Is this a good buy?

[yohann976]

I've been offered a 90 gallon fish tank for the price of $500. I need to know if this is a good deal. Unfortunately, I don't know all of the details about this tank yet. My friend's friend claims that he spent about $2,000 on it, but don't know if that's the truth.

Let's just go off assumptions until I find out more information. Like I said, the tank is 90 gallons and it comes with a stand. It has live rock and all of the needed chemicals for a saltwater tank. There apparently is a fish and an octopus for tank inhabitants. For the time being, I'm assuming that the equipment for this tank is 'standard,' nothing too fancy.

I'm sure that I would have to give you more information for you guys to accurately assess the worth of this tank, but do you think that it's worth at least $500?

I'll have more information tomorrow.

 

[mtlion]

Yes, more info is needed, but $500 for a 90G tank and stand, even without the other items, sounds like a good price to me. Does is have an overflow built in or do you have to use HOB filters?

 

[yohann976]

Ok, I don't have all of the information yet, but I did get some updates. The tank is absolutely stacked with live rock. There are a couple of species of corals in there too. The lighting is apparently "professional," but I'll be the judge of that, lol. I'm going to actually see the tank tomorrow and talk to the person who owns the tank.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to buy it for $500. If the tank is already established and doing well, I think that price might be a steal. His friend owns the fish store where he got the tank from. He said that he wanted the "complete package," so his friend hooked him up. Like I said, I'll need to see everything before I can make an educated judgment on everything. I guess the only reason why he is selling it is because he is never home due to business and he doesn't have time to take care of it. I guess the next line of questions I'm going to have will concern moving this established tank. If there's enough live rock to cover the entire back wall, how in the heck do you move all of that? Will they have to remain completely under water during the trip?

I've kept freshwater planted tanks for about ten years now. I've raised everything from goldfish to discus, but I've never had a saltwater tank. I'll be doing my research and asking the occasional question on this forum before I actually pick up the tank.

 

[thominil]

Just wrap the Live rock in wet newspaper and it will be fine.

 

[jessicasmarine]

If its a 90 gallon "stacked" with LR then the LR alone is worth $500.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Ask these questions. How old is the tank? Age might be detremental. What is the stand made of. Pine is good.

What kind of lighting and how old are the bulbs? What is the livestock? Are the rocks pest free? Is the tank Reef Ready? What kind of "Chemicals" are they? What kind of filtration? Are their power heads? You want the price of the used tank setup to be at most half of the full price.

 

[yohann976]

Ok, I checked out the tank today. It's almost two years old, but the equipment looks either new or well maintained. It has PC lights with 10,000K and actinic bulbs. He has brand new bulbs still in their packages I'm an idiot though, I forgot to ask him about the wattage. I'll probably have to upgrade to MH when I eventually get corals and anemonies anyways. He has a huge sump under the pine stand, but he didn't know the size. He also has another pump to increase the water pressure even more. The tank is stacked with Fiji LR, about 200 lbs in fact. About the LR, I'm sure that it has the beneficial bacteria, but I didn't see the small inhabitants like the LR in the pet stores have. Will I have to reseed it? If so, should I just buy some LR from the pet store, or is there another mthod? The LR looked as though it had a purplish algea that was recently scrubbed off. Oh yeah, the tank only has a very small fish and a couple snails.

I think the reason why he doesn't know about the lighting, sump or the specifics is because he just had his friend set up the whole thing. He originally paid $2,000 for it from his friend who owned a pet store and some of the things he said he got at a discount. All in all, I still think that it's a pretty good deal.

I haven't even bought this tank yet and I've already asked quite a few questions, lol.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Im going to say its worth it. You could sell the LR for 2/lb and the stand is a good 300+. Just i would check for pests in the rock, Majano, aiptasia, Maby even do a FW dip.