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Post by JusJoshua on Nov 28, 2011 1:44:22 GMT -6
Okay I'm selling my Red X 3d background tank and I'm going to start building a couple more to sell, and this is where I could use some advice, what size tank should I get and what should I fill it with as in I'm going to ship complete tanks, with Filters, Heaters, Lights and probably a hidden air stone and pump built into the background, keep in mind it has to be able to ship for under $30 to make it all cost effective for me to build, but what parts would you suggest I put in them, I'm looking for quality for value, specially if i'm building backgrounds to house these items in, which will make it a bit difficult to replace. My first tank was all marineland. And also, what kind of background would you like to see in a tank, I'm not really limited by much?
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Post by bnoel210 on Nov 28, 2011 6:26:37 GMT -6
IMO you may be asking for a little to much since you are trying to ship under $30 and have all that stuff in it with just weight alone. Also a lot of people that want these custom backgrounds to house certain items are doing it themselfs. This is just my opinion. Dont want to see you do all that for nothing. Maybe take orders before you build to ask what the buyer wants.
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Post by rickl on Nov 29, 2011 9:53:16 GMT -6
I'm not sure you'd be able to turn a profit at this unless you're finding a great deal on used tanks. Have you considered just selling the backgrounds instead? 55G is a popular tank but imho 75 is better suited for a background. You might even be able to make 24" long "tiles" that each have a place for a heater and a HOB intake (you'd only need to drop in one heater, but on a 48" tank many folks like 2 filters).
bnoel210 is right that many folks will want to customize, but there might be a market for good looking "off-the-shelf" backgrounds if they'll fit a variety of filter components. AC500 and Emp400 are the filters I'd target for HOB style, since you should be able to work in most any canister or "tubular intake" HOB where a AC500 would fit. The Emp has that wide tube and fat intake that takes up mores space.
-Rick (the armchair aquarist)
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Post by ree123 on Nov 29, 2011 11:26:43 GMT -6
I agree with the attempt to sell just the backgrounds and advertise to see what response you get for pre-orders. IMO, don't build and have them stored in the garage with your capital involved.
If you wanted, you could build a few for say a 30, 55, and 75; then take them to a few local fish stores and ask them to sell them for you with a cut of profit, or sell to them for re-sale. You won't know if stores are interested until they see one and try it out on potential customers.
Shipping the weight of glass gets expensive !
Just food for thought...
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Post by rickl on Nov 29, 2011 13:16:27 GMT -6
Thankfully the capital investment for just backgrounds is relatively small, and if he's doing either styro-crete or styro-drylock then they're light too! Just bulky.
-Rick (the armchair aquarist)
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Post by JusJoshua on Nov 29, 2011 22:35:39 GMT -6
I'm doing styro-crete as my building material. I really think the first one just turned out much better than I thought, and I got so many ideas of new ways to build and new shapes to use, but you can only build one for yourself so many times and I don't have the extra space to build one for my own tank and cycle it, thats one issue I would have with doing pre-fab, I'd have no way to cycle the tanks and get the ph out unless I had a spare, 30, 55, and 75 to put them in after they were done, i guess i would just need one 75, and all of them would fit in that tank. Although I haven't had much luck getting rid of my first tank, perhaps it's all for not.
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Post by JusJoshua on Nov 29, 2011 22:57:00 GMT -6
Yeah the rim was a concern to me, but can the average tank owner or does the average tank owner feel confident enough to remove the rim of their own tank. I'm getting ready to upgrade to a 100 from my 75, so I may just have the extra tank I need to soak.
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Post by AlanM on Nov 30, 2011 7:04:54 GMT -6
Joshua,
You're not going to be able to ship very far for $30 considering the size and weight of an aquarium plus your "concrete."
What if you made the backgrounds modular, say in two or three pieces, so that the buyer could insert them into his own standard tank without having to take off his upper rim? If you went with 3 or 4 industry standard tank sizes, you could do it that way. Ship the pieces with or without the heater, etc. installed. For the whole package, you could make a little on the accessories, or you could accommodate (and specify) particular brand and model accessories and the buyer could purchase those from his LFS or online.
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Post by ree123 on Nov 30, 2011 12:50:08 GMT -6
Install youtube video, but not a how to build youtube video, IMO.
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Post by Jess Puff on Nov 30, 2011 13:52:30 GMT -6
Huh? Build a youtube video? He just said he could make a video of the install and post it to youtube for anyone to watch.
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Post by rickl on Dec 1, 2011 15:49:55 GMT -6
Lots of you-tube videos on building them out there already.
-Rick (the armchair aquarist)
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