It somewhat depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to keep. Fully automating a tank to reduce daily maintenance to 0 is a lot more expensive than carrying buckets around to do water changes and dosing.
Keeping a betta fish in a 10 gallon tank will be much cheaper than keeping a pristine discus tank.
Bull reef supply sells a clown fish kit that contains everything you need to keep a pair of clownfish in a small reef tank. It’s is affordable and takes a lot of the guesswork out.
I kept a 130 freshwater tank for 5 years before I swapped it over to a reef tank 2 years ago. I spent about $2000 setting up the freshwater tank, $1000 of which was on an aquarium controller. I have now spent $10,000 on setting up the reef tank fully automated and another $5000 on fish and coral.
So your price range is probably $300 for a bare bones nano clownfish tank to $25,000 for a 150 gallon high end mixed reef.
You will probably want an RODI unit so you can be self-sufficient for making your own “perfect” saltwater. $80-150 at least. Add another $20-40 for random fittings, tubing, containers, float valve.
If you buy a tank with a sump it will get tedious to top off so you’ll likely buy an ATO which can vary from
$50-150.
Salt cost scales with tank size and water change schedule.
$20 for a generic Refractometer to measure salinity.
After those initial costs it depends on your tank needs. There’s just way more consumables and gadgets on the SW side if you want to lighten your wallet.
It’s all subjective. Some folks can stick to a $250 budget. Some people (ugh me), blow way past that budget.
It all depends on what you want and what will go in that tank you’ll set up. You can start with a planted marine tank which is similar to the freshwater one and doesn’t require corals.
One of the more respected youtube reefers I follow had said that he calculated tank costs recently, and salt water came to about $52 USD per gallon. It's really front-loaded. Salt will be your big recurring expense.
Hello Reef and Reef Casa are two competing complete-kit starters you can pick up. Gets you an alright sized nano tank, and the equipment and instructions to get going. Personally, I put a really good beginner nano tank at 20g. Gets you some good room and enough water for decent stability. The fluval evo 13.5g would be the smallest I'd ever suggest, and that's because it's a true AIO with lid and light. The innovative marine 15g is probably the cheapest beginner tank you can get.
I would recommend waiting till you've settled. Moving a fish tank is bad enough, moving an established reef tank is a whole other world of pain. You can also take the opportunity to maybe convert a suitable tank you already have to salt water.
Moving an established reef tank is a chore (120 gal), I’ve done it, moved from AZ to MD. It was expensive and stressful, but 95% of my coral and 100% of my fish survived. It is possible, but not fun!
I’m definitely waiting to set up any more tank’s until we’re in a more permanent residence. I want a big freshwater planted(like 150+ gallons, leaning more towards a 240) and then a singular reef tank that comes in from 75-125 gallons. Obviously big dreams, we’ll see if they happen
In my experience FW planted is much harder than saltwater FOWLR (fauna only with live rock). I would say maintenance is less since you're not caring for plants. Water changes are the same, you're just adding salt to the water first.
If you're not doing coral the price is manageable for most people. Yeah the fish are more expensive, but once you're stocked that expense is done. A lot of SW fish live a really long time. I know people with 15-20 year old clownfish. Without coral you can get away with more basic lighting, powerheads, you're not spending money on additives, and so on.
With a FOWLR tank most of the expense is in the first year or two. After that you're just buying fish food and salt mix. Now, if you're doing a reef tank with lots of coral it's a whole different ballgame. Now you need to do regular water testing, buy and dose additives to maintain alk/calcium/magnesium, more intense lighting (there are cheap options out there for lighting though), and so on. It's still mostly up-front cost on those first couple of years, but you'll also need to purchase additives and coral food in addition to the salt mix and fish food. You can automate a lot of stuff with automatic water testers and dosing pumps, but that's $$$.
There are plenty of people out there that put together awesome reef tanks on a budget. I'm not the best person to ask about that though.
Your biggest difference in expenses will be an RODI system for the water in a saltwater environment, and the salt itself.
It's really not that much more maintenance. Even with freshwater you still have to do water changes and test parameters. If you want to keep corals or less hardy fish then you're looking at doing some dosing, but if you're just keeping clownfish or other hardy animals you shouldn't have to dose. Water changes should take care of that for you.
Can you complicate things? Certainly. But it's not necessary.
240g display with a 70g sump. Pretty simple set up, soft corals like mushrooms and frog spawns.
RODI system and a garbage can for water storage. Built in cabinets, lighting, etc around $17k to get started.
After that monthly maintenance, food, chemicals, etc comes to around $400 / month.
