General advice for selling a tank?

M

mleinart

New member
Hey all, I'm downsizing from my 120gal + sump to a biocube 29. I rushed the upgrade to this tank when I moved in the house years ago and never really got it running to any state I could be proud of. Too much equipment to buy, too much work to make it maintainable (carrying 5 gal buckets of RO up from the basement for water changes isnt sustainable...).

As I get nearer to moving over the few livestock I have in there, I'm starting to get worried about actually being able to sell the thing. I figure it needs to happen soon - I have a suspicion it's harder to sell tank in winter.

What's the easiest way to get this thing sold and out of my house? Should I list it as a complete tank or sell off the live rock and sand and empty it out? The full assembly would be: tank + overflow hardware, hood + lights (separable, but they're cheap chinese HQIs + PCs so I doubt they'd be much interest separate), stand, sump (made by me in a hurry and leaking a bit i suspect), plus the stuff in there - live rock, sand, sump sand (DSB in the sump with lots of life).

I'd *like* to get some money back from it, but my priority is getting it out of the house - a piano's going to go where it sits. If I wanted to say, sell it by the end of October, what strategy should I use?

Thanks for any advice!
 
I'll note, one reason I'm getting anxious is that I cleaned out my skimmer (3yo reef dynamics) and posted it on craigslist weeks ago for what I think is a great price and only got a single bite (which fell through). Is craigslist just a bad venue for reef stuff or is it just hard to sell this kindof stuff?
 
selling used equipment is rough. people don't want to pay for things. what you see as fair may not appeal to someone else. i to had issue selling things. everyone trying to get in wants to get in for as little as possible
 
Here are my 2 cents, I sold here quite few items and some sold better then other. First this is actually good time to sell stuff, summer is almost over and when bad weather comes, more people stay indoor and enjoy reefing hobby again. When selling used equipment I don't really think about getting my money back or even close to it. I usually start with 50% off depending on things I want to sell. If you have top of the line equipment, of course you will charge more, but for just regular, older stuff don't expect much. If you get about 30% back, you should be happy. Selling stuff separate is easier imo., and you can make more then selling as a full set up. Not many people want everything anyway. Start selling your livestock first, once is gone sell LR and then your equipment. I found that good cleaning is a must , things look so much better clean and sell faster. Selling DSB live is almost impossible , no one is willing to risk a cycle in their tanks by putting disturbed live sand . Clean it very good and sell it dry. As far as your sump that you made and is leaking, i would fix it first or would just trash it. I don't see anybody paying for it any amount of $. What worked for me too, is to include some freebies, if i sell coral or fish, I always give some small piece free, it is better then take it to LFS . Your cheap Chinese light just like you said will not get much or any intrest. I would try to give them to somebody who buys your tank as a small incentive. Good luck with selling, and remember just like Jay said above,, what you think is worth to you, it might not be to someone else, but if you price it right and you really want this stuff out, you will. If you not getting any offers or hardly any unfortunately you have to make decision to either lower the price more or just keep your stuff. I had few things that i decided to keep instead giving it almost free.
 
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