One day down the road, when I (hopefully) have a good job and a family and everything, i want a big 300 gallon+ reef tank. tangs, reef safe wrasse, clowns, gobies, blennies, etc. corals such as monti and acro, duncan torch hammers frogspawn.. literally everything. also want a massive refuguim (200 gallon +), full RODI system, full auto top off system, apex controller, radion lighting, mp40 and mp60 powerheads, calcium reactor, skimmer, uv, etc. basically everything you can think of that is beneficial to a reef tank, i am gonna want. I don't want to deal with any algae in the tank at all. What kind of cost would i be looking at ????? looking for answers from people with experience with big tanks.
Costs of massive tanks?
- Thread starter Conigs
- Start date
juniorrocketdad
New member
This but it is also how much work u want to do it can be much cheaper but you do more work for same results
DavidinGA
Active member
Go used and buy smart and it doesn't have to cost a fortune.
Here's my actual cost when I first built my setup 2 years ago:
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 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
You can obviously tell which items I bought used vs new lol
Here's my actual cost when I first built my setup 2 years ago:
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 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
You can obviously tell which items I bought used vs new lol
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
This is the same question as "How long is a piece of string".
The answer, of course, is "that depends". A lot of people are cagey about how much they spend, mainly I think because it's so damn expensive, but I think it's better to have that information out there than not, even if (right now, I may feel differently in a year or so
) I'd rather not have spent that much cash...
Basically to answer your question, you need to get a lot more specific. You can get standard tanks (MarineLand 300DD for example) that are large, and they'll run about $2400. Or you can go to a custom tank manufacturer (AGE, Miracles in Glass, ...) and spend anything from $5k or so upwards. The sky really is the limit here.
As an example, I'm getting a new ~400G tank from Miracles - the tank cost for 84" x 36" x ~32" in starfire glass all round (the exact shape is oddball - see http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2454671 if you want to see the end result and find out why I wanted the back in StarFire) was $7021. I don't know if this is typical, but it was the mid-way bid from several manufacturers for my particular requirements.
BUT, then you have to get the stand as well, and I wanted the same people to make the stand that made the tank - that way there's no finger-pointing down the road if there are issues. That's an extra $1065 because I wanted removable center-braces so I could slide the sump in. Oh yeah, the sump was another $600...
THEN you have to actually get the tank to your door. For me, the shipping came to $2250.
So, about $11k to get a new tank/sump/stand delivered (at least for me. YMMV) - that doesn't begin to describe the costs though, there's the rock and sand, there's any foundation support (yes, I'm doing that for the house) and there's the appliances that support the ecosystem (lighting, skimmer, plumbing, various reactors). Don't forget any permits (a building permit cost me $1200 or so) if you're making any structural modifications to the house.. It adds up pretty quickly, especially if you're starting from scratch.
You can save a lot of money going used. Tanks are way worse than cars for keeping their value, at least for the first 50% or so, after that they're pretty stable...
As a rough guide, my budget for what I'm doing in the above link is about $30k. I am pretty much starting over though - new Bubble King skimmer, a house renovation to install the tank, etc. etc.) Instead of getting a new car, I'm going to stick with the old one for another 5 years until it's a decade old, and get the fishtank installed instead. Everyone has their own tradeoffs, and I have a very understanding wife who's just lost a chunk of her living room
Simon
The answer, of course, is "that depends". A lot of people are cagey about how much they spend, mainly I think because it's so damn expensive, but I think it's better to have that information out there than not, even if (right now, I may feel differently in a year or so
) I'd rather not have spent that much cash...Basically to answer your question, you need to get a lot more specific. You can get standard tanks (MarineLand 300DD for example) that are large, and they'll run about $2400. Or you can go to a custom tank manufacturer (AGE, Miracles in Glass, ...) and spend anything from $5k or so upwards. The sky really is the limit here.
As an example, I'm getting a new ~400G tank from Miracles - the tank cost for 84" x 36" x ~32" in starfire glass all round (the exact shape is oddball - see http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2454671 if you want to see the end result and find out why I wanted the back in StarFire) was $7021. I don't know if this is typical, but it was the mid-way bid from several manufacturers for my particular requirements.
