I was in my local Maidenhead Aquatics yesterday buying some RO. I got chatting with one of the people working there and mentioned I was thinking of upgrading my tank. She said that she would shortly be upgrading her reef tank to a 6 footer and that I could have her current tank (4 x 2 x 1.5 roughly) for free!
She won't be upgrading for at least a month as she has to move house, but that give me time to get some plans and ideas for upgrading my nano! I will probably need to build a cabinet as well.
Wayne
Tank1: 125L Tropical. 1 male betta, 4 scissortail rasboras, 3 neon tetras, 4 glowlight danios, 1 candy stripe loach, 1 female bristlenose, 6 amano shrimp.Tank 2: 65L Nano reef. 6kg live rock, 96w T5 lighting, 3 x turbo snails, 5 x red-legged hermits, 1 x peppermint shrimp, 1 small pistol shrimp (hitch-hiker), two percula clowns, 1 neon goby, 1 sun coral, 1 clove coral & 1 tree coral
Wow - thats fab, right place, right time eh. Have fun planing it all.
My that was indeed a stroke of good luck wayne
Sounds good but you also have to weigh up the pro's and con's of buying a new/2nd hand skimmer, lighting, LR, circulation pumps etc as opposed to a full setup from ebay or local mag etc. In theory a free tank sounds good but may cost you alot more in the long run. Look about at 2nd hand full systems and 2nd hand equipment if you're on a tight budget
You lucky, lucky b&$t&rd!
1xTrigon 190 3 Clown Loaches,14 Cardinal Tetras,8 Rummynose Tetras,6 Cory Trileneatus,6 Hatchetfish,4 otocinclus,1 SAE,1 Bristlenose,, 10 amano Shrimp, 1 pair Apisto Agazzizi. 3 Blue Discus Anubius Barteri,Crinum thianum,Limnophilia sessiflora,Rotala rotundifolia, Echinodorus Blehri, Ech. Parviflorus,Ech. cordifolius, Ech. Tenellus, nymphaea lotus, Hygrophilia polysperma, Microsorum pteropus,Lilaeopsis brasiliensis 1xRekord 60 Blue Lobster, Flash plec 2 Anubias Barteri, 1 Microsorum pteropus 12 litre tank - 3 Glass shrimp, 4 japonica shrimp 1 Anubias Barteri, Riccia, Eleocharis acicularis Coming Soon - Bluedave's 5' Bullnose Marine Divider (Watch this space!)
Thanks everyone!
Richy - I know it is not going to be cheap - marines never are! I will certainly keep an eye on ebay - I have been for a while and missed a few good deals. But the tank seems like a good starting point. In the shop she said that she wanted to give the tank away because it was given to her, and so doesn't think it fair to sell it on. I am probably going to consolidate on a single tank. That means shutting down my freshwater and re-homing (though I will probably get a small tank for my betta).
Great.
If you've accounted for the upgrade costs, then as you say it's a good start.
FD
Sanity check time! You were right Richie! I did the sums and simply cannot afford to upgrade to a 300L marine tank right now. So the plan now is to rehome the majority of my freshwater fish (apart from my betta which I will get a small tank for) and re-use my freshwater tank (125L). All I will need is a large skimmer and an additional powerhead. I can re-use my current lighting and powerhead.
Stocking wise I can add another 10 kilos of live rock and some more sand. It will be double the current capacity of my nano so should allow my current live stock 'breathing room' while allowing me to add a few more corals and fish, and to save cash! In a year or so I will hopefully be able to expand into a 200-300L tank. I will get a skimmer rated for 300-400L so that it can be moved to a new setup in the future.
Don't you think it will cost you in the long run?
Maybe for another year or so, can't you wait it out.