KhaosInc
Fish Crazy
So I have missed out on at least 3 different 'deals' on already going saltwater tanks of large size. (over 100 gallon) due to my work scedule and other commitments. so after watching prices on everything and my innate desire to be cheap and cut corners I am thinking it might be cheaper to take a large tank (300 gal)that happens to be sitting in my garage awaiting a stand and start buying up several of the smaller saltwater tanks that I keep seeing pop up on craigs list and use them to stock the big one.
what can I say, I have an aversion to tanks I can't fit in to
So... what should I look at in a 'used' saltwater setup to make sure I am not creating more headache than its worth before I add it to a big tank. My current fantasy of the week is build a stand at work for the 300 gallon (I have a mess of 4x4 angle and plate steel.. and am a welder by trade) make the stand designed about holding the 300 gallon (plastic) water trough that I have kicking around and make that my sump with a few dividers added in where needed, use all the bits and pieces off all the little tanks and use that to get a tank up and running. With what I have lying around and a little rough math I think I could put 600w (not sure about the K and the other fancy numbers) in to the tank with a vent headed outside. this can be upgraded as needed. I figure if any corals I ended up with were a high light variety they could be put on stands as I added live rock and built the tank.
My second intention is to use all the skimmers and other undersized goodies all on one tank. I've always doubled up on my freshwater tanks. so that if one part failed theres enough to take up the slack.
My house is wired so that there is not much I can throw at it that would be an issue, so other than that, (and of course 'getting along issues' with fish or whatever which could be dealt with while dealing with the original tank) what are the issues I can run it to with playing 'saltwater rescue' Ideally I would have some time to observe the tank before I started adding things, and Im sure it would be way to easy to get to many 'Nemo's rescued... but any specifics... like overruns of (the annoying clear annonmy I cant recall the name of) and things like that.?
OK./.. long after work rambling post.. I'll shut up now... but opinions etc are appriciated. I know in the long run, it would be easier to go build my stand, drop $2k on live rock and another $3K on lighting and equipment but in my head I think this might be more fun, and rewarding
what can I say, I have an aversion to tanks I can't fit in to
So... what should I look at in a 'used' saltwater setup to make sure I am not creating more headache than its worth before I add it to a big tank. My current fantasy of the week is build a stand at work for the 300 gallon (I have a mess of 4x4 angle and plate steel.. and am a welder by trade) make the stand designed about holding the 300 gallon (plastic) water trough that I have kicking around and make that my sump with a few dividers added in where needed, use all the bits and pieces off all the little tanks and use that to get a tank up and running. With what I have lying around and a little rough math I think I could put 600w (not sure about the K and the other fancy numbers) in to the tank with a vent headed outside. this can be upgraded as needed. I figure if any corals I ended up with were a high light variety they could be put on stands as I added live rock and built the tank.
My second intention is to use all the skimmers and other undersized goodies all on one tank. I've always doubled up on my freshwater tanks. so that if one part failed theres enough to take up the slack.
My house is wired so that there is not much I can throw at it that would be an issue, so other than that, (and of course 'getting along issues' with fish or whatever which could be dealt with while dealing with the original tank) what are the issues I can run it to with playing 'saltwater rescue' Ideally I would have some time to observe the tank before I started adding things, and Im sure it would be way to easy to get to many 'Nemo's rescued... but any specifics... like overruns of (the annoying clear annonmy I cant recall the name of) and things like that.?
OK./.. long after work rambling post.. I'll shut up now... but opinions etc are appriciated. I know in the long run, it would be easier to go build my stand, drop $2k on live rock and another $3K on lighting and equipment but in my head I think this might be more fun, and rewarding
