Saltwater aquariums..

[Grant]

What kind of cost am I looking at for a turnkey 100 gallon or so setup?

Also, anyone in the business?

Thanks.

[red89notch]

Depends on the fish. Will it be a reef tank. A 100 gal. Reef tank can easily stretch beyond 10k.

[8mpg]

Im guessing an easy $3-4k just to get a tank setup correctly with some live rock.

[Sleeper]

What type of fish do you want will determin how your tank is set up, and size.

Ive been running a 40 gallon breeder with 2 onyx clown flish. Only fish in the tank for 7 years.

[Binky]

$40 a gallon is a decent rule of thumb for saltwater.

[yellowstang]

$40 a gallon is a decent rule of thumb for saltwater.

Fuck that, I'll have a 2 gallon tank please.

[Sleeper]

That's why I stick to under 100 gallon tanks. It can be done cheaper but 40.00 is about right.

[Stoner]

I always did well with SW, but since moving back to TX 3 yrs ago...my SW setup kinda sucks. I got a 43 deep that I'll be getting rid of soon if I can't keep up with it.

Side note: I have a 35,000 gal swimming pool to maintain too.

[racrguy]

I always did well with SW, but since moving back to TX 3 yrs ago...my SW setup kinda sucks. I got a 43 deep that I'll be getting rid of soon if I can't keep up with it.

Side note: I have a 35,000 gal swimming pool to maintain too.

Solid barg.

[kpc01]

If you want to go quite a bit bigger than that I'm selling mine to fund a car project. Selling it for a little over $11 a gallon!

[fordracing19]

I have a 156 gallon reef. Money pit for sure.

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[Smashmix]

Im setting up my 310 gallon shark and ray tank with some eels and a few other fish but 40 a gallon for a reef is about right

[mschmoyer]

A freshwater Cichlid tank can offer a colorful setup for a bit less. Buy gravel from landscape company and find limestone rock / Texas holy rock in many places around Texas to funish it. Very playful and active fish.

I found a 150g tank with canister filter & lights for $300 on CL, decorated it for about $30 and slowly bought & inherited fish over time (plus babies) to fill it.

This is the tank a LONG time ago with new fish and me experimenting with live plants & sand. PS...don't do that with Cichlids. They eat plants and dig up sand. I'll have to take a more modern video...the tank looks completely different.

[MustangPoser]

Grant, join DFWMAS.org. Check the for sale forums, you can usually pick up a complete setup at a great price.

If you setup an aquarium from a fish store, it's a money pit for sure. If you start with dead rock and dead sand, then use rock and sand from established tanks to seed, you will save a TON of money and help cut down on pests. I started my Red Sea Max 130 with all but 5 pounds of live rock and the dead rock looks amazing (red/yellow/purple coraline). I haven't done a water change in months and all my invertebrates are perfectly happy.

Using barely any live rock, my tank is overflowing with copepods, amphipods, starfish, and all kinds of weird stuff. Buy all of your coral from members of DFWMAS. Don't buy from fish stores, you want established coral from people you can trust.

Regardless of what some people say (live rock takes "years" to be effective), in the long run your better off with virgin materials and seeding from healthy tanks. I made the mistake of spending $1000 on rock for my first tank, and it was a nightmare. 5 tanks later and this is by far the cheapest (especially when you consider I received the tank as a thank you from the DFWMAS BOD).

tl;dr Cost is up to you.

[Rick Modena]

Yes, mine was about 2500. start up, but once you get it going its easy to maintain. Livestock and verts cost the money.