Need advice! Looking at a 150g tank

[scboy]

I am looking at a tank right now that is 150 gal. The craigslist advertisment is below. I would love to have some feedback from those who have gone the route of buying a somewhat established tank, and adding to it.

Link to the tank for sale:

150 Gallon Acrylic Aquarium complete w/rock, fish corals

Our closest LFS is in Columbia, SC. (Fishy Business) They have a very good reputation and the only thing left for me to do is to take them a sample of my water.......well water. We live about 55 miles from Fishy Business, and I intend to make up my on water if at all possible. (Would love advice from those who have well water on this subject.)


Spoke with the guy tonight and the tank is 150g custom acrylic. Tank was made in 2000 and ran for one year, put into storage from 2001 to 2008, and has been up and running since.

Tank is stable....skimmer is a AETech ETSS 80R that was bought new in 2008. The skimmer has the large waste add on feature. The chiller was serviced in 2008.

It has a good many soft corals a some live stock. The rock was originally purchased from Tampa Bay Rock if that means anything. It has probably around a 40g sump with no refugium.

I plan on looking at the tank in person this Friday. Please look at the ad......and any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[scboy]

Well I went and looked at the tank last night..... Not exactly what the pictures looked like. Oh well.... :-(

I did get some more knowledge while I was there though......

I think that I want a 180g tank now. Looking for something that has the dimensions of 72x24x24. The 24" width looks like it really helps with reefing. Are there any glass tanks out there with these dimensions, or should I just stick with the acrylic tanks?

Feeling more ignorant by the hour.....

 

[reefdiver]

there shure are its just finding them. Its best just to keep looking inti different sites.

 

[mr_X]

you are right. the footprint is very important. a standard glass 150 is only 18" front to back. it's a bit of a pain to aqua scape. a glass 180 is a much better choice with a 24" front to back measurement.
lately(or maybe i should say finally!) tank manufacturers have been listening to their customers and building tanks with excellent footprints for reef keeping. i was at our major LFS last week and saw a few 5 and 6 foot tanks that were 36" front to back, and somewhat shallow top to bottom (24"). these were from major manufacturers too, so i'm betting your LFS can order them in.

 

[scboy]

Man...... A tank 6'x3'x2' = 270g! Now that will get you to thinking!?!?!

By the way are there any other sites to look at other than keeping my eyes peeled out on Craigslist?

 

[mr_X]

yeah..i'm just giving a few examples...but i've seen some equally awesome footprints in smaller tanks too.
backpage.com maybe....plus all the F/s threads on aquaria forums.