LagoonGuy
Community Member
G’day,
Just thought I’d introduce myself and hopefully gain some much needed knowledge in the process, some of you will probably be interested in the little project I have going on.
I’ve been into fishkeeping for years, first it was Pseudomugils then Tanganyikans, always working towards the rarest fish we can get in Aus, breeding them, getting bored and moving on to something new. I was looking at buying an 8x3x3 and trying out Marine for the first time, I’m right into spearfishing and freediving and underwater photography. I’ve been involved with filmographies on Nat Geo, Shark week etc. Love the ocean and have always known that I’d end up reefkeeping.
Whilst I was in a local LFS talking to a mate about the tank he asked if I wanted something bigger, he had purchased the full inventory of another LFS when they closed down and had a week to move the stock out. This included a Cade 3600 aquarium. The tank measured 12ft x 4ft x 1.5ft high, 19mm glass, a massive frag tank. It had the complete set up for marine including
- Sicce Syncra 9.0 pump
- Red Sea Reefer 900 Skimmer
- Red Sea Reefwave 45 Wavemaker
- Laguna UV
- AquaMedic Doser (Stuffed)
- 8 x Red Sea Lights that were $600 each retail but we couldn’t find them and assume they took or sold them.
Ato and some other things
So I asked how much and told him probably no chance that I could afford it at the moment. The 8ft tank was $2000 which was about my limit, he said “If you can move it by the weekend it’s yours, it weighs 1.6 tonne!”
He just didn’t have the time, space or means to move it.
So I went into overdrive, was it even possible. Watched a massive amount of videos on YouTube of people and shops getting big tanks delivered, it was really hard to find one the same length, even the 8ft tanks seemed really difficult. Then I came across a video of this exact tank being delivered to the shop I would have to move it out of. Great I thought, this will be super helpful. It was and it wasn’t, it showed how to get it out but also the ridiculous size and weight. They had a forklift and it was boxed up on a steel base for the forks. I had none of this.
I ended up realising that there was no way I could do it, not even with 6 big blokes to help, I had to try removalists. After about 10 failed calls where they just didn’t want to even try I finally got one who said no problem, sure. They quoted $1700aus. I paid an extra $500 for insurance, the tank is worth $24k aus to replace, well worth the $500 investment. I had sent her the link and called at least 5 times to make sure they understood what they were taking on.
I went to the shop that night and had my first look in person at the tank, it was great. It was dirty but nothing permanent bar the waterline which is pretty much invisible when it’s full so no big deal. I undone all of the pipe work, took the black glass doors off and collected all the equipment. Looked so hard for the lights but they just weren’t there, the son of the owner was really helpful though.
The next day I was at the shop ready to go for a start at 8, definitely worth the day off. Especially considering that my dad wanted my 6ft Tanganyikan aquarium and offered to pay for the removalists if I gave him the set up. The tank was worth more and I would have given him it for free but he wasn’t having it. He’s a legend, really wanted my to just be happy and not have to stress. So the tank was going to cost me the $500 insurance and that’s it.
They never showed, turns out the company I had contacted sub contract out the work to other companies. Whoever they ended up contracting obviously wasn’t capable and just didn’t show. They gave me a sorry we double booked excuse but there’s no way given the amount of conversations we had about the difficulty, they had a couple of meetings with the director about it. They told me that someone would definitely be there the next day at 8am.
The next day I’m waiting out the front and 2 trucks pull up with 2 blokes in each. He gets out and tells me he’s here to pick up a big fish tank, that’s all he was told.
We go inside and they just start laughing, not even considering trying to do it. They had no lifts with them at all, only 2 of those stand up trolley things. They were literally just told they had to pick up a big tank, one of them though wasn’t a quitter. He was the team leader and told them to shut up so he could think. He said they’ve never had something they couldn’t move and got his guys to start asking the neighbouring factories for forklifts etc. He ended up with 2 pallet jacks and and an electric forklift thing that was awesome. They also had the hulk with them, one of them was tiny but one was enormous and more than made up for an extra few men.
