Advice Needed: Buying a used set up and making it my dream?

[SDudge]

Hey Everyone, looking for some advice. I have had a fluval 13.5 for just over 2 years and thoroughly enjoyed it the process. Tank has been very stable for around a year but I'm ready for an upgrade, I want more fish!

Always loved the look of a shallow tank and had narrowed it down to a DD1200 (UK based). Was waiting around to snap up a deal on one, take my time with an awesome aquascape and build it all up bit by bit.

When someone posted an ad selling theirs second hand. It's 2 years old but they'll only sell it with all the livestock in it which is the following;

Yellow tang, Twin spot Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, 3x clowns, 2x yellow tail damsel, Valentine puffer, 6 line wrasse, Long nose hawkfish, foxface and a banded coral shrimp.

It's one hell of an upgrade and for the price it's one heck of a deal. There's also a lot of fish there I would have eventually wanted if starting from scratch (but not all). The deal is so good that everything (lights and all) is coming in less than the tank alone would be new. Am I crazy to think I can slowly change it into my dream tank as I would starting from scratch?

I want to change the aquascape drastically but appreciate this will be a long process as I'll have to swap out current rock for new rock bit by bit. I also want to stock LPS and Softies again but not sure how all these fish will react to that. Quick search tells me they are all relatively reef safe but CUC is off the cards.


Anyone been through something similar that could offer up some advice please?

 

[InactiveAcct]

I bought my 75g high school reef used with live sand only (back in deep sand bed days), and I did not appreciate how easy that made it compared to starting my next system 15 years later with dry rock. If the tank looks good today you may zoom through the ugly phase. Do you have pics of the system?

As you somewhat mentioned, the main disadvantage is how difficult wet aquascaping can be. Also a tank move with livestock is a hard, stressful day.

 

[SDudge]

I bought my 75g high school reef used with live sand only (back in deep sand bed days), and I did not appreciate how easy that made it compared to starting my next system 15 years later with dry rock. If the tank looks good today you may zoom through the ugly phase. Do you have pics of the system?

As you somewhat mentioned, the main disadvantage is how difficult wet aquascaping can be. Also a tank move with livestock is a hard, stressful day.

Thanks for the reply.

I went down to see the tank today and all looked good. It was a FOWLR system but all fish seemed to be thriving. If i go ahead with it it's defo going to be stressful, but only 45mins down the road so could be worse. My first year with the fluval was love hate because of the ugly stages, made the hobby very start stop as I waited them out. It is somewhat appealing to potentially skip past that.

A big fear is the aquascaping for sure, to achieve the scape I want I'd need to scape using dead rock. So I somehow have to replace a full tank of mature live rock with dead rock. While not upsetting 12 fish, is that even possible?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hey Everyone, looking for some advice. I have had a fluval 13.5 for just over 2 years and thoroughly enjoyed it the process. Tank has been very stable for around a year but I'm ready for an upgrade, I want more fish!

Always loved the look of a shallow tank and had narrowed it down to a DD1200 (UK based). Was waiting around to snap up a deal on one, take my time with an awesome aquascape and build it all up bit by bit.

When someone posted an ad selling theirs second hand. It's 2 years old but they'll only sell it with all the livestock in it which is the following;

Yellow tang, Twin spot Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, 3x clowns, 2x yellow tail damsel, Valentine puffer, 6 line wrasse, Long nose hawkfish, foxface and a banded coral shrimp.

It's one hell of an upgrade and for the price it's one heck of a deal. There's also a lot of fish there I would have eventually wanted if starting from scratch (but not all). The deal is so good that everything (lights and all) is coming in less than the tank alone would be new. Am I crazy to think I can slowly change it into my dream tank as I would starting from scratch?

I want to change the aquascape drastically but appreciate this will be a long process as I'll have to swap out current rock for new rock bit by bit. I also want to stock LPS and Softies again but not sure how all these fish will react to that. Quick search tells me they are all relatively reef safe but CUC is off the cards.


Anyone been through something similar that could offer up some advice please?

If the price justifies the equipment alone, then go for it. Depending on your local reefing community, you can probably sell some or all of the fish if you'd rather take your original approach -- you'd make someone really happy by giving them a killer deal on the yellow tang, lol! Livestock aside, you always have the option of just emptying the tank and starting from scratch...

Good luck!

 

[InactiveAcct]

Thanks for the reply.

I went down to see the tank today and all looked good. It was a FOWLR system but all fish seemed to be thriving. If i go ahead with it it's defo going to be stressful, but only 45mins down the road so could be worse. My first year with the fluval was love hate because of the ugly stages, made the hobby very start stop as I waited them out. It is somewhat appealing to potentially skip past that.

