Tank Shut-down: advice first?

[jon in alberta]

Hi All,

Over the past 4 years I that I have taken advice from you folks about how to be a good reefer, and you have been great. So now I come to you again with a last request:

How to properly shut down my system.

My reasons are (if you care):
1) leaving the country (in about 8 months)
2) young family and job currently ramping up
3) (I'll be honest) a couple of crashes in the past two years that have discouraged me - lost some friends in the tank

I have scooped up a lot of great stuff from you folks over the years during your tank shutdowns - thank you! For my reason #2 above I was wondering this ...

Is it possible to sell my system 'all-at-once'? I see people trying this approach and failing, ultimately resigning themselves to selling each item, bit by bit, over a long time-span.

I presume that if I posted "First person to get here has the whole system for free" that someone would take it! Conversely, if I posted (as I have seen) "I paid over $10,000 for my system, I will accept $9,999 only - NO PARTING OUT!"

where is the middle ground? ... is there a middle ground? Is there such thing as consignment tank-shut-down?

your comments please.

[Also (moderator) sorry if this is in the wrong place]

[timmmmy55]

If prices are you will have less trouble. Selling and less mess less no shows

[timmmmy55]

sorry bad grammer

If your prices are a bit lower you will have less trouble Selling and more peices will go at once, and less mess in your house and less no shows

[FishyFishy!]

You'll find it very difficult to sell as a whole without offering it at an extremely low price. Most people dont have the cash to spend on a full tank setup all at once. Most people that offer this will fail. Also most people that ask retail prices for used equipment will get ignored or trolled lol.

Start with a post in the livestock section. Usually 1/2 retail is a good used rate, depending on specimen. Get rid of all the livestock first. If you are stuck with any coral or fish that you just cant sell, offer it for a really low or free price to get them gone. Then move onto selling your rock.

After all livestock and rock are gone you can move onto selling equipment in the same fashion.

Hope all goes well.

[Aquattro]

It will also depend a lot on what you have. If it's all top of the line gear, it may be worth it, at the right price, for someone to buy it for the pieces they want and sell the parts they don't. However, if you have older generation gear, low end stuff, or just really beat up, you may have to just take a loss and move on.

Hardly ever does a full system sell for a fair price, most people just aren't after exactly what you have, and unless it's too good to pass up (dirt cheap), then you're better parting it out. Again, with the right equipment, that could take 2 weeks. With older stuff nobody really wants, it could take forever.

[jon in alberta]

Thanks all.

Looks like I will part out

I have Vertex LEDs, 150 gal, new skimmer, new return pump .... tunze controllable powerheads, dosers .... other stuff

First the livestock. - actually, first some pics of the livestock. That could take a while.

Look for my tank shut down thread in the coming weeks!