If i wanted to change my 125g African Cichlid tank into a saltwater tank with the live rock and coral how much would that run me?
changing from tropical to salt. help!
- Thread starter Boose1357
- Start date
salt would prob cost you about $120 and live rock ushaly $1.99 per pound, live sand 20LB in my LFS is $40, Skimmer IMO $50-100, coral from $10-$100
Well it cost me over $400 to do a 30gal and that was with already having a uv sterilizer, tank/stand and filtration system. It will prob. cost you more on a larger tank esp. if you plan to keep coral as you will need to invest in a decent lighting set up.
Ash;4399179; said:
Right on. Were just tryin to prove to my boy that its gonna take at least a $G to get it up and runnin and looking right. live rock, live sand, coral, and not to even mention the fish or lighting.
My advice is to hit up a local reef/salt forum to save alot of money. It can cut down on costs huge. Lightling will be the most expensive part obviously if he goes reef, but also remind him that he will probably need to buy an RO/DI water system also depending on what he wants to do.
If he wanted a fish only or FOWLR system it honestly wouldnt be more than a few hundred dollars to get it going and have a really nice set up.
If he wanted a fish only or FOWLR system it honestly wouldnt be more than a few hundred dollars to get it going and have a really nice set up.
Whoh...HOLD UP. These are the wrong answers to this question. The correct response is...what kind of corals do you want to keep? What equipment do you have on the tank already? What kind of substrate are you using in the tank now. Answer these questions, and then we will move forward to more accurate prices.
FLESHY;4400772; said:
Cheapest! (price wise) as far as the salt tank goes as long as it keeps saltwater fish. Cheapest coral.. etc. and so far its just a basic run-of-the-mill tank. 125G. Sand substrate is in their now. And store bought lights. nothing special at ALL. If you had an empty 125g how much would it cost you to just get it started. and im not even mentioning maintenance on this guys part seeing as he is on call and works for a big oil co. Just live sand, coral, and the initial set-up? So give me the low down, is it even worth/doable ?
He said his girl could watch the levels and maintain the tank but idk. anyways just let me know the cheapest you guys have ever been w/ a nice little pepperment shrimp/ crabs.. etc. on a 125g. just easy hardy tank mates really, couple damsels and maybe a tang? idk personally. Im strictly African Cichlids. any more info would be much obliged. thx again MFK!
Zfishies;4399081; said:
These are impossible costs, at least around here I can't find LR cheaper then $5lb so around $600 for 120lb, and I cant even find base rock for that little. A skimmer for a 120 is going to cost at least $200, corals are going to cost around $600 (24 frags at $25 each so thats alot of frags but would be awesome once they started to fill out).
Boose1357;4408909; said:
Coral frags all cost the same more or less unless you start geting "unique" and "rare" ones, so the cost of getting them wont really change. Its the cost/ease of keeping that will. Softies tend to only require light and feedings for the most part, where as stonies need dosing of calcium/magneseium/alk on a regular basis as well as lighting and feedings. So that said most softies are easier to keep (except the purely filter feeder types). You will need better lights, T5 or MH, T5 can work fine, lower heat etc, but the light hood would basicaly have to cover the tank. a T5 fixture depending on the dimentions of the tank could easily be between $500 and $1600. Its doable with the right amount of money as for being worth it, we aren't the people to ask haha, its not our money, so sure we will say its worth it. That being said the corals wont be "showpiece" for a long time, as a 1" frag doesn't become impressive over night, many grow slowly, so with frags it could be years befor a truely impressive tank.
Boose1357;4408924; said:
Depressing stocking list.... this is a big tank... not some 30 gal. I'd throw a blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus), yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens), and a powder brown tang (Acanthurus japonicus), kole yellow eye tang (ctenochaetus strigosus), as well as 5ish blue/green chromis, and 5ish bengai cardinals. That being said... this is a bit of a heavyer stocking list, IMO (once they have grown to their adult size a few years down the road), though others may disagree, but its doable, and its definatly doable wile they are young. Costs for those fish... probably around $200-$250... Also I would throw 2-4 cleaner shrimp in (scarlet scunks) cuz they are always entertaining and useful at the same time.
So total cost by my estimation (heavy on corals/fish and good T5 hood) around 2-2.5g min. But I'm known for over doing it when it comes to reef comunities. lol.