Smallest saltwater tank size and cost?

ecofreak009 · 03/28/2013, 06:49 AM

I am looking for either a personal experience from someone who runs a saltwater tank and can attest to the yearly cost and cost to set up, or a shortened list of expenses.

How much do people spend on their tanks in general per year is my basic question? A range would be AWESOME

thegrun · 03/28/2013, 07:01 AM

There are so many variables a quick answer is difficult to give. Are you looking for a fish only thank or a reef tank? Do you want to spend more money up front to reduce maintenance and long term costs or start off as inexpensively as possible? This is a very expensive hobby unfortunately. There are almost always draw backs to initially purchasing the cheapest equipment available. One good way to save at least 50% right away is to purchase used equipment, you can get great deals on entire systems on Craig's List or here at Reef Central on your local forum.

Cymonous · 03/28/2013, 07:05 AM

Like thegrun stated, it really can vary on what you want in your tank and the type of equipment you go for.

From my experience, it was still a bit costly for a 14g biocube. My initial cost of the tank, rock, sand, salt, hydrometer, heater was approx $350-400.

KafudaFish · 03/28/2013, 07:23 AM

Mileage will vary based upon if you buy all the latest equipment, are an equipment junkie, what you want to keep and if you live somewhere like CA that has high energy costs vs. buying used (though some people charge as much as new, CL anyone?) etc.

In the past $50 per gallon start up was a good rule of thumb if that helps but again one person will drop $2K on a nano-sized tank and the next person will drop $2K on a used 180.

My almost 3 year old 5.5 was a closet build meaning I had everything on hand except my par 38 bulb which was $90. If I had bought all new:

tank: $15
light: $90
Aqua Clear 30: $40
MJ1200 (cobalt not the crappy MJ): $37
Heater: $25
Stand: had so would not have built one anyways
RODI unit $200
top off with pump $55

So that is $407 or $84 per gallon which is scary since this is low tech.

Weekly electric operation cost is $1, bucket of salt for a year $40 and another few dollars.

Someone else could spend $50 - $100 per month on electric, fish food, suppliments etc.

Honestly if this is your first salt water tank a "smallest" tank is not your best option.

Why? There is a steep learning curve and though smaller is "cheaper" you still have to know what you are doing to succeed.

Also if you are new you will probably want one of those, and one of these and oh three of those too!

The better questions that you should be asking yourself are:

1. What do I wish to keep? Fish or corals or both? Types? Such as zoas, lps, or sps........

If you don't know that is ok too just look throught the coral and fish forums and see what interests you.

2. What is my budget? How much am I willing to spend to get started and how much am I willing to spend each month?

You can start a tank and continue to add to it over time too. Do you need that $500 controller to send updates to your cell phone each hour? No. Is it nice? Yes. Is it necessary? Depends if you travel often for work.

One last piece of information money does not always equal success in the hobby. Some people drop $10,000 and have no success then leave and others spend $1000 and have incredible tanks.

FTDelta · 03/28/2013, 07:25 AM

I'm looking to get a 16G innovative Marine tank. After careful considerations of certain upgrades/additions to run a successful SW tank, I'm figuring at around $2500 - $4000 range just to start-up. That's including tank, sand, LR, livestock, equipment and light upgrades, test kits, salt mix, RO/DI unit, ATO unit, etc...

This is an expensive hobby. Again, it all depends on how big a tank you want and go from there. You can save a ton of money by scanning craiglist and such for used equipment. Good luck and welcome to the forums.

kmdrysdale · 03/28/2013, 07:43 AM

I just started a 30 gallon tank. The tank, heater and AC50 were free. I bought live rock, sand, salt, a HOB skimmer, a powerhead, and a set of LED lights. I'm already thinking upgrade and will be able to add a second set of these LED lights for a nice big tank if this works for us. I've got about $1000 into the things I've purchased. There are some things I would like to add such as ATO and my own RO/DI unit to start with, but that will come. Don't forget to think about a QT setup. They are cheap, but still cost if you don't have the extra gear around.

