Buying Second-hand.
Buying second-hand? Whats the point? some of you might ask, too many risks, what if its an old tank? what if something goes wrong? Well, hopefully this light-hearted look at buying a used set up will be an "eye opener" to those of you who are not too sure.
First and foremost there are risks involved in buying second hand as i have found out the hard way in the past, like the 3 foot tank that split the silicone down on side and nearly killed a prized fish (right on christmas too) luckily the fish in question a large Snakehead has the ability to breath atmospheric air and lived to tell the tale and then there was the heater with a faulty thermostat that luckily was in a "cycling" tank but could still of resulted in boiled fish to a less cautious fish keeper!
There are some simple steps however that will help to take the guess work out of buying second-hand.
1. How old are the tank, filter and heater? obviously you are relying on the sellers honesty to a certain degree but most are honest people with a genuine reason for selling the set up, from the answer given to this question you can make an educated guess as to the serviceability of the tank and components i.e. a tank over 5 years old would benefit from resiliconing all the upright joints and a heater of that age is really only worth keeping as an emergency stand by.
2. How big is the tank and what thickness is the glass its made from? the larger the tank the greater the stresses involved in moving it (moving an old 6x2x2 is scary to say the very least!) especially if it has had many years to settle in its place.
3. If fish are included as they often are how big are they and what species are they? remember some fish may be more delicate than others (especially if they not been moved in a long time).
4. What does a water test tell you about the conditions any fish are being kept in? sounds obvious doesn't it? but we all forget sometimes.
Ok now onto how i personally go about about buying used set ups and some of my experiences along the way.
Firstly there are a few things you will need ....................
A local private ad's paper.
A note book and pen for directions (again sounds obvious but ive found myself hunting high and low for a pen).
A large estate car or van (or a friend who happens to own one) for larger tanks, NOTE.....friend may come in useful for catching fish and moving tank etc etc.
Water carrying containers if possible.
Fish bags, nets and a polystyrene box but only if fish are included.
And finally the two most important things, space at home for the new tank (its no good getting it home and thinking ... OPPS where's this going to go?), oh and of course permission from the wife/better half for the acquisition of yet another aquarium.
Right so by now you've got permission from the wife, you've scoured the local papers and rang a few numbers and sorted them into one that looks like it might be a winner, you've arranged a time to go and view your proposed purchase and have packed the car/van/motorcycle..........hang on a sec.........motorcycle
???.......yes i know of man who collected a 2 foot set up complete with fish and got it all home safely (including the fish) on a motorcycle! although i must say i would not advise this.......i can just picture it now................
At this point its worth adding that a matured spare tank up and running at home would be a real bonus if collecting fish as well as tank, filters etc. as you will usually find yourself calling on sellers in the evening due to peoples work commitments, many a time i have found myself setting up a newly acquired tank at gone 11oclock at night after getting lost on the way or suffering other delays enroute.
So by now you've got to the sellers address had a look at the tank, equipment and any occupants and performed any water tests (probably had a coffee and a chat too), its always a good idea to have a chat with the seller as it can give you some clues as to the way they have kept any fish (what they are used to being fed for instance) and what sort of maintainance routine they have been carrying out which will give you some sort of clue as to how healthy the fish will be for the journey home.
The next rule is...BARTER!!!....im sure that most of you wont need to be reminded of this rule (especially the "poor old pensioners" amongst us), but at the same time dont take the mickey if its worth the asking price as sometimes the seller just doesn't know the value of what they are selling and nobody likes to feel ripped off!.
Ok so you've agreed the price and paid your pennies so its time to get a wriggle on as the quicker you get any fish back to your place the less stressed they will be on arrival.
Firstly disconnect any electric's (heaters, lights, filters etc) then drain off some of the water from the tank into the waiting water containers, transfer any fish to the fish bags and polystyrene box and bag any live plants, strip down all the filters and other electric's and put them in a box for safe transporting home, drain the rest of the tank completely and load everything into the waiting car/van.
Its now time to bid your farewells to the seller and drive home with everything securely loaded in the car, dont go mad on the way home as there is no real need to rush and risk stressing the fish or damaging the tank etc but at the same time now is probably not the best of times to stop off at auntie Mables for a cuppa and a chin wag.
You may want to put the heaters on in the car to keep things warm for the fish and stop them "chilling off" too much, also bear in mind that the biological bacteria in any filters will be slowly dying off.
Now safely at home it is time to set it all back up again!, at this point it is best to replace any substrate with new as the old substrate can cause problems with pollution if it has been stirred up on the journey home.
Personally i replace any substrate as i have had a bad experience using old gravel in a 5 foot tank with 3 large Piranha..............everything was transported from the sellers house and set up back at home in the manor previously described but i used the old gravel which polluted the tank and within two days the fish were less than happy to say the least it turned out to be a close call but all 3 pulled through and recovered after about a week or so.
Now settle any fish back in as you would new stock i.e. float the bags and add tank water gradually also leave the tank lights off for a day or 2 and refrain from feeding the new arrivals for a day or 2 as the tank will need to do a partial cycle again (the fish will soon let you know when they have settled as they will probably be queing at the front of the tank for feeding time).
After a few days of close monitoring everything should be fine.
Now all that is left to do is to sit back and enjoy your new bargain set up and think of what you'll spend all that money you've saved on?................maybe another second-hand tank?.
I have saved a fortune by buying second-hand but have also lost fish in transit (sadly) so although you can save money there are pitfalls to buying second-hand too.
Just remember ....................... GO PREPARED!!!!!.
