what do you think would be an estimated cost for all equipment to start a small salt water aquarium? 5g-20g
i was thinking about doing it, but i hear its expensive.
i was thinking about doing it, but i hear its expensive.
how much?
- Thread starter cichlidbuddy
- Start date
Others may flame me, but...
When I had my first salt tanks (which were all successful, by the way)
I took a regular tank - 10 gal, 20 gal, put in the prescribed amount of salt to the water, put in crushed coral and some stones for decoration, put an Aquaclear on the back. Presto. I had two instant salt tanks with triggerfish and eels. (This was only temporary, with babies, of course.)
I had absolutely no problems.
So, to answer your question - it's only as costly as a freshwater tank, plus the salt. (Salt fish are also more expensive, depending on what you get, but not always.)
When I had my first salt tanks (which were all successful, by the way)
I took a regular tank - 10 gal, 20 gal, put in the prescribed amount of salt to the water, put in crushed coral and some stones for decoration, put an Aquaclear on the back. Presto. I had two instant salt tanks with triggerfish and eels. (This was only temporary, with babies, of course.)
I had absolutely no problems.
So, to answer your question - it's only as costly as a freshwater tank, plus the salt. (Salt fish are also more expensive, depending on what you get, but not always.)
No flaming from me. That's a normal fish only tank *shrug*. Of course I'm still kind of a beginner to salt, so maybe someone else will come along and flame you, lol.
It depends on whether you want to do a fish only tank, a fish only with live rock tank (fowlr), or a reef tank. For any of these you will initially need to invest in salt, a hydrometer, and an appropriate test kit. (At the least nitrates, ammonia, nitrites, and PH just like FW...but nitrates and PH are much more important to monitor in SW than FW.)
A fish only tank is like santoury said - saltwater, fish, a filter, and decorations, like with a freshwater tank. In a fish only tank there will be nothing to eliminate nitrates, except for some algae growth, and nitrates may build up heavily depending on how often you maintain your filters and clean the cartridges. A lot of saltwater organisms are extremely sensitive to nitrates, so you'll want to go with some hardier fish that aren't.
This kind of setup is like santoury said, no more expensive than freshwater other than the investment in salt.
In a fowlr tank your primary source of filtration is live rock.
At the least you will need to invest in powerheads, good live rock, a heater, sand, and enough light to grow some coraline algae, about 1-2 watt per gallon. Good live rock is around 6 dollars a pound and up (around here anyway), and you will want at least a lb per gallon, even more is better.
A reef tank is obvious. Fish, live rock, inverts, corals, sand, etc.
You will want to invest in some good live rock (at least a lb per gallon, but you'll be better off with more), powerheads for plenty of water flow, lights (the wattage and price will depend on what corals you want to keep), sand (enough to make at least a 3 inch deep sand bed), a skimmer (optional, but will help out a lot).
You can't come to a conclusion about price until you decide which one you'd like to do. All have benefits and downfalls.
Fish only is a lot less costly, but you are limited in what you can stock. Nitrates build faster in a fish only tank since all you have is a filter with nitrifying bacteria, just like in a FW tank. You'll have to either stock lightly, do water changes a lot to keep nitrates in line, or keep fish that aren't sensitive to nitrates.
A fowlr tank will have a lot more natural stuff to look at. Nitrates should be kept in line a bit better if you have a high amount of good liverock and a good sand bed, and if you decide to keep fish that don't predate inverts there are several you can keep. On the other hand you'll have to invest in the rock and a bit higher lighting.
A reef tank will be a much higher investment than either of the previous types. It will need much higher lighting, which is expensive depending on the type of corals you want. Water quality needs to be monitored more closely, and you risk losing a lot more money if you screw up and start killing stuff.
On the other hand they're much more interesting to look at.
Honestly on a 20g or smaller lighting need not be outrageously priced if you decide to do low light corals. There are TONS of low light corals that are beautiful to look at and easy to keep. I wouldn't recommend going with under a 20g though as it will be harder to maintain, especially if you decide to do a reef. A smaller tank will also heat up faster from all the equipment (powerheads and lights put off more heat than you would think), and if you don't keep your house cold you may have trouble keeping the temperature on the tank down.
I'm sure I'm missing a whole ton of information 'cause I can't remember everything offhand, but those are the basics. I've not been doing SW long, so I don't have the depth of info that some people have, but I do have a fresh knowledge of the cost of a lot of equipment needed and stuff.
Decide which one you want to do and then you can decide on cost.
Hope this helps.
It depends on whether you want to do a fish only tank, a fish only with live rock tank (fowlr), or a reef tank. For any of these you will initially need to invest in salt, a hydrometer, and an appropriate test kit. (At the least nitrates, ammonia, nitrites, and PH just like FW...but nitrates and PH are much more important to monitor in SW than FW.)
A fish only tank is like santoury said - saltwater, fish, a filter, and decorations, like with a freshwater tank. In a fish only tank there will be nothing to eliminate nitrates, except for some algae growth, and nitrates may build up heavily depending on how often you maintain your filters and clean the cartridges. A lot of saltwater organisms are extremely sensitive to nitrates, so you'll want to go with some hardier fish that aren't.
This kind of setup is like santoury said, no more expensive than freshwater other than the investment in salt.
In a fowlr tank your primary source of filtration is live rock.
At the least you will need to invest in powerheads, good live rock, a heater, sand, and enough light to grow some coraline algae, about 1-2 watt per gallon. Good live rock is around 6 dollars a pound and up (around here anyway), and you will want at least a lb per gallon, even more is better.
A reef tank is obvious. Fish, live rock, inverts, corals, sand, etc.