Paul B · 03/28/2013, 07:43 AM

I have a 100 gallon reef and the total cost is $960.00 a year. That includes electricity.

cap032 · 03/28/2013, 07:43 AM

+1 with what kuda said. "If this is your first saltwater tank, smallest is not your best option". +, this hobby is addictive and you will want to upgrade to a larger tank in a year or so anyway! lol I would at least start off with a 40g breeder tank. It would give you more options and a little wiggle room for error, and I doubt it would cost you much more than a smaller tank to start up.

whiteshark · 03/28/2013, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cap032

+1 with what kuda said. "If this is your first saltwater tank, smallest is not your best option". +, this hobby is addictive and you will want to upgrade to a larger tank in a year or so anyway! lol I would at least start off with a 40g breeder tank. It would give you more options and a little wiggle room for error, and I doubt it would cost you much more than a smaller tank to start up.

Agreed. 40g breeder is a nice way to start. Not too big, but enough water volume that, with a sump, you should be able to maintain water parameters relatively easily. Also agree that equipment cost will be similar to a smaller tank.

Down · 03/28/2013, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KafudaFish

In the past $50 per gallon start up was a good rule of thumb if that helps but again one person will drop $2K on a nano-sized tank and the next person will drop $2K on a used 180.

Yes, HUGE variances depending upon situation. I'm buying my first setup and here's where I've ended up: 150G Lee Mar rimless with stand and 40G sump, Vertex IN-180 skimmer, Metal Halide/LED combo lighting, 175 lbs of live rock and all other equipment (pumps, heaters, etc.). Even after adding in all of the addtl set-up stuff (salt, refractometer, test kits, etc.) I'll be in for under $1750. I feel like had I been more patient I probably could've gotten a better deal but still, $11.50/gallon ain't too shabby.
Thanks Craigslist!

fishouttawater · 03/28/2013, 10:25 AM

The first rule of fight club.....

wonderz · 03/28/2013, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiteshark

Agreed. 40g breeder is a nice way to start. Not too big, but enough water volume that, with a sump, you should be able to maintain water parameters relatively easily. Also agree that equipment cost will be similar to a smaller tank.

yup, the 40g breeder would be a good starter tank. its harder to maintain a nano/pico tank.

Fish Biscuit · 03/28/2013, 02:54 PM

My 12 g nano was free from a friend, all I bought as far as equipment was a few koralia nano ph, new lightbulbs, & a heater. Used tanks are cheap, go that route.

It is not impossible to have a nano as your first tank but you can't slack off on water changes. I can do 1.5 to 2g water changes every other week & things are fine. I will say that I lost a tailspot blenny last month after having him for 2 years which I believe was caused by less than ideal water conditions as work got quite busy to try to squeeze in a water change. I did 2g weekly changes for 3 weeks after that to get things back in order.

40 breeder would be good to start with. I can speak from experience that you will want a bigger tank. I like the look of a 40 long too.

johnc99 · 03/30/2013, 01:07 PM

Here's a breakdown of the purchase costs for my 40B sumpless. I hope you find this useful:

Tank: $40 (Petco $/G sale)
Stand: $200 (Local LFS)
RODI: $170 (BRS 4 stage plus)
Light: $340 (AquaticLife 4x36 - DFS)
Skimmer: $180 (Reef Octopus BH-2000 from Aquacave)
CPR Fuge: $160 (BRS includes light)
Powerheads: $60 (2x Korallia 550)
Heater: $25 (BRS)
GFO Reactor: $30 + $20 (TLF 150 / Cobalt MJ - BRS)
Heater Controller: $40 (Hydor Hydrostat - I had this from my FW planted)
Powerstrip1: $35 (Tripp-Lite 8 outlet - amazon)
Powerstrip2: $15 (Generic)
TestKits: $60 (DFS)
Eggcrate: $15 (HD)
Buckets: $8 (4 HD buckets)

LR: $150 (50lb @ $3/lb from a local CL guy)
Sand: $35

I think that's everything associated with the initial startup (I actually upgraded from a 29G so had some of this equipment but I haven't listed any duplicated equipment - stand/tank/stand/light). So all together: $1725 give or take a few dollars here and there.

It would have probably been slightly more expensive if I had went with sump. I figure $20 for the 20G tank. Another $20 for baffles. Skimmer would be around $300. Return pump around $100.

