Monthly and Yearly exspenses for a tank?

[an411]

After purchasing all the equipment and live stock. For monthly expenses I have thought of the following:

Electricity
salt
water
Fish food


Yearly expenses

light bulbs
RO/DI filters

Am I forgetting anything else?

[shuturhole316tx]

Any upgrades and add ons. I know with myself I always am tring to somingthing more with my tank. It is a hobby.

You did forget Supplements, depending on what you are going to have in your tank.

[Thinslis]

Testing kits

[an411]

I guess what I am getting at or curious is that people say that the hobby is expensive and I do believe that equipment is very expensive but once the equipment is all bought except for the add on that are inevitable doesnt seem like its that expensive after all. I mean not much more then owning a dog.

[ricks]

No, I would say about what it would cost to own a dog... If your dog took around 500.00 a month out of your wallet...

A lot depends on what your trying to keep and how long it takes you to get there..

For a softies tank with little flow and less light requirements. It might only cost a fraction of what a full blown SPS tank would cost..

I will say the same thing as always.. With all the equipment, includes backup pumps, chiller, ballasts, etc., my peace of mind. I figure around 100.00 per gallon, for a fully stocked SPS system.

And around 1.00 per gallon per month operating expense.

These are at the top for pricing. Most systems can operate at less cost. But also more work, remember this can be about the long haul. Months of careful planning and the proper equipment, for the system you are trying to keep.. Can turn into years of enjoyment... And you really can't put a dollar figure on that..

Happy Reefing.

[an411]

wow Rick that seems more then I thought that it was going to cost to have a fully stocked tank. What makes you think about 100.00 per gallon livestock

[ricks]

I'm not trying to rain on your parade.. I go a little overboard with equipment. The 100.00 per gallon is for everything on the system, including livestock. This is on the upper end and includes backups with everything that could go wrong. It's hard to find large pumps, chillers, lighting etc. At your LFS, or have it shipped on a weekend. Also when you pro rate everything over a year. I come up with around 1.00 per gallon a month. So a 500 gallon system would require 500.00 a month to operate...

Hope this clears it up a little

Good Luck.

[an411]

well thanks for the input I figure for my 120 gallon that its going to be about 100+ a month to run it. For now I will just be doing FOWLR and then eventually once I learn more I will start adding corals. I am thinking at least 6-8 months of just having fish and learning how to run the system efficiently I should be ready to make the plunge. With this in mind I have to make sure that I get fish that are safe for a reef tank.

[aquarius77]

Originally posted by ricks
So a 500 gallon system would require 500.00 a month to operate...

There is no way this is even close to fact. While i agree that it will cost 100$ per gallon to set up a maxed out sps tank, the monthly cost will not be anywhere near that.

[an411]

so 12000 for my tank fully stocked. Dam I need another job to support my reef addiction. LOL

[ricks]

Disclamer, individual results may vary..

Again this is about as much as you will pay...

Just don't want any one to sell themself short..

Aquarius 77, sorry to say but it can cost 500.00 a month.. The reason I know is I pay the bills..

Last month my power cost 490.00, around 350.00 for the tank. I also had to replace my lighting, cost 800.00 and my twin tower calcium reactor. Cost 125.00 for 7 gallons of ARM. Not to mention the addition cost of food 50.00, additives ? and salt for water changes 65.00.

Now remember this is not an average month but that total comes to 1,390.00..

Granted the lights only get replaced ever 8 months. So that only averages 100.00 a month but without anything else, power and lights comes to 450.00 a month...

Any one else with a large full SPS system want to join in???

Happy reefing

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Large tanks are, arguably, a very different ballgame compared to the tanks most people in this (newbie) forum are going to be running.

so 12000 for my tank fully stocked. Dam I need another job to support my reef addiction. LOL

I seriously doubt you could spend 12,000 to set up a 120 unless you went garishly overboard in every way. Tanks I've set up in that size range have cost anywhere from $500 (lots of used and DIY) to maybe $3,000. These were all well stocked, SPS dominated tanks, with reasonable supporting equipment. IME, if you're doing lots of off the shelf equipment and buying middle-of-the-road quality and feature-wise, the $100/gallon setup estimate is extremely high. Probably more like $20-50/gallon.

FWIW, on the subject of very large tanks, I helped a nonprofit plan a very large system (~800g). The initial budget was between $20 - 30k, depending on what you wanted to include as far as construction of the room around the tank area, changes to the utilities, etc. Operating costs were around $600 - $800/month.

[kiknchikn]

Don't forget to add ALL of the energy costs that result from having a tank, not just the direct ones. For instance, the cost of being forced to run your AC more than you normally would can be very expensive.

[hyperfocal]

While my tank's regular expenses are more than those on my wife's dog, I've never had to pay the vet $750 to remove a cyst from a coral.

Whenever my wife starts to complain about the cost, I nod in agreement and start talking about switching hobbies. Maybe restoring an old Mustang... or starting snow-skiing again... or golf... or maybe getting a Jet-ski... or a motorcycle... like our friends who have *really* expensive hobbies :-D

[seapug]

This kind of stuff is what we all dread to think about, but when you total it up, you can easily spend way more than $100/gal. setting up, stocking, and maintaining a tank. But as others have said, that's not really what its about. Rough estimate, I've probably spent at least $8,000 setting up, stocking, and maintaining my 90 gal. over the past year, but much of that is just me being a spaz about adding new stuff. That's all part of the fun.

