Cost for Your FW Setup

[AquaJoe]

Everything is in Canadian Currency. Since I lack receipts alot of theses prices are from memory.

20 Gallon tank:

-WalMart aquarium "Kit" (I don't suggest buying from WalMart): $129.99
-AC70 HOB power filter: $50.00 (plus about $10.00 s/h)
-Vacuum, additional hosing and a standard ball valve: $19.00
-Gravel: $15.00
-Plants: $18.00
-Background canvas: $6.00
-Filter Media: around $18.00
-Fish: Priceless but paid about $20.00 all together

29 Gallon tank:

-WalMart aquarium "kit": $159.99
-WalMart aquarium stand: $49.99
-AC500 HOB power filter: $79.99
-Gravel: $25.00
-Plants: FREE
-Background canvas: $6.00
-Filter Media: around $25.00
-Fish: Priceless but paid about $15.00

Test kit(s):
All together roughly $40.00
Chemicals (ferts, water treatment):
On going $25.00+ every time I need to replenish my supply

I think that covers everything?

grand total: $711.96

Wow..... Way more then I thought LOL


Great post by the way.

Joe

[Tostada]

About four months ago I had never owned any fish. I kept track of what everything cost because it might be useful to other people.

Looking at the "Cost for Your FW Setup" thread, I thought it wouldn't be that much. The 30 gal. Oceanic hex was on sale for $99.99, after all.

I don't think many people appreciate the cost of getting everything when you're first setting up an aquarium. People might factor in the cost of a Python, but even fish and food adds a lot to it.

In the end, the aquarium itself isn't a very large part of the cost. Note that my father built me a custom oak stand for it, totally for free, and also built a custom hood for it (although I paid for all the parts except wood for the hood). So really, the average person's total cost could very easily run you well over $500 no matter what size of aquarium you choose. I did a lot of shopping around, and this is a pretty basic setup with a HOB filter and nothing fancy (although I did try to get quality equipment). I didn't include tax, and I forget how much my small piece of driftwood was.

Anyway, I think this might be good for the average person who truly is new to the hobby. A lot of people who have been in it for awhile appear to forget a lot of the little things which really add up for someone who is starting from scratch.



30 gal tank (I got a free stand and partially free hood)

30 gal hex with basic accessories: $203.51
custom hood parts: $81.06
maintenance supplies: $56.70
fish and plants: $72.45
food and water treatment: $61.85
total: $475.57

That's including enough food for about 8 months. I think the driftwood added about another $11 that I didn't include.



Then I setup a little aquarium in my bedroom. For that, I was able to use the original hood that came free with my 30 gal. tank and cut my own lid out of a free piece of plexiglass.

5.5 gal with basic accessories: $49.76
moonlight upgrade: $15.70
fish and plants: $25.92
total: $91.38

I put up an HTML spreadsheet of the whole breakdown of everything I bought here:

http://home.woh.rr.com/brettland/fish.htm

[dskidmore]

Thanks for sharing that. I have been in the hobby for quite some time, but am more frugal and cost conscious than some others. Perhaps sometime I should share the monstrous breakdown for the first year of my 75 gallon tank.

I've been looking at getting into saltwater reef aquariums for some time, but I've broken down the startup costs, and it's just way out of budget even without stocking corals. Several people have tried to encourage me that it isn't really that expensive, but I've done the math, and I've seen the posts to other newbies that jumped right in "All you need is xxx, it's only $30 ($50 shipping) from yyyy." xxx is never the last thing the newbie needs to get, just the next thing.

For quite some time, I'm only going to be adding nannos to my collection. I have a 2.5 gallon that ran me $15, will likely be $30 when it's done, and a high-light 10 gallon I'm putting together with used parts that will still run me around $90.

[czcz]

(merged Tostada's thread to the sticky)

[Bigougit]

I just got a 55g tank with an Emperor 400, can't remember what brand of heater, the lighting is tinted blue (not growing any plants so great news for me lol) and some random decorations for $175 Oh, and it came with a stand that can hold 2 55s It was a sweet deal, but I haven't gotten any of the decorations or gravel yet. Still, $175 for all equipment is great and everything was brand new never opened.

[meegosh]

Well I am just getting started in this hobby and I am going to tally what I have spent so far.

10 gallon Deluxe starter kit from Walmart (hood, light, hob filter, filter replacement, food, aquasafe, net) - $50
Gravel - $9 (black and neon colors)
Plants - $4
Fish - $1.69 (2 zebra danios)
"5-in-1 Test Kit" - waste of $11
Master test kit (dropper) - $28
Two cave decorations - $12

So right now I am looking at $115.69

I must say, after returning the UGF ($20) and two power heads ($20/each) the price for this ten gallon kit went way down. Thanks to everyone for pointing out to me that I over did the filtration!!!

[shumway]

55 Gallon $70 used
Wood for stand $20
Aqua Clear 110 $90
Heater $30
Gravel $60
Airpump $15
Plant's $60
Fish $40
Rock's were free

Total $385 and growing

[docdaveg]

I have a 36 gallon corner tank on order. I need some recommendations on filter, heater, chemicals, etc. Any advice I can get would be appreciated. Thanks to everyone in advance.

Dave

[mr funktastic]

for advice u would want to post in the begginer forum or general forum. as for filtration i woul reccomedn the XP2 then a hydor eth 200 heater. just my opinion thouhg. make a post and u will get lots of suggestions

[O ALX O]

120 Gallon-Tank/Stand/Glass Tops/Light Strips=450.00
Tidepool I=130.00
Tidepool S.O.S.=70.00
ViaAqua 2600=60.00
Aragonite Substrate=75.00
Titanium 350 Watt Heater=28.00
Digital Stick-On Thermometer=2.00
Fish=200.00
Total= $1015.00