BUT, then you have to get the stand as well, and I wanted the same people to make the stand that made the tank - that way there's no finger-pointing down the road if there are issues. That's an extra $1065 because I wanted removable center-braces so I could slide the sump in. Oh yeah, the sump was another $600...
THEN you have to actually get the tank to your door. For me, the shipping came to $2250.
So, about $11k to get a new tank/sump/stand delivered (at least for me. YMMV) - that doesn't begin to describe the costs though, there's the rock and sand, there's any foundation support (yes, I'm doing that for the house) and there's the appliances that support the ecosystem (lighting, skimmer, plumbing, various reactors). Don't forget any permits (a building permit cost me $1200 or so) if you're making any structural modifications to the house.. It adds up pretty quickly, especially if you're starting from scratch.
You can save a lot of money going used. Tanks are way worse than cars for keeping their value, at least for the first 50% or so, after that they're pretty stable...
As a rough guide, my budget for what I'm doing in the above link is about $30k. I am pretty much starting over though - new Bubble King skimmer, a house renovation to install the tank, etc. etc.) Instead of getting a new car, I'm going to stick with the old one for another 5 years until it's a decade old, and get the fishtank installed instead. Everyone has their own tradeoffs, and I have a very understanding wife who's just lost a chunk of her living room
Simon
jerseypete
New member
Somebody stated before. Don't remember who said it but figured around $90 to $130 a gallon. Depending on size, and quality of equipment .Larger tanks the lower and smaller tanks the higher per gallon. Just initial cost,not maintaining them. I think this is accurate. I have a 100 gallon with a 25 gallon fuge, equipment on the higher end and I'm around 9-10 grand.
tom obrecht
Active member
I have always figured $100/gallon. You can skimp on items but IME it usually bites you down the road with either a mishap or breakdown. Of course taste of fish and coral can greatly change that figure. Having large reefs in past I can attest that things can run up quickly but a well planned budget and outlook goes a long way.
Scythanith
Premium Member
Assume $20-30K. You should be fairly safe as that for the starting point.
pigskin018
New member
I couldn't tell if you were being funny but I laughed lol.
Yeah anywhere from 500 to 10k. You need to look up your own equipment for costs. You could find a whole setup on CL for a couple G's. Otherwise you're looking at a few grand just in radions and skimmer (if you go bubble king for example) alone
Bunch of ways to go. To broad of a question if you ask me.
DavidinGA
Active member
Sure, but you could build a very nice setup for less than $6k imo going with some used gear. I've bought lots of used gear that was nearly mint condition and saved a ton.
dcforester1
Member
I was getting excited as I scrolled down the thread until I read this. Finally the correct answer. You cannot go into this worrying about the cost. I had a 120 that I bought everything used and I loved the setup and I was into it for about $1500. I sold it the set up and the coral and took the money and bought all new. I have always scrimped when buying and this time I didn't. I am into my new 110 for about $7000, and I went better than average but not top of the line. Everything I bought is new except for a second Liter Meter III and just because it was a good deal. I reused my controller and that was about it. I made good money selling my coral and existing equipment so I felt I could splurge. I didn't go top of the line with my skimmer but got something good, but I did spend on getting good power heads and return pumps because that was important to me. So to answer your question as much or as little as you want.
Also a friend of mine was getting out and he gave everything away. His stand was a little scorched from a fire but easily repaired. My friend that took it paid $300 for the doors to be repaired and he got a custom tank, stand and hood that cost someone else $13,000 for the cost of the $300 repair. So like others have said it all depends.
Good luck and enjoy the journey
foxvalleypcgeek
New member
I hit $10000 and then stopped counting lol
nuxx
.Registered Member
LOL
Also make sure you have backup funds as well.
So this week my skimmer pump stopped working. Took off the pump and decided to clean the skimmer as well.
Took the skimmer out and dropped it... oops... $700 later a new skimmer is on it's way.
Some weeks we spend nothing on the tank, some weeks like this week we've spent well over $1,000... and that's just equipment...
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