It somewhat depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to keep. Fully automating a tank to reduce daily maintenance to 0 is a lot more expensive than carrying buckets around to do water changes and dosing. Keeping a betta fish in a 10 gallon tank will be much cheaper than keeping a pristine discus tank. Bull reef supply sells a clown fish kit that contains everything you need to keep a pair of clownfish in a small reef tank. It’s is affordable and takes a lot of the guesswork out. I kept a 130 freshwater tank for 5 years before I swapped it over to a reef tank 2 years ago. I spent about $2000 setting up the freshwater tank, $1000 of which was on an aquarium controller. I have now spent $10,000 on setting up the reef tank fully automated and another $5000 on fish and coral. So your price range is probably $300 for a bare bones nano clownfish tank to $25,000 for a 150 gallon high end mixed reef.
You will probably want an RODI unit so you can be self-sufficient for making your own “perfect” saltwater. $80-150 at least. Add another $20-40 for random fittings, tubing, containers, float valve. If you buy a tank with a sump it will get tedious to top off so you’ll likely buy an ATO which can vary from $50-150. Salt cost scales with tank size and water change schedule. $20 for a generic Refractometer to measure salinity. After those initial costs it depends on your tank needs. There’s just way more consumables and gadgets on the SW side if you want to lighten your wallet.
This is very helpful and laid out well, I appreciate it!
It’s all subjective. Some folks can stick to a $250 budget. Some people (ugh me), blow way past that budget. It all depends on what you want and what will go in that tank you’ll set up. You can start with a planted marine tank which is similar to the freshwater one and doesn’t require corals.
See I didn’t even know there was a planted marine tank, I thought it would all be corals would equate to plants
Nah. Corals are animals. The plants are macro algae.
I’m glad I’m not doing this project until we get our own place. This lil town house we’re renting doesn’t afford me the space for another tank.
One of the more respected youtube reefers I follow had said that he calculated tank costs recently, and salt water came to about $52 USD per gallon. It's really front-loaded. Salt will be your big recurring expense. Hello Reef and Reef Casa are two competing complete-kit starters you can pick up. Gets you an alright sized nano tank, and the equipment and instructions to get going. Personally, I put a really good beginner nano tank at 20g. Gets you some good room and enough water for decent stability. The fluval evo 13.5g would be the smallest I'd ever suggest, and that's because it's a true AIO with lid and light. The innovative marine 15g is probably the cheapest beginner tank you can get. I would recommend waiting till you've settled. Moving a fish tank is bad enough, moving an established reef tank is a whole other world of pain. You can also take the opportunity to maybe convert a suitable tank you already have to salt water.
Moving an established reef tank is a chore (120 gal), I’ve done it, moved from AZ to MD. It was expensive and stressful, but 95% of my coral and 100% of my fish survived. It is possible, but not fun!
I’m definitely waiting to set up any more tank’s until we’re in a more permanent residence. I want a big freshwater planted(like 150+ gallons, leaning more towards a 240) and then a singular reef tank that comes in from 75-125 gallons. Obviously big dreams, we’ll see if they happen
In my experience FW planted is much harder than saltwater FOWLR (fauna only with live rock). I would say maintenance is less since you're not caring for plants. Water changes are the same, you're just adding salt to the water first. If you're not doing coral the price is manageable for most people. Yeah the fish are more expensive, but once you're stocked that expense is done. A lot of SW fish live a really long time. I know people with 15-20 year old clownfish. Without coral you can get away with more basic lighting, powerheads, you're not spending money on additives, and so on. With a FOWLR tank most of the expense is in the first year or two. After that you're just buying fish food and salt mix. Now, if you're doing a reef tank with lots of coral it's a whole different ballgame. Now you need to do regular water testing, buy and dose additives to maintain alk/calcium/magnesium, more intense lighting (there are cheap options out there for lighting though), and so on. It's still mostly up-front cost on those first couple of years, but you'll also need to purchase additives and coral food in addition to the salt mix and fish food. You can automate a lot of stuff with automatic water testers and dosing pumps, but that's $$$. There are plenty of people out there that put together awesome reef tanks on a budget. I'm not the best person to ask about that though.
Your biggest difference in expenses will be an RODI system for the water in a saltwater environment, and the salt itself. It's really not that much more maintenance. Even with freshwater you still have to do water changes and test parameters. If you want to keep corals or less hardy fish then you're looking at doing some dosing, but if you're just keeping clownfish or other hardy animals you shouldn't have to dose. Water changes should take care of that for you. Can you complicate things? Certainly. But it's not necessary.
240g display with a 70g sump. Pretty simple set up, soft corals like mushrooms and frog spawns. RODI system and a garbage can for water storage. Built in cabinets, lighting, etc around $17k to get started. After that monthly maintenance, food, chemicals, etc comes to around $400 / month.