Lets see your budget reef!
- Thread starter jbird69
- Start date
OK I'll play. I bought this 90 gallon tank used for $500 with stand and canopy not drilled or anything. I used it for african cichlids untill I decided I wanted to go saltwater. So I drilled it made my own plumbing design, bought everything used for equipment, made my own sump from a 30 gallon thrift store tank. I have an etss reef devil skimmer paid $100 for. For lights I have a six bulb retrofit by tek lighting bought new that was the most expensive thing $489 or something like that off of reefgeeks.com. All my corals I bought off of people from Reeffrontiers for the most part. My power heads are korialia k4's bought new but on sale like $35 each. Eventually I will slowly upgrade everything. I am planning on a swc mini cone skimmer, and upgrade my return pump from a rio3100 to and ehiem 1262. Here is a link to my myspace with pictures. Oh yea I have 150lbs of rock bought off of craigslist for $3 a pound the guy had it in his tank for 8 years so all the purple coraline algae was already there. This tank has been setup for almost a year now.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...ture&friendID=10533736&albumId=3044232&page=1
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...ture&friendID=10533736&albumId=3044232&page=1
reefscape15
New member
Hmmmmmm............we are supposed to be using equipment on our tanks?
All my equip. is in my signature. Maintenance schedule is bi-monthly water change with tap water, and tap water top-off. I dose Purple-Up whenever I remember to, which is usually once every few weeks.
The tank has been up and running since last Thanksgiving with no problems or crashes. Some of the rock has been in my older system for about 5 years before I got this new tank, and most of the Softies and LPS came from my old system. Time for a few pics!
Another thing that makes my tank pretty "budget" is that I've gotten all my corals as small frags (under 1"). The only larger coral that I bought is a Pineapple Brain that was about 2". Now it's about 5" and totally encrusted the original rock that it came on, and starting to encrust the rock that it sits on now.
Sorry they are from my phone. Glare is horrible!
Pink Digi, Pink/Purple Poccillapora, Orange Digi, and Lime Green Millie and Pink Cap in the background.
Large Branching Hammer. about 9"
All my equip. is in my signature. Maintenance schedule is bi-monthly water change with tap water, and tap water top-off. I dose Purple-Up whenever I remember to, which is usually once every few weeks. The tank has been up and running since last Thanksgiving with no problems or crashes. Some of the rock has been in my older system for about 5 years before I got this new tank, and most of the Softies and LPS came from my old system. Time for a few pics!
Another thing that makes my tank pretty "budget" is that I've gotten all my corals as small frags (under 1"). The only larger coral that I bought is a Pineapple Brain that was about 2". Now it's about 5" and totally encrusted the original rock that it came on, and starting to encrust the rock that it sits on now.
Sorry they are from my phone. Glare is horrible!
Pink Digi, Pink/Purple Poccillapora, Orange Digi, and Lime Green Millie and Pink Cap in the background.
Large Branching Hammer. about 9"
gatorchem
New member
I don't consider mine to have all the bells and whistles. Tank has been running since July 09. It was an upgrade from a 44g tank that was running since May 08.
ARO MH ballast - 2x250w with T-5 actinic suppliments - 2x54W
Retrun pump: quiet one 3000
Skimmer: old model NW 150 Reef octopus
Powerheads: modded maxijets and used modded Tunze 6025 ( bought 2 @$25)
Rock: 90% of the rock in the tank is DIY rock made by myself
ATO- is a from autotop.com
ATO pump: aqualifter
DIY carbon reactor
I think that is everything.
FTS
ARO MH ballast - 2x250w with T-5 actinic suppliments - 2x54W
Retrun pump: quiet one 3000
Skimmer: old model NW 150 Reef octopus
Powerheads: modded maxijets and used modded Tunze 6025 ( bought 2 @$25)
Rock: 90% of the rock in the tank is DIY rock made by myself
ATO- is a from autotop.com
ATO pump: aqualifter
DIY carbon reactor
I think that is everything.
FTS
jvalentine
New member
Lets see your budget reef!
Equipment List:
48x12x24 60 Gallon
4x54W Tek Lighting fixture
Sea Clone 100 Skimmer
1 koralia 4
1 koralia 1
Wavemaker
Equipment List:
48x12x24 60 Gallon
4x54W Tek Lighting fixture
Sea Clone 100 Skimmer
1 koralia 4
1 koralia 1
Wavemaker
jayb12
New member
my 250 gal was a serious buget
stand and canopy were made in my garage
tank was sold me to me used for 250 bucks
sump was old 100 gal tank i made baffles for
plumbing is all home depot supplied
3 400 watt metal halide ballasts are previously shop lighting that i re wired and put 20,000k bulbs into
350lbs of live rock was purchased from a private dealer for 4 bucks a lb (most places around me charge 10/lb
moon lighting is diy led strips
come to think of it, i dont think anything but my powerheads and r o unit were purchased with no diy involved. even my calcium reactor im making currently is all diy.
stand and canopy were made in my garage
tank was sold me to me used for 250 bucks
sump was old 100 gal tank i made baffles for
plumbing is all home depot supplied
3 400 watt metal halide ballasts are previously shop lighting that i re wired and put 20,000k bulbs into
350lbs of live rock was purchased from a private dealer for 4 bucks a lb (most places around me charge 10/lb
moon lighting is diy led strips
come to think of it, i dont think anything but my powerheads and r o unit were purchased with no diy involved. even my calcium reactor im making currently is all diy.
