Cost?

J

jaco17

AC Members
Nov 30, 2005
19
0
0
Im going to set up a reef tank. i havent bought my new tank yet but im thinking of a 60g corner tank. my question is excluding the tank. how much do you think it will cost for the coral, fish ect. a rough figure?
 
I thought i could do it on the cheep, that was not the case, look for my other thread "Counting the cost"

Ive spent $1500 -$1800 and my tanks only got a handfull of corals in it. Although things are more expensive in the UK
 
If it helps, I'm just getting started. I read a good bit and talked to everyone I could (BTW, without exception they have all said too expensive, and too much trouble, and everything will die) and knew this wouldn't be an inexpensive hobby and if you try to be cheap (my nature) you'll pay on the other end. So I went to what looked like a good LFS and they had this beautiful 125 gallon tank all drilled out with a nice stand, hood, etc. for $995. That didn't seem too much to me so I talked to the fish guy, told him I wanted to set up a reef system, etc. and he estimated it would take 5 grand. He was very close - I think I have right around $4500 in it so far. I did set it up myself following the lfs instructions (they can come set it up for you for $500) because I thought it would be the best way to learn and I'm glad I did that. I'm not a DIY guy and I probably could have done better on the equipment but I didn't want to chance it so I paid retail but got a lot of great advice, not to mention I'd like to see that store stay there and if everyone bought everything from the internet they'd be out of business. I did buy the live rock, salt, and cleanup crew online. The crew just went in yesterday as a matter of fact. Hopefully first fish this weekend. So $4500 without fish has been my experience! Unless you got some great discounts or bought used stuff I don't think you could do much better than $3500 for my setup - you could always go smaller. BTW, there's a great sticky out there by someone setting up a 90 gallon tank - it doesn't focus on costs, just what you might expect setting up a new system.
 
I remember when i was reading about it on another forum you could expect to spend anywhere from $50-$100 a gallon on a PROPERLY DONE reef tank.
$50/gallon being a soft coral type
$100/gallon being a hard coral type.
 
Unless, like me you can go snorkeling an collect your own specimens, or buy specimens and frag your corals, and then you can save money. :)
 
mysis said:
Unless, like me you can go snorkeling an collect your own specimens, or buy specimens and frag your corals, and then you can save money. :)
Click to expand...
Another way to save a ton is to get to know the local reefers. Not only can you learn from seeing their setups, but it's amazing how easy it is to fill a tank with frags that people just give away or sell cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom