Monthly cost

[Trucker Den]

I am thinking about jumping into the saltwater hobby. I am currently a freshwater keeper. I have a 220 gallon. Aside from the equipment and the electric bill what are the average monthly cost of maintenance. Food, salt, additives ect. Just a story of what I am currently running on my child tank. I have a crystal reef sump, Neptune apex El, Neptune dos for water changes, ato, and dual wav pumps for circulation. I know I would need a protein skimmer and a ro system. Before I start research and planning I just want to figure out month to month costs when it is set up and running. Thanks for your help.

 

[LIreefguy]

Not much a month besides electric
Box of salt 200 gallons is about 40-80 bucks
Then you have 2 part
If you brs it's about 10 a month
Then food and stuff maybe 10-20 a month

So 60-110 a month

The biggest cost of saltwater is initial setup cost

Lights, skimmer, rodi unit. Powerheads
Those can cost you over 5000 easy on a 220 tank


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[Bpb]

For my 90 gallon I would estimate roughly $40-50 a month for all consumable things. That's of course not paid out monthly. Just what I estimate it averages out to when all taken into account.
Co2
Calcium reactor media
Salt
Food
Metal halide bulbs
Co2 scrubber media
Ect.


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[FoxFace Fish]

Definitely depends, electricity is crazy, salt buy a box for 60$ be good for 3 months but the real problem is will you really go a whole month without buying new fish or coral or upgrades I know I cant

 

[Tastee]

Monthly cost

I am based in Sydney Australia, so obviously pricing will differ for you but for what it is worth here is my estimate for my 65g tank. I have not calculated electricity costs as I have a 6.4 kW rooftop solar system and will be adding a battery (or possibly 2) in the next 12 months. At that point I hope the electricity cost will be minimal. For now however it will not be minimal but I haven't attempted to estimate it.

I run my tank on the Aquaforest range. My table below is using pre-mixed 3 part but I am about to make my own from the Components Strong which will reduce that cost to about 1/3 of the cost below. As you can see it is the largest of my costs.

Sorry, I can't get this to format well in Tapatalk.

Item, Yearly cost, Comment

Water, $2.54, 6-weekly water changes
Electricity, $0.00, Solar PV array and (to-be) battery
Salt, $60.84, 6-weekly 15% water changes
Dosing fluid, $200.75, Aquaforest 3 part
Test kits, $79.56, Weekly water tests for Alk, Ca, Mg, NO3, PO4
NoPoX, $0.00, Assuming don't need to dose when stable
Frozen food, $48.75
Misc supplies, $50.00

Total, $442.44


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[rocklobster1]

hardly anything. I sell a few corals a month and that actually puts me well in the green usually.

 

[Dmorty217]

Depends on lots of factors and varies depending on what kind of tank you're keeping ie fish only, mixed reef, or SPS dominant. The price goes up in the order I listed.

 

[rocsec1]

I spend about $60 a month for my 200 gallons worth of tanks

 

[Timmayyy]

It's an expensive but satisfying hobby for sure.

 

[Uncle99]

It's an expensive but satisfying hobby for sure.

That is a good valuation!

 

[Oldreeferman]

Its a glass or plastic box of finely tuned seawater ( micro bio sphere that you control everything for life to exist), that you continually "throw money at" and do continual tweaking & monitoring with great expectations & hopefully satisfaction in the end if everything thrives not just survives. Playing biologist as the tank keeps evolving over time is a full time career.. err i mean hobby. Enjoy!

 

[Daddyrawg]

Its a glass or plastic box of finely tuned seawater ( micro bio sphere that you control everything for life to exist), that you continually "throw money at" and do continual tweaking & monitoring with great expectations & hopefully satisfaction in the end if everything thrives not just survives. Playing biologist as the tank keeps evolving over time is a full time career.. err i mean hobby. Enjoy!

Right haha

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