# No more 120 gallon for me



## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Figured I'd post this somewhere other than general freshwater.

I'm so very unhappy right now with the hobby. I met my first slimeball scumbag just getting some money however he wishes. Didn't even know it when I met him and picked up his tank, stand, canopy, and all that jazz for $500.

Didn't think of anything back then. Looked great, was solid, obviously was just up and running with excess substrate (he had crushed coral and sand for african cichlids) all over the place, water in the filters and all that. Got it home, did a thorough clean. Looked like some excess substrate had made it's way onto the edges of the stand/aquarium and basically everywhere after he tore it down. So I expected it to leak out a little for maybe a week or two. Just because of humidity and the cracks and crevices in a stand/canopy.

Same sand stuff kept leaking out....for 5 months and with the cooling weather got worse. And then there's a bunch of little drilled holes in it that weren't there before when I picked it up and have had it in my garage the entire time. Yep. Termites and the guy had to have known about it and probably why he was selling it at his old place, literally across the street, with only that tank/stand/canopy and equipment in the place. Not where his 180, 220, 40, and 125 gallon tanks were already. And obviously there for quite some time as well as his 4 dogs.

So, after seeing that, knowing there's at a bare minimum of 5 months termite damage there's no way that I'd trust a 120 gallon full of water gravel decorations canopy and all that on it. And thankfully I kept it in my rather hot florida garage. Not where it was going on my wood floor in cool weather where I 100% know that I would've had a major major problem. Because I have yet to find any evidence and I've torn into everything in my garage where I have about 2000lbs of wood in there. 6 inches away and 2 feet away I have yet to see anything anywhere else. But of course I'm no pro and need a service. But maybe the heat kept them solely in that stand and canopy, though a dresser was 6 inches away I've seen nothing on it at all.

Ironically. After setting it on the curb and taking a huge sharpie writing TERMITES on it. Someone took it. Don't even have to wish something bad on them when people do it to themselves.

That being said, anyone buying somethin from a "Elliot Randon" in Brandon florida, beware. He also said in the email that the tank never leaked but I never leak tested it and it looks like it needs a reseal Glad I didn't even bother and I was going to use the other 120 that I had already leak tested and felt confident with.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Wow, I always knew CL was risky and bigger tanks are exponentially more leak-prone. I have met a few "wheeler-dealer" types whose pictures were more flattering than the reality, but no true scumbags yet. Most of the people I deal with through the club board are straight arrows and the you'll get PMs warning you about the bad apples when you are in a thread with one. The main issues I see with used tanks is the time-delay issue. They show you a pic of the set-up running, say it never leaked, but don't mention how long it has been dry in the garage, basement, storage unit, or worst-pf-all--a-shed. I don't know if people of dishonest or it just doesn't occur to them that 10 years in a sun-baked metal box isn't good for a tank's sealant.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

I honestly thought that the tank was going to leak in the first place, because there was a little bit of black mold on the bottom of the stand. Easily treated with 2 coats of bleach which I did. I wasn't worried about it because I had the other one that I tested before hand. The other problem is as I think TOS was telling me as well as a few others that it was never a smart idea for bioload purposes and the fact of using 2 (realistically inadequate) canister filters on a drilled tank. Hence the undrilled tank and an FX5 ready and waiting.

But termites? I never saw it coming and wouldn't think of it. But this prick tried to tell me my termite bonded house picked it up or that I picked up termites on transporting it back to my place....going 70mph from tampa to orlando. With those excuses it's obvious that he knew.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I had termites eat a fishtank stand and a box of fish magazines. They never got the house, they came up a wooden stake left by the builders embedded in the concrete floor. They aren't hard to see. I agree the seller knew or should have known.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Thankfully a 2 hour inspection took place today, nothing outside of the garage. At all. Even the dresser 6 inches away, or the literal TON of wood in my garage. Guy spent over an hour in my garage and another hour around the rest of my house.

Normal stuff found for FL. Cockroaches, sugar ants. Still paying for an additional treatment as I was wrong about what type of termites. They were drywood termites. Not subterranean like I had expected. But had they swarmed in my garage as the weather cooled, I'd be so screwed. And even more screwed if I put this tank in my house.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

sound like you had a close call


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Whew! Close call. On the bright side, making a new stand isn't really all that hard. Even something made with cinderblocks and shelf boards can at least get your tank back in service.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

seen some very basic stands made from oak beams.. and they look awesome, have a character about them


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