Need advise picking aquarium

Pink Lady,
I was in your exact shoes about 3 months ago. I bought one of the "kits" at Petco and have some advice: DO NOT buy the kits! Little to nothing in the kits prove themselves worthy of a decent reef tank. I started with the complete system, and the only items that remain from the "kit" are the tank and stand. The money you will save on just buying a tank and stand is better put to the equipment you would have to buy anyways, with either direction.

 

Here are a few Craig's List ads in the Tampa Bay area. A few are not recommended because of size.....The bigger you get, the more live sand and live rock you need.

Here is a 155g bowfront. Too big in my humble opinion, but nice to look at.

155 Gallon Bow Aquarium with Stand and Canopy Overflow

Here is a 125g with a bunch of accessories. Some I would use, some I would throw away.

aquarium(salt water)

Now this one, I like. A MUCH better deal than what I got. The live rock alone is worth about $350 to $400. What do you think guys? Would this be a good one? Good skimmer, lighting system, LR, LS, etc?

75 gallon Saltwater fish tank (reef)

 

That third one is a pretty good deal Pharm, but I'm concerned with all the green in the full tank shot. Could that be a reflection from the grass? I'd try to get them down to like 275-400



this is the one I'd go for
http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/hsh/802864281.html but why $155.00 Ask to test with water b4 you buy(see if it leaks) and find out what they had in it. if it was fresh water you're gonna have to treat for copper if they used meds. You'd have to clean it anyway around it.

 

looks like the glare from the lawn outside...one heck of a deal though, you can hardly find tanks with stands let alone a complete setup for that much

 

Yeah, the tank looks about half full. It could be green....look at all the direct sunlight it is getting. If it isn't, it should be an algae farm. But even if she took the deal, washed the rock, rinsed the sand, took the livestock to the LFS for credit, she would be coming out waaayyyy ahead in the deal. The only thing she would have to do would be to cycle the tank again. No big deal.

 

yep! but really needs to lower the price...

 

The only thing I have against this is the amount of live sand and live rock she would have to put in. Even base rock at $4/lb she would be looking at upwards of $700 to $800. And that's the cheap stuff. Live sand would cost even more. With no lighting, no skimmer, I wouldn't touch this if I was a newbie......well, more of a newbie. I'm still a newbie, one that knows JUST enough to be dangerous!!!! Hehehe.

 

Yeah.....$300 offered and $375 settled on would be the way I would go.

 

My first saltwater tank was a 29, the depth of the tank really did anoy me....very limited on space for rocks and u never seem to have any nice front sand area for the critters and certain sand sifting fish. IF i knew then what i know now i would have started with a 40 gallon breeder. This is just me but this is what i would have bought from the beginning, 40 gallon breeder, 40lbs of live sand, remora protein skimmer with overflow box, 200 watt stealth heater, tunze nanostream 6025 & 6045, aquaclear 50 (polyfilter & one full unit of chemi pure in it) and a 4 bulb tek t5 fixture, and about 50lbs of liverock. Its an expensive start but it was even more expensive for me cause i bought all the garbage first time around cause my lfs was hosing me. I had a garbage bak pak skimmer that didnt skim $300 bux down the drain, a 2 bulb 192 watt power compact lighting system that limited me on corals, and the rio powerheads that just didnt get the job done. Heres a pic of my 29 gallon.





I only buy proven quality name brand equipment now, After my first tank and all the money i wasted on junk skimmers and lites and all the fish that died cause i had a large chain fish store selling me junk. I understand its expensive and some people dont have alot of money to dump into a tank, id have to say its not worth getting into the hobby and putting the animals thru suffering if u know from the beginning u dont have the means to take care of them properly. Dont trust and prebuilt packages at deathco or any giant retail fish stores, the most u will end up using is the tank, lol...Good luck on your new hobby...if u have any questions id do my best to answer em. Btw, heres a link to my lfs....thank God i found them or id prolly still be throwing money away. They dont sell ANYTHING that doesnt do what it says it will.

Salty Critter - Your Saltwater Specialists

 

well I can tell you this much, The 90g project I'm building for home (pickup my tank today if it stops freaking raining) I've got about a 4k budget and I'll spend every dime of it with ease and that's a very minimal livestock list