Biggest Sheer Gallon Size For My Money?

[aquila]

Hi, I've been lurking for some time and decided it was about time I did some posting myself.

I'm off to a local university in September and will be moving out with my boyfriend and another couple we are friends with into a privately rented house. I've already done some research and have been ringing up some people with houses advertised, at least half say they'd accept my aquariums so the fish are going with me! This however has given me ideas and it's where I need some help.

My tanks are currently a 35 UK gal and a 20 UK gal - the former with a pair of extremely large fancy goldfish and the latter with a trio of pictus cats. The 35 is now ridiculously small for the goldfish, I went out of my way to buy good fish and keep their water extremely clean and they have repaid me with fantastic growth, however I am now doing 50% water changes every two days just to control their waste. The 20 is also far too small for the pictus cats - my boyfriend was offered a tank by a workmate for free who said it was 'at least three feet', so out we went and reserved and paid for some pictus which he'd always wanted, along comes the tank and it's a 20.

They are all crying out for a larger tank soooo.... when I move out it will be the perfect opportunity to buy a big new tank, so I can set it up at the new place rather than having the hassle of moving a fully stocked tank. I want to move the goldies into this big tank and possibly add one more, move the pictus up into the 35 and have a play with planting it, making an awesome cave system for them etc., and have the 20 spare for whatever I fancy (can you say male crowntail betta?)

To save my poor arms from the dreaded water change buckets the goldies need as vast an amount of water as I can afford, the buggers are pretty much fist-sized and so also need the swimming room. My problem is that I look at tanks only fractionally bigger than mine - like the Juwel 180 litre etc. - and the prices seem extortionate. I only paid £60 for my 35 from my LFS. Being a poor student I rely on wages from a weekend job and I therefore can't afford to spend £200 on a tank only fractionally bigger than I have now! I would happily spend £200+ if I can at least double the gallonage I have now.

Sorry for the life story - I guess my question is what is the biggest tank I can get for my money - say around £300 max? It would be great if that would include a stand also. A filter isn't a problem, I already have a mahoosive one to deal with the goldie waste.

Where are all the big cheap tanks without all the silly extras that Juwels come with?!

 

[mikster]

Well since no one has answered i will have a go this company is supposed to be reasonably priced

N D Aquatics

The smallest tank size i can see on there works out at something like 85 usg? dont count on my calculations there but the tank alone is only £130, maybe you could make a cheap stand yourself or something as its £335 with a cabinet, also they may well do you a slightly smaller tank for less if you didnt want one that big. Theres probably better deals about but at least thats a start.

 

[Aprilia997]

I bought a 240 gallon us plexiglass tank from a person that needed money fast for $1000.00. The price he had paid for the tank new was just over $2200.00, it was just over a year old and not a scratch. Try looking in the for sale adds in the paper as well as the forums. Sometimes someone will post something for sale and it turns out they live close to you.

 

[DAVEGWYNN]

Hi - my 20 gal started leaking like a beast, so I went to my LFS (Maidenhead Aquatics - a chain, often in garden centres) and picked up a 55gal (220L) tank with stand and cover and all the bits for about £300. I think it was £280 before better filters and things were added. It is a longstanding offer there.

 

[fenwoman]

Hi, I've been lurking for some time and decided it was about time I did some posting myself.

I'm off to a local university in September and will be moving out with my boyfriend and another couple we are friends with into a privately rented house. I've already done some research and have been ringing up some people with houses advertised, at least half say they'd accept my aquariums so the fish are going with me! This however has given me ideas and it's where I need some help.

My tanks are currently a 35 UK gal and a 20 UK gal - the former with a pair of extremely large fancy goldfish and the latter with a trio of pictus cats. The 35 is now ridiculously small for the goldfish, I went out of my way to buy good fish and keep their water extremely clean and they have repaid me with fantastic growth, however I am now doing 50% water changes every two days just to control their waste. The 20 is also far too small for the pictus cats - my boyfriend was offered a tank by a workmate for free who said it was 'at least three feet', so out we went and reserved and paid for some pictus which he'd always wanted, along comes the tank and it's a 20.

