Help with purchasing new tank and transfer of old

[Sikryd]

Whats up guys and gals. A little about us - We just moved here from many different places (Wife is a Military Officer with the NSA) including California, Tokyo, Japan, Minot, ND, ect.

I am from S. California and grew up at the beach. We have always had freshwater tanks for the last 15 years and didn't want to get into saltwater until we were at a place that we planned to stay and retire. We are there now. We live in Pasadena, MD (Riviera Beach) and love it so far.

We bought a tank the first week we were here for a good deal. I ended up transferring everything with it, including water.

The specs are:

120g

Magnum 350 cannister filter

3 Maxijet 1200's

Hang on 330 walmart special that I added to get the silt out quicker after setup

Hang on skimmer that doesn't seem to be working via a powerhead

Coralife PC with 2 white lights 2 actinics

150watt MH 2nd one needs a new bulb

Heater

 

Critters

200lbs live rock

120lbs sand

2 Maroon Clowns

2 Banded Clowns

Royal Gramma (I think - purple/yellow)

Mandarin goby

Rock goby

Clam

Pink Tube Anenome (NOT an enoma like my wife orates when she tells someone )

3 Cleaner shrimp

Various snails, blue-legged hermits, other hermits ect.

 

After looking at different tanks and setups, I decided that it would be best for us to get a reef ready tank with sump and refugium.

Eventually I would like to be able to get into corals. So I would like to get a tank that will allow this.

I have checked with SeaSave, which is the closest LFS, as well as House of Tropicals to see about picking up a tank and setup. I am just not sure if that is the best way to go, and where has the best prices. I wouldn't go to House of Tropicals for anything other than dry stock, I just don't like their tanks, attitude, or knowledge.

SeaSave has some nice tanks and setups, along with great knowledge and have been very helpful so far.

I called Exotictropics in Parkville, MD about an hour away I presume and spoke to Joann, she said to check back in a week and she will have the specials on tanks and setups ready for us to check out.

 

So what I was wondering is if there is any ideas out there on where a good place would be to go to get a new RR tank and setup, or if someone here had one they are looking to get rid of.

We are looking for a nice looking tank, but that is also affordable.

 

Any ideas and help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chad

[amay121]

Chad,

 

Welcome to the club. Check out the Sale/Trade forums, sometimes people sell items there or you can place a WTB (wanted to buy) post up there asking for what you'd like to purchase. I think you just missed the boat on a few larger tanks (2 members sold their 180g tanks) if you wanted something bigger, but one of the members may have his, not sure. Just check out that forum and send people who were selling their tanks a PM to ask.

 

Sometimes vendors have sales as well. Just do a search and you'll find some older posts. I believe that Mr. Coral still has his (do not pay retail for a tank ever) deal going on. Do a search and you may find something on it. Ping a few of the owners, managers of the vendors and they may be able to quote you.

 

As for corals, these are just from my experience so, they're not scientifically proven to be absolutely correct:

 

Best price for frags (other members sell their frags, and members frags are way better (most of the time) then at any vendor).

 

But if this was only for Vendors:

 

Mr. Coral (Frederick, MD) - Best for LPS (australian acans, etc.)

Blue Ribbon Koi - Has everything and for a LFS, has some of the best prices for fish and great prices for corals of all kinds.

Aquarium Company - Sean typically gets some of the best SPS colonies that I've seen.

Everyone has pretty much the same prices for salt, so hit someone that supports the group is nice even though they're probably a little too far for ya.

 

Once again, welcome.

 

One last thing, don't tell me you're from OC because I grew up there as well and my wife and I just moved out here last Nov.)...

Edited June 30, 2008 by amay121

[Sikryd]

Yep - I am Triton, San Clemente Alumni

 

Thanks for the help. I am still looking on Craigs list too. I might have a line on a good 75g for our bedroom.

I am going to wait and find a good deal on a reef ready 125g I think, 6 x 2 x 18in

Still checkin around.

