Saltwater Cost

dlee9707 · 02-04-2007, 08:23 PM

So, today my brother and i were having a discussion with my dad. We wanted to setup a 10-30 gallon saltwater tank in the more social area of the house, not in a bed room... When it was said. What was said? The most beautiful words a kid could hear when related to fish. "Why not a 200 gallon" So, leaving the tank aside, what would the cost be of getting this thing off the ground. Tank aside, what equipment is needed and how much will it cost for a tank of this size.

Also, what should i do about filtration? Should i bother with a fancy sump system or just leave it be like i think tommy said he does, letting bacteria grow on the LR, or maybe meet that somewhere inbetween with a canister filtering it 2 or 3 times an hour.

So i just wanted to get a "quote" of sorts on how much something like this would cost in hardware alone. Also, how much would a cleanup crew cost? We would need an RO system as well.

I've never done saltwater before but have always been fascinated with it. If worse comes to worse we can get a 90-125 gallon.

Thanks for help in advance.

saltynewbie · 02-04-2007, 08:42 PM

I just bought a 140 gallon setup brand new. So i'll give you a rundwon of what I spent. All prices in canadian dollars. 1 CDN dollar= 86 cents US (approx)
tank (with stand and canopy, lights and heater)- 1600.00
protein skimmer - 169 CDN
UV sterilizer 224.00
pump for circulation - 70.00
live rock- 112 pounds- 850.00
fluval 305 canister filter- 200.00
sand- 3 bags- 90.00
salt- 3 bags- 75.00
misc other equipment and supplies- 100.00

It got really expensive but I had the guy at the store help me set it all up and he guarantess my fish will survive this time. hahah.
If I didn't go brand new, I could have got pretty much the same set-up for 1500.00 off some guy in the paper.

Chitown1 · 02-04-2007, 11:39 PM

IMO.....
Dont bother with a wet/dry or a cannister, they will become nitrate factories in a short amount of time. If you set up with 1 1/2-2 lbs LR per gallon and a good (not the $100 special) skimmer that is really all you need to have a good bio and mechanical filtration system.
A reugium is a good idea to add as it adds water volume, gives you a safe place for pods etc. to reproduce safely and a place to hide equipment, heaters, skimmer, UV's etc.
A 200 gallon would be a beautiful tank but including tank cost I would plan on around $1000-$1500 without livestock or rock. If you get 200 lbs LR and 100 lbs base rock, 2-300 lbs sand that will be around a additional $2500-$3000.
You can save some money on the rock however by getting uncured and letting it cure in the tank while cycling, over all you could save at least $1000 by doing that.

steve f · 02-05-2007, 02:18 AM

I just added my first fish today, 120 galwith sump.Coast of set up in Canadian dollars. I bought to top of the line stuff from what I read, books are exter. This is for a reef setup, with SPS corals

.
Sump 200 ( next time go bigger)
tank stand( DIY, Maple wood ) 500
skimmer and pump 600
return pump 200
heater 30
plumming(overkill) 150
live rock ( fully curded) 900
sand (one bag of LS) 90
lights metal halide two pendents 1250
flurorescents 250
LED night light 60
fans for cooling 60
R/O DI unit 300
test kits 100
refractor 65
monitors/ controllers 450
power bar 25
auto top up freashwater 200 + tank to put it in 10
phosphate and carbon reactor 150
refugrium in sump (DIY) 10
light of refugrium 45
tunze wave box (still to come and move wave makers) 600+(650 down the road_
clean up crew (need more) 100
first fish 200
total = more to come and pricelless joy meet.
I started one and a half years ago peascing the set up together. I set finnacel goals, like paying off X munber of dollars on the monage or bills. One piesce at a time.
Look on Ebay for complet setups, will save up money, and you know it worked for them.

dlee9707 · 02-05-2007, 07:04 AM

I was thinking about buying LR off craigslist for 1-3 bucks a pound.

A while back someone had a huge saltwater setup with anenomes and corals for about 2 grand, i should of gotten that. It would have taken 2 days to setup though.

Anyway thanks for info.

Luckie8 · 04-06-2007, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chitown1

You can save some money on the rock however by getting uncured and letting it cure in the tank while cycling, over all you could save at least $1000 by doing that.

I'm planning to convert from freshwater to saltwater. Just bought a 40 gal tank & fluval 305. Thining about getting uncured live rocks and some base rocks while the tank is cycling to save some money.
Can you guys recommend where to get them online?

rayjay · 04-08-2007, 01:02 PM

Just remember, that live rock is live with bacteria and you want the most surface area you can get. This means buy rock that is lightweight and very porous.
Buying cheaper, heavier rock is a common thing to save money, but how much do you really save when you need to buy more of it to get the same amount of biological filtration you would get with fewer pounds of quality porous rock.
Good lightweight rock obviously costs a lot more per pound, but when you consider the weight of similar sized pieces, the cheap one weighs more and that is the first "extra" cost of buying the cheap stuff. The other "extra" cost of buying cheap is having to buy more to get the amount of biological filtration needed for the tank load you will be going with.
Using fewer pieces of quality rock also mean much more room for fish to swim, and more places available to place corals, and, generally IMO it looks better.