Local looking to get into reef keeping

[rkw01]

Hello! I hope it is ok to post here. I feel like a real outsider, which I guess I am.

I've been doing allot of reading and research, and would really like to find someone with extra equipment for sale, or just looking to get out of the hobby.

In the last two weeks i've wen't from deciding on a FO setup, to FOWLR, and now I'm set on a reef tank, plus some cute fish for the kids to enjoy.

I'm on a budget, and have been browsing craigslist, and also considering starting from scratch. I've got a list of everything I've decided on if I went out and bought everything brand new, but I seem to be hearing from others that used might be the better way to go. Which is funny, because I started out looking at a few used setups on craigslist, but I seemed to have been talked out of it. Today I spent most of the day researching the best equipment for a new setup, and when I posted it to the forums, people said I should look into a used setup. I realize everyone is going to have their own opinion on things, and I can't expect people to decide for me.

Anyway, sorry to ramble.

If you know of a used setup out there, or just have some good advice for a newbie, please feel free.

Btw, i'm about 50 miles southwest of Columbia,TN

Thanks.

Here is kind of what I'm looking for in a NEW setup. Sure does add up quick.

65g Long RR - 48" x 18" x 17" Tall - $248
Nova Extreme SLR 4x55 T5 HO - $212
Vertex IN-80 Skimmer (well-liked Octopus Clone) $130
CaribSea Aragonite - $25 x 5 = $125
Premium Live Rock $3.25 per lb $292
20g DIY Sump/Fuge $60
DIY Stand
Misc items such as powerheads, heaters, etc.

 

[cczarnik]

Welcome to the group, used is absolutely the way to go, if you're not stuck on that exact dimension of tank there are some AMAZING deals to be had right here in the club. Just keep your eyes open, the good deals go fast.

BTW, exactly where is 50 mi SW of Columbia? Gotta be way out there.. Somewhere near the trace / AL / MS?

Chuck

 

[mltmtascp]

pm sent

 

[rkw01]

BTW, exactly where is 50 mi SW of Columbia? Gotta be way out there.. Somewhere near the trace / AL / MS?

You are correct, near the AL line. In the sticks.

 

[james3370]

a few bits of advice......

* t5 lights - if you are looking for retrofit kits to go in a canopy, i'd say you will be hard pressed to beat reefgeek.com on prices, bulb selection (which choice of bulbs are included in most their kits) & extremely low shipping prices. if you are wanting the nova extreme fixture, my incessant online pricing searching came up with petmountain.com for the lowest prices & again very good shipping rates.

* live rock - me personally, i'd buy a few pieces of actual live rock & put it in your sump. do the dispaly tank w/ dry rock from bulkreefsupply.com (ecorok) & also the live sand you mentioned & let the live rock in the sump & live sand "seed" the tank. this will save you quite a bit of $$$ & cut your cycle time down considerably. it will also lessen the chance of bring nasties on the rock into the tank that you spend ages fighting. as the saying i have heard goes...."the best way to fight _____, is to never get it in the 1st place". the trade-off in doing it this way is that your tank will take awhile longer to have that "live" look, but you can help it get a nice coraline growth by using Purple Up additive.

* tank & sump - check out glasscages.com for a good price on both. i think their base 65 tank starts at about $120...of course that's not reef-ready, but i think you can get it tricked out w/ a sump tank too for in the balpark you posted. they are about 40 miles west of nashville. about 5 miles from the interstate....i-40 west exit 172 (dickson).

* diy stand - use this thread, its easy to design, cut & construct pretty much any size stand you want to do.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1169964

any other questions, don't hesitate to ask...there are some great people in this club

 

[commonstranger]

Hmmmmm.....I might get my hand smacked for this one but, I'm going to be honest. I agree that used for the most part is the way to go. I would buy everything used (aslong as it is in good working order) except my tank. Just my opinion but I would buy a new tank everything else would be used. One more piece of advice about tanks. Buy the biggest one you can afford. The larger the tank the fewer the problems and will be more likely for it to remain stable. The one thing I always see people say is "Im on a budget". I think the best thing for people new to the hobby to do is treat it like "Legos" when you were a kid. You had to buy a pieces at a time and build from there. You can buy cheaper things and get going sooner but I believe you will be selling yourself short and not as happy as you could have been if the person had been more patient and saved a little more money. This is a hobby that DEMANDS patients. If your going to be doing this for the long haul and want a great outcome my advice is save your money and get the best equipment you can. I am not saying buy the highest priced stuff out here by any means only that buy the best you can afford. Take your time and look for some good deals on the forums be quick though like someone has already said the good deals go quick on here. This site will help you alot and there are several people here with vast amonuts of knowledge on the hobby. I wish you the best and if there is anyway I can help just let me know.

