2nd Hand Tank

[locust267]

Hi, I've been looking at getting a 2nd hand Juwel vision deliver for £170, she reckons it's only a year old and other than a few scratches on the front of the tank the cabinet and tank are in really good condition. I have a few questions:

1) Is £170 delivered a good price?
2) How much will the scratches really show up when then tank is full?
3) I am worried about buying a 2nd hand tank incase of leaks etc, how do I go about buying it as I dont want to hand over £170 cash only to find the tank is useless and I cant get my money back, is there anything I should ask of them?

Many Thanks

 

[Rooster]

Sounds a lot for a 2nd tank to me ! But then again, I have never bought a "brand".... what size is it ? Does it come with any equipment ?
Commercial cabinets always look "flimsey" to me, but I guess there are hundreds in use on this forum alone !

If you were to go for a standard tank, they are surprisingly cheap.... I bought a 2 foot glass tank, with some "free" water chems for £19 at the local "Pets at home" store.... so it pays to shop around.

Scratches are a subjective thing.... my main tank has a few small ones (caused by those magnetic glass cleaners ! grrr) and they drive me nuts, but the missis says she cant see them unless she looks close, so only YOU will know if they are "bad"
They usually look worse when the lights are on... they tend to "catch" the light

As for water safe, ask to see it filled.... how long has it been empty (and why) ?
Is there someone with a little more experience could look with you ?

All in all I'd still say thats expensive, unless its a WOW aquarium !

 

[locust267]

Ok thanks for that, will probably give it a miss then. It's a 4ft tank (260l) comes with the stuff it originally came with (internal filter, heater etc).

I like the modren look cabinets as opposed to home made but guess I can just buy a cabinet to go with the glass tank I can buy like you said in pets at home. Will have a look around there later

 

[Shrimper]

Its not that bad a price, You have to remember these cost £400 new at retail.

I got my Jewel Vision 180 second hand for £150 but we had to collect it so i would consider £170 delivered a fair price.

Mine has some small scratches but you can only see them if your looking for them and they don't show up in photos.

The other things to check is if it has filter media and the reflectors for the lights as mine had neither. If you need to buy sponges for the filter don't buy the rip-off jewel ones but get a pack of sponges for a pond filter and cut them to size with some scissors. I have about 2 years worth of sponges for £10 rather than £4 per sponge.

As for the cabinet its more solid than it looks!

Edit: The 260 is more like £500/600 new at retail, so its looking like even more of a bargain.

 

[locust267]

Just to let you know we bought the tank

Other half was meant to come and help me get out of it so I didn't look like the bad guy but guess he fell in love with it too

They filled it up for me so hoping no leaks for the future, now all I have to do is get the lounge sorted so I can move it in there and start cycling!

Really looking forward to having a bigger tank but not the expence of having to hurry up and pay out for a workman to come in and remove the fireplace etc hehe

Hopefully keeping the 56 litre tank and getting a SFF and maybe some harlequins and bottom feeders in there alongside the 4ft tank - Lounge will look amazing!