Monthly Maintenance Costs

[PAEnthusiast]

before purchasing my first reef tank, I would like to get an idea of what I can expect in monthly maintenance costs. I am looking at 90gal tanks at this time, but if anyone has other tank size maintenance costs that would be great.

 

[seattownreefer]

depends what are ya trying to keep in the 90 gal.

 

[PAEnthusiast]

Why?

Why?

what would make a difference?

 

[kar93]

corals would make a difference as different ones would need different lighting needs. Fish would make a difference because they will need quarantining before adding to the tank and if they catch disease. Also fish such as tangs will need bigger tanks and alot of swimming room aswell as a variety of foods. I i was you i would make up a fish list and coral list and then research all of those before you buy.

 

[techreef]

well, if you want light-hungry corals like SPS, you'll need a whole lot stronger lighting system, and a more robust water movement system in your tank, which equals higher electricity bills and roughly annual lightbulb replacement costs.

 

[Radioheadx14]

If you just have fish, it wont be that much... if you have corals, it will be A LOT more.

Fish don't need a lot of special care. Corals need intense lighting (high energy costs & initial cost/replacement bulbs) They also require additives like calcium, magnesium etc. They also may special equipment which also costs money to run.

With fish only, you could get by with the cost of food, water changes and maybe KH additives.

 

[chrismunn]

some things eat food, others dont. if you have only fish, or non-photosynthetic corals in your tank, its not as nessecary to change out lights as often. if you have a huge bio-load you might want to do larger water changes and more often? are you planning on running media reactors?
there are alot of different things that you might, or might not want to use that will all add to your monthy bill. it just depends on what your keeping, and what your running on your tank...

 

[PAEnthusiast]

I guess I need to do more homework before I jump in head first. thanks for the great info.

 

[Sander1001]

I have a SPS tank, 90 gal with all the neccessary filtration, lights, skimmer, etc.. and electricty alone is about $50.00 per month at .11 cents. KWH.

 

[Dan Thrash]

sometimes people ask questions on forums that they could usually find an answer to if they weren't lazy and just did a bit of thinking or research themselves. stupid example...on a car forum i visit, someone asked once "if i pick up a car that is 1000 miles away and drive it home, how much will i pay in gas?" well lazy, at X mpg and $3.00 for a gallon of gas, figure it out yourself!

anyway, i'm not trying to get on your case, but my point is, it sounds like you need to a lot more research on what is necessary for setting up a tank and what you want to keep in it. as you learn more about the hobby you will get a better feeling yourself for the time it will take. i would recommend to any newbie getting into this hobby specifically, to do a lot of research and learning before you start a tank, because things can go wrong pretty quickly if you dont know what you're doing. i think i visited this forum for nearly two years before i started my first tank.

 

[psteeleb]

my largest maintenance cost by far is the impact on my electric bill

 

[PAEnthusiast]

thanks chrismunn. that does make sense. I do have some background in keeping fish but not as much marine. I worked with marine tanks but it was over 30 years ago, boy things have changed and I dont want to pump a lot of $$ into it and not know what i'm doing. I will take your advice and delve into this deeper before I start my tank.

p.s. I think I should have posted this on the newbie site. so thanks to everyone who responded.

 

[jeffbrig]

For my 250g tank, here are my basic consumables

Electricity: ~$80/month or almost $1k/year
Food: $100/year
Salt: $200/year
RO/DI filters: $50/year
Bulbs: $200/year
Test kits: $50/year
Supplements: $100/year
Misc/Other: $100

That's about $1800 in annual operating costs ($150/mo), not counting any new equipment or livestock.

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11974825#post11974825 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
For my 250g tank, here are my basic consumables

Electricity: ~$80/month or almost $1k/year
Food: $100/year
Salt: $200/year
RO/DI filters: $50/year
Bulbs: $200/year
Test kits: $50/year
Supplements: $100/year
Misc/Other: $100

That's about $1800 in annual operating costs ($150/mo), not counting any new equipment or livestock.

that's a good list, mines +/- on some things but over all about the same

 

[mcrist]

This is my most current calculation of my electric usage for my aquarium.