You should count with losing a few pieces, that's the way it usually goes. You drop something, misplace something or whatever, it's not a tragedy. Just make sure you plan, plan, plan well in advance. Get the water ready, plenty of buckets and towels. Most, if not all of the stuff should survive.
For help in LA, try The Aquarium store in Culver City, very friendly and good staff.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-aquarium-culver-city-2
Yeah I am preparing myself, really want to try not to lose anything though...
This looks like a good deal. That said, you are really jumping in the deep end of the pool with this setup. The equipment is topflight but not particularly simple to use. If you have some time before you have to make the purchase, I'd start doing a great deal of homework by reading ALL of the New to the Hobby Stickies. That will provide a good primer on reef keeping and will likely include some basics on your equipment. I'd also look at the Neptune (Apex) and Ecotech (Radions) forums here.
Finally, there are great local reef clubs in your neck of the woods. Look in their forums and you'll likely find a large group of locals that will offer advice and assistance to a local newbie.
Thanks for the suggestion, I have gone through all the threads there and am pretty familiar with all the chemistry now. I'll have the guy teach me how to use all the tests and refractometers etc that he has. Hopefully as long as I can keep the parameters stable for the first week or so that will give me enough time to figure out how to use the rest of the equipment.
are you going to actually see this tank in person before it's torn down? if so, take pics at different angles, close-ups, and that way when you're putting the tank back together, you can have an idea as to where everything was originally.
if you aren't gonna actually see the tank, ask the seller to send you some close-up pics.
When I go on sunday I will have a chance to take pictures before we take it down together, hopefully I will be able to place all the corals back in the right place so they receive the same amount of light and flow they were before.
if the owner is only an hour away, did you ask him to help you set it up so you don´t make any mistakes? it´s his baby, if you see how he disassembles it and the re assembles it, I bet you will learn a great deal about it.
I don't think it will be possible for him to come over to my house, it's quite a drive for him and I know sunday afternoon he already has plans with family (ill be going early sunday morning). Ill ask him as much as I can when we are disassembling hopefully that will be enough. I'm still looking into maybe finding another experienced reefer that has knowledge of all the equipment to come help me set up, but I still have not found one yet. I'm going to make a post on the socal forums here and ask if anybody's available. What do you guys think is a fair amount to pay someone for maybe 2-3 hours setting it up?
As mentioned, this is a tip top end set up you're buying. Someone put a lot of time and money into assembling, balancing, and programming everything. It looks incredibly healthy. You are definitely diving into the deep end though. Virtually none of that is plug 'n play material. The apex alone takes a lot of people weeks to figure out how to even get online and programmed. Not to mention how to time your dosing and track your macro, and micro element consumption rates. All I can say is we are mostly all jealous, and it would be worth an extra bit of money if you had him at the very least do some basic training on how to use everything. Nice gear can crash a tank if mis used. Best of luck, and remember, even the highest end tanks get algae lol don't panic
I am getting more and more nervous about this whole thing haha. I am fine with any algae as long as the tank doesnt crash! :sad2: I'll make sure to have a list of questions to ask him such as how much he is dosing atm so I can continue on the same.
I think the tank is a great price. I personally think I would sell a lot of the live stock except the rock a few fish. I doubt your taste will be the same as his. It's gonna be a learning curve involved here. A lot of people compare reefing to cars for what ever reason but I would never want to buy someone else's finished hot rod or custom car. I would prefer to do it my self. It's only my opinion I hope it goes great. The tank definitely looks good.
I feel the same way, I almost wanted to just start my own tank, watch it get cycled, buy the live rock and go through all the steps, there's a kind of magic to it I feel seeing everything grow from the very beginning. I couldn't pass up this deal though! I'm thinking i'll eventually sell the bengaii cardinal and the purple tang, maybe some of the corals too. Right now I just wnat to keep everything alive.
Here's some pictures of the tank he sent me today.
I really, really do not want to screw this up! Everything looks so nice. I am really nervous and am not sure if i'll be able to keep everything alive!
I asked this question earlier that I was hoping someone could answer, how exactly am i supposed to avoid having the corals get smushed while transport? I feel like if i had them all in a bigger tupperware container even if I put them all right side up they would move around and damage some of the corals. Is the only solution to try and bring a bunch of smaller tupperware containers? He said he has around 25 corals and im not sure how many live rocks. What would you guys suggest?
Thanks to everybody for all the help and concern, I will definitely keep you guys updated especially the day of setup. I hope you guys can help me get through the first day and answer any questions I might have then. Now to keep looking for a reefer to help, if you are in the area and are available this Sunday I will pay you a good sum to help me set up the tank. Please let me know and thanks again
