It's been over 10 years since I left the hobby. Life just got to me. As a young man, Trying to figure out what the hell to do with life, Few failed business, Few bad relationships, few extremely valuable lessons resulted in neglected hobbies.
Upon my return,
Noticed a few things changed.
LEDs are everywhere. Looks like I don't have to spend hours thermal pasting Cree LEDS on to blocks of aluminum anymore.
AIO tanks are fairly popular- I wonder if someone still has my homemade 5g AIO Pico from 12 years ago.
Bacteria In a bottle?!- I don't have to use shrimp flesh?
BRS is doing some great stuff with their youtube channel.
Back to topic * Takes a swig of Michelob Ultra. Yeah the light stuff. I blame my belt
I'm about to pull the trigger on a Nuvo 30L from a shop in Mississauga and thought you know what, let's check if anyone has one on sale in the used market. Sure enough I found one. I was making a trip to Markham at 11PM fueled with a couple double doubles. It's a great deal, I thought. I'll save about 1/2 the cost of buying new. I get there waiting in the driveway for roughly 20 min. The seller feller is a Nurse I get it. Keep us healthy I don't mind the wait.
Anyways, I Get to his dimly lit basement. The tank was dry, looked okay. I previously asked him to send a picture of the pump working. He did.
Took a general look at it. I was thinking he cleaned it up fairly well, He cleaned most of the salt and no old sand to be scene in the crevasses. I felt pretty good. This guy takes care of his stuff.
Next day, I have some time to take a good look at the tank. I was blessed with:
A weed' wacker sounding pump. Turns out, A plastic tab was broken resulting in the shaft rattle. Tried to ziptie it to get me by. It didn't work.
He threw in an ATO without the proper size tubing or accessories (clips) to "sweeten" the deal.
Now, Let's get to the false wall nightmare. I knew there was a few "scratches" but this....
At this point, I'm disheartened. Shame on me for picking up a tank and not paying attention. Made sure the seller knew the issues. Tried to salvage the relationship. It was a no go, It resulted in a "loose my number" conversation. Anyways. Shame on me.
Next step was to see if it held water. It does.
I'm looking at this tank in the middle of my living room with my Fiancé saying "Just take it to the dump and buy the new one. This is supposed to be fun" - Now that I think back at that conversation. I'm a lucky to have her in my life.
Being a bit stubborn, I just convinced myself to show it some love. If it doesn't work, Upgrade. Any funds spent will be tuition on a lesson learned.
Started with some acrylic polish. Scratches were too deep for the liquid 3 stage. Had to resort to hand sanding wet dry, 600/800/1000/1500 then Buffing 2 stage.
It's the middle of the winter and all my hoses are frozen outside. Which led to taking a damn bath with it to clean up all the residue.
Glued on a new IM foam mat on the bottom and placed it on top of it's stand.
Picked up some Carib sea Life rock? The purple dry stuff. * Can't believe this exists. I feel like a cheated. Is the painted on rock as good as traditional dry rock. I'm not sure. I feel like if you coat the thing with paint. It will most likely loose some of it's pourasity*sp?.
Put on a 800GPH DC pump.
It's currently filled with water, a "fishless cycle" kit is coming in tomorrow.
I had a bad experience shopping used. I'm not letting this experience change my thoughts. I know us hobbyist that come on fourms share Experiences and build a specialized community are solid.
I'll update as this tank progresses.
To be added:- Open to suggestions
Nero 3/5 or an Mp10
Some form clamp on lights
A reliable ATO
I'll consider used
Stocking plan- LPS/soft.
Classic nano fish -
Upon my return,
Noticed a few things changed.
LEDs are everywhere. Looks like I don't have to spend hours thermal pasting Cree LEDS on to blocks of aluminum anymore.
AIO tanks are fairly popular- I wonder if someone still has my homemade 5g AIO Pico from 12 years ago.
Bacteria In a bottle?!- I don't have to use shrimp flesh?
BRS is doing some great stuff with their youtube channel.
Back to topic * Takes a swig of Michelob Ultra. Yeah the light stuff. I blame my belt
I'm about to pull the trigger on a Nuvo 30L from a shop in Mississauga and thought you know what, let's check if anyone has one on sale in the used market. Sure enough I found one. I was making a trip to Markham at 11PM fueled with a couple double doubles. It's a great deal, I thought. I'll save about 1/2 the cost of buying new. I get there waiting in the driveway for roughly 20 min. The seller feller is a Nurse I get it. Keep us healthy I don't mind the wait.
Anyways, I Get to his dimly lit basement. The tank was dry, looked okay. I previously asked him to send a picture of the pump working. He did.
Took a general look at it. I was thinking he cleaned it up fairly well, He cleaned most of the salt and no old sand to be scene in the crevasses. I felt pretty good. This guy takes care of his stuff.
Next day, I have some time to take a good look at the tank. I was blessed with:
A weed' wacker sounding pump. Turns out, A plastic tab was broken resulting in the shaft rattle. Tried to ziptie it to get me by. It didn't work.
He threw in an ATO without the proper size tubing or accessories (clips) to "sweeten" the deal.
Now, Let's get to the false wall nightmare. I knew there was a few "scratches" but this....
At this point, I'm disheartened. Shame on me for picking up a tank and not paying attention. Made sure the seller knew the issues. Tried to salvage the relationship. It was a no go, It resulted in a "loose my number" conversation. Anyways. Shame on me.
Next step was to see if it held water. It does.
I'm looking at this tank in the middle of my living room with my Fiancé saying "Just take it to the dump and buy the new one. This is supposed to be fun" - Now that I think back at that conversation. I'm a lucky to have her in my life.
Being a bit stubborn, I just convinced myself to show it some love. If it doesn't work, Upgrade. Any funds spent will be tuition on a lesson learned.
Started with some acrylic polish. Scratches were too deep for the liquid 3 stage. Had to resort to hand sanding wet dry, 600/800/1000/1500 then Buffing 2 stage.
It's the middle of the winter and all my hoses are frozen outside. Which led to taking a damn bath with it to clean up all the residue.
Glued on a new IM foam mat on the bottom and placed it on top of it's stand.
Picked up some Carib sea Life rock? The purple dry stuff. * Can't believe this exists. I feel like a cheated. Is the painted on rock as good as traditional dry rock. I'm not sure. I feel like if you coat the thing with paint. It will most likely loose some of it's pourasity*sp?.
Put on a 800GPH DC pump.
It's currently filled with water, a "fishless cycle" kit is coming in tomorrow.
I had a bad experience shopping used. I'm not letting this experience change my thoughts. I know us hobbyist that come on fourms share Experiences and build a specialized community are solid.
I'll update as this tank progresses.
To be added:- Open to suggestions
Nero 3/5 or an Mp10
Some form clamp on lights
A reliable ATO
I'll consider used
Stocking plan- LPS/soft.
Classic nano fish -
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