A big fear is the aquascaping for sure, to achieve the scape I want I'd need to scape using dead rock. So I somehow have to replace a full tank of mature live rock with dead rock. While not upsetting 12 fish, is that even possible?

I’d do the aquascaping bit by bit over several weeks if possible

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey Everyone, looking for some advice. I have had a fluval 13.5 for just over 2 years and thoroughly enjoyed it the process. Tank has been very stable for around a year but I'm ready for an upgrade, I want more fish!

Always loved the look of a shallow tank and had narrowed it down to a DD1200 (UK based). Was waiting around to snap up a deal on one, take my time with an awesome aquascape and build it all up bit by bit.

When someone posted an ad selling theirs second hand. It's 2 years old but they'll only sell it with all the livestock in it which is the following;

Yellow tang, Twin spot Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, 3x clowns, 2x yellow tail damsel, Valentine puffer, 6 line wrasse, Long nose hawkfish, foxface and a banded coral shrimp.

It's one hell of an upgrade and for the price it's one heck of a deal. There's also a lot of fish there I would have eventually wanted if starting from scratch (but not all). The deal is so good that everything (lights and all) is coming in less than the tank alone would be new. Am I crazy to think I can slowly change it into my dream tank as I would starting from scratch?

I want to change the aquascape drastically but appreciate this will be a long process as I'll have to swap out current rock for new rock bit by bit. I also want to stock LPS and Softies again but not sure how all these fish will react to that. Quick search tells me they are all relatively reef safe but CUC is off the cards.


Anyone been through something similar that could offer up some advice please?

yellow tang in a 13.5?
Assure there is hiding and cave like structure.

 

[littlefoxx]

Hey Everyone, looking for some advice. I have had a fluval 13.5 for just over 2 years and thoroughly enjoyed it the process. Tank has been very stable for around a year but I'm ready for an upgrade, I want more fish!

Always loved the look of a shallow tank and had narrowed it down to a DD1200 (UK based). Was waiting around to snap up a deal on one, take my time with an awesome aquascape and build it all up bit by bit.

When someone posted an ad selling theirs second hand. It's 2 years old but they'll only sell it with all the livestock in it which is the following;

Yellow tang, Twin spot Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, 3x clowns, 2x yellow tail damsel, Valentine puffer, 6 line wrasse, Long nose hawkfish, foxface and a banded coral shrimp.

It's one hell of an upgrade and for the price it's one heck of a deal. There's also a lot of fish there I would have eventually wanted if starting from scratch (but not all). The deal is so good that everything (lights and all) is coming in less than the tank alone would be new. Am I crazy to think I can slowly change it into my dream tank as I would starting from scratch?

I want to change the aquascape drastically but appreciate this will be a long process as I'll have to swap out current rock for new rock bit by bit. I also want to stock LPS and Softies again but not sure how all these fish will react to that. Quick search tells me they are all relatively reef safe but CUC is off the cards.


Anyone been through something similar that could offer up some advice please?

My 125 was used. When I upgraded I got a used 300 gallon. Im slowly building that into my dreM tank. So yes go for it as long as the seams and corners are good!

 

[Extremeengineer]

yellow tang in a 13.5?
Assure there is hiding and cave like structure.

He has a 13.5 now, the tang is in the 80g DD1200 tank he is considering.

 

[Extremeengineer]

@SDudge if there are some fish you are not going to keep, rehome them during the move. I know my LFS will give credit for fish brought in, probably easier than rebuilding tank and then trying to catch anyone.

 

[vetteguy53081]

He has a 13.5 now, the tang is in the 80g DD1200 tank he is considering.

I wondered about that but makes sense

 

[SDudge]

If the price justifies the equipment alone, then go for it. Depending on your local reefing community, you can probably sell some or all of the fish if you'd rather take your original approach -- you'd make someone really happy by giving them a killer deal on the yellow tang, lol! Livestock aside, you always have the option of just emptying the tank and starting from scratch...

Good luck!

That's a very good point. I suppose I can figure all that out after I've done the transfer. I can slowly change fish and aquascape to my liking.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm going to take the plunge, organising everything for Friday.

What is the usual method to transfer fish? I'll be in a van and drive is only an hour, however I obviously need to set tank back up, give it a good clean and start filling it before adding the fish back in.

Should I separate each fish into its own container? Are they better together? Do I need air stones if the whole process will take 4 or 5 hours? What sort of containers do people use to do this?

I have a big 100L bucket at home, should I have that prepared with salt water and temp and put them in there with a pump straight after the drive while I sort the tank out?

