Is this a fair breakdown of an aquarium cost?

[Sushi Roll]

Hi all. I went to my LFS and stated I wanted a 150 gallon reef tank with metal halide lighting. Those were my only two criteria. The LFS stated due to the metal halide lighting, I would need a chiller and a custom top. Does that seem right? Anyway, the estimate seemed very high too me.

Can anyone tell me if this seems like a good deal or if I am being overcharged? If its a good deal, can anyone tell me where I can cut costs because I just can't afford to spend over six thousand dollars on just tank equipment right now.

Thank you and here is the estimate:

150 gal 60x24x24 glass tank with overflow box and five holes pre drilled --- $797.00

Custom canopy top for metal halide lighting --- $294.00

Cabinet stand 30" to match tank --- $395.00

Metal Halide twin 250 watt radium bulbs w/ actinic PC's retro fit system with two 4" exhaust fans --- $698.00

Berlin sump --- $299.00

In sump protein skimmer w/ pump V-2 series 240 gal size ---$279.00

Japanese model 55 RT recirculating Iwaki pump --- $299.00

Parts required for plumbing system: pvc, fittings, valves, etc ---$175.00

Electrical: Misc. plugs, strips/extension, timers, cubes, thermometer --- $75.00

(2) Tunze 2002 Power head external 650 GPH --- $498.00

100 lbs live sand --- $149.95

100 lbs live rock --- $399.00

Arctica Chiller 1/4 HP --- $750.00

Tropic Marine German salt mix 200 gal bucket --- $99.99

Labor - approx. 8 hours --- $280.00

(OPTIONAL) Calcium reactor --- $699.00


Soooo.... without the calc reactor the total is: $5,487.94
With it, the price is $6,186.94

Please note that my goal is a 150 gal tank that can house stony corals and anemones (hence metal halide lighting).

Can anyone suggest areas that can be cut back? I was ready to pay $5,000 for this type of tank WITH a calc reactor so right now I am about $1,200.00 over budget.

Does anyone have any advice for making a cheaper 150 gal stony coral tank? At least one that will hit the $5,000 mark (including a calcium reactor)...

Thanks!

[Tigger240]

if your really interested in cutting costs - do research on the items you listed. petsolutions and marine depot and preimum aquatics are good starters. if you have no experience with tanks i would not suggest packing your tank full of stony corals right away either. why would you pay them 8 hours of labor? places you can save right off is
1) berlin sump - buy used tank
2) lr can be bought off of ebay for like 3 dollars a pound
3)labor
4) chiller isnt necessary and is inefficent.
5) i would pony up for a better skimmer tho
6) ive got about 10g invested in salt fish keeping and i dont have anything special either

[geckofrog]

Order these items online at expect to save about 30%-40% and you'll get better products.

[jag1979]

you can probably get most of that cheaper online. also I set up my plumbing in about 1 hour on my 180 w/ dual overflows. I used vinyl tubing. I did it in about an hour despite the fact that I have two return pumps, a UV (which I teed off of one return pump and send the water back into the sump) and several ball valves.

I have 3 x 250 mh's and don't need a chiller, I have 2 6" fans and one 4.75" fan

[jag1979]

(2) Tunze 2002 Power head external 650 GPH --- $498.00

what!!! Ive never heard of such a weak tunze! For that price you should be getting a lot more gph out of a tunze...must be a mistake or a misprint

[geckofrog]

Originally posted by jag1979
what!!! Ive never heard of such a weak tunze! For that price you should be getting a lot more gph out of a tunze...must be a mistake or a misprint

It might be for a older model he has sitting on his shelf collecting dust or a error. You need to find out the part number to determine the price/gph online.

[Sushi Roll]

Hey thanks for all the input everyone

what!!! Ive never heard of such a weak tunze! For that price you should be getting a lot more gph out of a tunze...must be a mistake or a misprint

Sorry if I was unclear. The (2) meant that there are two of them for that price. In other words, its $247.00 a piece.

Does it still seem like a mistake or misprint?

Thanks.

[geckofrog]

Originally posted by Sushi Roll
Hey thanks for all the input everyone





Sorry if I was unclear. The (2) meant that there are two of them for that price. In other words, its $247.00 a piece.

