So for as long as I can remember hearing of people finding great deals on tanks off of craiglist I've been looking around to see if I could find a really good deal too. I haven't had any luck until this past weekend. I found a guy selling a 55 gallon that was still holding water with "no leaks". It came with a stand, lids, heater, air pump and filter for $100. Bouncy

So Jas and I made the hour trip to abbottstown and looked at the tank.

Hmmmm We looked at the tank up close, one of the glass lids were broken. The seals on the tank were in ok shape, looking a little rough around the edges and there was some algae on the seals. The stand looked in good shape, your typical oak stand. Well we didn't take the filter or heater because they were brands that I wasn't familiar with and didn't feel comfortable using. We ended up walking away with the tank, stand, lids and air pump for $100 which was fine with me.

We then made a few pit stops at my breeders house, Petco and Petsmart since they were on our way home. I decided to get some new glass lids after looking at the broken one and seeing that the break was through the entire piece of glass in the back.

So we get home and unload everything and I start rinsing out the tank and scrubing down the trim and getting the tape off the outside where he had a background. I looked at the seals a little better and the bottom seals were completely shot and barely attached to the glass. dumb dumb Great! I didn't sign up for a reseal job so naturally I was a little aggrevated (to put it nicely) Why you little.. . So I figured I would move onto the stand and clean it up and dust it off real good to see how well it would shine up. I got to the left back corner and saw that the tank must have had a slow leak and the wood was soaking it up because the wood was tinted and had a slight mildew look to it. Oh GREAT! dumb dumb Grrrr :FAINTLY:

So after going over the choices that I had
1. to trash the tank and keep the stand and go buy a new tank or
2. reseal the tank and paint the stand to hide the stains from the leak
I chose to pick option #2 being that it would be cheaper and we would have a great DIY project to get us both outside while we are having some great weather without the humidity (finally)!

So Jason made a trip to the hardware store picked up a can of white spray paint, a quart of black paint, razor blades and a tube of windows & doors GE1 silicone (I already had 1 tube from a prior reseal adventure, don't ask). Last night he painted the stand with 2 coats of black satin paint after sanding it down on Sunday night. I taped off the outside glass for a couple of coats of white spray paint for the back, sides and bottom of the tank since this will be a divided breeding tank for my 2 pairs of discus. We finished everything right before dark and Jason put the doors back on the stand. I must say it looks really sharp! I already scraped the silicone out of the tank on Sunday I just needed some new ones to make sure I got it all out. I plan on resealing it on Thursday because it's supposed to rain here tonight and Wednesday. So I'll seal it on Thursday and let it cure till Saturday night and fill it up for a few days to see how it holds. It will go in the basement as I don't have any room for it in the rest of the house. :Sad: I hope all this works out because I need to get my breeders out of the 90 gallon. They are always being challenged by the fish not breeding and they are slowly wearing themselves down.

I'll get pictures today and put them up of what we got done so far. Unfortunitly I couldn't take before pictures because my batteries weren't charged for the camera.

Oh, I can just imagine how you felt when you discovered the seals and stand in the conditions they were really in. worry wart! On the Floor Laughing

I hope it all works out well -- I think I remember a little about that 1st tube. Nanananaa

Yeah it was kinda my own fault for not looking close enough before handing the money over. Had I done that I would have passed and waited.

Giggly You have a good memory Aura! That was a bad experience and I hope this one is much better. Only time will tell!

At least it will be in the basement if it decides not to cooperate!

Okay so I managed to get some pictures but it took me a little bit to find the cord for my camera.

The tank is sitting backwards on the stand at the moment just to keep it out of the yard so the dogs don't run into it while they are playing ball.





And the inside with all the silicone taken out...

The stand looks like it cleaned up pretty nicely. I have a couple that are just like that.

Have fun with the resealing!