They busted their arses, lift, move, adjust repeat and got it done. It was a nightmare but that one blokes take no **** attitude made it happen.
So now I have a 12ft aquarium in my garage that I spent the whole night making room for. I start collecting and cycling rock, Marco rock for the tank and that purple coral stuff for the sump. I fill the tank with the sand from most of my other tanks which I was moving on and it becomes a massive sandpit for my granddaughters. Amazing! Already worth it!
Fast forward a couple of months and I finally decide it’s time for water, I make the call but the waters too dirty to collect, have to wait until the weekend.
He finally calls and and my tank is full, approx 2500 litres.
Fast forward about a month and we’ve been to the beach a couple of times collecting for the tank. I originally had all these plans for specific fish that I wanted relating to my spearfishing favourites like whiting, squid, trevally etc. Started with a few just legal salmon to help cycle the tank and a few bits of macro algae that were washed up on the beach which looked maybe saveable. Watching them made me remember what I really enjoy in a tank, nano environments. Small enough critters can almost live naturally in the right environment. Instead of 20-30 medium sized fish just hovering around I could create a 12ft environment for nano fish.
I still have the salmon but they’ll be fishing bait once I increase the bio a bit more.
Massive story I’m sorry, I just started off thinking I’ll introduce myself and I got excited. Don’t really have anyone to chat to about marine, only know freshwater and Cichlid guys.
Here’s some pics of the process, all temporary stuff we’ve collected off the beach and rock pools. Going for a Victorian Coastal Biotope.
I’m aware of a lot of the risks of parasites etc when collecting but I want to learn it all not just how to keep a perfect tank. I’m happy to have issues as long as it’s not killing my fish, plants, algae. I don’t want perfect, I want natural.
I’m a beginner in Marine and just got lucky so I’d love any ideas or help anyone has to offer!
Just thought I’d introduce myself and hopefully gain some much needed knowledge in the process, some of you will probably be interested in the little project I have going on.
I’ve been into fishkeeping for years, first it was Pseudomugils then Tanganyikans, always working towards the rarest fish we can get in Aus, breeding them, getting bored and moving on to something new. I was looking at buying an 8x3x3 and trying out Marine for the first time, I’m right into spearfishing and freediving and underwater photography. I’ve been involved with filmographies on Nat Geo, Shark week etc. Love the ocean and have always known that I’d end up reefkeeping.
Whilst I was in a local LFS talking to a mate about the tank he asked if I wanted something bigger, he had purchased the full inventory of another LFS when they closed down and had a week to move the stock out. This included a Cade 3600 aquarium. The tank measured 12ft x 4ft x 1.5ft high, 19mm glass, a massive frag tank. It had the complete set up for marine including
- Sicce Syncra 9.0 pump
- Red Sea Reefer 900 Skimmer
- Red Sea Reefwave 45 Wavemaker
- Laguna UV
- AquaMedic Doser (Stuffed)
- 8 x Red Sea Lights that were $600 each retail but we couldn’t find them and assume they took or sold them.
Ato and some other things
So I asked how much and told him probably no chance that I could afford it at the moment. The 8ft tank was $2000 which was about my limit, he said “If you can move it by the weekend it’s yours, it weighs 1.6 tonne!”
He just didn’t have the time, space or means to move it.
So I went into overdrive, was it even possible. Watched a massive amount of videos on YouTube of people and shops getting big tanks delivered, it was really hard to find one the same length, even the 8ft tanks seemed really difficult. Then I came across a video of this exact tank being delivered to the shop I would have to move it out of. Great I thought, this will be super helpful. It was and it wasn’t, it showed how to get it out but also the ridiculous size and weight. They had a forklift and it was boxed up on a steel base for the forks. I had none of this.
