Cost for Your FW Setup

[Punkymom]

Ok. I'm not finished buying yet, so here's my list so far:

55 gal tank starter kit from PetSmart included hoods and light fixtures, filter, heater, and food samples valued at more than $5.00 and a cool video to watch: $150.00
Gravel (I will be returning this as I believe I can get it cheaper at Wal-Mart) 2 25# bags: $26.00 <shocker!!!>
Decoration i couldn't live without: $25.00
Complete water testing kit (haven't bought yet): $20.00
Plants (haven't bought yet): $2.00e (about) I'll probably buy like 15 or so
Fish (haven't bought yet) 6 angels: $5.00e, 4 corys: $3.50e, 3 swordtails: $3.00e (I think)
Wrought Iron stand: $65.00 (should be here tomorrow, then I get to start setting everything up!!!)
Background (haven't bought yet): $2.00 a foot
One of those cool vacuums that hooks up to the sink (haven't bought yet): $30.00
Fish bucket (haven't bought yet): $1.00 (I'm another fan of dollar stores!!!)
One of those cool algae magnet things (haven't bought yet): $10.00

I think that's all

That's roughly $425.00

 

[justDIY]

if I may comment

6 angels alone would be "close quarters" for a 55 gallon, full grown they like to have about 10 gallon each or 15 gallon for a mated pair - having to share 50 gallons with 7 other fish will make them mighty uncomforatble when they reach adult size...

if any of your angels decide they want to breed, you will have a big problem, as there won't be enough space to establish separate "territories", casuing your poor angels to fight with each other and with the other fish.

of course, if you're plannin on upgrading in six to nine months, perhaps adding another tank, then you could take out some angels (pairs hopefully!) and move them to new home(s)

-----

as far as your gravel - unless you're looking for a certain colored variety, check out your landscaping companies. for less than $10 you can get more than enough chat gravel, pea gravel, river rock or quartz sand to do a 55 gal... sure the landscape products are a little dirtyer than the prewashed gravel sold for $10 a small bag at the pet store, but it cleans up easily and has a very pleasing natural look to it. I visited a local concrete and landscape business here and received ~ 90 lbs (2 5gal buckets) of "crushed" river rock gravel that looks awesome underwater ... the best part was the price - FREE ... they sold the stuff for $10 a ton!


also if you're considering a lot of plants, you might want to check out Schultz Aquatic Potting soil. I am a recent adopter of it and it works well... although it is more expensive that aquarium gravel, it is a lot less expensive than aquarium 'plant gravels' like fluorite or laterite. a 2.5" layer of this covered with 1/2" of pea gravel would give you great results.

 

[Deliverme314]

90 gallon planted
Tank and stand $400
Lighting 4X65 JBJ formosa Delux $300
Fluval 304 Filtration $120(i think)
Emperor 400 filtration $80(i think)
Sand 100lbs... didnt use all of it $10
Flourite 60lbs used all of it $45(i think)
Co2 system including PH Controller, tank, reactor etc... $370
350Watt heater $30
Plants $150
Prunning set $25
fish $50 (so far for my cyclers)
Chemicals(stress zyme, amoo lock...) $50
Testers $40
Buckets for water changes $20

I know Im forgetting something... approx total so far... $1690!!! Tank is a month old yesterday.

 

[purplestarfish]

All told, I spent about $75 for a ten gallon set up. Tank, filter, tiny food packet, and light bulbs included. Came from Walmart . . . don't remember how much I spent on it. I bought three bags of gravel, 5# each; plastic decorations; heater; tacky background design (since been flipped over to the black side); decoration that was $9.99 but only really worth 4-5 bucks . . . and that was about it. I had read enough to cycle my fish and add fish gradually, though, so the fish didn't come till later and therefore I'm not counting them.

20 gallon: I just transfered that gravel, bought another few pounds of gravel for the ten gallon, and a few more decorations (tacky, oh well). It got its own heater and filter but is currently empty.

