Cost for Your FW Setup

[Bearfan]

This is just a discussion to show what people can expect for an initial setup cost for different types of tanks for equipment. If nothing else, it should be interesting.

My 72 Gal Planted

1. Tank/Stand/Split Glass Top $400
2. PC Lighting $200
3. Gravel $60
4. Emperor 400 Filter $70
5. Heater $35
6. Decorative Rock $40
7. CO2 System $45
8. Substrate - $145

Approximate Total - $995

 

[d9hp]

My turn,

10 Gallon Toad Tank
Tank Kit-$50
Stand-$25
Gravel-$10
Rainbow Slate-$15
Plants-$15

Total $115

5.5 Planted
Tank kit-$30
DIY Hood-$20
Bulbs-$15
Substrates-$10
CO2 DIY-$5.00

Total $80 (not complete though)

 

[Bearfan]

45 Gal Paludarium

Tank/Stand/Light Fixture - $200 in 1992
Plexiglass - $32
Gravel - $80 (Because I wanted a certain color variety and had to to remove 1/5 of the stones that were white and keep the remainder which were dark)
Sealant - $75 (Yes 75, It takes a lot of sealant to cover plexiglass with stones and build waterfalls)
Decorations - $15
Small Pump - $10
Submersible Filter - $25
Hosing - $5
Glass Top - $12 (On Sale)

Total - $454

Still not including livestock, chemcials, electricity

 

[Zic]

OK.
Deluxe ten gallon tank package (includes heater, filter, hood w/lights, net, sample food and water conditioner) $50 from Walmart

Substrate (three bags of gravel) $7

live plant bulb from Walmart $5

decorations (the most important part,ha!) $30

Fish Only bucket $1 (the dollar store rocks! )

Gravel Vaccum $5

Water kits $7

Fish Food, water conditioner $10

Spending hours searching the pet stores for 'that one perfect fish' only to find that when you get him home that he's not compatible with your other fish or your children's hands so now you have to take little Joey to the hospital everytime the fish wants fed. Priceless (sorry, I couldn't resist the chance to make a Mastercard joke. I was going to end with "Having to pay %20 intrest on your purchase for one year $365.48")

Total $115, small price to pay for so much happiness

 

[reefrunner69]

Well, I guess FW is cheaper than SW LMAO, check out the same thread in SW general forum.

 

[Bearfan]

An informed pet owner/hobbiest is a better one. If you want to check out the SW:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=2811

 

[Guest]

When i set up the 90 gallon, i had a breakdown of all the prices, but essentially it came in at about 900 bucks.

If I knew then what I know now, prolly coulda done it about 200 cheaper.

 

[targaboy78]

My 35G 'Swim-Thru'

1. Tank / Fluval 4 / heater / gravel / driftwood.
(Bought the whole "kit" used) $100
2. Stand $90
3. 2 flourescent light fixtures with PowerGLO tubes $50
4. Fluval 304 Filter $65
5. Misc. Live plants (Cabomba, Wysteria, Java Fern, etc...) $25

Approximate Total - $330 + livestock

Let's just call it $10 per gallon.

 

[shanekennedy]

$700 75g custom acrylic (built for in-wall placement)
$800 eheim 2028 canister, eheim 2229 wet/dry, substrate, hagen master test kit, 2x viaaqua titanium heaters, 2x eheim auto feeders, 2x aqualight 36" 96w 50/50 compact florescent lights, net, mag-float cleaner
$200 RO/DI filter
$? fish

 

[shawmutt]

Initially, I got this stuff free from my father in law:

29 Gallon Tank
Tank Stand
Hood & Light
Java Fern
Angel fish
Cory Cat
Gravel
Small Piece of driftwood
Hang on power filter
Red slate rocks
Magnet Glass cleaner
2 5 Gallon water jugs (the kind that go on the water cooler)

When the angel died, I decided on the kind of tank I wanted and got (approx $):

Black Background $15
Black Gravel $40
Cardinal Tetras $45 for 12 (have 9 now)
Ottos $5 for 4 (have 2 now)
Corys $6 for 2
African Root $35
Amazon swords $6 for 2 (have 1 now)
DIY CO2 injection approx $5
Jaguar Skull $10

This is for my current tank. I'll tack on an extra $100 for equipment I bought, like airpumps and a coral reef light, that I don't use.