Does it still seem like a mistake or misprint?

Thanks.

what model?

[Driftwood]

It really depends on what you want. You can save money by doing some stuff yourself.

I have a friend that bought a 220 tank for $600 new. Then he built the stand himself. We got all the LR and LS from members of our local reef club and saved a bunch of money. He bought retro kits for his MH lighting, cost about 220 for each 400watt light. He bought all his pumps used and got a 75 gallon tank for a sump.

One other option that could save you a ton of money is to look for a complete used setup for sale. I have seen complete setups for sale for $1,000-$2,000! With livestock...

Is there a reef club in your area?

Good luck!

[skeeter_ca]

DIY,
Collect every thing yourself and put it together, You will learn more and know alot more in the end. Are you going to add a refugium? Seems there missing a few things. Does the Tunze price include a controller to switch PH's. I think you'll need another MH. There are always the little things you don't think of till you start assembling it and they add up. Test Kits?
The stand and tank are probably a fixed cost unless you can do your own stand. If you just want a turnkey tank and don't have to do anything you pay for it. But in reality expect to pay alittle more than they qouted you. And stocking the tank you will pay alot more. Not trying to discourge you just a dose of reality

[HBtank]

double post...

[HBtank]

Stocking quickly surpasses the initital cost... remember that. Rock, coral, fish, snails, shrimp yada yada yada.

Do you have the live rock listed? That is a huge cost for quality.. I like handpicking mine at the LFS. When talking dollars a pound, over 5 at many places, thats a huge expense for 1-2 pounds per gallon. Even water costs money without a RO/DI system.

I just spent 300 at the LFS last night alone, for three nice corals.

Tanks still looks empty. Argh.

[Biggie]

Originally posted by Driftwood
It really depends on what you want. You can save money by doing some stuff yourself.

I have a friend that bought a 220 tank for $600 new. Then he built the stand himself. We got all the LR and LS from members of our local reef club and saved a bunch of money. He bought retro kits for his MH lighting, cost about 220 for each 400watt light. He bought all his pumps used and got a 75 gallon tank for a sump.

One other option that could save you a ton of money is to look for a complete used setup for sale. I have seen complete setups for sale for $1,000-$2,000! With livestock...

Is there a reef club in your area?

Good luck!

Second that used is the way to go. Why buy a bunch of new equipment for something your gonna have to maintance periodically anyhow. Sumps are easy to build Berlin is a rip.

Skimmer is worth its weight in gold and lighting can be supplemented with various cheaper options.
Chillers are essential if you need one. Your taking the guys word you absolutely have to have one. I run 400 MH on a 90 gal and twin PC actinics 96W each in FL all summer and dont need a chiller Why would you?

Live stock, plenty of trades and deals on that stuff too. Sounds like the guy is trying to rake it in on ya to me. Buy a turn key set up used and then use the money you saved to upgrade to better equipment later and save yourself a ton of cash. Then do yourself another favor and find a new LFS.

[invincible569]

That doesnt sound right.. none of those prices are over $1000.

[rockindacheeks]

price everything out from online retailers and you will see a big price difference

[RichConley]

Originally posted by geckofrog
It might be for a older model he has sitting on his shelf collecting dust or a error. You need to find out the part number to determine the price/gph online.

No, its just not a stream.

Its a powerhead.



Also, theres no reason to use an Iwaki for a return unless your sump is in your basement. Most of those prices are really high, and most of that equipment isnt that great.

You can put together a pair of 250s on lumenarcs, with Icecap ballasts for less than that fixture, and you'll have much better light.

[Cuervo]

IMO if you want to be mostly uninvolved in setting the tank up, then that's a good price.

If you enjoy getting your hands dirty (or in this case wet), then you could definitely get that price down significantly by shopping around on the internet.

There are a couple things that I would probably do different right off the bat:

1. 100# live rock is not alot for 150 Gal tank. (although the price he has for it is quite cheap)

- I would probably go with the 100# he quoted, and I'd add 100# of base rock. Put the base rock in first, then the nice live rock on top.

