butchawg's 6 gal......the fun has begun!!!

[Butchdawg14]

WOW.......so it has been a though road......but im now the fun has begun......

WARNING do not ever ship DHL...they suck....sorry if anyone likes DHL but it was not good for me. long story short.. I was suppose to get my tank on tues the 20th and didnt get it till late friday the 23rd cause they had no idea where my tank was....i call them about 7 times to try and track the tank.....GOOD NEWS i got my shipping charges refunded and the tank was good (no cracks).....so avoid DHL as much as possible......

So here is the start of my reefing career and yes i said career....since i have a 6 gal im going to get some corals and let them grow and then start selling them when they get to big...Ill be making a profit.....(my roomate said i will want another big tank but we will see)

so i tested my stuff (megabytes, kilobytes, and ammoina and all that junk) lol jj jj on the megabytes and stuff...

Ammiona(bad spelling)-2.41
NO2-1.2
NO3-20
PH-7.8
Salinity-1.023

now that is like spanish to me but my roomate said that the cycle is off to a good start and doing good so i listen to him and then wait wait wait till he says im good to put some coral and whatnot in there..

SO HERE IT IS

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u108/Butchdawg14/tank.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u108/Butchdawg14/tank4.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u108/Butchdawg14/tank3.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u108/Butchdawg14/tank2.jpg


Just a scale of how big this ballin 6 gal is!!

[roguemonk]

I doubt you will make a profit.

Have you calculated your monthly cost for electricity, calcium, alkalinity, other supplements, water changes, food? And how many months it will take to grow a big lps or sps colony and how much you can get for it?

I think the best we can hope for is to make some cash back once in a while to defray the cost of the hobby. But I've never done the math to be sure.

Best of luck!

Brad

[Butchdawg14]

lol well yes i understand the costs......but i forgot to mention that this project is a longterm project......lol lol we will see what happens.......give me 3 years and ill let you know if im making money or not....

[roguemonk]

If you know a secret I don't know I guess you wouldn't tell me anyway. :-)

Brad

[BumblebeeGoby4]

Really cool nano-- where'd you get it from?

[Butchdawg14]

fishtanksdirect.com which i think is like connected with cadlight.com but i really got it from fishtanksdirect.com

[bigsittingrock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9336079#post9336079 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Butchdawg14
..Ill be making a profit.....



Hahahaha I remember thinking the same thing back when I had my 30g. Glad to see you join the hobby/addiction.

[Butchdawg14]

REX REX REX lol just give it time ill be making a career out of this...........lol lol

[mbunakeith]

you might want to get a 180g sump for that. you could plumb it right into the basement so nobody would see it. that is where you could grow all these "money making" corals and earn that tank's keep. that is a nice looking little tank. have fun with it. that is more than i have now.

[Madman133]

since it seems like bash Butchdawg day ill join in on the fun lol j/k but yeah you arent going to make a profit...if you want to make a profit growing things look someplace else lol anyways with time you will want to go bigger and you will become more and more addicted and spend more and more money.

[spstimie]

most lfs and aquarium maint. companys go out of business within two years and you are going to make money with a 6gal..........lmao:D..... but whatg do i know i just clean fish tanks for a living. but hey the hobby is better than most drugs.

[Butchdawg14]

ok we will see......lol

[clowninaround74]

maybe butch has a philosophy that none of us have thought of or even attepmted. I applaud him for being optimistic! I love the way that all of you are so quick to say that it cant be done when most of you probably havent even tried. Maybe his addiction doesnt come with the fanciest corals, but rather growing them and reselling them to you guys.

I think it can be done but the profit wont come till later on down the road.
Good luck nasty!

Randall

[clowninaround74]

try being a little open minded in this hobby...some of us lack that ability because we think that things can be done only one way.

.02

["Umm, fish?"]

I've never had anything but bad luck with DHL. :(

But, nice tank! Good luck!

[Clown-N-Around]

Butchdawg, good start. Is there a reason you went with crushed coral? You may need to watch your nitrates ongoing becuase detritous can get trapped in your "sand" bed. But a high percentage water change on a six gallon shouldn't be difficult!

I like the aquascaping and your enthusiasm :) Looks like your little tank is off to a good start. I think the key to turning a "profit" is to never want to buy anything, that's why it hasn't worked for me! ;)

[bmwardo]

I was making a great profit on my fish tank for the longest time... until I got caught stealing all the equipment, fish, corals, rock, sand, water, and salt from the fish stores and the guy next door realized that long extension cord was going to my place.

;)

Congrats on the new setup, give it time and remember that not many good things happen fast in this hobby.

[Butchdawg14]

clown-- what do you mean by that "crushed coral" also what is detritous???


bmw--thanks for the support.....and yes i wish i worked at a fish store so i could try and get little things here and there.....

[68RUSTANG]

OK here is how you make a profit:
1. Let your significant other sell frags at your table at upcoming frag swap.
2. You purchase frags while they are busy.
3. A little fib about how everyone was just giving you free frags.
4. Some Enron accounting = Profit.
5. To really finish the illusion, offer to use the frag profits to treat for dinner.

[Butchdawg14]

alright.....lol lol wow everyone is doubting that i can make a profit.....i am going to try and prove you wrong......TRY is the key word......now that doesnt mean when you see my name on a thread that says FS corals dont think im going to like mark them up or anything lol lol...... but we will see.....i have a whole lifetime to make a profit.......and once i have 1 CENT of revenue i will post my income statement that i put together on microsoft excel!!! lol lol

[clowninaround74]

thats not crushed coral...its just coarser grained araganite sand. I went with him to buy it and we decided against the sugar fine sand and liked the coarser substrate. I personally have the same sand in my tank and have no issues with it what so ever. In fact i have found that it stays cleaner without any sand sifting snails, stars etc.

here is a pic of the bag he got.
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l10/rcstudman74/IMG_0001.jpg

Reef Sand (Seafloor Special Grade)
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l10/rcstudman74/IMG_0003.jpg

[clowninaround74]

here are the pics...sorry

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l10/rcstudman74/IMG_0001.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l10/rcstudman74/IMG_0003.jpg

[clowninaround74]

whoops i guess they work....please delete the second set of pics and this post! thank

[Clown-N-Around]

OK - just looked kind of big in the pictures so I thought it was crushed coral. Usually the deep sand beds are the sugar fine sand, so that is what I am used to seeing. I don't have a lot of information on the 1-2mm aragonite, so not sure how it tends to do with nitrates and it's compatability with different fish and other sand-sifting invertabrates.

Butchdawg - glad you have my namesake helping you out :) It's great you have a friend in the hobby.
BTW- detritous is all the little bits of waste, uneaten food, etc. that settle on your sandbed and rocks. If your substrate is larger, such as crushed coral, the detritous can get in between the cracks and get trapped.

[Butchdawg14]

oh ok lol lol thanks for the help......yes yes that is my roomate he decides to post stuff instead of just tell me lol lol but its whatever

[clowninaround74]

yea i have had good experience with the coarser substrate. I love it compared to the sugarfine. Like i said it stays cleaner!!

[Thurge]

I can tell you the last thing you want to do is keep an accurate accounting of just what this hobbie costs. Especially one that accounts for years of tinkering.

You can work with a reef addiction to pay for your habit, but Heroin may be cheaper.

[Butchdawg14]

lol lol oh boy........