GHH
New Member
Impulse buy. I think this qualifies. We already have two fresh water tanks in our living room, and no real space for the 55GL saltwater disaster that popped up on Craigslist. But those Clowns...they got us. We tried to ignore the post but the tiny photo of those cute little guys wouldn't let go of our hearts, and after much discussion and planning we made the call and spent a day bringing them into our home.
The plan:
We don't want 3 tanks, so the idea is to take the best parts of this one and build a 30-40GL cube that will replace our 20GL freshwater tank. Then sell the 20 and 55. Our budget is small, so we'll be patient and wait for a cube to pop up on Craiglist, while we learn and try to rescue this tank as much as we can.
Step 1: stabilize, test, and identify what we have.
Step 2: prioritize problems and fix
Step 3: wait for tank to heal and stock for eventual 40GL
Step 4: move everything over to the 40
The good, the bad and the ugly:
The ugly speaks for itself, so let's start with the good. The owner was local (10 miles away), we wouldn't have considered it otherwise. For $500, we got a 350A Kessil, Octopus Skimmer, BRS Reactor, heater, 3 power heads, original top light, tons of live rock (10+ years old), 2 clowns, 7 anemones, and some corals. No waiting to get cycled, multiple corals, and the clowns are happily hosting. The bad is obviously an algae problem, and potentially other issues we don't know about yet. It will also divide our attention from the other tanks, and put on hold my dream for Discus.
History:
The owner had the tank for years, but during the fires he lost power for 5 days and lost almost everything. He was so discouraged, he soured on the hobby, and didn't even try to fix the algae problem. Here's a shot he gave me of the tank in its glory days.
Next up I'll post some shots of things we need help Identifying, and what we've done in a week. Here we go!
The plan:
We don't want 3 tanks, so the idea is to take the best parts of this one and build a 30-40GL cube that will replace our 20GL freshwater tank. Then sell the 20 and 55. Our budget is small, so we'll be patient and wait for a cube to pop up on Craiglist, while we learn and try to rescue this tank as much as we can.
Step 1: stabilize, test, and identify what we have.
Step 2: prioritize problems and fix
Step 3: wait for tank to heal and stock for eventual 40GL
Step 4: move everything over to the 40
The good, the bad and the ugly:
The ugly speaks for itself, so let's start with the good. The owner was local (10 miles away), we wouldn't have considered it otherwise. For $500, we got a 350A Kessil, Octopus Skimmer, BRS Reactor, heater, 3 power heads, original top light, tons of live rock (10+ years old), 2 clowns, 7 anemones, and some corals. No waiting to get cycled, multiple corals, and the clowns are happily hosting. The bad is obviously an algae problem, and potentially other issues we don't know about yet. It will also divide our attention from the other tanks, and put on hold my dream for Discus.
History:
The owner had the tank for years, but during the fires he lost power for 5 days and lost almost everything. He was so discouraged, he soured on the hobby, and didn't even try to fix the algae problem. Here's a shot he gave me of the tank in its glory days.
Next up I'll post some shots of things we need help Identifying, and what we've done in a week. Here we go!
