Need your advice 75g REEF Undrilled $800

[rk01]

75g, Coralife Super Skimmer
Aqua pro sump.
Custom Aro Ballasts
175w mh 10k 15k
2 48" 48w atnic
Live rock, forget how many lbs. all that you see in the pic.
He said he has invested aprox $3500

Corals and some fish already in the tank as you can see. He even offered to help me take it down and set it up. He said its all about 1 year old.
He is about 50 miles away - do you think we can make it and everything survive? I read that disturbing the sand can release all kinds of badies.

He also is including a saltwater 30g that has is set up with a chocolate starfish, that we can use to keep the fish in until we get things settled. He also said moving the live rock, it might upset things a tad and there could be a quick cycle needed before putting the fish back in. Sound right?

He seemed very knowledgeable and friendly.

Seems like a great deal but again, I need your opinion!

As a newbie to reef tanks, and saltwater in general, should I be concerned since this tank isn't drilled? I've read that if you don't have a 'reef ready' tank that's drilled, then you have to have an external hang on overflow, but I don't know if this has one, or exactly how its set up.

Can anyone tell from the pictures if its set up correctly or is there anything I should be concerned about, or questions I should ask?

I don't want to invest money into a failing system.


Thanks for listening.


[img=http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/403/pic0044fd1.th.jpg]

 

[ccCapt]

Being that I'm a DIY type person, I think that price is somewhat high. It does look like a nice setup and everything will work as is.

If you do get it, I would suggest trying to have at least 50g of fresh sw made up, mixed, heated and ready to go and try to bring some of his old water if possible. The tank with the rock and sand will probably only hold about 60-65g of water when all said and done.
If you use his sand, rinse it thoroughly. You can even use a garden hose with freshwater. Your better off washing it out and possibly removing some good critters, but it's much better than not rinsing it and possibly polluting the tank by releasing all the crap out of the sand.
You would probably just go thru a small, quick cycle.

 

[goisles1]

I'll tell you what.. For a year old that Tank looks fantastic.. He's got a Coraline explosion going on there.

I can't answer the move questions as I don't have the experience, but I can tell you he's DEF using a Overflow Box. If you look in the tank shot, it's in the upper right had side. Water flow into that little box INSIDE the tank, then gets PULLED over the side of the tank via a siphon tube into a larger box behind the tank. there are 2 compartments in the outside box; One where the water enters and one with drain down to your sump. It's pretty ingenious... The first chamber is always filled with water. So, if you turn off your return pump, the overflow will STOP dropping water down to the sump. But, as the siphon tube is still underwater both inside and outside of the tank,you won't break your siphon and it will continue once the pump is turned back on.

He's also LOADED with Live Rock which will cost you big if you had to Buy.

The only Negative I see there is the Skimmer. I do NOT have any experience with that model, but when I was shopping around for my skimmer I asked about that model and the general opinion was that it was not that great. Still, that model is almost $200 at my LFS which has crazy High Prices!!

I even see what looks like an Auto Top-off in the sump (which I need to install next)!

I believe you should ditch the bio-balls in the sump. Again, from my research

Looks like a good deal to me.. I was looking at those sumps at my LFS and they were a few hundred bucks.

 

[rk01]

Thanks for your replies!

Here is some more information. Also, should I be concerned that its a wet/dry system and not a refugium?

led moonlights with lunar cycle computer
100lbs of live rock, 75lbs is caribbean
25lbs of Figi
80 lbs of caribbean live sand,
several rock anemones
2 nudebranchs
2 percula clowns
1 blue tang
1 diamond goby
a few small star fish,
several varieties of zoanthids
one very large leather
a few bunches of carpet
several feather dusters,
over 50 reef janitors, astria snales, nassarius snales, zebra snales, and several red and blue legged hermit crabs.

 

[Ziggy953]

$800 for everything is probably about right. The rock alone is worth probably $300. I say go for it!

 

[nanoluvr]

looks like a great deal to me! If I was up there, I'd buy it.

 

[919]

Low ball him, tell him you will give him 600. We are in a recession you know... 800 is a good price, but I have seen better deal when people are desperate to let things go.

 

[rk01]

So I went and checked out the tank. I was pretty disappointed with the light setup. He doesn't even have reflectors - just some sheet metal. Aren't they a little high off the tank?

Also, he said he 'made' some of the rock himself.

So between the home-made lighting, and not really knowing what rock is real, and what is home made, i'm not so sure this is worth $800.
Here are some pictures. The leather looks like its about gone compared to the picture he sent me originally.

The 4 fish he had seemed very happy. I had him feed them, and they seemed great.

What do you think?

 

[Ziggy953]

Lighting : MH bulbs are normally 12-16" above the water so that isn't unusual. The fact that he has a flat reflector just means he is satisfied with what he's got. Nothing wrong with the lighting or how he has it setup. It can be done better but the parts are good.

The leather, a leather goes through periods where it draws up and looks terrible..a day later it looks great. Mine does this all the time.

If you can't tell which rocks are real and which are not then he did a good job on them. I still think the system is worth $800. I would offer him less and see what happens.

 

[Ziggy953]

Expect to spend $200 for the 75g new, stand will cost equal to that so you are at $400 with tank and stand. Dual 175w MH (assuming that's what they are) are going to run you about $200 and the bulbs are anywhere from $50 - $100 each depending on brand. Lets say he has 150lbs of rock and paid $3.99 a pound for it (that's cheap for LR too) that would be $599 just for the rock. Add all that up and you are looking at $1299 give or take and you haven't gotten any pumps, powerheads, salt mix, test kits, skimmer, fuge/sump. I think its a good deal.