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New2Salt · 10-04-2007, 12:12 AM

That last one is me trying to lure my FW Mississippi Map Turtle into the salt tank! (just kidding)

I dontknow about anyone else, but there is a good lesson to be learned from all of this:

If you are new to salt, you might not want to buy a really badly maintained 14 gal tank! #1 - It is too small - parameters fluctuate easily. #2 - With so many question marks already (being a noob and all), questions become almost impossible to answer, since we have no clue that the previous owner put in the the tank. He could have been topping it off with tap water for all we know.

For me, I knew I wanted to get into the hobby. The tank was in a business that was moving, and I had 2 days to buy it. I paid $150 but he ended up iving me $40 for the fish in the tank.

So $110 for (possibly) poisoned live rock, substate that needed to be thrown out, and tank that needed to be scrubbed for 8 hours, and endless question marks as to WHY things aren't balancing out...

Yea, next time - when I start my 55 gallon reef, I am buying everything brand new (or very lightly used). It was not worth the money I "saved," especially after I spent $100 figuring out the problems!

I did lean a lot though, which is what it is all about, right?

Thanks guys.

10-04-2007, 12:12 AM	#11 (permalink)
New2Salt Spanish Shawl Nudibranch Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 85 Karma: 14	That last one is me trying to lure my FW Mississippi Map Turtle into the salt tank! (just kidding) I dontknow about anyone else, but there is a good lesson to be learned from all of this: If you are new to salt, you might not want to buy a really badly maintained 14 gal tank! #1 - It is too small - parameters fluctuate easily. #2 - With so many question marks already (being a noob and all), questions become almost impossible to answer, since we have no clue that the previous owner put in the the tank. He could have been topping it off with tap water for all we know. For me, I knew I wanted to get into the hobby. The tank was in a business that was moving, and I had 2 days to buy it. I paid $150 but he ended up iving me $40 for the fish in the tank. So $110 for (possibly) poisoned live rock, substate that needed to be thrown out, and tank that needed to be scrubbed for 8 hours, and endless question marks as to WHY things aren't balancing out... Yea, next time - when I start my 55 gallon reef, I am buying everything brand new (or very lightly used). It was not worth the money I "saved," especially after I spent $100 figuring out the problems! I did lean a lot though, which is what it is all about, right? Thanks guys.