This is gonna be a long post, sorry. So I recently decided to start looking into SW. I happened on a coralife 24" 110w compact fluorescent light for $20 and this made me decide to REALLY start looking into SW for my 29 gallon tank. I'm on a budget, so I decided to post up a craigslist ad to see if I could find some cheap live rock to get a cycle started. This is what I came up with:
Skip if you want the short version:
A lady called me and she has a 55g SW that she is unloading:
Nova Extreme w/Lunar lights 4x96w compact fluorescent (3 of 4 lights burnt out)
glass tops for 55
Magnum 350 canister filter
Can't remember, Penguin 350 or Emperor 400 HOB
2 heaters
2 powerheads/water propellors similar to this:http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4587+15955&pcatid=15955
Seaclone 100 Protein skimmer (crap I know)
Hydrometer
Extra salt, test kits, food, etc.
Live sand and about 60lbs of really nice live rock (tongan branched etc.)
Big Crab (don't know what kind)
2 Oscellaris Clowns
1 PJ cardinal
1 blue/green chromis
asst snails and hermits
So she told me if I wanted it all except the tank and stand I could have it for $300. I have a 50 gallon that I could use the light on and could eventually switch over to SW. Is this a good deal? I was thinking of leaving the live sand because I have some really nice black 3m colorquartz that would look cool w/SW.
Another question is, I am a bit worried, the lady selling the tank hasn't done much maintenance lately and all the LR (and most of the rest of the tank) is completely covered with a grey/tan carpetlike algae. Will the LR be ok? The fish look great, I was just worried that the algae could choke off some of the good plankton/critters that would come with the LR and my goal is to eventually own a mandarin goby.
Please let me know what you guys think. I'm just kind of learning as I go, so if you have any advice feel free to shoot it out there!
Skip if you want the short version:
A lady called me and she has a 55g SW that she is unloading:
Nova Extreme w/Lunar lights 4x96w compact fluorescent (3 of 4 lights burnt out)
glass tops for 55
Magnum 350 canister filter
Can't remember, Penguin 350 or Emperor 400 HOB
2 heaters
2 powerheads/water propellors similar to this:http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4587+15955&pcatid=15955
Seaclone 100 Protein skimmer (crap I know)
Hydrometer
Extra salt, test kits, food, etc.
Live sand and about 60lbs of really nice live rock (tongan branched etc.)
Big Crab (don't know what kind)
2 Oscellaris Clowns
1 PJ cardinal
1 blue/green chromis
asst snails and hermits
So she told me if I wanted it all except the tank and stand I could have it for $300. I have a 50 gallon that I could use the light on and could eventually switch over to SW. Is this a good deal? I was thinking of leaving the live sand because I have some really nice black 3m colorquartz that would look cool w/SW.
Another question is, I am a bit worried, the lady selling the tank hasn't done much maintenance lately and all the LR (and most of the rest of the tank) is completely covered with a grey/tan carpetlike algae. Will the LR be ok? The fish look great, I was just worried that the algae could choke off some of the good plankton/critters that would come with the LR and my goal is to eventually own a mandarin goby.
Please let me know what you guys think. I'm just kind of learning as I go, so if you have any advice feel free to shoot it out there!