2. Usually people recommend a MH every 2 feet. You could consider a 3rd light, or going with 6 inches on each end that are kind of shaded. Is going up to a 72x24x24 with 3 lights out of the question?

3. I would not add the calcium reactor on day one, because you're not going to really need it until you get quite a few corals going in there and the tank is stabilized. If you plan to cycle the tank and then starting adding lots of corals quickly, get the reactor. If not, I would just dose by hand for a few months and add the reactor down the road.

4. I would hold off on the chiller until you get the thing up and running and see what temp it runs at. That's alot of money to spend for something you may not need.

In a nutshell, if you want to get more involved, then yes you can save alot of money. Better yet, if you want to get involved, you can definitely stay within your budget and end up with higher quality equipment that is better suited to your goals and needs.

[RichConley]

IMO, less is better in the Live Rock department. Unless you're buying TBS, or something along that line, thats very dense, anything more than 1lb per gallon is way too much. More liverock means poorer flow patterns, and more places for detritus to settle.

[Sushi Roll]

what model?

Sorry, I believe the the model is "Turbelle"

Is there a reef club in your area?

I live in Los Angeles so I'm sure there is. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to look into that.

Collect every thing yourself and put it together

I would actually love to do this but I feel I need step by step instructions. Can anyone refer me to a website or message board post that gives step by step instructions on how to build a full reef tank. Obviously I know there are many variations but it would be nice to have some type of blueprint.

You can put together a pair of 250s on lumenarcs, with Icecap ballasts for less than that fixture, and you'll have much better light

Where could I get more information on how to do this?

If you enjoy getting your hands dirty (or in this case wet), then you could definitely get that price down significantly by shopping around on the internet.

I would love to, but the issue for me isn't doing the work, its knowing how to do the work. I have multiple books for keeping marine aquariums and they are great for explaining fishes, diseases, etc... but I'm having real trouble finding material on how to build my own high quality tank from scratch. Any suggestions?


***

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the info. I don't know what I'm going to be doing for sure but I know I will not be using this LFS... thanks for the heads up.

[rodd1rj]

Im sure people at the local club would help you put everything together, and they would be able to share lots of info and perspectives that aren't trying to make money off you. Some people at the club near me help out me out a lot.

[chem-e]

There's many ways to put a tank together. I chose to do it piece-wise. This gave me the time to research everything before buying and saved me from dumping a large sum of money on the tank all at once.

If you really want to save some money, check out the local clubs to see if anyone is selling a tank. There's one for sale that's a little bigger than what you're looking for, but if you're not in a hurry, you can wait until one is available that fits your needs. You'll also pick up a nice system for a good deal and help out a local reefer looking to sell.

Here's the tank I'm referring to.

[Sushi Roll]

Thanks for all the info!

[polaraligned]

Oh, and don't forget to go to the homepage and check out
the electric use calculator. You will find out that it will cost
$200 per month to run the tank between electric, water changes,
etc...

Scott

[chem-e]

Originally posted by polaraligned
Oh, and don't forget to go to the homepage and check out
the electric use calculator. You will find out that it will cost
$200 per month to run the tank between electric, water changes,
etc...

Scott

Wow... $200 to run a larger tank? That's a lot of money. Good thing I have a smaller, efficient tank because my electricity is only a fraction of $200.

[Meisen]

Well,
Now that everyone has dumped on LFS , IMO the prices you listed above are mostly pretty fair. Recognize that you are comparing two very different things: Professional installation from a reputable (well, that part is your responsibility to research....the parts choices listed suggest you might want to try elsewhere) LFS is very different than a DOI/online quest for many reasons. First off, LFS prices are going to be higher. They arent ripping you off in all likelyhood. They have more overhead and usually pay a lot more for their goods on the shelf than online places do. They also need to have staffed in person customer support (business hours at a LFS). A good install/maintenance company will be on call 24/7 for you and certainly provide support on and guarantee their work. It doesnt hurt to do your homework however and there is no reason why you shouldnt check out another store/company. I would look for one that uses top shelf stuff and can show you some pictures of installs they have done in the past.


Just decide if you want to plunge into DOI with or without the help of reef club buddies or have everything taken care of with a professional service and work from there.