jonclark96
Past CCA President
I had a bit of a stressful fish related weekend.
A few weeks ago, I noticed some residue of water on the floor near the 180 gallon tank set up in my living room. I've got rock hard water, and it runs through a house softener system that leaves a pretty good salt ring when it evaporates, and I saw the salt ring on the floor. No big deal, I thought, as the tank houses some rather large fish that have a propensity to splash when feeding and the occasional chase after one another. I thought I just missed wiping up the splash and it had dried on the floor.
A week or so ago, the stain was back in the same spot. I wiped it up again, but it was a little damp this time.
Saturday, the spot was back, and I saw a single drip coming off the bottom corner of the tank. I went into full panic mode looking for a leak, but damn near everything is dry except the corner of the tank where the stain is. It does not appear to be an emergency, only dripping once every 15 minutes or so, but enough that I decided it is time to replace the tank.
I went through all of the thoughts about needing to drain the tank now and what to do with the fish in the tank. Needless to say, I don't have room in my other tanks to move many of the fish, including a w/c pair of amphilophus labiatus and 4 10" bocourti. I monitored the tank and the leak does not appear to be getting worse, so I decided that I'd just get a new tank ASAP and monitor the situation and hold on to the fish if possible.
On to finding a new tank. I called around to most of the local stores and searched the internet for pricing. Several stores had tanks available, but at prices higher than I wanted to pay, but my options were limited. Coincidently, chriscoli and Andrewtfw were up at the ACLC meeting at That Fish Place, so I asked them to check pricing on the 180 while they were there. Andrew recommended that I check with Aquatic Creations, a little store that is literally 5 minutes from my house that I hadn't even considered. Saturday afternoon I called over to the store to get pricing. Although they would have to order the tank, they quoted me a price that was pretty much the same as That Fish Place, and 2 hours closer to home. I told Bill, the Owner, that I'd be over on Sunday to place the order.
Yesterday afternoon, I ran over to the store to make the order. It had been a few years since I had been in the store, as they are focused on ponds but still have a decent selection of fish and supplies. It is a nice store, and while the livestock is mostly bread and butter community fish that sell well and can keep a LFS in business, the tanks are clean and the fish are healthy. They stock a decent amount of food, equipment, and décor, for ponds, freshwater, and saltwater set ups. I found Bill, introduced myself, and we went through what I was looking for. He went to price the tank again, and included a new stand and glass tops. After running through he order sheet again, he came back and quoted me a price on the tank that was $25 dollars cheaper than the quote he had given me less than 24 hours prior!
At the end of the day, I ordered a new 180 glass tank, stand, and tops for just under $1,200. They were super helpful, provided me with a better deal than any of the other local shops. If you are ever in the area, go check them out. The shop is in Urbana on 355, just south of Route 80.
A few weeks ago, I noticed some residue of water on the floor near the 180 gallon tank set up in my living room. I've got rock hard water, and it runs through a house softener system that leaves a pretty good salt ring when it evaporates, and I saw the salt ring on the floor. No big deal, I thought, as the tank houses some rather large fish that have a propensity to splash when feeding and the occasional chase after one another. I thought I just missed wiping up the splash and it had dried on the floor.
A week or so ago, the stain was back in the same spot. I wiped it up again, but it was a little damp this time.
Saturday, the spot was back, and I saw a single drip coming off the bottom corner of the tank. I went into full panic mode looking for a leak, but damn near everything is dry except the corner of the tank where the stain is. It does not appear to be an emergency, only dripping once every 15 minutes or so, but enough that I decided it is time to replace the tank.
I went through all of the thoughts about needing to drain the tank now and what to do with the fish in the tank. Needless to say, I don't have room in my other tanks to move many of the fish, including a w/c pair of amphilophus labiatus and 4 10" bocourti. I monitored the tank and the leak does not appear to be getting worse, so I decided that I'd just get a new tank ASAP and monitor the situation and hold on to the fish if possible.
On to finding a new tank. I called around to most of the local stores and searched the internet for pricing. Several stores had tanks available, but at prices higher than I wanted to pay, but my options were limited. Coincidently, chriscoli and Andrewtfw were up at the ACLC meeting at That Fish Place, so I asked them to check pricing on the 180 while they were there. Andrew recommended that I check with Aquatic Creations, a little store that is literally 5 minutes from my house that I hadn't even considered. Saturday afternoon I called over to the store to get pricing. Although they would have to order the tank, they quoted me a price that was pretty much the same as That Fish Place, and 2 hours closer to home. I told Bill, the Owner, that I'd be over on Sunday to place the order.
Yesterday afternoon, I ran over to the store to make the order. It had been a few years since I had been in the store, as they are focused on ponds but still have a decent selection of fish and supplies. It is a nice store, and while the livestock is mostly bread and butter community fish that sell well and can keep a LFS in business, the tanks are clean and the fish are healthy. They stock a decent amount of food, equipment, and décor, for ponds, freshwater, and saltwater set ups. I found Bill, introduced myself, and we went through what I was looking for. He went to price the tank again, and included a new stand and glass tops. After running through he order sheet again, he came back and quoted me a price on the tank that was $25 dollars cheaper than the quote he had given me less than 24 hours prior!
At the end of the day, I ordered a new 180 glass tank, stand, and tops for just under $1,200. They were super helpful, provided me with a better deal than any of the other local shops. If you are ever in the area, go check them out. The shop is in Urbana on 355, just south of Route 80.