If you're on a budget you can get by with less, but do not underestimate the costs of running lights and pumps. If you're running pumps and powerheads 24 hours/day and 800watts of light for 12 hours/day on a 120 gal., you're electrical meter is going to be smoking. You can easily run up an extra $100/month on your utility bills alone.

[kiknchikn]

Originally posted by hyperfocal
While my tank's regular expenses are more than those on my wife's dog, I've never had to pay the vet $750 to remove a cyst from a coral.

Whenever my wife starts to complain about the cost, I nod in agreement and start talking about switching hobbies. Maybe restoring an old Mustang... or starting snow-skiing again... or golf... or maybe getting a Jet-ski... or a motorcycle... like our friends who have *really* expensive hobbies :-D

That's exactly how I see it too. Paintball was a FAR more expensive hobby for me. There's no comparison. I was dropping almost $100 every time I played and that was just for 4 or 5 hours of entertainment. Not to mention the equipment cost almost as much as my tank cost to start up.

The tank costs less and provides many more hours of entertainment, not to mention allows me to be creative as well

[jthao]

well this is my .02 cents, I think that ricks is pretty close to the actual amount of costs. I think he was referring to buying items all new. If you were to buy used drygoods then it might be significantly lower. But on average say you have a 100g tank, it will cost you at least $5K to have all the equipment (brand new)(tank, stand, lights, pumps, sump, skimmer, maybe chiller, and a lot of misc. items!) Let's do a quick run down of prices, tank w/stand for 100g will easily be $1K +, lights (metal halide) will easily be $700+, pumps will be 2-$300, skimmer will be at least $250 if you went with a cheaper one, sump will be at the cheapest $100, and chiller will be at least $6-$700, with a grand total of close to $4K (after taxes) just for the main parts, and that's with buying cheaper brands too!!! More expensive brand skimmers, lights, pumps, tanks, and chiller will run you more than that. Then the other $5K will be livestocks and lr. Full blown sps will be at least $5K, maybe more. Live rock alone is over $1K for anywhere between 100lbs to 200lbs depending on choice of lbs. I think that ricks estimate is right on the ball. As for the operating cost, I don't know because I don't pay for the electricity bill!!! I live with my parents, hehehe.

[yakfishin]

Sometimes spending more in the beginning to set your system up right in the first place will end up saving you money down the road. I have a 215G and would say that I'm spending about $140-$160 a month on average at the current time. This includes replacement costs for parts, lights, and electricity etc. I spent more at the beginning when setting up than I should have due to inexperience, it wouldn't cost me nearly as much to do the exact same system over again.

[an411]

wow there is alot of good points made here I am not being turned away from the hobby I have already spent close to 4000 for my tank and I only have rock in there so far I know after fish and once I start adding corals that cost could almost double but the main part of the cost is already taken care and I hope and dont think that there should be any huge expensive that will be needed to be spent unless their is some equipment failure. I think that I started off right and bought decent equipment so later down the road I won't want to be upgrading. What I spend on the rest now it up to me I guess minus what the cost of running the system is going to cost. Also the rest of the expense can occur over a long period of time since its up to you how much stuff you would like to add and how quickly.

[Thinslis]

Maybe Ohio power is just cheaper... I ran 2 skimmers, 2 power heads, 300w heater, 2x250w MH, and a canister filter and my Electric bill averaged $55.

[jthao]

Oh yeah I forgot, my 210g tank is almost coming to life... and as far as cost, I bought most of my stuff used (I'm a college student with no job), and it's already close to $3K with a lot of parts still needed, including lighting system, calcium reactor, tank stand, man..... I still need a lot of stuff. but I think I'll be able to have all the parts I need when I reach the $5K area. Which is half of what I would pay if I bought new stuff. As for livestocks, I don't even have the funding for that, I'll probably sell my car and take the bus.... it's worth it as long as I get to come home and stare at my tank for hours!!!

[MalHavoc]

Originally posted by kiknchikn
That's exactly how I see it too. Paintball was a FAR more expensive hobby for me. There's no comparison. I was dropping almost $100 every time I played and that was just for 4 or 5 hours of entertainment. Not to mention the equipment cost almost as much as my tank cost to start up.

The tank costs less and provides many more hours of entertainment, not to mention allows me to be creative as well

Pretty much. While reefkeeping can be an expensive hobby, I've got other interests that are far more pricey. You can easily drop 5-10 grand on a high end audio amplifier, or 10-20 grand on a high end video projector.

It's all relative, I guess. I'm just glad I'm not into antique car restoration.

[WinnipegDragon]

I'm up to about $4,000CDN on my 120g and I have no livestock yet. I'm sure I'll be close to $10k when it's fully stocked.

Of course, I have extraordinarily cheap hydro out here, so I'm automating everything without a concern for monthly expenses.

[zyglow]

I've spent roughly $3,100 on my 70 gallon not including live stock to get it setup. Right now I only have zoos, mushrooms, a hammer, and 3 fish. I estimate it'll cost another $1,500 to $1,800 before I can keep sps. I spend around $140 a month on upkeep.

My 3 gallon cost around $130 to setup.

[MalHavoc]

My Oceanic 180 show tank was $2200 CDN, just for the tank and stand.

Upkeep was cheap, by comparison. I only dosed Kalkwasser, and maybe spent $40-50 on hydro. A bucket of IO salt lasted me a few months for water changes.