55 Gal and 65 Gal/ Vho Reef and Excalibur Skimmer in Norfolk for Sale

[burke757]

Well, I am clearing out more fish tanks. I have the following tanks and equipment I need to part with.

55 Gallon tank with wooden plank stand. tank is the standard 4' long version. I used it as a fowlr tank. Never used copper in tank so it could be used for reef tank or sump. about 3 years old. Local pickup only. Asking $100

65 Gallon Vho reef tank with icecap 430 electronic ballast, and complete custom fixture installed in hood. It has two 1-month old uri bulbs. They are the 48" vho bulbs. One is actinic and the other is daylight. I have two old bulbs that you can have as well if you want. I would not recommend that you use them unless it was an emergency however. It comes with an enclosed stand and hood with the light fixture is built in. The tank is an oceanic model hexagon shape. 4 feet long in the back. Standard height. I had a lot of good luck with soft corals. My toadstool seemed to like the this vho setup better than the metal halides it is currently under. Macroalgae grew well as long as it was up a mid level in the tank. Lps and other lower light corals did fine. Did not have any luck with acro's or other high light sps. Not recommended for them. For a nice softy/lps tank, all you have to do is add live rock and a hang on the back skimmer and you have a reef tank ready to go. probably 10 years old, but in great shape. Local pickup only. asking $400

Excalibur Skimmer. It is a HV-1 model rated at 100 gallons. It comes with a rio 800 pump (with new impeller) and skimmer box that contains the pump and the bubble trap. works well. I would probably say it could handle a 75 gallon tank. 2 years old. Asking $50 plus shipping.
For another $15, I will include a maxi-jet 1200 with adapter that really makes this skimmer go.

Pictures to follow. thanks for your time.

-Randy

[lmattix]

Randy:

I am in Chesapeake. I can come over Today or tomorrow for the skimmer and pumps.

Larry

[lmattix]

Sorry. The "H" in HV-1 is for Hang-on. I need a sump model. I should have checked before I posted.

[burke757]

i have a top fathom skimmer that is in sump, if you are interested in that.

[lmattix]

I am not familiar with that brand. What are the dimensions and what size tank is it rated for. What type is it (berlin, venturi, etc.)? does it come with a pump? what kind? And the big question How much? I am new to this hobby but I have been doing a lot of reading. I made some mistakes (like buying a Seaclone 100 skimmer, killed a few mushrooms). I am very excited about it though and read every thing I can get about reef aquariums. I could not get to the last meeting of the Hampton roads Reefr Club, but I can't wait to go to the next one. why are you getting rid of the tanks and equipment? Are you getting out of the hobby or like me, when I get into something, I accumulate a lot of stuff?

Larry

[burke757]

like you, i accumulated a lot of stuff that i am now trying to get rid of. i have a lot more stuff that i am trying to get rid of that i have just not listed. the top fathom is a venturi type skimmer. i think the one i have is tf-100 or something like that. it comes with a pump. i would trust it on a 75 gallon. i was looking to get 50 bucks for it. most people do not know that much about them, but i know a few people that use them and they can be quite effective. you are welcome to come over and check it out. if you want, i could even set it up on my reef tank for you. just let me know. i actually just hooked up the excalibur on my reef tank just to have some decent pictures of it in action. so in short, before you buy anything new, check with me, b/c i probably am trying to get rid of it.

[burke757]

i can give you some muchrooms and a leather frag if you buy some of my gear. what setup do you have?

[lmattix]

That sounds good. I have a 75 g with a 20g sump and a mag 7 pump on the return. An overflow box is built into the corner of the tank connected through a bulkhead in the backwall via 1-1/4 " tubing into berlin bag in the sump. I have had this sump for a week now. I made it from a 20 gal long aquarium. I used a 10 gal wet-dry before but it had no room for an in-sump skimmer. I have pc lighting, 4x65 watts (plus the 40w florescent that came with the tank setup, I use it to simulate dawn and dust.). I have two aquaClear 301's and a 201 connected to a natural wave wavemaker for circulation. I have about 120 lb of LR (mostly Fijii) and a thin layer of coral gravel on the bottom. I also have a Pinpoint pH and temperature monitors and standard timers for lights. I know that the pc lights limits me to soft corals and maybe some lps. I am trying to decide now whether to invest in metal halides and how much (number, wattage, color, etc) or get another used pc (to bring me up to little over 500 w). I just bought a pak of 11 ricordeas from Moes Marine World (got them Thursday) and they seem to be doing well. I bought a small rock of metallic star polyps and one with a few mushrooms from Fish Safari about three weeks ago. The mushrooms died off one at a time (detached and just floated around in the tank. I tried varying light, water flow, location, but nothing saved them. From the day I brought the "green" metallic star polyps home, they never showed their green color in my tank (not even under the actinics). Last week the person at Fish Safari (can't remember his name) ask me what I was feeding them and sold me some phytoplankton. The saleman I bought them from at the same store told me that I did not have to feed them. I tried the phyto plankton and they have perked up and look good (well extended with wide open polyps), but still no green color. I still have the four damsels that I bought to cycle the tank. They look so good (doing so well) that I keep them. Well, that is where I am at this point. I am trying to be patient but I can wait to have a reef of beautiful life like some of the tank I see on Reef Central.

I started with saltwater FO about 15 years ago but got out of it five years ago. But with this reef stuff, I am hooked again. I would like to see what you've got for sale.

Larry

[burke757]

so are you looking for a high end skimmer, or a middle of the road one? i also have a precision marine bullet one skimmer. it is a beckect type. two problems with is it requires a precise sump water level or you could build a baffle for it. and it uses a large pump- so electricty and heat build-up. it probably skims as well if not better than the euro-reefs. i like to think of it as a muscle car of the skimmer world. of course i think of my asm as a sports car. the top-fathom works well enough for your setup. in fact, the guy i got it from used on his sps/clam 75 gallon tank for 5 or 6 years with great results. i know josh (jscarb2) uses one as well.

[burke757]

as far as lights go, it depends on what you want to grow. sps and clams- i would go with at least 175 mh. others, i would stick with pc's or vho's. i never had any luck with sps until i switched to metal halide. maybe if you drop another pc fixture on top, you might have enough light, but that would not be cost effective in my book. i think it would be cheaper to just go with mh. if i were getting another mh fixture, i would get 250's or 175's.

[lmattix]

I forgot why we started talking. Yes I would like to see that tf skimmer. What is you time like tomorrow?

[lmattix]

How many 175 MH would I need for a 75 g (48") tank? And what about color? what would you recommend?

[burke757]

not that i am an expert or anything mind you, but i have two 175's above my 75 with two 40 watt actinics. the 175 are 10K xm's. they say you need one mh per every two feet of tank length. the color is up to you as long as it is at least 6.5K. most people go with 10k's though. if people use 6.5k's, they are going for growth rate b/c the color is supposed to be somewhat duller under them. i am referring to iwasaki 6.5k's that they make for 250watters. those are supposed to be the best grow bulbs you can get. but they use a pulse or electronic ballast, not the probe start ballast, which is more common. if you were going to use a chiller, then i would tell you to buy 250's. if not, i would stick with 175's and get some kind of fan setup to keep the heat flux down. i will be back later tomorrow night around 8 pm. i have to work :(

[lmattix]

Thanks for the wisdom.:)

[Gamefightr]

is the skimmer available still? pm me.

[burke757]

yes, everything is still available.

[burke757]

skimmer is sold