Thanks for the welcome

Chad

[gmubeach]

Welcome you've picked a great time to start a new tank:) Alot of people are loosing alot of money on craigslist now...I had a guy try and sell me a 120 gallon for 400 dollars all loaded with equipment and rock... anyway I would look towards richmond and baltimore as well as dc depending on which direction your coming from... I had 4 tank offers all under 300 for well over 1000 worth of product... Finally wamas is great for trading and buy of selling of corals and supplies and welcome!

 

oh and when you do get a used tank throw a tank party pizza drinks and frags and you will have tons of help!

[amay121]

Chad,

 

Santa Ana.

 

Anyways, on some of the soft corals like Kenya Tree, Pulsing Xenia, Green Star Polyps, just ask and I'm sure that some member can give it away almost for free (since they grow like weeds).

[jason the filter freak]

Try posting in the general fourm and offering beer and wings/pizza and you should get a decent amount of help. Welcome to wamas, also nice set up.

[treesprite]

Hi Chad, welcome to the club

[Sikryd]

New news-

The skimmer is working good now. I just had to make a few adjustments.

 

We drove up to ExoticAquatics last night after we hit House of Tropics.

So sad to see so many problems in the tanks @ House of Tropics. Some pretty sick pets in there. What a bumber. Not somewhere I will support.

 

ExoticAquatics has some SWEEEEET stuff in there. It was hard not to pick up a bunch of stuff. We did get a BIG green bubble tip for $45 which seemed like a really good deal, and our clowns miss their carpet. So it was nice to get pick it up.

 

When I came home I had a message from a lady that I called on Craigslist. I ended up talking to her for about 2 hours about everything under the sun! Looks like we are going to get a 125g dual corner flow RR. It is setup and running right now, so it will be another joyous Sunday doing a teardown and rebuild ANDDDDDDD transfer from our current tank. Not sure how it is all going to work out, but I know it will. I am glad we have about 20 plastic rubbermaid containers, 4 coors light coolers, and possibly another stop @ Home Depot to "borrow" (read buy and bring back) some more trash cans.

I haven't seen the tank yet, so I am not 100%, but for the price, with everything except lighting (so far - but I plan to get that too) it seems like the setup we are looking for.

Any ideas on making the teardown and rebuild PLUS the transfer and movement of our current tank would be great. Last time I just showed up at the guys house with my truck, trailer, and a ton of containers and went to town. It worked out. But now I have a FULL tank in the place of where the new one needs to go.

I'll post and see if anyone wants to check it out on Sunday and possibly help with the transfer - off course, all the pizza and beer you can eat!

 

I also have a question on assisting the anemone out on footing. I'll post in the other forum on that too I guess.

 

Chad

 

PS - Santa Ana huh! I was born @ Long Beach Memorial and lived off McCarther (sp) and Brookhurst for a few. Lived across the street from Moon Park in Anaheim as well. Not to mention right across the street from Knotts Berry Farm when it was just a petting zoo. We used that as our "day care" after school. lol

Its a small world!

[Sikryd]

Oh yeah. As far as the Kenya trees, if I don't get rid of some of the ones I have I might not have much room left! Only have about 15 now, about 6-8in long. With the mother being about 3in round at the base and 8in at the flower.

I also have some not so cool looking cabbage I think its called. Its not bad to look at, but not that cool either. Plus I have about 10-15 of them too.

I have a good patch of Zenia and some other stuff I don't know what it is. Along with some polyps that I haven't looked up yet either. NOOB, I know. It'll take a while to even get the easy stuff down since we haven't read all the salt books yet.

 

Should I bring any Kenya trees or the cabbage things to Frag Fest or just turn them over to SeaSave for store credit. He says he hasn't been able to get any of the longer 6-8in ones in.

I have only had about 6-8 for the last year, including Dr. Burgess's Atlas which only has 4,000 photos lol.

