what to look for when buying a used fish tank?

[superbad]

My husband and I are going to look at a 125 g fishtank that is for sale. It comes with a woodstand, glass hood w/ 2 lights, 3 filters, sub heater and a xtra large sunkin ship that was $200 just for the ship ( which won't do us any good since saltwater tanks should not have any metal). It was off craiglsist and I have emailed the person back and forth. Seller says it's in great condition...

is there anything specific we should look for? It has been uses for freshwater and we are going to do sw.

Thank you! I am new here so may be posting a lot in the future...

 

[TRe]

make sure you ask if it was ever treated with copper

 

[superbad]

make sure you ask if it was ever treated with copper

Thank you! Would this be a good investment for it? I couldn't post the pic but it's a description of a wet dry system.


Wet Dry Pro 150 System with built in Skimmer
Skimmer Removes Easily for Cleaning, While System is Operational
Includes Bioballs and all tubing, does not include prefilter box
Specifications
Dimensions 24" L x 10" W x 21"H
Rec. Tank size limit: 150 gallons
Bio Area: 4.0 gallons
Sump Capacity: 12.90 gallons
Rec. Pump Magdrive 12 $309.99

 

[TRe]

id stay away from bioballs and a built in skimmer

 

[Lotus]

You can probably somewhat modify the sump system to a refugium. It sounds like it would be a good deal

 

[TRe]

how much is everything?

 

[superbad]

You can probably somewhat modify the sump system to a refugium. It sounds like it would be a good deal

I am not sure how we would do that but my husbands pretty crafty and could prob figure it out. Are bioballs bad? I've been rading up on filter and a lot of places say get a wet/dry filter but all the ones I see have bioballs. We plan on fish only tank for now.

We are going to go look at the tank this weekend. It's used, and comes with three filters and a subheater, but I am so confused on waht kind of filter system we will need. Will the ones it comes with be enough.

 

[di0nysus]

i figure since this thread is up i might as well use it....
my co-worker offered to sell me her b/f fishtank wich is a 140g for $250 with the stand and a few other stuff. its an all glass aquarium and they told me all i have to do with it is seal up one of the sides corners im guessing where both pieces of glass meet? so should i just look to see if it has any cracks on the glass and even though it have one crack would it still be worth it or is it just a disaster waiting to happen?

 

[Limi310]

If you are doing Fish Only then the bio-balls are fine. Although not necessary if you are using live rock. I HIGHLY recommend live rock. In which case you really just need some power heads for water movement and a skimmer.

A lot of Ich medications contain copper....so that would be a good thing to ask.