 

[mltmtascp]

I agree with commonstranger. New Tank and Patience!!! We buy everything new. The one time we got a used tank we ended up replacing everything within 6 months because it was not what we wanted for the long run.
When we set up our 120, our tank was empty for about 6months until we had everything we needed to set it up. We researched and decided on everything that we wanted and then found the best prices on the internet. One of the best things that we did was go to FL on vacation. We found live figi rock for 2.50 per pound. I think Live rock is an important purchase also. It is great if you can find someone selling it out of a cycled tank. We purchased some at one of the LFS and it took over a month to cycle.

 

[DMBillies]

I tried posting most of this last night, but couldn't... so here goes.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14227327#post14227327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkw01 I'm on a budget...

65g Long RR - 48" x 18" x 17" Tall - $248 Nova Extreme SLR 4x55 T5 HO - $212 Vertex IN-80 Skimmer (well-liked Octopus Clone) $130 CaribSea Aragonite - $25 x 5 = $125 Premium Live Rock $3.25 per lb $292 20g DIY Sump/Fuge $60 DIY Stand Misc items such as powerheads, heaters, etc.

If you're on a budget and want good equipment to stay on your budget, troll this forum and the selling forums like it's your job. Keep in mind a number of tank/stand sizes that are in range of what you want and plan to be a little flexible (this shouldn't be hard to do since most equipment you're looking at will work for anything from about 60-90 gallons and lights working over a 48"x18" tank).

New - I'm not sure where the "hate" for used tanks from the last two guys comes from, but as long as it doesn't have scratches and does use some type of standard overflow design (and is not otherwise modified) I really don't see how you can go wrong. Especially because I agree with everyone who is saying to go as big as you think you can right off of the bat. Getting used is about the only way you'll be able to go for a bigger tank/stand and stay on the same general budget.

Staying on standard size stands will save you money and possibly taking on converting a non-RR tank to one that can handle a sump will save you more. There are a lot of 60-90 gallon fresh water setups that go on craigslist and at yardsales for next to nothing that could be converted. Honestly, a DIY stand is likely to cost you as much if not more than a mass produced job (especially if you can buy used). So, I wouldn't budget nothing for that unless you have a lumber yard. That said, you should be able to get a decent used tank/stand combo (with nothing else) for darn near what your tank budget is.

Research a few skimmers that might work for what you need and keep your eyes open for them. Remember, it may be possible to overskim depending on what you want to keep, but upgrading later will almost always cost you more money... so I'd recommend taking a bigger skimmer for a little more than you'd like to pay instead of a crap skimmer for less than you're willing to pay.

On live rock, there's always deals to be had in the "local" area. Also buying dry rock is a great alternative to buying "live rock" from LFS's or other sources that is really nothing more than rock that is already cured (i.e., there's not much about it that is 'live' that you couldn't easily replicate with a couple of weeks of patience). Dry rock has the added advantage of no wasted shipping weight.

Read up on bare bottom tanks if you think you might want to avoid the cost of sand. Bare bottom tanks can be really great. Everyone has their opinion on sand, but not having much of it can save you quite a lot of money and has at least a couple of advantages. As soon as you build this tank you'll realize that a bigger sump is never a bad thing. I run a 20 gallon sump on a 30 gallon tank simply because I can't get everything into something smaller. If you go with a tank of that footprint, I'd look into building your own out of a 30 gallon long or maybe the biggest thing you can fit under your stand. You'll thank yourself later for getting something bigger than you "need." Many times, if you're lucky enough to find a good used tank/stand, the sump will also come along at a steal.