Okay so we ended up having great weather last night so I cleaned the inside of the tank up with vinegar and the seems with rubbing alcohol. I opened up a tube of silicone and made sure I got it in the corners really good and Jas followed behind me with a spoon to smooth it on. We actually used alot of silicone almost 1 1/2 bottles making wide passes. I don't care what it looks like I just want it to seal and not leak for many years to come. I'll save the pics for when I have everything set up and the fish in it!

We put water in it and it held overnight! Wooo hoo!! Wooo hoo!!

Yesterday was somewhat of a happy and hectic day. We took about 25 gallons of water from the 90 gallon and put it in the 55 along with a rena that I had on the 90. I also moved over a sponge filter and set up the divider. Jason picked up more clay pots for me to stack to substitute for breeding cones. We put the pairs in the tank and they look really happy. I thought that maybe they felt a little bare without the plants for them to hide behind so I did a small trim on one of my fast growers and attached it to the egg crate that I used for a divider, this will help to keep the nitrates down for me too.

I've read that the pigeon's get their peppering from bad lines, dark backgrounds and dark substrates so I was really anxious to get the silver pigeon female in the 55 with the white back and bottom. She lightened up really good, you can still see her peppering but it is greatly reduced. She doesn't look like an ugly duckling (which was her nickname) anymore so we'll have to come up with a different name for her.

Now the 90 gallon looks bare with only 4 discus in it even though somewhere among all the plants there is rummy tetras, cardinal tetras, rams and cories.

When I go home for lunch I'll snap some quick pictures for everyone to see.

So here's the pictures, I apologize for some really bad shots and glares.

Silver pigeon in the 90g (before):


in the 55g (now):





and the all but empty looking 90g:

Great job, Rena!

I'm sorry that someone would rip you off like that!

They will reap what they sow someday!

Oh well, I really like the new tank and that white background and
white bottom really does make a difference, IMO

It looks like you know what you are doing and are all set up for the breeding to start. Gimme an A!

:blink: I think I know what I'm doing twitchy

Giggly I'm trying at least!

Yeah I always go by "you get what you deserve" and good ol' carma. I don't always agree with it but you can always change it!

Last night watching from the stairs so they don't see me, the silver pigeon and Bert were cleaning their pots and between both the pairs there was a lot of dancing and their sync swimming. It looks like they are trying out for the olympics! Giggly

I have found that if you dont pay attention to the stuff on craigslist, people with try to rip you off. I went and looked at a 150g that the seller said it had a "pinhole" leak. I get there I look at the aquarium to find that someone has tried to reseal it, note that I said, tried, on top of that I am feeling the seals on the bottom of the tank, and there is a gap between the back glass and bottom glass that I can fit my pinky finger into. This tank was advertised as beautiful, and it is missing bottom and top rims (which I looked online and cannot find new rims)...what a mess.....waiting to see if she will come off of the price, and I will fix the tank, and put a glass euro frame on it. Nice job with your tank tho!

Looking good!! Ya know what $100 is still a decent deal for what you have.At least this tank has a story to go with it!

Great job and addition to your MTS

the Clap Giggly

Derek

Thanks James & Derek!

Okay so keep your fingers crossed that I can get some wigglers! Bouncy Bert and the SP layed eggs last night and were guarding them this morning. They are such good potential parents.

Good luck Rena!

There will always be people like that everywhere not just craigslist. Also, everyone's opinion on what's nice/good/saleable is different. wabawhat??

I've seen some things I wonder why they're not in the garbage already....
And I've also seen some people get some really nice stuff off of craigslist/kijiji.

Thanks everyone, Aura I like that smiley.

That is so true Lisa, I've had stuff given to me because the person thought that is was "junk" but it might have just had a scratch on it which would be fixable by some paint. Sometimes it amazes me that some people will just give stuff away instead of taking time to put some TLC into it and it looking brand new. That's how my husband and I got a picnic table, grille and some patio furniture just to name a few.

How's that saying go "One mans trash is another mans treasure"??