I ended up realising that there was no way I could do it, not even with 6 big blokes to help, I had to try removalists. After about 10 failed calls where they just didn’t want to even try I finally got one who said no problem, sure. They quoted $1700aus. I paid an extra $500 for insurance, the tank is worth $24k aus to replace, well worth the $500 investment. I had sent her the link and called at least 5 times to make sure they understood what they were taking on.
I went to the shop that night and had my first look in person at the tank, it was great. It was dirty but nothing permanent bar the waterline which is pretty much invisible when it’s full so no big deal. I undone all of the pipe work, took the black glass doors off and collected all the equipment. Looked so hard for the lights but they just weren’t there, the son of the owner was really helpful though.
The next day I was at the shop ready to go for a start at 8, definitely worth the day off. Especially considering that my dad wanted my 6ft Tanganyikan aquarium and offered to pay for the removalists if I gave him the set up. The tank was worth more and I would have given him it for free but he wasn’t having it. He’s a legend, really wanted my to just be happy and not have to stress. So the tank was going to cost me the $500 insurance and that’s it.
They never showed, turns out the company I had contacted sub contract out the work to other companies. Whoever they ended up contracting obviously wasn’t capable and just didn’t show. They gave me a sorry we double booked excuse but there’s no way given the amount of conversations we had about the difficulty, they had a couple of meetings with the director about it. They told me that someone would definitely be there the next day at 8am.
The next day I’m waiting out the front and 2 trucks pull up with 2 blokes in each. He gets out and tells me he’s here to pick up a big fish tank, that’s all he was told.
We go inside and they just start laughing, not even considering trying to do it. They had no lifts with them at all, only 2 of those stand up trolley things. They were literally just told they had to pick up a big tank, one of them though wasn’t a quitter. He was the team leader and told them to shut up so he could think. He said they’ve never had something they couldn’t move and got his guys to start asking the neighbouring factories for forklifts etc. He ended up with 2 pallet jacks and and an electric forklift thing that was awesome. They also had the hulk with them, one of them was tiny but one was enormous and more than made up for an extra few men.
They busted their arses, lift, move, adjust repeat and got it done. It was a nightmare but that one blokes take no **** attitude made it happen.
So now I have a 12ft aquarium in my garage that I spent the whole night making room for. I start collecting and cycling rock, Marco rock for the tank and that purple coral stuff for the sump. I fill the tank with the sand from most of my other tanks which I was moving on and it becomes a massive sandpit for my granddaughters. Amazing! Already worth it!
Fast forward a couple of months and I finally decide it’s time for water, I make the call but the waters too dirty to collect, have to wait until the weekend.
He finally calls and and my tank is full, approx 2500 litres.
Fast forward about a month and we’ve been to the beach a couple of times collecting for the tank. I originally had all these plans for specific fish that I wanted relating to my spearfishing favourites like whiting, squid, trevally etc. Started with a few just legal salmon to help cycle the tank and a few bits of macro algae that were washed up on the beach which looked maybe saveable. Watching them made me remember what I really enjoy in a tank, nano environments. Small enough critters can almost live naturally in the right environment. Instead of 20-30 medium sized fish just hovering around I could create a 12ft environment for nano fish.
I still have the salmon but they’ll be fishing bait once I increase the bio a bit more.
Massive story I’m sorry, I just started off thinking I’ll introduce myself and I got excited. Don’t really have anyone to chat to about marine, only know freshwater and Cichlid guys.
Here’s some pics of the process, all temporary stuff we’ve collected off the beach and rock pools. Going for a Victorian Coastal Biotope.
I’m aware of a lot of the risks of parasites etc when collecting but I want to learn it all not just how to keep a perfect tank. I’m happy to have issues as long as it’s not killing my fish, plants, algae. I don’t want perfect, I want natural.
I’m a beginner in Marine and just got lucky so I’d love any ideas or help anyone has to offer!
but i saw you got a banging deal and moved it in a hurry! 