So the $50/G is a really good rule of thumb. And I think I did this cheap!

Yearly cost:

Salt: $110 (I go though a bucket roughly every six months - from a local guy)
GFO: $80 (4lbs from BRS)
Bulbs: $100

I go through about 16G of RO/DI every fortnight (3G p/w for top off and 10G for water change). With a 4:1 waste ratio that would be 64G every two weeks. I don't know how much that costs but it's not much compared to the family's total usage.

Electricity I don't keep tack of either (solar panels) but it should be easy to total up the wattage * time in seconds for each piece of equipment and plug in your electricity rates.

squishifishi · 03/30/2013, 01:22 PM

I've spent about $68 on my 2.5 gallon.
I already had the equiptment though, but that would only add like $25 to the price.
anyway, this tank includes:
4 pounds live rock
3 mushroom corals
galaxea coral
1.5"live sand
cheato algae
emerald crab
nassarius snail
hermit crabs
algae eating snails

of couse, I still need a few more corals and a pompom crab andshrimp or something. after that It will have reached roughly $120 I think.

phenom5 · 03/30/2013, 04:16 PM

I prefer not to think about all the money I've spent on reef stuff over the last decade. BUT...now that my tank is running, and pretty much stocked, the maintenance cost is about $25/ month. Now if you ignore the 1000's of dollars it took to get to this point, that's not too bad.

Wait...forget that, I just opted to completely switch my lighting. How much money did that cost?

Liquid360 · 03/30/2013, 04:30 PM

Lol I think you'll find most would rather not add up all the costs. To maintain say an empty 100g tank might run $35/month in testing supplies/salt. You inevitably find yourself dropping $20 here $50 there and it adds quickly. Once you're up and running, assuming a good LFS, I've been able to limit myself to a single frag every couple weeks which amounts to around $100/month. Obviously if your tastes run into the exotic there is no limit. I'm at the bottom of this scale.

03/28/2013, 06:49 AM	#1
ecofreak009 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 18	Smallest saltwater tank size and cost? I am looking for either a personal experience from someone who runs a saltwater tank and can attest to the yearly cost and cost to set up, or a shortened list of expenses. How much do people spend on their tanks in general per year is my basic question? A range would be AWESOME

03/28/2013, 07:05 AM	#3
Cymonous My Clown Attacks Me Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,105	Like thegrun stated, it really can vary on what you want in your tank and the type of equipment you go for. From my experience, it was still a bit costly for a 14g biocube. My initial cost of the tank, rock, sand, salt, hydrometer, heater was approx $350-400. __________________ 100 Gallon Long with 20L sump 10 Gallon Office Tank Current Tank Info: 2 False Percula Clowns, One Spot Foxface, Diamond Watchman Goby, Yellow Tail Damsel, Engineer Goby

03/28/2013, 07:43 AM	#7
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	I have a 100 gallon reef and the total cost is $960.00 a year. That includes electricity. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

03/28/2013, 02:54 PM	#13
Fish Biscuit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Chicago Posts: 1,164	My 12 g nano was free from a friend, all I bought as far as equipment was a few koralia nano ph, new lightbulbs, & a heater. Used tanks are cheap, go that route. It is not impossible to have a nano as your first tank but you can't slack off on water changes. I can do 1.5 to 2g water changes every other week & things are fine. I will say that I lost a tailspot blenny last month after having him for 2 years which I believe was caused by less than ideal water conditions as work got quite busy to try to squeeze in a water change. I did 2g weekly changes for 3 weeks after that to get things back in order. 40 breeder would be good to start with. I can speak from experience that you will want a bigger tank. I like the look of a 40 long too. __________________ Michele I enjoy vodka entirely too much to share with the fish. Current Tank Info: 65 rimless with Eshopps R200 sump, current inhabitants randall goby, helfrichi, possum wrasse, barnacle blenny, mandarin, pistol, peppermint, & fire shrimp, snails, hermits, & LPS

