How much should I be looking at spending?

[dstoneburg]

Before the very important "saltwater isnt cheap" speach, I know and well agree with it. I do have the money, so this isnt a "I cant afford" type post. More its a I would like to put in the LEAST ammount of money possible into purchasing and getting a 29-34g tank together. So if I am looking at purchasing everyting, from the tank and stand to a light setup and skimmer. What specific makes and models would you recomend and what do you think the total cost will pan out to be? Exclude liverock and fish.

 

[earlybird]

MY 29g with 10g sump probably cost me between 800-1000. That's tank, stand, 10g sump, overflow box, plumbing stuff (hoses, clamps, baffles for sump), lights, return pump, powerheads, heaters, skimmer, thermometer, refractometer, GFCIs (2), timers, grounding probe, test kits, filter media, big bucket of salt, 50 lbs. of live rock, and 1 bag of caribsea sand.
The 50 lbs of LR was about $189 and sand was $20.

 

[peef]

My 24g nano, was around $1200 for lighting, tank, and PH's

 

[jacha66]

I'm planning a 125 and including the rock w/o fish i'm looking at around $3,500.00 minimum. If I know myself it will most likely cost about $1,000.00 more.

 

[clay12340]

Pricing depends on how long you have and if you want a particular brand. Get on various shops mailing lists for specials and closeouts. Check with your local shops for any specials or price matches they will do. Join your local reef clubs. The used and group buy equipment can save you a lot of money and the coral frags are usually ridiculously cheap compared to retail.
Labor day weekend ***** ran a $1/gallon tank sale for anything 55 and under. So that's $29 for your tank vs $75 normally. I saw some 150 watt halide + T5 30" fixtures by finnex for $220 as closeouts. They seemed like nice lights, but I'm not familiar with the brand. A similar Aqualine Busch fixture would run 3-4 times as much. The metal stands for a $29 are about $40 shipped and have a rack for a sump. A good skimmer is $150 new, or half that used. Powerheads are generally $15-$20.
If you have time to wait and are willing to buy it one component at a time you can probably put your equipment together for $500-$600 or less. A more reasonable price is probably twice that amount if you buy it all at once.
You are also going to have the added costs of testing equipment, quarantine and acclimation equipment, as well as the equipment to make and store salt water and RO water for changes and top off. That stuff adds up very quickly and that doesn't include the price of your rock, sand, and livestock.

 

[earlybird]

I think we scared him.

 

[deltablack22]

Probably...

I'd say I have about $1500 in everything which includes a 28 bowfront and a 20L frag tank, and I shopped around.

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by DeltaBlack22
Probably...

I'd say I have about $1500 in everything which includes a 28 bowfront and a 20L frag tank, and I shopped around.
I added up all the money I've spent at Marine Depot alone over the last few years the other day and just about had a stroke.
The other thing though is that there is "cheapest" and there is "well spent." IMO if this hobby was a race, the winner would be the one with whose animals thrived the most in their environment, regardless of how much or how little the aquarist spent. Doing it with the least amount of money possible should come second to meeting and/or exceeding the needs of your animals.

 

[joncat24]

Originally Posted by peef
My 24g nano, was around $1200 for lighting, tank, and PH's
what kind of nano is that much...I was looking at the new 28 cube with metal halides and it is only 500 and the aquapod 24 with standard pc's is 170...what do you have??

 

[b0bby1]

my setup wasnt much but its the corals that kill me. for my 20 gallon im guessing i have spent at least 2 grand on it. you can do it though, i'm only 16. i gotta stop buying stuff though, 2 grand in 9 months isnt good.

 

[sambasam]

you can get a biocube 29 going for like $500 you can get the tank for $240 30lbs of live rock $75 30lbs live sand $30 tester kits and salt $50 2clowns $30 5-6 coral peices $100

 

[bjoe23]

you get maybe get it for 450

 

[dstoneburg]

Hows the red sea max line up price wise. It seems its pretty well priced considering it would be close to the cost of red sea max to put everything together yourself..

 

[mfp1016]

IMHO a lot of people simply forfeit too much money into a tank. First, good, meticuluous planning will go a LONG way in saving you costs in the end. Are you handy??? I built all of my own equipment and saved a LOT of money in the end. I put my 125 gallon together for less than $1000. The tank and stand I got used for $350, then spent the rest on getting the tank up to par for a reef. The tank ended up having two ten gallon sumps connected via bulkhead, phosphate fluidized bed reactor, needle-wheel skimmer, uv sterilizer (i didn't build it, but got it used), mechanical/carbon filter. Anyway, there are lots of DIY project plans on various websites that are fairly easy to follow. Unfortunately, swf.com doesn't allow the idea that some of us might buy things from other places (idiotic, IMO, sort of the catch more flies with honey kind of thing) so PM me and I'd be more than willing to give anyone more tips on saving money in this hobby, especially in regards to MH lighting.

 

[mfp1016]

I forgot to add, I went with all VHO lighting for two reasons: better colors (JMO) and no need for a chiller. Chillers, depending on tank size, are almost always an exorbitant expense costing at least $400 for the some of the smallest chillers. This is one aspect where I feel we, hobbyists, are vastly overcharged for a technology that is more than 100 years old. Thats like paying $500 for a lamp. They really aren't that special in design of sophistication.
And FYI, I moved so I broke this tank down
But I stayed in the hobby with a 29 gal nano. (I actually like some parts of it more, for example, changing 10 gal of water scraping the algae and spot feeding all takes less than 10 min.)

 

[nano reefer]

I got my 14g oceanic biocube and 10lbs of LR for 150 bucks from my LFS that went out of business. But that is a really good deal. Go to your LFS and see if they carry the tank, if they do it ma be wise to buy from them, but it will cost more than buying online. If you buy from LFS and something goes wrong you just go to the LFS and they should fix the problem, but if you buy online and something goes wrong then you have to ship it out pay fr repairs and have it shipped back, and online fish places take more than 2 weeks just to repair, and atleast 2 more weeks for shipping. LFS is the best way to go IMO but if you want to save some money go online and browse various sites and just see which costs less. And remember, if some deal seems to good to be true, then it probably is.

 

[gharner]

i have:
12 gallon aquapod
stand
15-20 lbs l/r
sand
second pwr head
hermits
snails
clownfish
zoas
shrooms
frogspawn
open brain
i have had some other livestock items that didnt make it or that i had to get rid of for some reson or another
total cost about $800-$900 its crazy cause my tank still looks like crap haha

 

[coral keeper]

Originally Posted by gharner
i have:
12 gallon aquapod
stand
15-20 lbs l/r
sand
second pwr head
hermits
snails
clownfish
zoas
shrooms
frogspawn
open brain
i have had some other livestock items that didnt make it or that i had to get rid of for some reson or another
total cost about $800-$900 its crazy cause my tank still looks like crap haha

LOL.
I have spent around $400 on my 8 gallon oceanic bio cube. It still looks like crap haha.

LOL! I still need to spend a lot more on it.

 

[coral keeper]

Originally Posted by earlybird
I think we scared him.
I think we really did scare him.

 

[shrimpi]

I would say....
now that Im not a noob as much....
and I realised how much money Ive spent....
LURK on the forums and find people selling their stuff.
I found a guy that is selling his 24g AP with stand for 100.00!
there are so many people here willing to sell and trade for realistic prices.
If you can deal without the 'new car smell' then take your time and buy it used.
It doesnt HAVE to be that expensive. I would agree with the above person who said they spent thier money in livestock. Thats the killer. But you can take your time, find the right peices for your tank, and buy Frags so they grow into large peices. Thats the easiest/cheapest way.
JMO
Jessica.