Is this a good deal?

[Marbles]

hey, i'm new to the saltwater scene, but down at my LFS i overheard a lady trying to sell her 30g long SW tank. The attendant at the shop knows i've been on the lookout for another tank, and he motioned me over to listen. he told her that for a 30 gallon SW setup she could expect around 50 for the tank and gear, maybe 75 with the fish included.

I got her number and gave her a call yesterday, and i'm going out to her house tomorrow to take a look at the tank before i go ahead and buy it.

She has the tank, Skilter filter (dont know the model # exactly) leftover 50lb bag of instant ocean, a backup filter, about 30lbs of live rock, a couple corals, one anemone, power compact light setup, along with backup filter stuff, light timer, powerhead and a stand/hood. As for the fish, as far as i was able to gather, she's got a 6 line wrasse, a false percula and a yellow tang(tang police, i know... i'll be returning it to the LFS as soon as i get the tank)

what i'm wondering is... should i just buy the tank when i go out there tomorrow? regardless if the fish are included? her tank is completely established, and she says she's never lost a fish. It seems like a really good deal to me, even if i just bought the tank/filter/live rock it would be more than 50 dollars at the store.

 

[Mushroomman]

75 for it all? Thats a damn good deal. My skimmer alone was more than that, and I got a good deal on it too. Thats a really good deal.

Yeah best to rreturn the tang.

Maybe you can have the store hold your fish for you while you get it all set up at your place then put them in when its all ready to go.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

That's a good deal even without the fish. You'd be hard pressed to get the tan and lights for that new, let alone the filters, rock, and fish. That set-up had to cost over $250...

 

[OCCFan023]

looks like an awsome deal. The light alone that can has been sustianing corals in that tank (im not sure what type because it wasnt specified, but has to be strong to keep corals alive) is worth that amount

 

[CAPSLOCK]

He said "power compact light setup."

 

[Marbles]

sweet, thanks for the feedback, i'm going to just bring cash with me today then, and if it looks good when i get there, i'm just going to get it...

 

[1979camaro]

you probably don't even need the store to hold the fish...as long as you move everything and set it back up that day and the LR stays damp you aren't going to experience any sort of cycle. just take as much of her water with you as you can

 

[Marbles]

False alarm.... i drove like 45 minutes out to her house, the tank looks OK... she does have tons of supplies, the corals that she had were 3 polyps clinging to a dead rock, all of her live rock is coated with this weird "purple carpet" ish coral. and then, to top it off, she says she never said 50-75 bucks, she wants 350 for it.... so i told her i'd think about it... and went home seriously dissapointed.

 

[ram man]

purple carpet is a good thing! it takes months to get that type of algae to grow. the polyps are probably zoos. nad if i were you as her punishment for lieing to you... when she is out running erands. steal the tank and burn her house down... j/k man 75 bucks sounded to good to be true.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

cyano can look purple under actinics ;-)

 

[aresgod]

I agree, I don't think I would have touched that tank with a ten foot pole. too bad about the misinformation

 

[tmnterminator]

Yea, that does suck! Sorry to hear about that. Guess it was too good to be true.

 

[Marbles]

oh well, guess i'll have to get a SW setup on my own, the right way, without ripping off someone who i assumed knew nothing about what she had... i think i'm going to stick with my earlier plan of just buying a 10 gal and staying small untill i can afford to go bigger.

 

[1979camaro]

to chime in on this size issue...you are going to spend almost the same amount setting up a 10 that you would spend setting up a 20L or 29 so it makes more sense to go with the larger tank if you have the room. it will make your life much easier in terms of water quality, mainetnance, equipment choices, fish options, etc

 

[KahluaZzZ]

yeah man, 10 is gonna be harder. If you still wanna go 10g, you could have like a hidden 10-20 gallon sump ( use a cheap rubbermaid or salt bucket ) but considering 10g tank here are 9 $ CDN and 20g 23 $ CDN, it's cheap and could be better looking

 

[Marbles]

Yeah, i'm still a SW noob, but i have always been into the nano-reef idea... I started to go into the whole setup i want to do in this post, but i figure there's enough 10gal setup threads i dont need to start it all over again, when i have time i'll peruse the ones that are already posted i was just thinking that having to buy 30lbs of live rock would be considerably more expensive than only having to buy 10

 

[KahluaZzZ]

ya could buy a 30g with 10 pounds of real good live rock...then maybe add more LR later

 

[FishGeek]

Not to mention the fact that you will get into the 10G nano thing and then you will spot all sorts of stuff that you really want and so you finally give in and get the bigger tank. So in reality if you dont go with a bigger tank you WILL have it in the near future; therefore, you will spend more money!!!

 

[KahluaZzZ]

this is sadly true, well for me..i look at my 55 and i wish i had a bigger one to keep more LPS

 

[wayne]

If you take exactly the same stuff as you had on a 10 and hang it on a 20 L you will be so much better of just due to the volume increase. If you have the choice it's the 20L every time. Maybe one size up in powerheads, heater, and that's it.