03/30/2013, 01:07 PM	#14
johnc99 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 224	Here's a breakdown of the purchase costs for my 40B sumpless. I hope you find this useful: Tank: $40 (Petco $/G sale) Stand: $200 (Local LFS) RODI: $170 (BRS 4 stage plus) Light: $340 (AquaticLife 4x36 - DFS) Skimmer: $180 (Reef Octopus BH-2000 from Aquacave) CPR Fuge: $160 (BRS includes light) Powerheads: $60 (2x Korallia 550) Heater: $25 (BRS) GFO Reactor: $30 + $20 (TLF 150 / Cobalt MJ - BRS) Heater Controller: $40 (Hydor Hydrostat - I had this from my FW planted) Powerstrip1: $35 (Tripp-Lite 8 outlet - amazon) Powerstrip2: $15 (Generic) TestKits: $60 (DFS) Eggcrate: $15 (HD) Buckets: $8 (4 HD buckets) LR: $150 (50lb @ $3/lb from a local CL guy) Sand: $35 I think that's everything associated with the initial startup (I actually upgraded from a 29G so had some of this equipment but I haven't listed any duplicated equipment - stand/tank/stand/light). So all together: $1725 give or take a few dollars here and there. It would have probably been slightly more expensive if I had went with sump. I figure $20 for the 20G tank. Another $20 for baffles. Skimmer would be around $300. Return pump around $100. So the $50/G is a really good rule of thumb. And I think I did this cheap! Yearly cost: Salt: $110 (I go though a bucket roughly every six months - from a local guy) GFO: $80 (4lbs from BRS) Bulbs: $100 I go through about 16G of RO/DI every fortnight (3G p/w for top off and 10G for water change). With a 4:1 waste ratio that would be 64G every two weeks. I don't know how much that costs but it's not much compared to the family's total usage. Electricity I don't keep tack of either (solar panels) but it should be easy to total up the wattage * time in seconds for each piece of equipment and plug in your electricity rates. __________________ We must recognize the dignity which all creatures possess, and we must respect it for as long as we have them in our charge. - "Coldwater Fish" by Roy Pinks Current Tank Info: 40B FOWLR w/ Eshopps R-100, Aquamaxx ConeS CO-1, Eheim 3000+ return, AquaticLife 4x39w HO T5s

03/28/2013, 07:01 AM	#2
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	There are so many variables a quick answer is difficult to give. Are you looking for a fish only thank or a reef tank? Do you want to spend more money up front to reduce maintenance and long term costs or start off as inexpensively as possible? This is a very expensive hobby unfortunately. There are almost always draw backs to initially purchasing the cheapest equipment available. One good way to save at least 50% right away is to purchase used equipment, you can get great deals on entire systems on Craig's List or here at Reef Central on your local forum.

03/28/2013, 07:23 AM	#4
KafudaFish Cyprinius carpio Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 4,496	Mileage will vary based upon if you buy all the latest equipment, are an equipment junkie, what you want to keep and if you live somewhere like CA that has high energy costs vs. buying used (though some people charge as much as new, CL anyone?) etc. In the past $50 per gallon start up was a good rule of thumb if that helps but again one person will drop $2K on a nano-sized tank and the next person will drop $2K on a used 180. My almost 3 year old 5.5 was a closet build meaning I had everything on hand except my par 38 bulb which was $90. If I had bought all new: tank: $15 light: $90 Aqua Clear 30: $40 MJ1200 (cobalt not the crappy MJ): $37 Heater: $25 Stand: had so would not have built one anyways RODI unit $200 top off with pump $55 So that is $407 or $84 per gallon which is scary since this is low tech. Weekly electric operation cost is $1, bucket of salt for a year $40 and another few dollars. Someone else could spend $50 - $100 per month on electric, fish food, suppliments etc. Honestly if this is your first salt water tank a "smallest" tank is not your best option. Why? There is a steep learning curve and though smaller is "cheaper" you still have to know what you are doing to succeed. Also if you are new you will probably want one of those, and one of these and oh three of those too! The better questions that you should be asking yourself are: 1. What do I wish to keep? Fish or corals or both? Types? Such as zoas, lps, or sps........ If you don't know that is ok too just look throught the coral and fish forums and see what interests you. 2. What is my budget? How much am I willing to spend to get started and how much am I willing to spend each month? You can start a tank and continue to add to it over time too. Do you need that $500 controller to send updates to your cell phone each hour? No. Is it nice? Yes. Is it necessary? Depends if you travel often for work. One last piece of information money does not always equal success in the hobby. Some people drop $10,000 and have no success then leave and others spend $1000 and have incredible tanks.