[gmubeach]

Well thats great news! Anyway 45$ for a bubble tip isn't hardly a bad deal... especially if its from a store... always make sure to check the wamas for sale adds you will most likely find the same thing or better:) anyway as always hope your tank is looking good Troy

[davelin315]

Hey Chad, thinking long term, a 125 is not very deep (front to back) and is often a limiting factor. That said, I had a 125 before I moved here and loved it, but my suggestion is that if you're in it for the long haul, the bigger the better! Go with whatever you can manage to fit into the space you want, and if you're not happy with that size, go with something bigger! Moving from a 120 to a 125 is only 5 gallons of water difference, and with it being reef ready, you're pretty much just moving to a different shape. I think that the 120 is 4' if I'm not mistaken and a lot deeper so it's a better overall reef tank. If you like the 6' dimension, the 180s are 6' I think and then they are deeper like a 120. My tank is 30" deep (front to back) and I like that dimension a whole lot more than any of the other tanks I have had. Also, when thinking of the tank you want, think about lights as well. For me, the most important thing is thinking of where you want your tank to be in 2 years rather than tomorrow. That way, you save yourself time and effort on top of money in the long term. There's going to be inevitable changes that you make in the short term, but hopefully you can avoid major changes.

[Sikryd]

Hey Chad, thinking long term, a 125 is not very deep (front to back) and is often a limiting factor. That said, I had a 125 before I moved here and loved it, but my suggestion is that if you're in it for the long haul, the bigger the better! Go with whatever you can manage to fit into the space you want, and if you're not happy with that size, go with something bigger! Moving from a 120 to a 125 is only 5 gallons of water difference, and with it being reef ready, you're pretty much just moving to a different shape. I think that the 120 is 4' if I'm not mistaken and a lot deeper so it's a better overall reef tank. If you like the 6' dimension, the 180s are 6' I think and then they are deeper like a 120. My tank is 30" deep (front to back) and I like that dimension a whole lot more than any of the other tanks I have had. Also, when thinking of the tank you want, think about lights as well. For me, the most important thing is thinking of where you want your tank to be in 2 years rather than tomorrow. That way, you save yourself time and effort on top of money in the long term. There's going to be inevitable changes that you make in the short term, but hopefully you can avoid major changes.

 

I agree. I almost bought a Oceanic 175g Bow Front tonight if it wasn't for a bunch of other problems.

But I think we are going to stick with a 125g (I have one I am looking at) 6' 2' 18in. It fits our living room better. If we decide to go bigger I can switch that into my office, or bedroom and get another one for the downstairs. Our budget is a limiting factor, since we have to pretty much buy everything - ie. refractometer some type of computer monitoring - ACIII or something - and just the learning curve since we have been in freshwater for so long. I am also looking at the monthly costs as well. That is why I have even entertained the idea of the 48" Galileo Led system.

Were still undecided. Its a brand new home, and we run art deco furniture so we are also trying to get something that will also fit the current decor.

We'll see. I am looking hard so hopefully a good deal comes up SOOOON. I want to pick up a complete pack deal with lighting, skimmer, ect.. ect. ect....

Our clarkii's attacked our marroons, so I had to take all the rock out to catch them - since I didn't have a trap and they wouldn't come to food and would run whenever I got near the tank like he knew I was after him for getting the marroon - I didn't like the clarkii's when we got the tank anyway so it made it even that more of a pain.

Not to mention I had already made plans to pick up some stuff from Jack (JHN). I ended up getting the clarkii's out and out to Jacks to pick up the live rock and some other goodies including a nice PFO Halide.

When we got back after 10pm we found the female marroon half dead and the rest of the fish stressed.

What a NIGHTMARE!

All because the wife wanted to get a second bubble tip for the marroons. When I got up this morning the clarkii's were trying to steal it from the marroons. AFTER they already had an anemone they hosted with on "their" side of the tank already. Guess they wanted that one too.

Oh well, live and learn.

 

I had to re-aquascape the tank with the new rock as well. Its been a LONG day....

Edited July 3, 2008 by Sikryd