Today while I was at work something unexpected arrived It's huge. It's bloody old. I have no idea what to do with it. The farmer wants something like a R1000 for it. Worth it? He said I can borrow it till I have decided what to do with it, but man, it's probably been like 15 years since it was used last. He found it when he moved into his farm so could be older. Assuming I do take it, what sort of maintenance will this thing need? It seems to have some sort of internal sump which will obviously need a huge overhaul. It also looks like it was used for marine fish originally. Assuming I was going to use it for freshwater, how much of a clean will it need to get rid of any old salt buildup. I am completely clueless. Awesome tank but man, the filtration looks like it will be expensive to get going
Hmm. Well, I am much more comfortable paying that considering how hard tanks are to get here, but whether or not he takes it is another story. If he's unhappy with it, then he can just take it back.
Well he does not want it and he got it for free.... You do not even know if it has leaks and the silicone would have to be redone.
Yeah. So I think R500 sounds fair. I'll let him know. But for now, I just want to focus on my current tank and getting my new tank at the end of the month
For a R1000 in Bfn it would have been gone a long time ago. Here you would have paid that for a crappy 3ft. I would take it in a hartbeat for that sort of cash. The glass alone is worth 4 times that. Just needs a good clean. I have a 1.5m running thats 15 to 20 years old. And was standing outside for the last 5 and that was just cleaned and water added. Must add I did do a reseal last year but it was not a rebuild. On another note. The tank is just the start. There is still allot of work and equipment needed. Also its prob not an internal filter its an overflow that goes to a sump underneath the tank. So you will need to start with a new stand and a sump (that you can build from any old tank of suitable size. Ps whats the tank dimensions? ) and a return pump. I myself will deff do a sump on bigger tanks of any sort. Planted non planted marine whatever. It just makes maintenance much easier and is usually the best and cheapest way of filtering bigger tanks. On the expense side of things heating is usually the big one especially in winter. So make sure its insulated proparly against heat loss. So open top will look awesome but will lose heat very fast. You get what I'm talking about. In any case. Nice tank. Stop thinking about it and buy it. Even if it takes you a year to decide what to do with it or save for the rest of the equipment its worth it....
Sorry. On maintenance side just a 25% to 30% water change every week. Like on any other tank. Bigger tanks water chemistry is just more stable. So a watertank will be needed to keep that percentage of water. I just refill mine everytime I do a water change and leave it with a small power head running till the next week. No chemicals added. Ps we have chlorine in our water not chlorimine. So just check what your municipality adds? Also my own tank is not planted so my lighting is very basic but I believe led spots mixed with diy led setup will be the cheapest and most energy efficient way to grow live plants.
On the filtration side you can build it all diy. Just do allot of research on sumps. Also check my thread. Big tank on a small budget. In members systems. Everything on my tank is second hand and diy and its been running almost 2 years now no problems. And I ever so often miss a water change with no water quality problems. Ok I will stop talking now. But here is allot of members with big tanks on here. Im sure they will chip in as well. Again hope you take the plunge.
if it has been in the sun, I would advise caution. leaving glass in direct sunlight can damage it. the silicone is also affected by sunlight. if you take it, once its cleaned and you've put under it polystyrene and wood and ensured that its all level then put it somewhere in a garage or similar where it would not cause much damage if it leaks or cracks once you fill it up - leave it for atleast 2 weeks (unfortunately, if the glass is sound but the silicone is weak then the tank could be damaged). if the glass is sound, then you should consider dismantling it and resiliconing. is that crushed coral? you should try to keep it as it can come in handy to buffer your tank water.
Thanks for the advice. I do at least have a bit of time till when I need to make him an offer so will leave that till the end of next month as I have to buy other fish goodies this month
Yes. I think so. It was in a huge shed for the last 15 odd years so that's at least fine. My dad will help me clean it on Saturday and then we can check what will need to be done
Actually not really. Another member just had a tank crack which was left in a garage without a ceiling that he got used also... Have a good look at it.
I really know that it is a lot of work but I would strip it completely. Take everything a part and resilicon the panels. Once that is done i would fill outside somewhere. If it breaks the glass at least it is outside. Take it from someone that had 2 tank breaks this year.
Hmm. Sounds like a lot of hard work for something that may work out too expensive to use... I'll need to think about it.
it has great potential! and as everyone said, just make sure everything is sound! The internal sump isn't too bad of a thing. you just need to get a submersible pump, and then jam in lots of different filter mats, bioballs,etc. and also another thing about a sump is that it can handle much much more bioload, so in essence more fish. and since the sump in"internal" you dont need a very strong pump because there will not be any head height to consider. buy a lot of those green pot scrubby things, cheap filter floss, etc. you can make it work quite cheap. If you are not ready for a big tank yet, why not just buy it for R500, and get the glass cut up into smaller pieces for other tanks! it should have quite thick glass so you could build at least 3 x 2ft ADA style tanks (60x40x40) or some cubes!
You know what, that could also work. You guys have convinced me. I have got multiple pond pumps lying around that we can use, and they aren't that expensive anymore. First things first. Clean the tank up and see how structurally sound it looks like from the glass side. Then see if the farmer will accept about R500. After that, well, we'll see