Neogenocide
New member
ok I'll play even though I'm not fully up and running yet.
46 Gal bow w/stand - $150
2 175w MH pendants - traded computer for
Skimmer and mag 9.5 - $100
41 lbs Partially Cured Rock - $130
55 Gallon "Sump" included stand, hood, and Koralia 1 - traded computer for
Mag 18, various pumps, lights, filters - Traded computer for
As you can tell, I buy cheap off lease computers, refurbish and rebuild them, and it's been a real money saver in building my tank. I've made out pretty well bartering for my stuff.
And yes....those small pumps will be replaced with better equipment as well as that canister will disappear when my sump is up and running.
Scott
Quick Pic of a the semi finished tank
46 Gal bow w/stand - $150
2 175w MH pendants - traded computer for
Skimmer and mag 9.5 - $100
41 lbs Partially Cured Rock - $130
55 Gallon "Sump" included stand, hood, and Koralia 1 - traded computer for
Mag 18, various pumps, lights, filters - Traded computer for
As you can tell, I buy cheap off lease computers, refurbish and rebuild them, and it's been a real money saver in building my tank. I've made out pretty well bartering for my stuff.
And yes....those small pumps will be replaced with better equipment as well as that canister will disappear when my sump is up and running.
Scott
Quick Pic of a the semi finished tank
es1887
New member
reefing on a budget, eh?
well here it goes.
tank 120 given to me from my father 6 years ago.
stand: purple heart hardwood flooring i traded for labor and built myself.
lighting: 2 400 watt ushios with two galaxy ballast, i traded my lfs for a custom built stand for a customer of theirs. they bought the supplies. edit: i forgot about the vhos, i borrowed them permanently from my brother as he was not using them. if he ever wants them back i have to give them back to him.
old old nw220 octopus skimmer.
circulation 2 mp40ws one was bought on CL for 100 (score) other was 325.
return pump is a really old cap 1800. i think it cost me 60 bucks with a trickle filter
fuge is a 30 gallon that the baffles broke on so i just have acrylic sitting in place to "keep" the algae in the fuge section. it does not work very well. all of the corals i got for really cheap from my lfs cause i worked there for years, years ago.
i do have a controller, but i ordered the acjr for 300 i think and they accidentally sent me the apex (another score).
well here it goes.
tank 120 given to me from my father 6 years ago.
stand: purple heart hardwood flooring i traded for labor and built myself.
lighting: 2 400 watt ushios with two galaxy ballast, i traded my lfs for a custom built stand for a customer of theirs. they bought the supplies. edit: i forgot about the vhos, i borrowed them permanently from my brother as he was not using them. if he ever wants them back i have to give them back to him.
old old nw220 octopus skimmer.
circulation 2 mp40ws one was bought on CL for 100 (score) other was 325.
return pump is a really old cap 1800. i think it cost me 60 bucks with a trickle filter
fuge is a 30 gallon that the baffles broke on so i just have acrylic sitting in place to "keep" the algae in the fuge section. it does not work very well. all of the corals i got for really cheap from my lfs cause i worked there for years, years ago.
i do have a controller, but i ordered the acjr for 300 i think and they accidentally sent me the apex (another score).
Last edited:
woowoodengy
Upgrading my 20gal
that bonzai is awesome
es1887
New member
Here's my 40 breeder Yugo system. The family expenses come first, so I don't have much discretionary income. Sadly, I got bitten by the reef bug when viewing my brother's awesome setup. I switched the tank and fluval 204 canister filter over from freshwater to salt in 2006. I built the stand from spare wood left over from home renovations, except for the outer skin which came from Home Depot (HD). Equipment:
24" Odyssea 250w MH/2x65w PC combo, hung from sturdy white shelf brackets (HD)
eshopps PF-300 overflow
20g tall DIY sump with three glass pane baffels with GEI
Via Aqua 1300 return pump
Maxijet 900 w/Hydor flo rotating head
Tunze 9010 skimmer (bought used for cheap)
Hagen Aquaclear 20, just replaced with a Tunze 6025 (splurge)
Almost every one of the corals has been grown out from small frags that were cheap, some free.
I recently got tired of lugging water, so I got a RODI unit with a gift certificate I got. I got another gift certificate recently, so I ordered a Vortech MP10. Thank God for generous relatives who understand addiction.
Here's a shot of the tank:
24" Odyssea 250w MH/2x65w PC combo, hung from sturdy white shelf brackets (HD)
eshopps PF-300 overflow
20g tall DIY sump with three glass pane baffels with GEI
Via Aqua 1300 return pump
Maxijet 900 w/Hydor flo rotating head
Tunze 9010 skimmer (bought used for cheap)
Hagen Aquaclear 20, just replaced with a Tunze 6025 (splurge)
Almost every one of the corals has been grown out from small frags that were cheap, some free.
I recently got tired of lugging water, so I got a RODI unit with a gift certificate I got. I got another gift certificate recently, so I ordered a Vortech MP10. Thank God for generous relatives who understand addiction.
Here's a shot of the tank:
Similar threads
