good deal or disaster waiting to happen?

[NickT]

i was looking threw the the local paper and found an ad for "55-GAL FISH TANK w/ wrought iron stand, complete $100; 55-gal fishtank w/ stand (no filter)"
my first question is what kind of risks if any are there when purchacing used gear.
second how can i minimize those risks. and what shold i look for when buying (other than cracking). and does it look like a good deal to you??? BTW tahnx ddreams for your advice!!!

 

[The-Wolf]

All of my tanks are at least second hand, in fact I've just picked up a 68 gallon tank today.
the best thing to do is look at the seals and see if they look to be substantial or not, if you have any doubts about the tank then walk away. Cracks are easily repaired but to re-seal a tank is often too pricy and too much hassle.
as for the pricing of the tank you are looking at I'm in the UK so I can't say wether you have a bargin or not.

 

[NickT]

well i was looking at 50gal tanks at "setpmart" ( you can figure it out) and they where 99$ so after all the gear i need/want im lookin @ around 300$ for an decent FW setup. so im thinking if i can get 2 for the price of 1/2 it woldnt be a bad deal aslong as teh tanks are in good shape.... asfar as teh seals i think if 1 or 2 look bad i can reapair them with info i found on the boards.. but your right i woldnt want to do a complete rebuild... so i asume a bad seal will have mineral deposits under the silicon right? or what wold one want to look for discoloration?or shold i be a real hard A and make the guy fill em both

 

[enchanted]

A bad seal is not always easily visible. I have a 55 Gallon with a bad seal and you wouldn't know it by looking at it.

Due to that I am going to be rebuilding all my used tanks.

 

[NickT]

well i guess i shold practice on my old 15gal first, it needs a full rebuild from hamster damage, and just plan on rebuilding both 55 gal tanks anyway...it sholdnt cost more than 15$ to rebuild hopfuly(i have everything but the aquarium sealant avalable) ive seen selant for 6.99 and i think i may need 2-3 bottles. tahnkyou for the input and ddreams please let me know aprox how much sealant it takes to rebuild your 55G tanks.

 

[enchanted]

I won't be rebuilding these for a few weeks....

 

[yhbae]

I'm definitely not an expert in fixing tanks, but I did re-do the sillicon on the 15g which was in pretty bad shape when I purchased it (really cheap too! ).

I would think that fixing sillion is easier than fixing cracks in a tank? In fact, how do you fix a crack?

 

[enchanted]

A cracked tank can be repaired if necessary. Personally I would replace a cracked tank for fear of future problems.

 

[NickT]

i guess my dad has replaced a whole tankside due to cracks. and when i was a kid we had a 10G tank with about a 3 inch crack in it that dad patched with silicon that never leaked... but theres alot less presure in a 10 gallon tank. and he has told me hes gonna hellp with the rebuild of my old 15g so i guess im geting a fue tanks soon.

 

[NickT]

double post.... ) sry