As for my 55 gallon . . . WITH solid wood (oak, matches my furniture by coincident) cabinet . . . it also came with:
-2" bed of gravel
-heater
-thermometer
-siphon
-pH and nitrite and ammonia and GH kit
-net breeder
-5 scissortail rasboras
-6 harlequin rasboras
-1 bala shark (7")
-3 kuhli loaches
-2 clown loaches
-1 tattered betta
-food
-net
-other stuff which I probably don't remember but I know I have
and it would have come with zebra danios and plecos, too, but I turned them down. So I got all of the above for an amazingly low $200 (the price of the tank and cabinet by itself for brand new, without anything else, most likely!).
I then bought a $29.99 "tree root" decoration and around another $30 of plants, most of which are dead, because I had none of the necessary implements (which I am ordering via catalog this week, finally). But it's all good. Happy stuff for me!

 

[Punkymom]

I'm planning on using the swordtails for cycling and then removing them. I have another tank that isn't set up. It's a 10 gallon and it will be just for them.

 

[yv1]

here sjust for the basics....

truvu 40 gallon tank (used) with hood & heater- $90
stand (used) - $60
filter (new) - $45
hagen co2 system - $26.99
submersible light tube - $40
2 screwn-in CF bulbs - $32
substrate - $40

total: $333.99

other accessories like chemicals and vacuum, etc not included in total. and of course plants and fish and fish food not included. i think if i added those in id be up in the 600's.

one day ill start a SW tank....when im not skipping lunches to buy more filter media.

 

[Punkymom]

The "almost" complete list of purchases:

55 gal starter kit: $159.99
12 plants: $28.68
Plant food: $5.99
Book on aquarium plants: $6.95
Aquarium salt: $5.99
Algae magnet: $12.99
8' of airline tubing: $1.49
Water testing strips: $22.99
Airstones: $4.99
Flourish tabs for the plants: $8.99
Stand: $65.00
Gravel (60# worth): $31.99
Python gravel cleaner: $39.99
Fish food (had to throw my old food away): $11.98
12" Fish Net: $7.49
Accessory for Python thing: $5.99
Airline holder thingy (suction cups): $1.89
Aquarium sealant: $6.99
Decoration I couldn't live without: $24.99
Background: $7.96 (about)
Severums: FREE!!! (haven't added yet)

Grand Total: $500.00 (by the time I buy fish and all that, LOL)

 

[SixFootDaisy]

I don't think I want to add up my tank. I might die of a heartattack!

 

[demurefemme]

without including any fish or plants, the setup for my 46 gal. was about 430 dollars (including tax)...i can't remember the exact breakdown, but here's what all that covered:

46 gal. bowfront glass tank
stand, cover, light hood
heater (150 watt, at the time)
3-4 bags of gravel
emperor 280 filter
tank thermometer
water conditioners
gravel vac
bogwood (my ph saviour)
fish net
proper ph 6.5 (it was originally for multiple angelfish, but "shark" decided that he wanted to be the only one....so it's now a tropical community)

that's all i can think of right now!

 

[shawmutt]

I've already said how much my tank cost in this post, but I just did a complete overhaul and started over. I went from the pic in my gallery, to this http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=6987&highlight= and it cost me:

$10 for eggcrate to line the bottom
$25 for bucket o' rocks from local plant store
$5 for carribean play sand
----
$40...not too bad, huh?

 

[justDIY]

how much for the total equipment in the tank? i mean, the tank itself, heater, filter, powerheads, light, etc?

$25 for all those rocks is a sweet deal ... where did you get them from? "plant store", is that like a greenhouse, or like a Franks or something?

 

[shawmutt]

Like a Franks...I had to go to 3 different nurseries before I found a place that broke up pallets. My other stuff is listed on the first page on this post.

 

[betowess]

Just bought a new tank

I just bought a beautiful new 26 gallon Bowfront (without a stand as I am using some old file cabinets for now) a 65watt Coralife compact florescent, a glass top, a 200 Aquaclear power filter and 25lbs of gravel which now unfortunately I am changing over to Seachem gravel plant substrate (having decided to plant live plants this go around and do it right) and a 150 or 200 watt heater, thermometer, way cool sunken tree. All for about $250.00 Now after ordering the Carbo unit at $139.00 and the Seachem substrate and some fertilizers and a few incidentals were looking at a cool
$525.00 sans fish and plants... Really wish I had gone for a 36 or 50 gallon tank in hind sight. Well, there's always the next one.

