everything for sale 12g cube and livestock

Tax returns were made for reefers

 

I actually support your idea. You know what your challenges are and understand your priorities. It takes a few tries for most people before they understand what makes reefs tick AND what is realistic for them to handle:workload, space in home, spare time, budget (yeah right), setup/gear, family tolerance, etc. etc.

You like em, you'll be back and have a better tank when youre ready. Seen it many times.

You might slowly pick away at must haves. If ur willing to wait you'll find awesome deals.

 

Sory didnt think that posted... I added more he second time ho lol. Im an idiot.

 

My unslicited opinion:

Do the right thing. Take your time and do it right. It will be easier and you will stay in the hobby, not waste money, kill stuff and be frustrated. Take time to enjoy the planning, build and setup. Also, start as big as you can. Bigger tanks are much more forgiving. I bought a 90 gallon here for $10. Needed a recaulk-great beginner size. same ligts as a 55 or 75 could be used but more volume and space to play! You could get mh lights, an ro used for $200 if you watched the for sale section for 6 months. live rock for $2/lb often too. Slow down and keep your eyes peeled. Heck, i'll bet if you asked nice, a lot of people here would give you a lot of stuff! Go look at peoples setups and learn what you want to do. People will help you.

Plan it, and execute your plan slowly. You will be much happier with the results.

I had a 55 in college and it had a turboflotor hob and 4 vhos. Simple setup, inexpensive but a maint headache. I said i wouldnt do it again till i was stable and could reduce maint chores. This took 10 years for me and im glad. I enjoy this tank way more, its easier and it is more or less exactly how i planned it.

 

Its hard to take my advice seriously w that silly avatar!

 

I support you getting out of the hobby for a while till interest or funds pick back up. I mean if you don't want to lug water every 6 weeks to 2 months for under $5 then it's probably not the right time for the hobby. I understand the $$ of RO/DI that's why I have to hit the store. It's one or the other. I can buy over 400 gallons for the price of an entry model not even including replacing or maintaining the unit. At 2gal/week water change (~15%) that is almost 4 years of water! Ok with top up it won't last quite that long... But the tank doesn't have much evaporation.

 

i understand money gets tight from time to time. no you do not need the best of everything. ive got a cheap rodi unit & it still works great 3 years later (with filter changes when needed).if you can spare $100 you can get a 6 stage 50gpd rodi unit. check it out.

http://www.purewaterclub.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=88_61_28&products_id=391

 

Travis I find it hard to believe you don't have the time. I work full time plus coach basketball every night. Also I'm married and have a 2 year old. I also have 4 saltwater tanks set up plus a 125 freshwater and I still have time to mess with the tanks every night. Also I still find time in the summer to garden/farm, hunt and go on multiple fishing trips. As for the money if you really wanted to get in this hobby all you would have to do is work a couple extra weekends to get some money to get going. When I got into this hobby I started simple, I used tap water and t5s for the first year plus. And I can't remember ever having much algae problems. As for my Bio Cubes for the first month they were set up they had some algae then they cleared up. And your set up you have now only takes what 20 gallons?? I really think there is someone who'd give you 20 gallons of ro water to fill it.

 

Dude, seriously sit back relax drink a beer, do some bong hits or whatever. I am kind of agreeing with jstn there's ways to make time and there's ways to compromise. Make a list of WANTS/NEEDS go thru that list and see if there's a compromise or if its an absolute have to have. Do you need an RO/DI not an essential right off the bat to have considering the size of your tank/sump and seriously you don't happen to go near a walmart sometime during your day, week, month, year, I know I do at some point in time or another I cross paths with that dreaded place. Hell I'll give you all the freaking RO/DI water you want, you want 500 gallons, no F'n problem its yours, catch is you have to come and get it. Patience, patience, patience relax dude Rome wasn't built in a few days or weeks and I'm sure they had a lot more problems than dealing with a reef tank.

 

i dont even recommend store bought RO water. i have seen it at 150ppm+ at more than one location.

 

Hate to see ya give it up for now. I agree that ya dont need the high priced "fancy" stuff for everything to make it work nice, youve seen my setup which consists of some off brand items and lots of DIY items (still lotta $$$$ longrun tho), and its been running good for almost 3 yrs now so reefin on a budget is possible. Time can be found but can be difficult, be easier when ya get it all dialed in. I usually get tanked (maint time) after work at 2ish, I dont like to sleep tho lol, and its one of the only uninterupted times with the kids sleepin.

Could go with a fish only setup for less maintenance or maybee a fw chiclid tank (dont shoot me, I know this is a reef forum)
If ya want some hands on help let me know id gladly come over and help ya get somethin goin or just assist. If ur really getting out, Id buy back the grn shroom rock and the coral shrimp tho

 

I'm having EXACT same problem as Travis here. Just don't have the money for ro unit. Lugging water around does get tedious. I just recently had a bad outbreak of algae and it's not the first time. I though I had the algae problem fixed because the tAnk was doing great! But now it's not. It's like any hobby, no one starts out with the best stuff. You gradually learn. And me and Travis learned right now isn't the time for a salt tank. I love having an all in one unit as mine is a 12g jbj. I love it just can't support it. Now I just need to figure out what I wanna do. Try and solve the algae problem again?

 

Here's the thing Travis you've never really had anything set up yet. You've been contemplating for a year now. And you keep saying going out to dinner on the weekends and the no time again but you can't go out to dinner all weekend long. 10 minutes a weekend isn't requiring much time.

 

Have you tested the ro water you are using b7racer? Even LFS water has been known to be 15ppm. Walmart hyvee etc water units 150ppm. Theres.the answer to the algae problem

 

Ya that could be true. So if all of those stores waters are bad then I really don't have any other place to go to get water

 

Just test. Otherwise whats the point?

 

Travis one thing I did not see on your list is a skimmer. If you dont have one thats fine just means you may need to do a few more water changes. Or you may look into getting a mini skimmer. I think they go for around 50-75 bucks.

This one would probably fit the bill.

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticLife_Internal_Mini_Protein_Skimmer_115_Aquarium_Protein_Skimmers_Venturi_for_less_than_50_gallons-AquaticLife-AK01114-FIPSISVSLF-vi.html

That said if you do wish to sell, good luck and I look forward to seeing your next tank in the future.