cost of a 120 gallon

[drakestraw]

i want to know how much it would cost to set up 120 gallon reef tank. everything from lighting to livestock. thanks in advance for the input and advice

 

[jafish26]

anwhere from 1,000 dollars to 30,000 depends on where you go with it there isnt a set amount. If you go sps plan on spending alot! more basic soft corals lower amounts. Also depends on the equipment you go with tunze or maxi jets big price diffrence lighting vho vs. mh

 

[drakestraw]

i like the sps look so i will probably have a minimal amount of them in my tank. with that i will prabably need mh and what is the difference between tunze and maxijet. does one have a better performance than the other

 

[mcliffy2]

if you want SPS, Id say you are in for a minimum of 4k, but realistically 6k for a good setup.

 

[patmack]

A LFS owner told me its usually about $1000 a foot and that is for low to mid quality stuff.

 

[drakestraw]

well that sounds doable. i thought it was going to be a lot more expensive. now i just have to save my money

 

[hatfielj]

Sounds like you need to do a lot more reading before jumping into this. To properly keep sps in a 120 gal its likely going to cost you a minimum of $5,000-6,000 most likely. I would spend a lot of time planning a system out before buying anything.

 

[drakestraw]

well i wasnt going to start buying right away, im only in the 8th grade. i was just getting an estimate for the future. i plan on doing a lot more research on sps keeping

 

[Jflip2002]

It'll cost a decent amount of money, like everyone said. Lets say $500 skimmer, $500 powerheads, $600 lights if you go with pendants, $1000 if you want a decent fixture. Thats not counting tank, sump, return, anything to stock it.

Plan on spending $6000 or so, and you'll be fine. Browse the Classifieds here, they are your friend, and will save you tons of money.

 

[drakestraw]

thanks for all the advice and help. it has really helped with planning.

 

[Mikeeee]

researching is a good thing to do before setting up and A LOT of it. It will save you money down the road from making mistakes. A 120g is a nice sized tank to start out with.. of course it never ends there you want more and bigger tank.. but for a 120g prob about 5k ish depends on what livestock, equip etc etc.

 

[mhummel]

I'm doing a build now. Have a baby on the way so going slow but I have at least 2600 into it so far. That's only tank, lights, skimmer, return pump and diy sump. That dosn't include calcium reactor, plumbing, live rock or stand that I've made myself and the cost of wood. Stand is done just didnt keep track on costs because I got most of the wood for free. Or the already have items such as test kits, thermometer, water purifier (rodi), suppliments, food, fish, or regular monthly costs. I'm starting over with this one because I went with what I could afford at the time with the 60 cube and didn't turn out as I had hoped. Going with better quality stuff. It's alot less maintence and will save yourself alot of money if you get better stuff from the start and plan well. I have changed plans how to do this tank for over a year until I was happy with what I have.

 

[Wrench]

I have around $3000 in my 120g SPS tank not including corals and fish. Some was new, some was used.

Tank/stand $200 used
Canopy $100 second hand but new
Lights; Coralvue Eballast 250w SE, Lumenarc mini reflectors, Reeflux 10k $350 used
Custom acrylic sump $200 new
Vortec powerhead $300 new
Koralia 4 $40 new
Aquacontroller Jr. $295 new
Octopus skimmer $300 new
RO/DI $200 new
Return pump $20 used
Heater $20 used
Phosban reactor $30 used
JBJ auto top off $75
Live rock $500
Sand $80
Misc plumbing $100


I'm sure there are a lot of small things I'm missing. I'm sure there are well over $1000 worth of corals in the tank, and they are all from club members so the prices were pretty reasonable or they were traded for. Also around $500-700 in fish and critters. Figure on $5000 easy for what I would consider a "standard" SPS reef tank. I don't have anything super fancy.

 

[thysrof]

Drakestrw,

people are always selling their complete setup. Generally for $.33 on the dollar. Watch the selling forum,Craig's list,and Ebay.

You'll be amazed at how much money you'll save.