03/28/2013, 07:25 AM	#5
FTDelta Moved On Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Central NY Posts: 1,124	I'm looking to get a 16G innovative Marine tank. After careful considerations of certain upgrades/additions to run a successful SW tank, I'm figuring at around $2500 - $4000 range just to start-up. That's including tank, sand, LR, livestock, equipment and light upgrades, test kits, salt mix, RO/DI unit, ATO unit, etc... This is an expensive hobby. Again, it all depends on how big a tank you want and go from there. You can save a ton of money by scanning craiglist and such for used equipment. Good luck and welcome to the forums.

03/28/2013, 07:43 AM	#6
kmdrysdale Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 58	I just started a 30 gallon tank. The tank, heater and AC50 were free. I bought live rock, sand, salt, a HOB skimmer, a powerhead, and a set of LED lights. I'm already thinking upgrade and will be able to add a second set of these LED lights for a nice big tank if this works for us. I've got about $1000 into the things I've purchased. There are some things I would like to add such as ATO and my own RO/DI unit to start with, but that will come. Don't forget to think about a QT setup. They are cheap, but still cost if you don't have the extra gear around.

03/28/2013, 07:43 AM	#8
cap032 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Alabama Posts: 611	+1 with what kuda said. "If this is your first saltwater tank, smallest is not your best option". +, this hobby is addictive and you will want to upgrade to a larger tank in a year or so anyway! lol I would at least start off with a 40g breeder tank. It would give you more options and a little wiggle room for error, and I doubt it would cost you much more than a smaller tank to start up.

03/28/2013, 10:25 AM	#11
fishouttawater Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Monterey, CA Posts: 139	The first rule of fight club.....

03/30/2013, 01:22 PM	#15
squishifishi Hopelesly Addicted Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 972	I've spent about $68 on my 2.5 gallon. I already had the equiptment though, but that would only add like $25 to the price. anyway, this tank includes: 4 pounds live rock 3 mushroom corals galaxea coral 1.5"live sand cheato algae emerald crab nassarius snail hermit crabs algae eating snails of couse, I still need a few more corals and a pompom crab andshrimp or something. after that It will have reached roughly $120 I think. __________________ ><(((((°>squishifishi! if I say anything stupid...blame autocorrect ;) I love my pico! Come see for yourself, check it out! just search for "pictures at last" in the nano forums:) Current Tank Info: 2.5g pico reef: 5-15hob filter, 10w led light,Stock;neon goby,Pom Pom crab,hermits, astrea, margarita, nassarius, micro brittles, shrooms,palys, xenia, galaxea, zoas,ricordea, litho,chalice,leather,pocci,.WISH LIST:sexy shrimp Last edited by squishifishi; 03/30/2013 at 01:33 PM.

03/30/2013, 04:16 PM	#16
phenom5 Unregistered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arizona Posts: 5,096	I prefer not to think about all the money I've spent on reef stuff over the last decade. BUT...now that my tank is running, and pretty much stocked, the maintenance cost is about $25/ month. Now if you ignore the 1000's of dollars it took to get to this point, that's not too bad. Wait...forget that, I just opted to completely switch my lighting. How much money did that cost? __________________ Rob Current Tank Info: DSA 155 Pro \| ATI Sunpower \| ATB 840 v2 \| Apex \| Wav

03/30/2013, 04:30 PM	#17
Liquid360 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Moody, AL Posts: 72	Lol I think you'll find most would rather not add up all the costs. To maintain say an empty 100g tank might run $35/month in testing supplies/salt. You inevitably find yourself dropping $20 here $50 there and it adds quickly. Once you're up and running, assuming a good LFS, I've been able to limit myself to a single frag every couple weeks which amounts to around $100/month. Obviously if your tastes run into the exotic there is no limit. I'm at the bottom of this scale.