And then there's upkeep:

Distilled Water 6 gallon per week @ .65, $4
Filter Media 1 box of three sponges every 6 weeks, $3
Small gravel vaccuum $5
Test Kit $20
Food ~$5 a month

And I'm sure I'll go home and find a few other things.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

29 gallon high
Got the tank and eclipse hood for free, but if I had to pay for these:
Tank/stand - $50
Eclipse hood(lighting, filtration combined)- $60
substrate - $20
plants - $15
decor - $15
fish - $16
Total - $176

 

[d9hp]

FW is soo much cheaper than SW, and can be just as nice.

 

[shawmutt]

I will probably never get a salt water tank because of the costs. $2000 will get me a nice scuba trip to the Keys. I just don't have that kind of expendable income. I don't skimp on quality when I buy my stuff, so I think if I started a salt water tank I would be more stressed out than calmed by it.

 

[Guest]

I will probably never get a salt water tank because of the costs. $2000 will get me a nice scuba trip to the Keys. I just don't have that kind of expendable income. I don't skimp on quality when I buy my stuff, so I think if I started a salt water tank I would be more stressed out than calmed by it.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[hisc1ay]

Here's mine. It's not done yet, but I'll estimate for the stuff I don't have yet.

29 gallon w/ stand - free
5 bags gravel (3 "aztec brown" 2 white) - $10
fun driftwood off of ebay - $7.25
plants - $5.00
125w Ebo Jager heater (ebay) - $15
Emperor 280 filter (ebay) - $26
glass lid - $15
two african cichlids of some sort - $15ish
let's say $20 for kits and food

total: $113.25

-j

 

[TheNewGuy]

135g

Tank and Stand free, mods to stand 18$
magnum 350 pro 93$
rena pro 300 watt heater 24$
tetratec ap150 17$
Lighting Free
3 25lbs gravel 40$
master test kit 25$
air stones and air line 25$


still to come...
the rest of my stand custom built (by me) oak cabinets and top
plants and rocks
FISH??? maybe

I post pics as soon as it's not ugly it's not so great right now but it is up and running.

 

[fishstixs05]

55 gallon tank
lights and hood
hang on back filter
undergravel filter
powerhead
gravel
fake plants
a large can of fish food
Very nice wood stand

ALL FOR ONLY $150!

 

[wabyrd]

55 Gallon tank, stand, canopy, gravel, and 24" flourescent Lights $550.00
Two Emperor 280's $120.00
Rena Air pump and air stones $70.00
Fish $100.00 or so and counting...
Plants $50.00 or so and counting...
More lights $70.00

Approximate total $900.00

Not counting my dual APC battery backup for the filters and several other unmentioned accessories...
Then there are the other 3 tanks with a 4th (125 Gallon) on the way

 

[justDIY]

my setup:

29 gallon display tank located in living room

29 gallon tank $35
60 lbs black epoxy gravel $45
renacal 150 watt heater $23
fluval 404 canister with media $109
diy stand $30
ge 432 electronic ballast $30
diy light parts $25
bulbs $20 (t8 5000 kelvin 18 watts)
plants $70
diy co2 $10
livestock $60

so what's that, around $457 ... give or take .... ouch ... from what I've learned now, aquarium gravel is not your friend ... use pea gravel, river rock or quartz sand ... save money!!

most expenive thing was obviously the filter, and the lights ... but the filter as long as it's not leaking works really well ... the lights are actually burned out already, and I've since upgraded to power-compact ... which was well, another $100 roughly!

30 gallon plant holding tank

30 gallon tank $30 (over paid for it, but it seemed a good deal at the time)
diy stand $50 (this stand is built to hold a 120 gallon tank)
40 lbs Schultz profile $30
ebo jager 150 watt heater $25
2x whisper 2 filters $40
250 watt metal halide pendant $120
diy co2 $5
plants $free

well that works out to $300 ... right at $10 / gallon LOL

for my next planned tank I'm going to do a 120 gallon, which is posted around here somewhere. I will find the link and edit it in here.

 

[talenzmeier]

I'm Not the Only One

It's good to see that I'm not the only one who's spending money!

Oceanic 58 Show w/ pine stand $279
Hagen Fluval 304 $125
Red Sea Plant Substrate $150
CL CoraLife w/ actinic $250
UGF $40
2 Penguin Powerheads $40
Decorations $75

Then there's the plants and fish! I have another tank just like this one and I have a marine tank that cost a helluva lot more. I guess I like fish!