Finally, remember that if this is your first reef tank, you'll learn a LOT in building it and trying to maintain it at first. Starting bigger will keep you from constantly upgrading and make parameters easier to maintain. At the same time, going the used way will keep your cost reasonable and leave you more money to spend on the really fun stuff (corals and fish). And as long as you're patient, you'll find what you really want without compromising too much. I'm a graduate student, so I understand keeping things on the cheap side...

Oh... and you'll thank yourself in the long run if you include power cords, timers, an auto-topoff, water filter, test kits, plumbing parts, etc. into your budget. There's no use fooling yourself into thinking these things don't cost... Welcome to the addiction

 

[rkw01]

Thank you for all your words of wisdom.

I have a 45g tall, which is only 12" wide, front to back. I had already resealed it, and cleaned it up. Its from my brother-in-law who once had it setup as a FO SW.

I could use it, but I assumed it wasn't wide enough, and pretty deep as far as light penetration goes, I would probably be limited to 4 T5's max, plus its only 36" long, so if/when I decided to go bigger, i'd have to buy new lighting for a 48" or 72" long.
Besides the fact its not drilled. Lots of negatives for sure.

Any thoughts there?

 

[mltmtascp]

The 12 wide gives you limited space for rock but can be done. We have three non-drilled tanks that have overflows on them. However we wished we would have purchased RR tank. We are going to replace them eventually but it will be a pain. Moving a tank is not fun especially if it is full of coral. I suggest that you purchase what you want up front and fill it slowly. It takes a long time to built a reef tank.
Monica

 

[NeveSSL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14231961#post14231961 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkw01
Thank you for all your words of wisdom.

I have a 45g tall, which is only 12" wide, front to back. I had already resealed it, and cleaned it up. Its from my brother-in-law who once had it setup as a FO SW.

I could use it, but I assumed it wasn't wide enough, and pretty deep as far as light penetration goes, I would probably be limited to 4 T5's max, plus its only 36" long, so if/when I decided to go bigger, i'd have to buy new lighting for a 48" or 72" long.
Besides the fact its not drilled. Lots of negatives for sure.

Any thoughts there?

I have a 45g tall and my T5HO's have absolutely NO problem with getting light to corals. I actually have a crocea clam on my sandbed that will bleach out if I put him up on the rocks! At the same time, I have my lights right on the water (about 1" off of the surface).

However, I do recommend getting an 18" deep tank if you can. I would also recommend a 6 bulb T5 fixture simply because it makes it MUCH easier to find a satisfying combination of bulbs.

Brandon

 

[NeveSSL]

Oh, and drilling the glass is easy enough. Really, its nowhere near as hard as some people think. The only rules (assuming you've made sure its not tempered glass ) are 1. Don't rush it! Take your time and let the diamonds do the work (ask James about pushing one through ) and 2. Keep it cool. This can be as simple as spraying it with water every once in a while or pooling water up around it with plumbers putty.

Check out Glass-Holes.com for some awesome overflow kits.

And lastly, welcome to MTRC!

Brandon

 

[james3370]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14232188#post14232188 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
Oh, and drilling the glass is easy enough. Really, its nowhere near as hard as some people think. The only rules (assuming you've made sure its not tempered glass ) are 1. Don't rush it! Take your time and let the diamonds do the work (ask James about pushing one through ) and 2. Keep it cool. This can be as simple as spraying it with water every once in a while or pooling water up around it with plumbers putty.

Check out Glass-Holes.com for some awesome overflow kits.

And lastly, welcome to MTRC!

Brandon

yes brandon, i can testify to the going slow. one thing that helps is a cheap set of ear plugs so you don't have to listen to the incessant grinding noise....which i think was what made me rush my drilling LOL

 

[NeveSSL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14229389#post14229389 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by commonstranger
... This is a hobby that DEMANDS patients. ...

I hope I never hear my doctor say that.

:eek2:

:lol:

Brandon

 

[commonstranger]

I agree with Monica. Also I have nothing against used tanks only that I perfer new ones. I have my reasons for that. No scratches you know its new with no problems and if there is a problem then you have a warranty. I will agree to go slow on things. Do some research and see where you can and shouldnt cut corners. You can do this just make sure that you get what you want. If the money isnt there yet hold off till you have it. You will be much happier in the long run.