8)
Buying second-hand? Whats the point? some of you might ask, too many risks, what if its an old tank? what if something goes wrong? Well, hopefully this light-hearted look at buying a used set up will be an "eye opener" to those of you who are not too sure.
First and foremost there are risks involved in buying second hand as i have found out the hard way in the past, like the 3 foot tank that split the silicone down on side and nearly killed a prized fish (right on christmas too) luckily the fish in question a large Snakehead has the ability to breath atmospheric air and lived to tell the tale and then there was the heater with a faulty thermostat that luckily was in a "cycling" tank but could still of resulted in boiled fish to a less cautious fish keeper!
There are some simple steps however that will help to take the guess work out of buying second-hand.
1. How old are the tank, filter and heater? obviously you are relying on the sellers honesty to a certain degree but most are honest people with a genuine reason for selling the set up, from the answer given to this question you can make an educated guess as to the serviceability of the tank and components i.e. a tank over 5 years old would benefit from resiliconing all the upright joints and a heater of that age is really only worth keeping as an emergency stand by.
2. How big is the tank and what thickness is the glass its made from? the larger the tank the greater the stresses involved in moving it (moving an old 6x2x2 is scary to say the very least!) especially if it has had many years to settle in its place.
3. If fish are included as they often are how big are they and what species are they? remember some fish may be more delicate than others (especially if they not been moved in a long time).
4. What does a water test tell you about the conditions any fish are being kept in? sounds obvious doesn't it? but we all forget sometimes.
Ok now onto how i personally go about about buying used set ups and some of my experiences along the way.
Firstly there are a few things you will need ....................
A local private ad's paper.
A note book and pen for directions (again sounds obvious but ive found myself hunting high and low for a pen).
A large estate car or van (or a friend who happens to own one) for larger tanks, NOTE.....friend may come in useful for catching fish and moving tank etc etc.
Water carrying containers if possible.
Fish bags, nets and a polystyrene box but only if fish are included.
And finally the two most important things, space at home for the new tank (its no good getting it home and thinking ... OPPS where's this going to go?), oh and of course permission from the wife/better half for the acquisition of yet another aquarium.
Right so by now you've got permission from the wife, you've scoured the local papers and rang a few numbers and sorted them into one that looks like it might be a winner, you've arranged a time to go and view your proposed purchase and have packed the car/van/motorcycle..........hang on a sec.........motorcycle
???.......yes i know of man who collected a 2 foot set up complete with fish and got it all home safely (including the fish) on a motorcycle! although i must say i would not advise this.......i can just picture it now................At this point its worth adding that a matured spare tank up and running at home would be a real bonus if collecting fish as well as tank, filters etc. as you will usually find yourself calling on sellers in the evening due to peoples work commitments, many a time i have found myself setting up a newly acquired tank at gone 11oclock at night after getting lost on the way or suffering other delays enroute.
So by now you've got to the sellers address had a look at the tank, equipment and any occupants and performed any water tests (probably had a coffee and a chat too), its always a good idea to have a chat with the seller as it can give you some clues as to the way they have kept any fish (what they are used to being fed for instance) and what sort of maintainance routine they have been carrying out which will give you some sort of clue as to how healthy the fish will be for the journey home.
The next rule is...BARTER!!!....im sure that most of you wont need to be reminded of this rule (especially the "poor old pensioners" amongst us), but at the same time dont take the mickey if its worth the asking price as sometimes the seller just doesn't know the value of what they are selling and nobody likes to feel ripped off!.
Ok so you've agreed the price and paid your pennies so its time to get a wriggle on as the quicker you get any fish back to your place the less stressed they will be on arrival.
Firstly disconnect any electric's (heaters, lights, filters etc) then drain off some of the water from the tank into the waiting water containers, transfer any fish to the fish bags and polystyrene box and bag any live plants, strip down all the filters and other electric's and put them in a box for safe transporting home, drain the rest of the tank completely and load everything into the waiting car/van.
Its now time to bid your farewells to the seller and drive home with everything securely loaded in the car, dont go mad on the way home as there is no real need to rush and risk stressing the fish or damaging the tank etc but at the same time now is probably not the best of times to stop off at auntie Mables for a cuppa and a chin wag.
You may want to put the heaters on in the car to keep things warm for the fish and stop them "chilling off" too much, also bear in mind that the biological bacteria in any filters will be slowly dying off.
Now safely at home it is time to set it all back up again!, at this point it is best to replace any substrate with new as the old substrate can cause problems with pollution if it has been stirred up on the journey home.
Personally i replace any substrate as i have had a bad experience using old gravel in a 5 foot tank with 3 large Piranha..............everything was transported from the sellers house and set up back at home in the manor previously described but i used the old gravel which polluted the tank and within two days the fish were less than happy to say the least it turned out to be a close call but all 3 pulled through and recovered after about a week or so.
Now settle any fish back in as you would new stock i.e. float the bags and add tank water gradually also leave the tank lights off for a day or 2 and refrain from feeding the new arrivals for a day or 2 as the tank will need to do a partial cycle again (the fish will soon let you know when they have settled as they will probably be queing at the front of the tank for feeding time).
After a few days of close monitoring everything should be fine.
Now all that is left to do is to sit back and enjoy your new bargain set up and think of what you'll spend all that money you've saved on?................maybe another second-hand tank?.
I have saved a fortune by buying second-hand but have also lost fish in transit (sadly) so although you can save money there are pitfalls to buying second-hand too.
Just remember ....................... GO PREPARED!!!!!.
8)
