Cost of a reef

[TropTrea]

Many individuals staqrt out a large reef and eventually give it up because they find it is out of there economic abilities. Yet if they would have had an idea of cost initially they would have started with a smaller system and enjoyed it for many years to come.

In aqn effort ot geive some of these new people a better basic idea of initial cost please answer this poll and give your comments on initial cost. How many dollars would you estimate you have in equipment, and livestock per gallon of your current set up? I know we will have some variances here but it should present some interesting data for even the old pros.

Dennis

[bpd964]

Well, I have a 180 with about 10K into everything since day 1.

[110galreef]

First time around you will spend a lot more.......unless you learn a ton first.

I have been through three different skimmers, three different lighting systems, and changed an Wet/Dry to a Sump.
If you do it right the first time & some DIY then I say ~$40/gallon stocked too!

Else I probably have over $80/ gallon into my current including stock

[110galreef]

I also setup a 10 gallon Nano w/some sand and frags (softies & LPS)and LR from my exsiting main tank.......

Just bought a few fish, 130w PC light a all in one HOB skimmer, flilter and UV and didall this for less than $200. Used existing small PH and heater lying around as well!

FUlly stocked and cheated of course.

But had I bought everything fresh rock & corals ~ $500 total!

[hangles]

what has realy helped is the great support from CORA members has made the cost of my reef very low on the average 15.00 a gal. and i have a full tank.
Thanks Guys :D

[110galreef]

Cost really overall is going to be very subjective.......as many readers need to be aware as they read this and not underestimate.

A FOWLR
vs. a lightly stocked reef tank of Fiji LR & softy tank
vs. a full SPS tank w/ tonga & marshal LR costs will vary imensly with the cost increasing signifgantly as one goes down the list!

[ACBlinky]

I chose $30-$40/g for my tank. For reference, I've got a 90g Perfecto RR tank, All-Glass pine stand, 30g DIY sump with a 24" 28W Coralife T5 fixture, 48" 2x400W MH fixture with HO T5 actinics and moonlights, AquaC Remora skimmer (didn't buy this new, it's from an old tank but I included the price in my guesstimate), Seio 820 & 1500, Mag 9.5 return pump, hard PVC plumbing, silica sand, 125lbs LR, a whole bunch of softies, 8 small fish, 3 shrimp, snails & crabs.

[Buster4900]

Do not forget to consider the amount you will spend monthly tio maintain. Ro/DI filters, salt, additives, bulbs, test kits, etc...

[jasper24]

Very subjective. I paid $100 for my 58G RR Oceanic (used), $450 for my lighting (Aqualight Pro). But I have spent $600 on 5 small Non Indo Lord and Micro Frags!

[110galreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8644082#post8644082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Buster4900
Do not forget to consider the amount you will spend monthly tio maintain. Ro/DI filters, salt, additives, bulbs, test kits, etc...

AND the BIG one ELECTRICITY.......

Fortunatly mine is in my office of which I don't pay bills!;)

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8644082#post8644082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Buster4900
Do not forget to consider the amount you will spend monthly tio maintain. Ro/DI filters, salt, additives, bulbs, test kits, etc...

You realize, when you add in recurring costs, the $/gallon continues to increase with time. IMO, startup costs should be kept separate from operating costs. You will find that most tanks are somwhere between $30-$50/g in initial startup cost. Stocking the tank can then drive this up considerably.

I have easily spent $60/gallon building and stocking my tank up to this point. Monthly costs for maintenance, electricity, etc., are probably only 50¢/gallon.

[3rotorFD]

$60 G

[dhoch]

I put down the $30-$40/gallon (I have a 180 mixed, but mostly SPS tank) now going on 2 years old.... probbaly should have put $40-$50, but...

Most of my corals were bought as frags or colonies from tank break downs which has saved a bunch of money.

Plus over the last 4 months my tank is actually making money in the frags I'm selling (not a lot, but enough to cover all the existing costs: food, fragging supplies, salt, test kits, maintance equipment/materials) so that has offset things...

Dave

[ReefTank1]

Around $60 per gallon. I expect similar if I build a new one with good quality equipment.
Im surprised there aren't more people with higher costs, I've seen tanks on here that should be up there in the top bracket, especially if you have higher end equipment. These people should vote.

[FSOL]

I've spent about $18K on my 180 gallon, but I could have made it through w/ $15K, if I had done more planning and been more patient. I purchased certain corals or fish that I later didn't want, so I lost $ in them. Plus sometimes you buy equipment, then you want to upgrade, which costs more $.

