Vent

[murph]

I am simply unable to find quality equipment when it come s to this hobby. All of it is grossly overpriced. 90 percent of it comes nowhere near performing as claimed and half of it is junk right out of the box.
I am seriously considering at this point tarring everything down and going back to freshwater tanks where relying on equipment is not so imperative.

 

[jmick]

I hear ya. For the past year I've been buying a lot of my equipment (new lights, skimmer and RO/DI) on the big auction site. These goods at my LFS were grossly over priced and the extra service they may have offered didn't make up for high prices.

 

[thomas712]

Oh yeah ~ But I saved hundreds on my car insurance by switching to Geico..

Time and patients, sure I've spent hundreds of dollars on my tank, but I took it really slow. Found the best deals and had some bummers along the way as well.
I've got what I consider a pretty good system going. But I started with just base rock and dry sand, very cheap stuff. No reason to pay $6.00 per pound or more for live rock when over time you can do the same thing with base rock for a mere dollar per pound.. If available dry aragonite playsand will also become live over time.
Why purchase a wet/dry or sump for hundreds when a glass tank can be converted to make your own.
There are lots of things you can do to cut costs, it just takes time, research and patients.
Thomas

 

[drea]

i agree.. and being patient is torture!!!

 

[acrylic51]

What equipment aren't you happy with or having problems with?

 

[murph]

I am dealing with equipment issues almost on a daily basis.
Pumps that don't or are so easily froze up by the tiniest particle of sand. The people who make these things have obviously never heard of the term "industry standard architecture" as three different pump purchases with similar GPH ratings have come with three different size heads.
Power heads that are impossible to secure and or fail.
It took me over a month and two different returns before I found a protein skimmer that actually skimmed.
Lighting equipment with LED moonlighting that failed in the first month.
Overflow boxes that only seem to come in one size and how an acrylic box with a bulk head and a J tube can render a 40 to 80 dollar price tag is beyond me. Luckily I found out about the CPR boxes before I purchased on of those pieces of junk and I am sure if I thought about the rambling could go on all night.
Then to top it off the LFS employee who gives you the "if you have to ask how much you probably cant afford it" look when you dare ask about price.
Things seem to have change drastically dureing my absence from the hobby. There use to be a sense of community and camaraderie among people in the hobby which included the LFS. Now like much of everything money seems to be the top priority.
Keeping even difficult species seems to be the easy part of this hobby now when compared with all the other issues that seem to be presenting themselves, at least to me.

 

[susieq]

What type of base rock did you use? Also, I'm going to the Caribbean this winter. Can I bring back rock or send it to myself?
I saw peppermint shrimp at the LFS today selling for $19.99 each. Crazy, and half the time they don't know what they are talking about.

 

[1journeyman]

Ouch.. sorry to hear about your problems.
I try to keep my equipment as simple as possible:
turboflotor HOB skimmer. I love it, worked great out of the box. Only clean the pump once in a while to keeping it going.
3 Mag Drive powerheads for flow. Love/hate relationship... They work great until you turn one off. Getting them strated again can involve several solid hits with a large hammer. I used RIO's briefly.. nothing but heartache from them.
Refugium is fed by a nano pump. Gravity returns water. No worries there so far.
No problem with lighting.
Hope you get it all worked out.

 

[murph]

Ok; so as not to sound like a total crybaby I will give some credit where credit is due.
On the way home I picked up a new nitrate test kit made by hagen. I have been using the ones made by Aquarium Pharmaceutical which are hard for me to read and give me a different result on almost every test.
The hagen kit was much easier to use and read results and I was pleased to see basically undetectable nitrates in my tank.
Of course it may be that I am pleased because this is the reading I wanted to see and this kit is also complete junk and in reality my trates are through the roof

 

[1journeyman]

 

[acrylic51]

