PattiB
Guest
Howdy! I signed up for this forum to post this... I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place for this message, but please be gentle if not. Since I'm a stranger, allow me to introduce myself. In a past life I was a hardcore hobbyist, like reinforcing my floor for a 300-gallon reef tank, attending MACNA, and true story: back when he was a postdoc in NY I posted Craig Bingman's first message on rec.aquaria for him because he wasn't sure if his writing about calcium chemistry was good enough for the newsgroup. (Evidence:
) I understand he's no longer timid about contributing to the hobby. (-:
My last reef tank was an acrylic micro-reef, but it's been sitting empty on a shelf in my loft for a very long time. I've finally admitted to myself that I'm never going to set it up again, and I was about to offer it up on my local Buy Nothing group but then I realized that nobody there would understand the description. I checked Google to see if there was a marine aquarium society that I could reach out to, and here I am.
The system came from CPR in Arcata, and was pretty much the spiffiest pre-built micro-reef setup I could buy in the late 90s-- it lived in my office during the dot-com bubble. It measures approximately 18x18x12 with hood, and IIRC it was billed as 12 gallons. It has an integrated filtration chamber with a protein skimmer and I honestly don't remember much else about the details but I've included a photo of the back showing the chamber. The skimmer and powerhead are with the system. The hood has two 28W (I think) fluorescent bulbs, one daylight and one actinic, and both worked when I plugged them in. The lighting is by Custom SeaLife, who I remember as being highly respected although I understand they went out of business years ago. I suspect that fluorescent is now a synonym for antique, but there's room in the hood and I think it would be pretty easy to upgrade the lighting if you wanted to.
I would love to see this go to someone who would love and appreciate it as much as I did. The photos make it excruciatingly clear that it's in need of a thorough cleaning, but I have every reason to believe that the system is structurally sound and would make an excellent project for someone. It's currently located in the Jack London Square neighborhood of Oakland, and I will happily gift it to the first person who claims it. I hope it won't be considered B/S/T if I say I'd love to see a photo if it gets set up as a showpiece again.
-Patti
My last reef tank was an acrylic micro-reef, but it's been sitting empty on a shelf in my loft for a very long time. I've finally admitted to myself that I'm never going to set it up again, and I was about to offer it up on my local Buy Nothing group but then I realized that nobody there would understand the description. I checked Google to see if there was a marine aquarium society that I could reach out to, and here I am.
The system came from CPR in Arcata, and was pretty much the spiffiest pre-built micro-reef setup I could buy in the late 90s-- it lived in my office during the dot-com bubble. It measures approximately 18x18x12 with hood, and IIRC it was billed as 12 gallons. It has an integrated filtration chamber with a protein skimmer and I honestly don't remember much else about the details but I've included a photo of the back showing the chamber. The skimmer and powerhead are with the system. The hood has two 28W (I think) fluorescent bulbs, one daylight and one actinic, and both worked when I plugged them in. The lighting is by Custom SeaLife, who I remember as being highly respected although I understand they went out of business years ago. I suspect that fluorescent is now a synonym for antique, but there's room in the hood and I think it would be pretty easy to upgrade the lighting if you wanted to.
I would love to see this go to someone who would love and appreciate it as much as I did. The photos make it excruciatingly clear that it's in need of a thorough cleaning, but I have every reason to believe that the system is structurally sound and would make an excellent project for someone. It's currently located in the Jack London Square neighborhood of Oakland, and I will happily gift it to the first person who claims it. I hope it won't be considered B/S/T if I say I'd love to see a photo if it gets set up as a showpiece again.
-Patti
