Too good to be true?

[Karla]

I am thinking about buying this aquarium that is for sale in my local area. The following is what I know about the aquarium:

"Comes with stand, protein skimmer, filter, heater, brand new bulbs, 2 hoods, automatic siphon for cleaning, lots of premium live rock, sand, food, chemicals, nets, and other cleaning utensils. I have the manuals for all the electrical stuff.

Stand has two smoke colored doors and the wood stain is a dark cherry. The aquarium itself is acrylic and the front sides are angled. It is really pretty and unusual....not your typical generic rectangle.

The dimensions are:
48 1/2 inches long
13 1/2 inches wide
21 inches tall without the stand and 51 inches tall with the stand.


Has been established for five years and is currently up and running."


I have attatched a photo of the aquarium. It looks beautiful to me, but I have only had freshwater tanks and don't know much about saltwater. Can anyone add any input to this? The asking price is $375. That seems too good to be true... Should I be worried about this low price?
Thanks!

[denhay14]

That is a very good price for what you are getting, it does seem almost to good to be true. On the contrary, the person whom you are buying from may just want it out of their house due to space and the work that has to be put into it.

[gregr]

Hi Karla-
First question is what do you want to keep in the new aquarium? I think you'd be fine if you just wanted to keep fish. If you want to keep corals you'll probably want to buy some other stuff (stronger lights, sump if possible, better skimmer and probably some powerheads for more water movement, etc.).
Price-wise that seems good but, sadly for those of us who've built our own systems from the ground up, I'd say aquariums are kinda like boats in that they lose a lot of their value the second they become used. For you though, it's a good thing
I'd say you'll most likely not use the "filter". I'm assuming it's some kind of cannister filter and the hobby has moved away from them because they tend to need a lot of cleaning to keep from adding nitrates to the system. Plus, they just aren't needed if you have a good protien skimmer and plenty of liverock (a deep sand bed is good too). The other thing that catches my eye is the siphon. If he has a siphon that means there is probably crushed coral [rubble] instead of sand-- no need for a siphon with a regular (sugar sized particles) sand bed, but with crushed coral you have to keep it clean or else detritus builds up. You should think about getting rid of the crushed coral if you end buying the system.

[Karla]

I plan on only keeping fish (probably clownfish) and a couple of other compatible captive bred fish. I would like to keep some interesting "clean up crew" type shrimp, etc. I would like to have coraline algae also, it's hard to tell from the photo if there's some already established. One question, do you have to have a reef setup to care for anemones? I know clownfish don't require them but I'd like to try if it's not too difficult.

[gregr]

Anemones are on the difficult side. Generally speaking they require better water quality than most fish do. They also require strong lights so you'd have the upgrade the lighting. It's a slippery slope this hobby

[Karla]

Gregr, I just checked out the photos of ur reef, it's breathtaking! I've never seen such a beautiful reef. Photography isn't bad either, seems like we have a common interest!...Note that I did not take the photo of the tank I'm considering! I've never seen it in person. It drives me nuts trying to squint and squint trying to figure out what's in that tank. I may go look at it this weekend, is there anything really bad that I should keep an eye out for?

[Ninong]

Hi Karla,




That picture is seriously messed up. Either that or that acrylic tank is seriously messed up. It should look crystal clear and it doesn't. You can barely see through it.

[Karla]

ha ha yeah, pics like that are a pet peave of mine, but I guess different people have different interests. For the person who took that photo, photography obviously isn't one of hers!

[Ninong]

Actually I'm talking about the tank itself, not the photography. The tank looks messed up in more ways than one.

Looks like it's running without a sump. You can see a hang-on skimmer at the left rear.

That's a 55-gallon flat-back hexagon acrylic tank. It's a terrible size for a reef tank because of the narrow 13-1/2" front-to-rear dimension. It would do as a very small fish-only tank, which is what it's set up as now. But something is wrong with the surface of the acrylic. Otherwise the seller would have cleaned it up before taking the picture.

A tank like that sells for about $350 brand new, not counting stand and equipment.

I would pass if I were you.

[Karla]

Here's another photo. maybe just a little better. It loks to me like maybe she has a hang over the back style filter. Could that be causing all the airbubbles?

[Karla]

A fish and live rock tank is what I want...but do you think that's scratches all over the tank?

[Ninong]

Could that be causing all the airbubbles?

What air bubbles?

[Ninong]

...do you think that's scratches all over the tank?

It looks like the surface of the acrylic is really messed up.

[gregr]

I don't know- it looks to me like it could be air bubbles and algae but like Ninong said- why didn't he clean it up before taking the picture? Could be that he's hiding scratches. I didn't realize tanks like that sold for basically what his asking price is. So you'll be getting the stand and some basic stuff for free, much of which you wouldn't need. Like that filter, siphon, etc. The skimmer- try to find out the brand because they are not all created equal. And ask for a better picture of the front of the tank. And then ask for a lower price if you do decide to buy it