Average Cost Per Gallon

[burkhart.5150]

11.55 for my 10 gallon tank

 

[TheJerkma]

kinda hard to calculate that... you can buy cheap Chinese equipment or top German brands. New or Used.. Would make a huge difference..

my 100gal tank cost about $6000 to set up. almost everything brand new and semi expensive equipment. (not all knock offs)

Looks like I will be waiting to start my 100 gal for a while

 

[Coelli]

It absolutely depends on what you use... My 29g Biocube is probably up to about $75/gallon+ (guesstimate) but a large chunk of that is a full Apex, VDM, ATO, etc... I just try not to think about it.

 

[DavidinGA]

Wow some of you must insist on only buying brand new and high end to spend so much.

I think you should be in the $10-20/gal range if you shop smart/used (that would exclude livestock though).

 

[phillrodrigo]

I was told getting into this hobby expect to spend around $50 per gallon. I think with middle of the road equipment that's a pretty close number. If your going everything high end your gonna easily double that number

 

[electrotech]

I'm at about $3,000 for my 120. So that's $25 a gallon.

 

[DavidinGA]

Pretty accurate breakdown of what I have spent:

210gal tank $600
Stand $100
Salt $75
Sand $150
Dry rock $300
Skimmer $400
Return pump $100
3x WaveMakers $250
75g sump $40
Heaters $30
Lights Mh 3x 250w $190
Dosing pumps $150
Dosing chemicals $50
UV $50
Reef angel controller plus extras $300
Rodi $120
Ato electronics $30
Ato pump $15
Ato 55gal container $20
Glass magnet cleaner $30
Gac/gfo reactor/pump $50
Gac/gfo media $50
Diy ATS $30
ATS pump $30
Plumbing $100
Misc $100

Total
$3360 or $16/gal

(hopefully my math is right up there as I'm on my phone and did that in my head)

That's a mix of new and used gear as you can probably tell on some of those prices.

 

[thenewguy997]

Whatever you come up with double it

Look local for used stuff i got a great deal from another reefer

 

[claireputput]

I spend too much-just ask the spouse! Two tanks a 120 reef and a 55g FOWLR!

 

[kmbyrnes]

WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT!!!!
What if my wife found out???

 

[nvladik]

thats not good. including my generator&stand i am at 112$ per gallon. does not include fish or corals....

must delete history...wife must not see

I told the wife generator is for the kids!

 

[kelrn98]

I made the mistake of entering all my equipment and livestock in aquarimate app for ipad. there is an option to enter costs. lets just say I looked at the total cost so far, not including additives, salt, food, and general maintenance, nor the many corals and fish that have perished over the years....I don't ever want to look at it again and I refuse to tell anyone the total. lets just say, I could've bought a nice car.

BTW the app is excellent. by far the best reef keeping app I have used.

 

[prickles]

I was told getting into this hobby expect to spend around $50 per gallon. I think with middle of the road equipment that's a pretty close number. If your going everything high end your gonna easily double that number

That's insane! I would be at 6 figures...

However, I'm not going to do the math just in case.

 

[tmills]

I have to laugh after thinking about this thread, I looked at just the boxes of stuff I don't use and then around a room full of tanks,water FW+SW and fish if I don't laugh I'll cry but would not change a thing!!! PS A passion? Good luck to All.

 

[grant778]

My current 29 gallon sumpless cost me about 17 gallons per gallon, coming to around 500 dollars total. My dream tank I'm planning is a 40 gallon cube which currently comes to about 21 dollars per gallon. The thing is, assuming my current corals grow out as much as
I want to, they should be able to be sold, along with the live rock, and maybe some of the extra dry rock I have, for about one third to maybe 1 half of the planned tank's cost.

 

[Mebbid]

Im at 17.44 per gallon including rock and sand. Used tank and discount equipment but I have a full setup.

 

[CP aquatic]

Exactly. Since I am using high end equipment my cost per gallon is going to be way higher than average. And couple that with custom made acrylic tanks with museum quality seams . . .

Exactly! This is what I was looking for. To see where the high end of the spectrum was all the way to the budget aquarists that by cheap and used.

 

[CP aquatic]

I made the mistake of entering all my equipment and livestock in aquarimate app for ipad. there is an option to enter costs. lets just say I looked at the total cost so far, not including additives, salt, food, and general maintenance, nor the many corals and fish that have perished over the years....I don't ever want to look at it again and I refuse to tell anyone the total. lets just say, I could've bought a nice car.

BTW the app is excellent. by far the best reef keeping app I have used.

This is where my question came from! Looking at my expenses for my 29. including livestock I'm over a grand. Being only sixteen years old that's a lot of birthday and Christmas money haha! (The 220 is a tank my dad wanted at his house, so I setup it up and take care of it for him.) I hope to turn this passion into a job, so I look at it as more of a learning investment.

 

[betamed]

i dont understand why people feel larger tanks cost more per gallon. really its just the quality and quantity of the equipment that plays a big part. my 285g cost $20per gallon to set up. i could not set up a 20g with the same caliber and types of equipment for that budget.

 

[cody6766]

I have about $2600 sunk into my 120, if you count the price of stuff I bought years ago for smaller tanks. I could be off by $100-200, but that's a good, rough wag. I'm in it about $1200 if you don't factor in previously purchased stuff.

I bought the tank, stand, sump and skimmer used for $450, so that was a huge help. I had to buy lighting new, so that really kicked up the price.

So, I'm at about $21/gal with quality, used, equipment for a 120g DT. I did not factor in sump volume for the math.