Friend of a Friend Selling 90 Gallon tank...some questions...

[webcricket]

I friend of a friend locally lost interest in their aquarium and are looking to sell for $200. I'm sort of interested, but have never dealt with a tank so large nor do I have any experience with the fish he has it stocked with. Would I be getting myself into a lot of deep water (literally) if I took this on...the set-up/equipment/fish:

90 gallon aquarium made by ALL-GLASS
2 AquaClear 70 Power filters
AquaClear 50 Power filter
Penguin BioWheel 125
Eheim 2215 Canister Filter
Ebo jager 150 watt Submersible Heater
Marine Land 300 Submersible Heater
Dr.Rx Pet 100 watt water heater
24 Various species of African cichlids
Polyporous Dragon Eel
Plecostomus Algae Eater
80 Lbs of White sand and various plants/decorations

If anyone has an estimate of how much work this will be and future costs, I'd love to hear it!

 

[IceH2O]

Well I can tell you that tank is way overstocked. If you take it on you'd have to get rid of a good portion of the cichlids.

You could get away with using only 2 of the heaters, Ebo jager 150 watt Submersible Heater and Marine Land 300 Submersible Heater, and I'd keep the Eheim 2215 Canister Filter and the 2 AquaClear 70 Power filters. You could sell the rest of the equipment to others here in the forum.

Its actually easier to take care of a larger tank because water parameters don't usually fluctuate as quickly.

Depending on what water costs in your area that might actually be what costs you the most to run it.

 

[UncaBret]

Did they really have all of that hardware running?
Of course, with that many fish.....
Depending on what fish you keep, you could get away with just the 2 AC70s. I would keep the AC50 as a spare, tho. (Ice is a big fan of overfiltration)
Other than that, I agree with Ice.

 

[joephys]

The average household uses 100 gallons of water per person per day. Changing 45 gallons a week would be like taking one extra shower per week.

 

[YuccaPatrol]

That is a great deal. Go get that tank.

Some of the fish are incompatible and it is a bit overstocked. The pleco should not be with african cichlids because the two types of fish prefer different water conditons.

Unless these are the type of fish you want, I would consider giving most of them back to a store and starting over. A good local store might be willing to give you some store credit to do the switch.

 

[YoFishboy]

I think its a great deal. If it were my tank, I would lose the dragon and the plec and add a few synodontis cats. If they are a mix of haps/mbuna, 24 in a 90 probably would be fine. If they are all mbuna, you would actually be a little understocked for a 90. Change 50% of the water per week, and use the 2 ac70's and the eheim. I have bred mbuna for over 20 years, and they make an impressive display....i have several species tanks, but I also have a 90g tank with about 35 mixed mbuna and lots of rock work...it is tied with my reef tank for being my favorite tank! My africans thrive on my tap water, which is moderately hard, and a variety of quality veggie flake and pellet foods.