[typically]

Well i was bored at work and looked on craiglist for tanks. I found a 90 gallon that the guy says doesn't hold water. He said the seals are just old and need to be redone. He said i could get the tank for $50. Now this sounds like a sweet deal to me. I was just wondering what peoples opinions are on resealing a tank. I searched around and opinions seemed to be mixed but for $50 how could u go wrong? I'm in no rush to set the tank up but i would love a tank this size so many options. Thanks for any input.

 

[Karlos5000]

Last used tank I bought was too scratched up to my tastes. I only realized this after I cleaned up the tank at home. So be careful. This was a glass tank too.

It really should not be difficult to silicone up this tank. Some say you should only use "high grade" silicone like the tubes that GE sells at your local mega home improvement store.

 

[crazie.eddie]

I agree it should not be a problem. It will just be allot of work. You just need to make sure you remove ALL of the old silicone, since silicone will not bond to silicone.

 

[spypet]

I would hold out and get a tank that does not leak for $100 off craigslist, than a tank that leaks for $50. you also have to watch for tanks that are for reptiles not fish, which means the glass is not thick enough to hold the water pressure. you can't know if a tank is a true fish tank unless it holds water, so why risk it. just keep looking, since people are selling away 55-255gal water tight tanks on craigslist for a dollar a gallon every week, and they often include stands and other accessories at no additional charge. keep in mind that even if you get the tank for free, everything else a large high tech planted tank needs is expensive; like $400 for lighting, $300 for compressed Co2, $200 for Canister filters, and the list goes on. It's kinda like getting a free car in NYC. unless you can afford to insure, park, and gas it up, it ain't no bargain :hihi:

 

[typically]

hahahaha very true spypet. i think i'll just keep looking back at craigslist until i find something good =]

 

[KoiGuy]

It's not that easy to find stuff on craigslist cause you may not be the first responder.

$50-90 is good for a 90gal that doesn't leak :icon_wink

 

[RoseHawke]

Spy, that totally depends on your local craigslist. I check almost daily, in the last year I have seen ONE tank above 20-30 gallons on my local list (a 125 which I missed out on because at the time I didn't have the $$$ .) Plenty of tanks if I want to drive 300 miles, but for the time, money, and hassle involved with that one might as well buy new.

 

[spypet]

Rose, you made an interesting rural observation,
but since typically and I live near a major metropolitan area with a large middle and upper middle class population,
I did not consider it relevant to our discussion.

 

[RoseHawke]

Oh, of course. "Rural" "Greater" Birmingham, AL area. 1,170,012 as of the 2000 census. It's grown a bit since then. I know y'all have 10 times as many people (not that that's a plus in my book,) But it's hardly rural. *sigh*. I wish.

 

[Hoppy]

I have done a lot of shopping and browsing on craigslist, and I notice, too, the wide variation in availability of aquarium related stuff in some areas. Even here, in Sacramento, there aren't many tanks for sale, compared to the San Francisco area, but those that are for sale go for half what they do in the bay area. I have also looked in other city craigslists to show others how they too can get a bargain, only to see that there are either none for sale there, or the price is exhorbitant. I don't really understand why there is such a big variation from city to city, but the variation certainly exists.

Ebay is another good place to buy a tank, if you don't mind waiting and waiting and waiting. Just limit your search there to areas within the distance you are willing to drive, and keep watching and watching. What always kills such deals for me - say a 100 gallon tank for $50, but 100 miles away - is that when I add in the cost of gas the bargain is no longer a bargain.

 

[spypet]

ebaY is really missing a business opportunity, and a way to eat into craigslist business. ebaY already takes your zip code to help you calculate shipping. so they should add logic to figure out your distance from the seller so you can search by auctions geographically. it's such a pain to search through hundreds of auctions just to figure out which seller is geographically close to me, because not every seller is bright enough to put geographically relevant keywords in their auction title or body text.

Ebay is another good place to buy a tank, if you don't mind waiting and waiting and waiting. Just limit your search there to areas within the distance you are willing to drive, and keep watching and watching.

 

[Rex Grigg]

Here in Portland I have yet to see a good buy on an aquarium on CL. I have seen 10 gallon setups where they were asking $100 (about what one would pay for all new equipment).

 

[Hoppy]

Portland is one of the areas I checked into, just to be able to tell you you were wrong. But, once again, you weren't wrong.

My ebay listings have an "advance search" place where you can list the radius within which you wish to search, and it goes by zip codes.
eBay Search: Find Items

 

[KoiGuy]

yes [email protected] does do a search for you locally but i never saw anything that was a great deal

 

[spypet]

Hoppy, thanks for pointing that out! after all these years,
I never scrolled down low enough to notice that feature.