They are all crying out for a larger tank soooo.... when I move out it will be the perfect opportunity to buy a big new tank, so I can set it up at the new place rather than having the hassle of moving a fully stocked tank. I want to move the goldies into this big tank and possibly add one more, move the pictus up into the 35 and have a play with planting it, making an awesome cave system for them etc., and have the 20 spare for whatever I fancy (can you say male crowntail betta?)

To save my poor arms from the dreaded water change buckets the goldies need as vast an amount of water as I can afford, the buggers are pretty much fist-sized and so also need the swimming room. My problem is that I look at tanks only fractionally bigger than mine - like the Juwel 180 litre etc. - and the prices seem extortionate. I only paid £60 for my 35 from my LFS. Being a poor student I rely on wages from a weekend job and I therefore can't afford to spend £200 on a tank only fractionally bigger than I have now! I would happily spend £200+ if I can at least double the gallonage I have now.

Sorry for the life story - I guess my question is what is the biggest tank I can get for my money - say around £300 max? It would be great if that would include a stand also. A filter isn't a problem, I already have a mahoosive one to deal with the goldie waste.

Where are all the big cheap tanks without all the silly extras that Juwels come with?!

Why not do what I did. Buy a 2ndhand tank (plenty of large ones on ebay) and with the money you save, you can afford to buy decent filters, more plants etc.
I got my 26 gallon tank for £10 on ebay, and bought a stand to fit it off another ebay seller, for another tenner.I recently saw a massive 6 foot tank on ebay for around £20. I did post a link but didn't reaslise I wasn't allowed to on here and it was remmoved.
Have a lookie on ebay, you can do a search within XXX amount of miles of your postcode to narrow it down to places you can collect from. Just give it a good disinfect and you are away. I have a personaly phobia about buying anything new and my whole house is full of 2nd hand things, from clothes, to furniture, dishwasher, fridge etc. I let the rich people pay £100s for a thing, then I buy it when they have moved on to the next thing, upgraded, modernised etc. My dishwasher was a fiver 3 years ago, my 5 feet tall fridge was £19 and it is only 5 years old.It leaves me with spare cash to buy things I really like or in my case, buy animal food, pay vet bills and have a game of bingo once a week with the girls. (won £30 last night )
When I was looking for a new tank last month, I looked in the local admag and on ebay and ebay was by far the cheapest. In the admag people wanted practically the same money for a used tank, as I could buy new.

 

[ox5477]

75 or 90USG are prob the best tanks for your money. Get bigger than that and money sky-rockets because you need much thicker glass/acrylic. Below that and the manufacturer has to make money so will charge more for the glass/materials in the tank than you will per unit for a bigger tank.

 

[LisaLQ]

I say Ebay or Aquarist Classifieds all the way - my 6ft x 2ft x 2ft cost me about £100 or £150 - cant remember (with stand and hood, 3 externals, 2 or 3 air pumps, heaters, ornaments, lights, gravel, books, nets etc included), roughly the same for my Rio 300 (although that didn't come with a stand). You just have to be patient

 

[aquila]

Thankyou all for your comments

I have been having a look on ebay for a couple of weeks but can't seem to find much in my area, at least nothing over 30gal - I'll keep checking it out however, got a good few months before I can move out anyway. A lot of stuff on there seems to be only slightly reduced prices on big-name branded tanks, guess it takes a bit of staking out to spot the bargains. I've decided I want something between 50-80 gallons, a compromise between cost and size. Would love to go 100+ but as someone said the glass/acrylic costs go up as the thickness has to increase, means not being able to add another dream fish to the setup but oh well, maybe I'll pick up another 30gal cheap off ebay for another fish on its own!

LisaLQ - I'd completely forgotten about aquarist classifieds, thankyou for reminding me! I've sold the odd fish or two on there and it never occurred to me to check it for tanks. I'll be staking that out too.