Recommendation of a Shop

[huister]

Hi all,

I have been trying to setup a 3feet tank and I was wonder if anyone has any experience dealing with any shops here?

Many Thanks,

Huister

[xersion]

check out the Sponsors section.

[ReDDeviLs]

try www.aquamarin.com.sg look for janet or steve

[huister]

Hi RedDevils,

I have tried aquamarin, unfortunately, after a month long they have not get back to me with a quote, very disappointed with them, so am coming here again to seek for other alternatives. Besides them any other recommendations are welcome!

Huister

[chaniz]

Hi , can recommend you to Mr Sun. My 3 ft tank is done by him and is beautiful.

You may call him @ 97806602. Hope it helps. Pricing is good too:)

[jyoon]

Hi Huister (bro or Sis)

My 2 cents. You should go for more then 1 option. Never made rush decision. Just have my 3 * 2.5 * 2.5 tank completed. Here's the pointers:

1. Guess you know you want a 3ft tank. What about the width and height? 2. Decide on the size of the the sump tank (if you want to run overflow system).

3. Decide on the cabinet material.

4. What piping you want to use. Normal or better piping?

5. What equipment you want to run? This has a impact on the size of the sump.

6. You need to made a decision on what you want to keep. More fishes or Reef? This has a direct impact on what equipment you need.

Off course, everything voice down to how much you willing to spend. 3 ft tank setup can easier cost you hundreds or thousands depending on the tank made and equipments.

Wish everything turn up well for your new tank.

[burnerj]

Agree with jyoon.

I've just requested a tank maker to redo my pipings and he sugessted to just normal J.I.S pipings instead of GS40. Cos singapore only use GS 40 & 80 but according to him only reef depot & George fisher in tampinese carries it which we all knows as GF+ pipings. For normal pipings, if there are any extension or redoing some pipings, you can get it easily at most of the hardware stores.

Below are some advise that my tankmaker advise me on.

Pricing and few other factors are the difference.

GS type of pipings

----------------------------------------

Pricing of pipes, elbows and valve are almost 4 - 8 times of J.I.S

Much more durable as the thickness of the piping and it's toughness.

(As advise these pipings are used in ship-building or to lay across miles between land or sea as it's tough and durable and we are talking around 20 - 30 deg difference as it spans thru seasons and day nite temp range.)

J.I.S type of pipings

--------------------------------------

Pricing are much more affordable (In this contex i'm referring pipings, elbows and valve made in japan, not taiwan).

Can easily get from most of harware store.

Not as durable as GS range (Do we really need that durability? We our temp external is 34 deg at most and we cool our tank to 26 deg min. That's a range of less than 10 deg diff.)

GS40, 60, 80 --- German Standard

J.I.S ------------- Japan International Standard

P.S.: I'm not here to promote or brainwashing fellow reefers to get cheaper pipings (Later kena whack if your tank pipings burst ah). I'm just trying to put across on "budget" to "needs" ratio. If you are willing to spend on pipings without any consideration then great, get it to get a piece of mind. But if you are going to break the bank to get the state-of-the-art pipings, i'll ask you to resconsider.

Please corect me if i mention anything wrong in this reply as i'm really not an expert in the pipings world.

Thanks.

[huister]

Hi all that has replied, thanks so much for your valuable inputs. If given a budget of say $4K, what sort of equipments would I get and of it all what are the things that I should look out for, i guess i would be keen to harvest a tank with both corals and fishes, but indefinitely, a chiller and a protein skimmer is a real must i believe.

Huister is a He

[burnerj]

Oh well... i think if you are going to make a brand new tank + cabinate + sump... hmm i think most likely it will take up 50% of you budget liao.

If you dun mind can look around for reefers who are decommissioning tanks.

[ulysses_w]

Hi Huister,

Here's my quote for you,

3ft L x 2ft W, 2ft H Tank + Cabinet SGD 770

Sump Tank need measurement.

Deltec Protein Skimmer APH 525 SGD 799

Gieseman Infiniti Lights 150W and 4 x 36W PL - SGD 949 <-- can change the lights fixture to something else.

JBJ Arctica 1/10 Hp Chiller SGD 1000

If you need any help, please do call 9235 8264, Uly here. Cheers

[w3ish3ng]

not cheap.. you havent include in pump..

[burnerj]

Yup. Not forgetting to get a reliable return pump. You won't wan to work and come home with a flooded living room.

1) Return Pump

2) Wave maker

[mansiz]

You can follow how Sealife does on their display tank. Although they have quite a large tank, but you can follow their concept. Their is what I seen so far the easiest and very beautiful tank. This is mainly due to they keep only soft corals and fishes, it's enjoying watching their tank.

[reeftask]

with a budget of 4k, you can have a 4ft tank with all of the equipments needed. The main thing is you must handle it yourself. Survey around before rushes around.

advise you to have 4ft and above tank with bottom sump at least 3ft, best 4 ft too.

If you are thinking a wooden cabinet, it will cost you alot but if you are thinking of a metal stand, it will save alot for other equipments. Moreover stand are easy maintenance in case anything happens.

where do you stay?

[burnerj]

Sorrie reeftask, i dun quite agree to the recommendation on the metal stand.

Best is not to get any metal stand, regardless of stainless steel, wrought iron or any metal stand as we are using saline water, these stand might only last you around 2-3 years. Then what are you going to do? By then 2-3yrs time your tank might be very matured with corals or fishes in there for long time. How are you going to shift the stand and replace ??

Just a piece of advise... get good changai wood stand and place your worries on other much more important things. Again i stress again you wouldn't wan to com home with a swimming pool in ur living room.

[jasment]

regarding stands:

just a casual note, metal, regardless stainless steel or wrought iron, painted iron or whatever, will rust in due time, but the trick is, to not expose the metal part of the stand, means clad the stand in wood, or marine ply which is better. though this is not exactly cheaper, but surely lighter.

A 4' x 2' x 2' cabinet with hood will cost in the region of $900-1400 in chengai and depending on the laminate/veneer selected, but one with metal stand and marine clading will be about 15% cheaper, but please remember, it doesn't mean chengai is definately better, for shorter term use, like less than 5 years, cheaper alternative is to use kapor, which is pretty strong too.

But the best option is actually have the tank on a metal stand, unbelievable but true, cos if you do a search on RC, most big tanks are on metal stand, with acrylic anti-rust coat and cladded with marine-ply.

my 2 cents.

[reeftask]

Well, my tank is on metal stand and after 6 years still ok. Furthermore my stand is custom made so high with a high sump too. The trick is to get a bigger metal and coat it with lots of layer of prevention coatings.

Woods are not that hardy because when wood are long term in water, it will rot.

Frankly speaking, any good stand will last loner than your tank. Your tank's silicone will leak after many years and your stand is still holding on. The most worried is the silicone on the tank. Even the best silicone wont last as long as a good stand.

When the silicone leaks, what should we do then?