[Samper]

One of my dads buddies owns a landscaping/koi pond shop. They got to talkin and dad mentioned my hobby. His buddy pretty much instantly wanted to come check out what I have going over here. He called me on the phone, asked me to come by and talk. He wants me to set up some aquariums in his shop like right now. He already gave me a key and said I'm free to do whatever just as long as my system is setup right as you walk in the door for everyone to see!!! I only see this as a mutual benefit to us both. I'm pretty excited about this and have a few ideas I wanna run by you guys.
I'd like to setup a 40 gallon breeder softie tank first. I wanna get it established, stock it with frags from my own system and put the entire thing up for sale in his shop. Would I be better off selling pieces out of it or just selling entire systems for now? If I sell one or two I'll then put a permanent one in place and expand out with a few others around the shop.
I'm also going to offer to come maintain these for people around town but I don't know what a good fee for doing so would be or how to figure it out.

I know many of you have boxes full of aquarium junk laying around the garage or wherever. I'm looking for old pumps, heaters, aquariums...basically anything I can get my hands on to help me out. I can't pay a lot but if any of you wanna work with me I'm sure we can figure out something for your old junk.
I'm looking at taking out a 10K small business loan within the next year but want to start small and test the waters before doing so. There is a lot of "old" money in my town and there is definately an interest in what I'm doing so I'm pretty excited to be the first to try this here. Any thoughts/advice or old equipment you guys have for me would be sweet.

Thanks

[Samper]

I put this in this forum just for the fact that I'm looking for equipment but if it needs to be moved elsewhere for discussion purposes please do so.

[GoinSalt]

Hey Samper,

I don't have anything that I could supply, plus, being out in Cali would be more of a PITA anyway.

But, you're embarking on something that I have thought about as well. Although I don't have a lot of experience setting up full-blown reef tanks, I have thought about getting in the maintenance business and/or setting up tanks.

Keep us updated on how things go.

Nate

[Poseidon]

Good Luck Chuck! I just got rid of some extra stuff too. Sounds like you will be successful, just be patient and go slow. My Wedding photography started that way too, I just did friends and family, maybe 4-6 a year, now I have 14 this year and I have already booked 3 for 2006! I am sure your business will take off too!