I am new to s/w and i have a 125 I want to make sw, can anyone give me an estimate on about how much money it would take monthly to maintain a 125 s/w. (Chemical wise only)
How much money would it take?
- Thread starter redwetar666
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To be honest.... as much or as little as you want to spend. You could spend thousands or a few hundred. Salt is quite pricey.
well it depends on your stock, if u only have simple corals, u just need the basic chemicals, u can get salt at drsfosterandsmith.com for $50 for 200 gallons worth of reef crystals with only like 13.00 bucks shipping.
it all depends on what you do with the tank... fish only, fish only with live rock, corals and they types of corals ect... there are somany varriables that unless we have a general idea of what your gonna do with the tank and your stocking levels and your planned maint. schedgle there is no way to give a ball park estimate it could only be 50 bucks for salt once a year if you only have to change a few gallons a week with a one small fish bio laod.. but it could be 50 bucks every 2 weeks for salt if you have to change multiple larger amounts of water with a heavy bio load.
some corals require additions of chemicals/trace elements where others dont, some require micro foods where some dont.. some require water that is so clean and sterile and some like dirtyier water so it could be 50 bucks a month maint or 500 bucks a week for maint just depending on what you do with the tank..sorry i was no help
some corals require additions of chemicals/trace elements where others dont, some require micro foods where some dont.. some require water that is so clean and sterile and some like dirtyier water so it could be 50 bucks a month maint or 500 bucks a week for maint just depending on what you do with the tank..sorry i was no help
All of the above are correct, I have always done a fish only system as it is far more economicle. If you do a 20% water change weekly with a fair bioload you can do it for few dollars a month, but if you load it up than of course you need to do more water changes and dont forget about your electric bill
I agree with all the above. It's more important to figure out what you want first i.e. Straight Reef or Fish/Reef or all Fish first rather than the cost of Chemicals. Water Parmeters are basicly going to be the same. Feeding them and and how clean it needs to be is more important.
I'll run a baseline from out here. Sand bed (should you choose) runs us about $35 per 30lbs bag. Fiji live rock averages at $6.99/lbs. For a 125, that would safely be 100lbs Live rock and 90lbs of sand. Bare minimum from experience would be $1000 for everything except the fish. Not cheap at all. That's why I only eat three times a month.
For me the biggest expense was the initial lay out for lights and live rock. The cost not counting livestock is about $40 for salt, chemicals and food per month. For a reef tank that size electricity for the lights would be 9 kwatt hours per day if you use 3 MH 250 W (6 hours per day) and 4 96 W PC (12 hours per day). Fish only is much ceeper at that size, reef tank looks better IMHO.