 

[Stevorino]

I would make sure the glass is virtually scratch-less. My first tank was used and had some pretty noticeable scratches that nagged me for years. In retrospect I regret that deal because of the scratches and hassle of the move.

Also, if it were me, I wouldn't want all that livestock.

The journey is what makes this hobby so rewarding. Buying a new fish, buying new coral, buying new equipment, etc and seeing it evolve over time as you learn and grow. You will compress some of the most fun parts of the journey into a very short timeframe.

As noted above, if the tank is in good shape, you can always take some of the livestock to your LFS or others.

 

[KrisReef]

The need for clean water and oxygenation will depend on your ambient temperatures during the move. A bunch of fish in a bucket can dangerously lower O2 quickly, so plan ahead to make the fishes comfortable. I might borrow a holding tank if I didn't have one, just fill it with water and circulation because moving and refilling a tank always takes much longer than just the 1 hour drive between locations.

 

[Troylee]

If it’s got a sump just put the current rock in the sump to seed the new dry rock in the display! After a couple months you can pull the rock from the sump and sell it or what ever.

 

[SDudge]

I would make sure the glass is virtually scratch-less. My first tank was used and had some pretty noticeable scratches that nagged me for years. In retrospect I regret that deal because of the scratches and hassle of the move.

Also, if it were me, I wouldn't want all that livestock.

The journey is what makes this hobby so rewarding. Buying a new fish, buying new coral, buying new equipment, etc and seeing it evolve over time as you learn and grow. You will compress some of the most fun parts of the journey into a very short timeframe.

As noted above, if the tank is in good shape, you can always take some of the livestock to your LFS or others.

The tank seems in very good nick, although I appreciate your point. Could possibly notice scratches after the transfer that may frustrate me.

I was close to driving myself mad going round in circles thinking about your second point yesterday. The journey getting my Fluval to where it is, ups and downs, are probably what made me fall in love with this hobby. I will be skipping past a lot of that. Suppose I convinced myself by thinking the change in aquascape, filling the tank with corals and potentially chopping and changing some of the fish and equipment over time would be enough.

Tough one.

 

[SDudge]

The need for clean water and oxygenation will depend on your ambient temperatures during the move. A bunch of fish in a bucket can dangerously lower O2 quickly, so plan ahead to make the fishes comfortable. I might borrow a holding tank if I didn't have one, just fill it with water and circulation because moving and refilling a tank always takes much longer than just the 1 hour drive between locations.

Noted.

Would transferring to a holding tank, then recapturing and transferring again not be more stressful for the fish? I can look into getting one if that's a smoother process.

 

[Extremeengineer]

Noted.

Would transferring to a holding tank, then recapturing and transferring again not be more stressful for the fish? I can look into getting one if that's a smoother process.

The more you move the fish, the more stressful it will be. Especially if you are going from buckets to holding tanks to DT where it sounds like you'll have fish together in small spaces, with little to no cover, and all consuming oxygen faster. That's why I suggested making some realistic decisions about your comment that you do not necessarily want all of the fish. It will be much less stressful on the fish you may not want to make one short move to a LFS or other individual. If you start moving them all around multiple times, especially with a dozen fish, and in invert, you are really opening yourself up to risks. It would stink to get them all eventually into the DT, but have gone through so much stress you get an ich outbreak or something.

 

[KrisReef]

Noted.

Would transferring to a holding tank, then recapturing and transferring again not be more stressful for the fish? I can look into getting one if that's a smoother process.

Moving a tank, tearing down, loading, unloading, releveling, filling, what are the fish going to do during all your stressful work day?
Don’t make them hold their breath for all that time.

Moving is stressful.
Planning for each step so that if you get tired or called away you can go and finish later, without panic.

 

[Stevorino]

In terms of the move, I just moved my setup ~6 hours to a new home....

I used a big igloo cooler (30 gallons, I believe?) with a bubbler to move the actual fish. That probably isn't necessary for an in-town move.

Once they got to the destination I had a cheap 40g breeder from Petco ready to go. They will stay in that for a month or so while I get the tank setup to my liking. The igloo cooler itself may have been big enough, but I wanted the 40g for a QT anyways.

Transferring the fish multiple times is obviously not ideal, but I think trying to do it all in one day is going to inevitably result in mistakes and rushed decisions you regret down the line.

 

[SDudge]

Well I have to say, moving a tank is not easy. Took me 12 hours to get everything set up and have the fish back in the tank. Majority of this was waiting for the water to heat beck up, defo cpuld have started that process earlier rather than the last thing i did. Unbelievably, no casualties as of yet. I thought I had lost a cleaner wrasse but he surfaced out of the rock a day later.

Letting everything settle for a while before I start to change the rock about.