Setting up a NEW reef aquarium for $______ or less. Can it be done?

[revhtree]

I was thinking yesterday about the possibility of setting up a NEW reef aquarium, all new equipment etc, for $250 or less. I'm talking a 20g or larger. Could it be done? I haven't researched it yet and I want to say it can but I'm not sure. Before I put something together I would like to get your thoughts on it.

WE'RE NOT TALKING USED HERE.

What do you think you could put a brand new (20g+) tank together for?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hard to say with prices these days, You probably could set up a basic 20 gallons for around $500 or so, but could easily go over $1,000 on supplies and high-end equipment

 

[paragrouper]

I have no doubt I could roll into Petco and roll out a 20g kit for less than $250. However, I would not be satisfied with it and would end up North of $750 in upgrades/modifications pretty quick

 

[revhtree]

Hard to say with prices these days, You probably could set up a basic 20 gallons for around $500 or so, but could easily go over $1,000 on supplies and high-end equipment

Can you be more specific about your cost analysis? Why you think this?

 

[NkSde]

If we can wait until sales and pace it according to need.
Equipment wise I’m scraping 350-500 range rn.
Including full livestock I’ll jump up a bracket.

 

[RocketEngineer]

The answer is no. Whatever that cost is, it’s still no. Because those that could do so have the experience of failure which has already been paid for OR because someone new to the hobby is likely to make poor decisions which lead to additional costs to resolve.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I was thinking yesterday about the possibility of setting up a NEW reef aquarium, all new equipment etc, for $250 or less. I'm talking a 20g or larger. Could it be done? I haven't researched it yet and I want to say it can but I'm not sure. Before I put something together I would like to get your thoughts on it.

WE'RE NOT TALKING USED HERE.

What do you think you could put a brand new (20g+) tank together for?

With your connections you should be able to score one for free lol!

If I was a vendor at R2R I would jump at the chance for the free advertising as long as you featured it in a build thread!

 

[CasperOe]

With any hobby, you can pretty much mate it as cheap or as expensive as you want! Definitely started for less than $500 with a Fluval Evo couple of years back.. But you get hooked. Quickly!

 

[Mav88]

RFA nightlight tank?
Tank $25
Filter Oase 100 with heater $100
Rock seeded from lfs $30?
Bare bottom
Hydro Koralia $24
Carol chat 30 watt light $70
$1 for Arizona tea .99 can.

 

[ReefEco]

$250 would be a stretch for sure - I always use ~$50 per gallon for setup costs, then another ~$50 per gallon for stocking.

 

[revhtree]

With your connections you should be able to score one for free lol!

If I was a vendor at R2R I would jump at the chance for the free advertising as long as you featured it in a build thread!

HA! Yes I'm pretty sure I could but this question was just because I was wondering and thought it could be a good discussion!

RFA nightlight tank?
Tank $25
Filter Oase 100 with heater $100
Rock seeded from lfs $30?
Bare bottom
Hydro Koralia $24
Carol chat 30 watt light $70
$1 for Arizona tea .99 can.

Hey now we're talking! How much live rick does $30 get you there?

 

[Mav88]

HA! Yes I'm pretty sure I could but this question was just because I was wondering and thought it could be a good discussion!



Hey now we're talking! How much live rick does $30 get you there?

No clue probably 6-8 lbs at $4-$5 a lb. live rock is an easy barter item though, they keep tubs of it hooked up to their main tanks from breakdowns. A lot of nice pieces, not a lot of Marco. Large piece I bought paid $15 open tight caves through whole rock.

 

[Reefing102]

I’d say not doable for a reef tank under $250 but less than $500 definitely. Though not with high quality/name brand equipment.

20 gallon Aqueon kit - about $120
Stand - about $100
For a reef, upgrade the light to a SmatFarm LED for about $140
Dry Rocks and sand - about $80 (gauging about $25 for sand and the rest for rock)
Basic Bacteria Booster - $20ish?

So all in for a bare bones set up about $460ish

 

[o2manyfish]

I think you could easily start a 20g with $250 that would support marine life.

But would it support a complete 'Reef Ecosystem'. It's a reef so you want to keep corals - But is it going to maintain healthy Xenia and Kenyas or something more particular like Gonis and SPS.

How much work/effort/time is it going to take on the owners part to maintain that inexpensive healthy environement to keep the livestock alive - at whatever skill level the livestock is.

There are so many expereienced reef keepers -- People with decades in the hobby - not someone who has a solid 6 months of success under their belt - who will tell you that in this hobby every dollar you 'save' is going to cost you 10x that down the road - Whether in loss of life, or replacement costs.