 

[betowess]

Just bought a new tank

ops

 

[rossmort]

5 1/2 gallon tank (hood, light, filter)-21 dollars
Lil' bitty heater- 6 dollars
piece of glass and sealant to make a Paludarium type set up- 7 dollars
Sand for dry side- after lots of washing and sifting FREE (Wow, I am cheap!)
Rock for wet side- ^^What I sifted out^^ FREE again
Bought a beta for now for the wet side (Approx 2.3 gallons)-~4 dollars
Still trying to find fiddler crabs (reason I set up the tank)- Est. $2x2=4 dollars

Say around $45
This tank is for my dorm, wish I could go bigger!

 

[e-cat]

since my 70gallon is all i am running now i will price that one
70gallon glass tank-$189
glass canopy-$37
metal stand-$30(made it at work)
fluval 204-$100
aquaclear 300-$54
thermal 150w heater-$30
heater guard-$12
gravel-$40
hollow log-$15
bogwood-$20
various pieces of rock-$10
various plants-$33
thermostats-2, 1 at each end-$10
power head-$30
light fixture-$50
1 electric catfish-$40
that comes too $700 canadian ruffly

 

[EMc/]

55G :
Tank- $5 (got it @ a yard sale)

Stand-$ 0 (Own a metalfab job shop; have lots of spare carts)

Lighting- ~$15 (Shop light on sale @ home improvement store)
- "x" for bulbs (Not sure of cost, had these extra too, buy in bulk)
- $0- sunlight (it's in a west facing window)

Gravel- $0 (scavenged from old tanks, but had I bought it, it would have been from a home improvement store, & inexpensive)

Filter- $0 (Don't use any mechanical filtration system)

Plants- ~$20 (splurged & bought several bulbs + scavenged plants from other tanks.)

Heater- $~20 (Aquabid- $18 + shipping)

Decorative Rocks- $0 (Was fortunate to inherit a fabulous rock collection)

CO2 sytem- $0 (Don't use any)

Fish- Minimal- ~<$10. (Two old angels from another tank, bought them young, so minimal cost. A school of glowlight tetras- cheap. A few otos- cheap. The rest of the fish are livebearer offspring from other tanks, & their parents were all gifts from other hobbiest.)

Apple snails- ~$5

Satisfaction- priceless!

 

[saaebn]

cost of tanks

hello-
I loved reading this thread. It got me thinking about how much I have spent on my tanks. I will try to estimate what it cost me...

75 gal all-glass tank- free- hand me down from my parents house.
underground filter system -free- hand me down but I just recently
bought a new filter
canopy flourescent light- $55.
air pump- $25
air stones- $5.
air regulator piece- $5.
tubing - probably about $5 total.
fake plants - $50
rocks - $50
15 " plastic stump - $15.
8 " plastic stump - $10
rena filstar xp2 canister filter - $100.
2 bubble bars - $10
meds for anchor worms $15
food $25
3 tiger danios - $5
4 catfish bottom feeders - $5
5 goldfish - $15
live plant cutting for nipping- $5.
tank tube vacuum - $8
temp strip -$2
all in all about $410 give or take. Dont tell my hubby

my sons 10 gal tank -

10 gal tank
aqua clear mini filter
heater
rocks
decorative mountain
charcoal filter

all of the above I got at St. Vincents for $20
incandescent light strip $30
2 fish enhancing light bulbs $5
3 red wag $ 6
1 betta $4
1 snail $2
temp bar $2
food $10
algea pellets for the snail $3
total- about $82

 

[Punkymom]

Can we safely say that keeping fish is not really cheap? I heard someone telling someone else that if they wanted a cheap pet for their child to get a fish...the only cheap fish I can see anyone keeping is a Betta. Those are going to cost the least to keep. I never thought I would ever spend almost $600 on fish!!! But I don't regret a dime of it...

 

[William]

10gal
Tank kit: $55
Gravel: $10
Live Plants: $10
Heater: $25
Pretty Rocks and stuff: $15

Total: 115 excluding the fish.


30Gal

Tank & Hood: $63
Filter: $30
Gravel: $40
Plants: Incomplete
Decorations: Incomplete


Total: $133 [ I'm sure it'll grow to over 200 by the time I'm done ]