- chamber one - overflow drains into filter socks in the first chamber (also drilled from inlet to skimmer pump), baffling optimized to 6-9" waterline, built in 20+ gallon refugium/isolation and built in 3-probe holder, 1" bulkhead drilled in the sock compartment for the skimmer pump (i feel like this is the ideal place for the skimmer pump drain because anything that the socks don't catch are going straight to that pump). all drains and inlets for the pump are valved off, making it cake to service the sump, dry it out, change out pumps, etc, all edges have been de-horned by very fine grit sandpaper. don't recall what i paid but it sure wasnt inexpensive.

circulation: 2 tunze 6100 w/ new style muti-controller and magnets $900-ish paid (tunzes stayed in the tank, but has seen less than 100hrs of operation)

skimmer: my reef creations mr-3 beckett skimmer w/ dual injectors, quick release union, set up for ozone $650 w/ pump, sched 80 hardlined w/ a spears gate valve at the skimmer pump for better tuning. skimmer creates a small amount of microbubbles into the main display, but i made some creative mods (no unsightly ghetto-rigging, ever!) to effectively eliminate every last bubble.

kalkwasser: my reef creations kalk reactor w/ magnetic motor (needs servicing) $325

ozone: s1200 250mg/hr clearwater tech ozonizer $300 (quickly brought the tank orp to 400 few months ago when i tested, but might need new bulb)

calcium reactor: korallin c3002 reactor w/ 5lb co2 tank and german regulator $600

chiller: aqualogic 1/3 hp drop in chiller (dog bit through power cord, anyone at home depot's electrical dept can help you make this good as new again). will work like a champ, less than 1 yr of use $700-ish

dosing pump: aquamedic 3 channel digital programmed doser over $300

probes/meters: 1 milwaukee ph monitor sms____ with almost new probe, 1 milwaukee ph controller sms______ with almost new probe, 1 milwaukee ozone controller almost new probe, w/ all probes and calibration fluids. approx $300

live rocks: approx 400lbs kaelini fully cooked and cured, misc 100+ lbs of walt smith fiji premium. paid over $600 in live rock

live sand: 250 lbs or so of aragalive sugar grain live sand, still have one unopen bag. paid $250

large water storage drums: 2 60 gal drums, paid $60

ro/di: 5 stage w/ 2 de-ionization chambers, 0 ppm readings. paid $100



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tank2.jpg



what do you guys gather it's worth? and what do you think if a good price to sell it at? i got all the time in the world and i'm in no real hurry. i was thinking 5k realistically. i know RC is probably not the best medium to sell this tank, but i'm very anxious to get some feedback of the members. the only thing left to buy were the 3 lumenarc iii's... and this is good to go.

i'll snap more pics of what it looks like now w/ water for you guys soon.
 
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oh by the way, i forgot to mention that this is somewhat of a rough unfinished product. a lot of the closed loop and overflow drain plumbing you see is just mocked up and there have been plenty of aesthetic as well as functional improvements. unfortunately right now these are the only pics so i'll try to get more soon.
 
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thanks for the compliments antiant and all delight. jendub i will try to locate jellytheory, appreciate the heads up.

in case i didnt make it clear, the tank has been wet for several months now and i've more or less been cooking the aquascaped rock in there for several long months.
 
makesme wish I had money to start over, cause if I did and wanted to improve on my setup, I think yours wold be mu;ch better...

Good job,, and good luck


bill
 
What city are you in? I would buy the tank, stand, and sump....but there is no way I would run the pumps/skimmer that you have. I could not afford the monthly edison bills that that equipment selection would generate. I would also take the tunzes. PM me if you are interested. I just bought a new place, and I was going to buy a new Lee Mar tank with those same dimensions...as well as a steel stand.
 
Wow - That is a niccce setup. Yah the electric bill would kill anyone.
Just need to change the pumps out and someone will have a GREAT tank.
Good luck with sell.
NICE.
 
thanks for everything... i'm replying to all the pm's. the thing w/ the pumps- if energy is your main concern, there is plenty of headloss in the plumbing so you're not going to be maxing out wattage. there are also manymanymany ways with the way i plumbed it to create even more restriction, therefore much less than the max wattage consumed.
 
Would be hard to get someone to buy the whole thing unless they were in the market. I would say Bebo was right on the money!! $3 grand or so...

Good luck. Looks like a sweet setup....
 
yeah... saurus and bebo- for three grand, i'd rather donate it to a library or school and write it off. thanks tho. i've already had 3 pm's saying this tank is almost exactly what they were looking for. i don't doubt there are a strong percentage of high-end reef hobbyists out there looking for something along these lines.

i am in diamond bar. feel free to pm to schedule a time to see it if you're interested. thanks
 
Micro - I don't think Bebo or Sauras were trying to lowball you. I think they were just responding to the question in your title asking everyone what they think is a fair price. I personally think it could be as much as $4k or more if you find the right buyer or part it out.

If you do decide to part it out or atleast sell the rock seperately, I might be interested in it, but would want to see pictures and then come by to take a look.

Jendub (Charles) - Thanks for remembering and mentioning me. :) I'm looking to do a penninsula style tank though and it looks like it's going to be quite a bit bigger than 225g. :)


Either way, good luck with selling the tank!

-Chris
 
Very nice! I think you should just keep it. make it simple and low maintenance and enjoy the money you have spent.
 
i sounded unintentionally curt back there. bebo's armed to the teeth with that beast he already has going. i know he was trying to throw out a suggestion and not an offer.
 
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