[Misled]

I went for the 50-60 range for some strange reasons.I got into saltwater and reefing just under 20 years ago. There wasn't much info or supplies around. Good rock could run 12-15 a pound. I had a 90 at the time, BB also since you couldn't get live sand back then either, (funny how things come back around huh?). Had about 130 lbs of rock which takes a large bite of mine. Between that, sump, pump, lights, skimmer, r/o and all the other things you forget, I thought that to be a good number. About 11 years in flatworms drove me out of the hobby. The only thing I got rid of was the tank and stand. Put the rock in a rubbermaid container and put in storage for about 5 years. Last year I decided to start again but dropped down to a 37 gal tank. Cooked my rock for 2 months, broke out all the old equipment.The tank is just as enjoyable as my old one but quite a bit easier to mantain. But it only cost about 10 bucks a gal to start up!

[Aliie]

I don't know where I went wrong but my small tank has about $250 in it and the big one has about $ 400. Wow am I over spendinf or what?!

[Liquid Hobby]

I'm at 30-40 so far as I'm only getting going and have minimal live stock. I can see being at 50-60 no problem with a mature system at my 1 year anniversary, easily!

[Liquid Hobby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8644943#post8644943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefTank1
Im surprised there aren't more people with higher costs, I've seen tanks on here that should be up there in the top bracket, especially if you have higher end equipment. These people should vote.

The high end of the scale is winning currently!

[sean48183]

Mine is in the 40-50$ and it is pretty ghetto. This Hobby is EXPENSIVE! Sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm doing blowing all this cash. So does my wife. Oh well Hopeless reefer!

[ckmn101]

I REALLY try to block out how much I have spent, so I can keep buying more.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I'm approaching the $100/gal mark.

[solinar]

A lot of people on RC tend to DIY it as well to save money. Imagine the $ that people who walk into a LFS and ask for a full 180 gallon setup, installed and maintained by the LFS.

[vessxpress1]

After about 5 years with my 38 gal., I passed the 5 grand mark a while back, and I'm still not satisfied. I looked at my order history just from thatfishplace.com the other day and found that I've spent over 1200 with them over the years alone. I use them once or twice a year on average. They're just the tip of the ice berg. That being said, the tank is an AGA, average looking, fully stocked tank with 4 fish ($147.00), average equipment and an algae problem.

The poll doesn't go near high enough so I can't vote. Just figuring for livestock and equipment is like saying a car will cost you 'X' amount of dollars a year in payments and that's it. It just doesn't work that way. Running out of media, replacing bulbs, RO filters, additives, extra utility costs, shipping, etc.. that's the pain. You're always out or near running out of something. There's a lot of hidden cost. And I've spent much more keeping up with this stuff than on car maintenance which is why at this stage of my life, I'm just trying to keep the best d@mn 38 gallon you'll ever see while (reluctantly) abandoning my other interests.
:) The tank is a part of my life now.

[vessxpress1]

Oh yeah, and once you have a reef setup and feel you have the ability to buy anything at the LFS that catches your eye....everything's an option....you're going to BUY SOMETHING. I've never been to a place where it's so easy to blow a hundred dollars in a quick visit as the LFS. Even if I was just going there to get food. If I walk in there, it takes just about a miracle to leave for less than a hundred bucks. If I get out for 80, I'm proud of myself all the way home. :D

[TropTrea]

More details on how you you did it for $15.00 per gallon. Personaly I'm doing a 120 gallon and think hardware alone will be more than double that.

Dennis


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8643456#post8643456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hangles
what has realy helped is the great support from CORA members has made the cost of my reef very low on the average 15.00 a gal. and i have a full tank.
Thanks Guys :D

[TropTrea]

It really cut me off by limiting the characters in the initial title. However what I'm looking for actual initial start up cost. If you replaced equipment figuer in the new item not the one your no longer using. SWimular if live stock has passed away dont figuer them in. Monthly maintenance cost also should not be considered as were really looking for that initial investment costs to do it right.

The one thing unfortunatly that this does not care is cost per gallon compared to various sized systems. An example is one person mau be running a 125 gallon tank with the same items as anouther with a 210 gallon. The only cost difference might be the actuall bare tank and stand, while the effect might be drasticly different.

So far looking at the polls the average is around $40 per gallon which is where my guess would have been. However I" realize there are different levels of Do It Yourself , as well as quality levels of equipment, different brand costs, and multiple waqqys of stocking which can push price up drasticly or on the other end save a few dollars.

It is great seeing comments from those with less expensive systems and also the top dollar systems hearing where they saved the most money or spent the most money. Lets keep thois going I think we can all learn from some of these idease.

Dennis