Daily Poll: Equipment

Equipment, New or Used?


  • Total voters
    26

BiGGiePauls33

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Comment below to let others know if you prefer New or Used Equipment when looking for the next piece.
 
Previously when in the hobby I did everything with used equipment and this time around after a 6ish year leave I started back with all new to prevent issue for at least a little bit and see what it was like to have the latest stuff lol
 
I’ve always had used equipment but I’m starting to believe in warranties. For the difference in new to used , a couple bucks more will save you some headaches in the long run.
 
100% used. I am not in the right income bracket for this hobby.
$40 tank and stand (72 bow front)
$20 bucks to repair center brace
$90 to make a canopy and sump and plumbing (bought a drill bit and sold it for $10 loss)
Free Skimmer
$30 on a return pump
$50 on wave makers/traded for a jebao gyre
$40 on doser
$30 on two used heaters.
$90 crappy lights (fluval reef and sea- died after 3 months use)
$40 newer crappy lights (black box old, low par)
Free 2 new better lights. (black box, 1 year old, good par!)

Grand total equipment- 430 for whole set up with upgrades as it stands.

To be installed....
$80 used skimmer
$40 reef keeper
$40 t5 light

Once upgrades are done grant total.... $590

No major issues with equipment. Going since early 2016. Cost was spread out over those 3 years.

Now I have lost double that amount in coral due to neglect... but that is a different story.
 
I've been doing this for a while, and I have bought plenty of new. And plenty of used.

For the survey, I chose used, because my current set up is 100% used. (... ATO was bought new for tank I broke down about 5 years ago, so I'm calling that used this time around.)

I'm still hoping a used Sunpod or Viper shows up somewhere on the cheap :cool: If it doesn't in the next couple of months I guess I'll spring for a new LED light as the one I'm currently using doesn't have the spread I want since I purchased it for a much smaller tank than I ended up using.
 
I chose new and used. I have a hand me down 29g biocube, a skimmer from an older tank, New Radion Xr15.
With the 40B, I've bought everything new so far. I do have a 4 bulb t5 from @Chris A. , but will probably go with 2 radion xr15's for it eventually.
 
I have some of both. I usually look for used items, except for heaters & most main pumps. But it seems whenever I am looking for a specific used item, I wait a few months to no avail and end up having to break down and buy it new.
 
I think it just gives me peace of mind when it is new. I also have bought a cheaper alternatives many times and always end up upgrading in the end and spending more money anyway..
 
It depends on the item.a Lifereef skimmer is good forever, however based on reviews kessil a360 May start to go after a couple years. And since you only save 30% or so buying used it may not be money well spent.

And often not worth the hassle for that 30%, with no warranty and no idea the history of the item.
 
It depends on which equipment.

Here are what I think is good for buying used:

Used tanks that is less than 5 years old are pretty good deals, as long as they do not leak. For saltwater, the glass is going to be scratched sooner or later.

Reef Octopus skimmers, they should be good for a while, as log as the pump is good, the body normally last for a very long time.

Sumps, as long as it holds water.

APEX, they last a good long time.

Eheim return pumps, they last.

Jebao and Coralbox DC return pumps. They are very well built and many higher end DC pumps are actually rebadged Jebao.

ATI t5 fixtures, the parts are cheap and easy to repair.


Here are something I will never buy used:
1. Any Radeon led lights. They over drive the led chips (which also make it less efficient. See Sanjay’s review on G3 pro), that cause led chips aging a lot faster.

2. Kessil led, chips can burnt out due to ineffective heat removal. Also you cant really tell if some chips are burnt out due to they are densely packed.

3. Anything made by Hydor, poor quality especially their pumps.

4. Used Jebao RW, PP series wavemakers, they have thermo chips built in to the motor and they will fail sooner or later.

5. Older Maxspect Gyre pumps. The 100 and 200 series. Their magnet can rust, power cord exposed right next to the motor, propeller fins shatter, rubber gaskets failed with the shaft meets the propeller. Failed controllers, noise.



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Add to the not to buy used list:

Marineland or other brands so called stealth heaters, the ones make out of plastic. They have 100% failure rate. There was a recall for those

PacSun t5, their housing can rust significantly even for a short period of time, their ballast fail often.

Any test kits, they can be contaminated easily.





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my setup
Tank, stand and canopy used
Photon V2 light new
Apex mixed used and new
skimmer new
sump new
Ca reactor new
regulator used
solenoid new
gyres new
Really a mixed bunch of stuff which I replace with new when It can be afforded


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