djmpj2
Aquarium Advice Freak
I don't know where Turnersville is, but Tropaquarium, Located on Route 35 South in Ocean NJ (Monmouth County) Phone: (732) 922-2300 sells the tanks at cost hoping you'll use them as your fish store. I have the 54 gallon All Glass Aquarium from them. Truthfully, I can't remember exactly what I paid for it. I would guess around $500. I pretty much have everything you're mentioning. I'm thinking the set up your mentioning is probably $1300 rounding high and assuming decent brands on things like the lights, skimmer and powerhead <--which you'll need 2-3 of.
If I had it to do over I would skip the canister filter and go with a sump. I'm trying to work on getting one now and it is more difficult once the tank is up and running. Another thing is try to be really sure now if you only want fish and not coral. Originally I thought fish only too but now I'm finding I am ready to move on to corals and the PC lights you are referring to really aren't sufficient for most corals. That's what I have and they are not cheap (again don't remember exactly but I think they were around $200). Metal halides for that size would probably be around $500-$600 and you would be ahead of the game if you think this out now instead of replacing/upgrading things, like I have been doing.
You might find that things are SO much more expensive in local fish stores than shopping around on the net. Plus, brand names do matter on some items.
As for bi-monthly maintenance, I have no idea what that goes for. I always thought if you had someone servicing your tank you wouldn't need to stock things like chemicals and test kits.
My suggestion would be to hold off and do some shopping/pricing around. Use the internet and visit a few fish stores. Find pictures of the set ups you like and what's in them. If you find you still think this is a good deal you can schedule it when you are done with your research. Either way, it's lots of fun and addicting.
DJ
If I had it to do over I would skip the canister filter and go with a sump. I'm trying to work on getting one now and it is more difficult once the tank is up and running. Another thing is try to be really sure now if you only want fish and not coral. Originally I thought fish only too but now I'm finding I am ready to move on to corals and the PC lights you are referring to really aren't sufficient for most corals. That's what I have and they are not cheap (again don't remember exactly but I think they were around $200). Metal halides for that size would probably be around $500-$600 and you would be ahead of the game if you think this out now instead of replacing/upgrading things, like I have been doing.
You might find that things are SO much more expensive in local fish stores than shopping around on the net. Plus, brand names do matter on some items.
As for bi-monthly maintenance, I have no idea what that goes for. I always thought if you had someone servicing your tank you wouldn't need to stock things like chemicals and test kits.
My suggestion would be to hold off and do some shopping/pricing around. Use the internet and visit a few fish stores. Find pictures of the set ups you like and what's in them. If you find you still think this is a good deal you can schedule it when you are done with your research. Either way, it's lots of fun and addicting.
DJ
