chbix

That sucks!!! Have moved many full tanks in the past and even the small one can be a pain.....

You said "Future Wife" its not too late, keep the tank ditch the girlfriend. Way easier in the long run.

Chbix, I say set up the tank. You will get a lot of enjoyment out of it before you have to move it. And, the tank will be matured so after the move they will be little to none recycle time. Just the pain of the actual move. So, I pain day for a long time of enjoyment starting now. Go for it! ;-).

I would set it up soon, instead of waiting until March. Enjoy the tank, learn the kinks and overcome the obstacles. That way when you move and have to reset, you'll have experience under your belt and can make minor modifications for the renewed set up.

Or you can go crazy and rip your garage to shreds down to the foundation...

Agreed, do it now and worry about the move later. Being in the military I move around quite a bit but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the hobby. I;m definitely not enjoying it as much as Marc but once I retire I will be able to do what he's doing and go crazy but until then, I tear down and rebuild every few years.

Agreed set it up now! You'll go through so many things that you'll wanna change 'on your next tank' and then when you move, you'll have a chance to set up the tank the way you want.

I had the same problem but I set up my tank anyway and it has been worth it. Because really you don't know for sure when you will be moving. I haven't moved yet and it has been 6 months since I set up my tank. It's well worth it. Selling a house is hard these days.

The problem is I am no where near ready to set up. Still need my lights, returm pump, need to build my stand and my DIY rock. I am going to continue on getting everything together. We will see when I am ready.

On the plus side I made my PC light for the freshwater tank. The guy had a canopy that he tore the lights out of and was using it just to keep the fish in. Took one of my 96 watt PC kits and painted the reflector white and mounted it. Used acrylic for legs to keep the light up about 8 inches off the tank. Got an actinic blue bulb at the future wifes request and damn is that thing bright!

Other than making your own rock, I don't see why those things would take 5 more months to accomplish. A return pump is easy to come by, even easier if it is used. The stand takes a weekend to build, and the following weekend to paint... I think you could have the aquarium running by December if you tried, and added the lighting in January (Christmas gift from your wife?). You can buy dry base rock from MarcoRocks.com or perhaps buy used LR from a hobbyist getting out of the hobby in your area.

agreed, however all of that takes money, which I dont have trying to save for a wedding in may

Then you better buy everything used to save money.

thats why i am making my stand and rock. Hopefully I can get started on the rock next week, the stand soon after. Shouldnt take more than $100 at lowes for both. Then the pump. I was looking at some pumps on aguatraders, I can get a 700 gph pump for like $40 but I am not sure I want to trust my system to that cheap pump... thinking a mag 9.5 would be perfect and a guy in Tahoe has one for $50. So hopefully Ill be close by the first of the year and will get everything rolling.