Well sorry about your frustrations!!!!!!!!!!Power heads always seem to be the problems for people keeping them attached it seems......Tunze is about the only I know of that has come out with a sure fire way to keep them in place, but with their products you have a hefty price tag, but ohhhhhh are they sweet!!!!!!!!!
As far as pumps they can be finicky at times....What kind of pump or pumps are you using? A big key it seems is to do your homework, research and more homework and ask alot of questions from people using the product and if possible see it first hand before you make a purchase...........
Skimmers well!!!!!!!! a whole different ball game.....Yes it does seem they all claim to be able to handle anything and alot has to do with the price you pay for the skimmers as well......EuroReef is a very good skimmer and has it's problems just like the rest, but their customer service isn't the greatest. They use top quality materials and their "big" name and you pay the price for it all....GEO on the other hand is top quality material used good quality and customer service is excellent, and price is reasonable as well.....Then you have ASM a smaller base company with a big following as well, but not the huge overhead as others, skimmers are good as well, but use lesser grade material, and they do overrate their skimmers and again if homework is done you can find the one that works for your situation......Material quality is PVC, but who cares because it's in the sump and as long as it works how cares other than bragging rights about your skimmer brand.......The price is excellent and customer service is good........You could buy a Deltec and I don't think you'll find many who didn't like it or didn't perform as expected, but with the name and European design you'll give your arm and left *ut for one, but very nice......
Test kits can be tricky to read and alot of people like Salifert....In my area you won't find them unless you get them online and I prefer LaMotte, but some of theirs can be hard to read at times, but comes with the hobby I guess

Share some specific info on equipment brands you've been using with us

 

[murph]

The pumps I have are a Quite one a Rio and a Surge.
The surge pump has proven best. The RIO despite its rep has worked fine, just a tad noisier than the other three. The Quite One will freeze up if you just look at it wrong.
The only power heads that have worked well for me are the Maxi jet. I have built PVC bases for them since suction cups seem to never work for me. They fit snugly into 3 quarter PVC similar to how you would have them in a lift tube for a UG filter. At the base there must be a 90 with another small section of PVC to come up above sand level to provide an intake for it. The lift tube can be cut to desired length. With a little strategic rock placement they are no more visible than a PH hanging precariously on the side of the tank with suction cups and hopefully I have seen my last sand storm. I have even thought about filling the lift tubes with some sort of filter media, maybe AC but there would have to be a lot of disturbance to the tank to change it out.
If I had it to do over again I would use clear PVC but its probably only a matter of time before the white PVC lift tubes are covered with something, hopefully coraline.
I finally found a skimmer made by a DIY guy locally that seems to work well for me but then again all I have to compare it to is the Prizm and Seaclone. It produces but the collection cup section has to be cleaned at least every three days or it seems to slow down.
Plumbing has been a hassle due to the varying size heads on the pumps and PVC parts. This is definitely an industry that needs to get its act together as far as some ISA. How 50 different mother board makers for computers can accomplish this but 5 different manufactures of plumbing parts cant is beyond me. I spoke to a professional plumber who despite not being in the hobby and he could relate. Stating that he was constantly jerry rigging different size parts from different manufactures in the field in attempts to make things work right.
The LED moonlighting that came with my coralife fixture where completely unprotected and despite having them three inches above the water and no micro bubbles bursting at the surface enough salt creep managed to reach them to short out the boards. This could have been easily avoided with some plexi protection which I tried in vain to rig on to the fixture but it was to late.
I guess it all boils down to the old, "if I knew then what I know now" scenario. Before the start of next summer I hope to have a 125g tank to set up, this time in my Den with the current 75g tank being relegated to sump/fuge duties. Hopefully all of these problems can be avoided at that point but on the other hand I am sure the manufactures of all this equipment are aware of the problems but still leave it up to the hobbyist to modify there equipment before it can be used effectively. This probably provides them with a few more cents profit per unit but is it really worth it if you PO all of your customers in the mean time. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[seahorse11]