You will want to invest in some good live rock (at least a lb per gallon, but you'll be better off with more), powerheads for plenty of water flow, lights (the wattage and price will depend on what corals you want to keep), sand (enough to make at least a 3 inch deep sand bed), a skimmer (optional, but will help out a lot).
You can't come to a conclusion about price until you decide which one you'd like to do. All have benefits and downfalls.
Fish only is a lot less costly, but you are limited in what you can stock. Nitrates build faster in a fish only tank since all you have is a filter with nitrifying bacteria, just like in a FW tank. You'll have to either stock lightly, do water changes a lot to keep nitrates in line, or keep fish that aren't sensitive to nitrates.
A fowlr tank will have a lot more natural stuff to look at. Nitrates should be kept in line a bit better if you have a high amount of good liverock and a good sand bed, and if you decide to keep fish that don't predate inverts there are several you can keep. On the other hand you'll have to invest in the rock and a bit higher lighting.
A reef tank will be a much higher investment than either of the previous types. It will need much higher lighting, which is expensive depending on the type of corals you want. Water quality needs to be monitored more closely, and you risk losing a lot more money if you screw up and start killing stuff.
On the other hand they're much more interesting to look at.
Honestly on a 20g or smaller lighting need not be outrageously priced if you decide to do low light corals. There are TONS of low light corals that are beautiful to look at and easy to keep. I wouldn't recommend going with under a 20g though as it will be harder to maintain, especially if you decide to do a reef. A smaller tank will also heat up faster from all the equipment (powerheads and lights put off more heat than you would think), and if you don't keep your house cold you may have trouble keeping the temperature on the tank down.
I'm sure I'm missing a whole ton of information 'cause I can't remember everything offhand, but those are the basics. I've not been doing SW long, so I don't have the depth of info that some people have, but I do have a fresh knowledge of the cost of a lot of equipment needed and stuff.
Decide which one you want to do and then you can decide on cost.
Hope this helps.
i just started a 20g fowlr tank last night. total cost is $35 so far. this includes 2lbs of lr, a mex turbo snail, salt, and hydrometer. all the rest i've had from my fresh water side.
fowlr = Fish Only With Live Rock
the cost to start up a salt tank varies from what kind of set up you want.
for a 10-20g system you probably wouldnt need much. but know what you want in the tank. you want corals... know what kind of corals you want and get the right light the 1st time. do your hw!
tank
salt (or you can buy fresh salt water at a LFS for probably $1/g)
a bag or 2 of live sand depending on tank size
live rock... good rule of thumb.... 1 lb or live rock per gallon
some kind of power head
lighting (varies on if you want you go with... lighting for a reef tank can be expensive)
what i did was an aquaclear 70 filter mod to turn it into a refugium in my 10g... and thats the only current/water flow i have running in my tank (its not enough but i dont want to throw powerheads into my tank and get the temp. to go any higher then eventually get a chiller for hot summer days)
my grand total for a 10g (initial set up before upgrading this and that) was about $120 not including my 10g that i already had. ever since then on equipment upgrades ive spent another estimated $200 and now everything runs on its own. debating about getting a better light though... so that will probably be another $200
look into other forums based on salt water systems and check out the DIY projects. majority of them are fairly easy to do and saves you a lot of money.
the cost to start up a salt tank varies from what kind of set up you want.
for a 10-20g system you probably wouldnt need much. but know what you want in the tank. you want corals... know what kind of corals you want and get the right light the 1st time. do your hw!
tank
salt (or you can buy fresh salt water at a LFS for probably $1/g)
a bag or 2 of live sand depending on tank size
live rock... good rule of thumb.... 1 lb or live rock per gallon
some kind of power head
lighting (varies on if you want you go with... lighting for a reef tank can be expensive)
what i did was an aquaclear 70 filter mod to turn it into a refugium in my 10g... and thats the only current/water flow i have running in my tank (its not enough but i dont want to throw powerheads into my tank and get the temp. to go any higher then eventually get a chiller for hot summer days)
my grand total for a 10g (initial set up before upgrading this and that) was about $120 not including my 10g that i already had. ever since then on equipment upgrades ive spent another estimated $200 and now everything runs on its own. debating about getting a better light though... so that will probably be another $200
look into other forums based on salt water systems and check out the DIY projects. majority of them are fairly easy to do and saves you a lot of money.
black_monster;1047590; said:
Lets see, my 20 long reef tank, I'll try to figure out the cost. The rock came out of my 75g reef which we took down so I dunno how many pounds are in there. 30-40 I guess.
20 inch long coralife aqualight, 96 watt $119.
Tank itself + hood around $45
Powerheads, dunno. I already 'em..say $30
We'll say 35 lbs of live rock, might be a little more or a little less. Was 6 dollars a lb originally. Really I want to add more $210.
Sand. I just used pool filter sand, though you're better off with at least some live sand. All my rock was already cultured from the 75g so I wasn't worried about it. Price on this is miniscule since it's 5 dollars for a 50lb bag.
So that's 404 dollars, not including the fish and polyps and stuff. There's only a couple of polyp colonies in there right and a couple of mushrooms. If just a normal fowlr tank you need as much light. If just a fish only tank you don't even need the live rock *shrug*. I'm not gonna add anymore stuff until we put a sump on it with a skimmer. Then I'm gonna pretty much pack it. http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb142/anostomusternetzi/?action=view¤t=20longclose.jpg
All the polyps and stuff I have are fairly low light. If you want higher light stuff it's going to cost more because you'll have to buy more powerful lighting.
Keep in mind if you get rock it is NOT going to look like that. It is NOT going to support a large load. The stuff in my tank was already in my other tank for a few months, and everything growing on it still hasn't popped out yet.