Could you- Yes
Would you - Maybe
Should you - I guess it depends on what value you place on livestock, and what value you put on your spare time.
Would I - Never


Dave B

 

[Nano_Man]

Yes I bought this tank for45 pounds . Everything in it was free from the sea . My native nano

 

[woodyarmadillo]

This sounds like fun.

Tank

$1 a gallon sale at Petsmart or petco x20g - $20

Rock

$2.90 a pound reef saver rock from BRS x 20 - $58

Total $78

Sand

10 lbs of Fiji pink from BRS - $13.18

Total $91.18

Filter

Eheim Liberty 200 HOB filter from BRS - $36.10

Total $127.28

Lighting

NICREW marine on Amazon - $ 44.49

Total $171.77

Powerhead

Aquaneat medium size powerhead Amazon - $11.88

Total $183.65

Heater

Jager Eheim 100 W from BRS - $24.89

Total $208.54

Ummm now we’re getting there

Cycle

Bag of frozen shrimp from Walmart $5

Total $213.54

Water

Find an LFS that sells premixed for $1.50/ gallon x20 - $30

Total $243.54


And done! Good luck from here though lol

 

[revhtree]

This sounds like fun.

Tank

$1 a gallon sale at Petsmart or petco x20g - $20

Rock

$2.90 a pound reef saver rock from BRS x 20 - $58

Total $78

Sand

10 lbs of Fiji pink from BRS - $13.18

Total $91.18

Filter

Eheim Liberty 200 HOB filter from BRS - $36.10

Total $127.28

Lighting

NICREW marine on Amazon - $ 44.49

Total $171.77

Powerhead

Aquaneat medium size powerhead Amazon - $11.88

Total $183.65

Heater

Jager Eheim 100 W from BRS - $24.89

Total $208.54

Ummm now we’re getting there

Cycle

Bag of frozen shrimp from Walmart $5

Total $213.54

Water

Find an LFS that sells premixed for $1.50/ gallon x20 - $30

Total $243.54


And done! Good luck from here though lol

Dang it, you did it! HA!

 

[GARRIGA]

One yellow tang blows that budget and gets the attention of the tang police.

Jokes aside. Have an Aqueon 20H going on the cheap but just experimental and not yet ready to host corals. Fact is when ready I’ll be quickly upgrading to a Water Box which alone over $250. Still need a Nero 3. HOB refugium isn’t cheap but I’m testing diy HOB of my own yet don’t see myself slumming that WB. Already have an XR15 which with stand was $500 on Black Friday. AI around half. Not running a sump which would get expensive quick. Using my desk therefore saving on a stand.

All in this has to be over $750 unless going undergravel, softies and cheap amazon light. BTW, waiting until Black Friday helps but who can ever wait.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Dang it, you did it! HA!

It’s harder than I thought and I would choose to spend a little more to upgrade every single thing there. I also just made up a $ per gallon price to fit my budget. Lol I think $2 is the more normal price if you are getting from an LFS.

my advice to all beginners is that there is sort of 3 classes - cheap, good, and great. Almost everytime it’s worth it to spend the extra money now or you will be upgrading later and throwing out the cheap equipment that no one else wants to buy from you. Equipment is expensive. You don’t need the best, but I want to be able to rely on my equipment, so it needs to be good.

I would imagine the typical route for a beginner is - buy cheap equipment, slowly put hundreds to thousands of dollars of fish and coral into it and then struggle. Then you upgrade every single piece of equipment and throw all of the cheap stuff you bought away. It’s a lot cheaper to buy good equipment from the start.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

One yellow tang blows that budget and gets the attention of the tang police.

Jokes aside. Have an Aqueon 20H going on the cheap but just experimental and not yet ready to host corals. Fact is when ready I’ll be quickly upgrading to a Water Box which alone over $250. Still need a Nero 3. HOB refugium isn’t cheap but I’m testing diy HOB of my own yet don’t see myself slimming that WB. Already have an XR15 which with stand was $500 on Black Friday. AI around half. Not running a sump which would get expensive quick. Using my desk therefore saving on a stand.

All in this has to be over $750 unless going undergravel, softies and cheap amazon light. BTW, waiting until Black Friday helps but who can ever wait.

Don’t know what you have going on in the back area of that WB but I have a 14g IM. First section is media rack with filter floss and carbon, second section is in tank refugium with light shining through small cut out in back of tank, third is return, heater, ato

I also have a Nero 3 and really like it FYI