Murph....How did you get salt creep on your moonlights? I want to get them for my 100 gallon tank. Do you have a glass on top of the tank and the moonlights above that?
I am interested in your design for the PH's PVC base. I really dont understand how you built up the base. Can you explain a little bit more or show pics? It seems alot of people have issues with the PH's suction cups and want to be prepared before I fill the tank and load in all the equipment.
What kind of filter do you have? I was thinking about the Aquaclear 500 or the Penguin BIO-Wheel 350 or EmperorBIO-Wheel. Is one better than the other for SW? I have read that some filters dont do well on SW and are made more for freshwter.
I was also thinking of putting a small refugium on the back. I saw an Aquafuge that looked good. Anybody using one and what do you have in it?
Thanks for your help
Seahorse

( I love that dancing banana!)

 

[sly]

In this hobby, DIY is your friend. I also look for similar alternatives. For example I needed a UV filter... I found that an 8 watt aquarium filter was about the same price as an 18 watt pond filter from Lowes. Both had quartz enclosures but the pond filter was bigger than one that was made for aquariums.
I also made the lights that are in my hood. I bought a metal flourescent fixture and gutted it and then installed 7 led moonlights and 6 65 watt powercompact fixtures. Then I added 2 computer fans on either side, one for blowing air in and the other for blowing air out. The whole thing cost about $100 less than one I could have bought myself.
My refugium is a simple 10 gal tank that I house mangroves in. It was free... There's a lot you can do in this hobby to save money and actually get something that is custom suited to your needs. You've seen how plexiglass filters are made... Why not build one yourself?

 

[acrylic51]

Sorry about your misfortunes lately.......DIY is your best friend in this hobby and stuff price wise is "crazy" what people are asking for certain products.......For example look at the PM sumps.....They are nice, but small for what I consider a good size sump and the price is totally outrageous....Maybe it isn't the manufacturer marking things up like this maybe some of it has to do with how greedy the LFS is trying to be?????

Alot of people have been pleased with the Quiet One pumps??? It's not unheard of to get a bad pump.....That can happen with any brand.....Look at Sequence pumps....they changed styles and had a problem with the volutes breaking if you tighten them down to much, and I've heard again someone not being able to get it to seal properly.....The Sequence changed out the volutes since they acknowledged the problem and they didn't charge the customers to change them out just a couple bucks for shipping........Again customer is a key in the hobby as well.....Hope all works out for you !!!!!

 

[murph]

This is just great. I check on the tank this morning and Emporer 400 is no longer working. I have no idea how long the pump was seized up so its most likely trashed. Another 80 bucks down the drain. If my mood does not improve by the time I get home from work I could very well be takeing fish and LR back to LFS to get some of my money back on them and chuck the whole situation.
Basiclly I am tired of constanly feeling ripped off on this stuff.
EDIT
I am starting to understand why there is so many ads in the paper from people wanting to sell there tanks. I thought it was that they had problems keeping there fish alive. Little did I know they just couldnt find decent equipment.

 

[sly]

My maxijet powerheads have been running constantly for 4 years with no problem. My Iwaki system pump has been good since 2001 with no problems. The truth is I've not had anything break in my tank ever except my 10 gal refugium got a leak in it and I had to buy a new one ($10)...
Basically in saltwater, you have to make some initial investments in buying quality gear. Buy what you need and get the tank stable. Proper lighting, skimming, filtration... The tank will practically run itself. Mine does. The only maintainance I have to do to my tank is to replace the bulbs once a year and keep the algae haze off the glass.

 

[sly]

Originally Posted by Murph
This is just great. I check on the tank this morning and Emporer 400 is no longer working. I have no idea how long the pump was seized up so its most likely trashed.
Slow down there... I think your biggest enemy in this situation is you... Most likely you just have a rock or some scale caught in the pump. These are solid state pumps with only a moving agitator. Most likely if the pump gets froze, there won't be any damage to anything. Just clean the pump out and put it back together. BTW you've already noticed that your MaxiJet pump works well... IMO they are the best powerhead you can buy. I suggest getting more and forgetting the rest.