Hello from Santa Barbara, CA!

boozer

boozer

New Member
Hello! I guess you can say I WILL be new to the salt water hobby. I've been lurking here for about a week reading up on random forum posts. A lot of you have really beautiful tanks! I have a 30 Gal fresh water planted tank that I've managed to keep alive for about 8 months now. I really like this hobby so I feel like I'm ready to step into the world of salt water. I have the opportunity to buy a full setup from a friend for about $700 and would like some outside advice if whether or not I should bite. The setup includes
Full stand and canopy
60 Gal Acrylic w/ overflow
300-400 Watts of light
Sump (20 Gal)
Protein Skimmer (rated for 260 gal tank)
Dried live rock (just for a base)
Misc aquarium tools and supplies
The only thing I will need to do is the plumbing... I think
I'm willing to start out slow and do it right the first time. Is this setup good for the price he wants to sell it at?
Thanks,
Daniel
 
boozer

boozer

New Member
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3259507
Hello Santa Barabara! Torrance here! Welcome.
Do you know what brand of skimmer and lights?
Thanks for the welcome!
I don't know the brand of lights or skimmer. He had a really beautiful setup about 3 years ago. I think they're really high quality parts because this hobby was his life at one point. He worked at a fish store and bought a whole new setup to make his dream tank. Before he could start, his life got really busy. So his dream tank is becoming mine I guess you could say. These parts have been sitting in his room for the last 3 years.
 
boozer

boozer

New Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3259529
Or take some pics, and maybe someone here can help to identify the brands
WELCOME TO SWF

Hehe thanks!
I do know the bulbs were run for about 6-7 months. He says they probably need to be replaced. I'll do my best to find out the brand of the sump. I do remember him saying it was about $350 +/- some dollars.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
The sump is cool whatever it is. It's the skimmer and lights that can be high dollar/functioning verses out dated and/or unreliable/not-so-good.
 
boozer

boozer

New Member
He ended up letting me take the whole thing to figure out what I want to buy and give back. I really dont know what kind of protein skimmer this is. Theres no brand name and no box. The lighting is power compacts from what I can tell. I plugged them in last night, only half of them work. I'm not too sure how to setup the sump and protein skimmer. But I think he was going to do an In Sump Protein Skimmer design of some sort. The tank is flawless and has no scratches, just a little dust I cleaned off carefuly last night. Here are some pics!

By puinsai at 2010-04-17

By puinsai, shot with HTC Touch Pro T7272 at 2010-04-17

By puinsai, shot with HTC Touch Pro T7272 at 2010-04-17

By puinsai, shot with HTC Touch Pro T7272 at 2010-04-17

By puinsai at 2010-04-17
The picture is of one of the bad bulbs. I'm using that picture as a reference for what I need to get as a replacement.
He also gave me some pumps and random things. I'm getting pretty excited!
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I love the cat in the sump...LOL
The tank looks really nice too.....Not sure about the skimmer.....maybe an Octopus....I know I have seen one like it before

The lights are pcs, do you have any clue what you want to keep in the tank yet? I wouldn't worry about bulbs yet.....you really do not need a lot of light to set up and cycle....
 
boozer

boozer

New Member
lol yeah this cat is very curious. She ended up falling asleep in there... salt water catfish?
I'm not too sure how to hook all this up to be honest. I have no idea how the protein skimmer works (I know I need one though), which hole is the out and in, and where is it supposed to go? Where is it best positioned? Should it go before the sump in the loop? I'm very surrcited about this whole project, I just don't know where to begin.
The two PC's on top don't work. I priced them out at my LFS and just to replace the two would be about 50 bucks. I plan on getting live rock and coral. With this size tank I can only fit 5-6 fish? Even thats a big maybe right?
 
handbanana

handbanana

Member
Niiiiice! Thats a pretty sweet setup.
I guess you figured out the ASM...lol...looks and sounds like a good skimmer. I wanted one but my sump was too small at the time. From what I understand Really tiny partcials of ...ummm...well different organics I think, are lifted from the water by micro bubbles created in the skimmer by either a venturi system or an air pump. In the skimmer tube the particals cling to the bubbles and rise to the top collection area and form a nasty foamy stuff, skimmate. Thats the very basics of it. I think the foam on the outlet tube collects bubbles tho.

Fish, I think you could 4 or 5. a pair of clowns, a gobys or blennys or something along those lines.Theres a bunch. Maybe no tangs though.
 
boozer

boozer

New Member
Originally Posted by Handbanana
http:///forum/post/3260295
Niiiiice! Thats a pretty sweet setup.
I guess you figured out the ASM...lol...looks and sounds like a good skimmer. I wanted one but my sump was too small at the time. From what I understand Really tiny partcials of ...ummm...well different organics I think, are lifted from the water by micro bubbles created in the skimmer by either a venturi system or an air pump. In the skimmer tube the particals cling to the bubbles and rise to the top collection area and form a nasty foamy stuff, skimmate. Thats the very basics of it. I think the foam on the outlet tube collects bubbles tho.

Fish, I think you could 4 or 5. a pair of clowns, a gobys or blennys or something along those lines.Theres a bunch. Maybe no tangs though.
Yeah I finally saw it in action today. It alllll makes sense now that I see it setup and actually working. I'm really excited to get this thing cycled and start adding fish!!
 
pirates

pirates

Member
Welcome

Nice tank not bad i love the cat fish in the sump LoL you may need a biger tank for the cat fish LoL
 
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