Your $500 Dream Tank

[mobiusnu]

If you had $500 to spend on your dream tank (or at least the best that will get you), what would you get?

(Rules: You can't use stuff you already have other than a stand and any tools you might need. You have to buy everything; you can't get donations. You don't need stuff like fish nets and a gravel vac.)

 

[ace1uno_00]

I would get a 55 Gallon. acrylic.
with a black stand
a Eheim filter.
"crushed coral" substrate
Live plants. a moss ball lol
and i would have a arowana.
and a stingray.
thats probably over 500$ lol

 

[spongebob69]

$500 won't buy you much of a dream tank...maybe a 20 gallon setup with some decent equipment.

 

[Guest]

$500 will possibly buy you a $375 125 gal tank setup(comes with food, filter heater net ect.) from your LFS and use a nice teal and dark blue substrate then i would add like 3 oscars and a few plecos maybe 3 not even but i would go with 2 plecos, they get to be 20" oscars get to be about 1' and the only thing that sucks is the cleaning

stand will be about $125 or you could make your own

 

[dr_girlfriend]

I think a true dreamtank would be more in the 2000 dollar range at least. But for 500 I could do plenty of damage

I would get a mated pair of imported show japanese ranchu.....that would be my 500 right there....

Or, I could get a used tank for about $100, a filter for around another $100, a pressurized co2 system $150, eco-complete substrate $100 (at least), and the remaining on plants and livestock.

Or, a 55 gallon tank set; sell the filter and lighting. Buy 15 lbs of live rock, 45 lbs of base rock, a good skimmer and a light fixture with around 4 wpg. And that would be at least 500 bucks.

 

[Jchillin]

I just set up that tank (see sig for tank pics).

 

[malkore]

Yeah I'd buy a 125gallon tank/stand. That'd be my $500. If I had any left over, I'd put it into a piggy bank to pay for lighting.

 

[Zezmo]

By the time I put all my goodies and some nice fish into my 55gal I had dropped over $1000.00. But, if you already have existing tanks of a similar size range you might be able to save some money by re-using some items.

For example, the 55gal setup was actually $199 at petco, but I soon found the Lighting, Filter, and Heater were not up to snuff and had to be replaced. Cuz mine is a planted tank, i dropped some extra dough on the lights, a non-planted could be done for less money I think.

 

[ScottVinVA]

Sounds like you have a budget and want to setup your own tank and want opinions

However, I think I would buy a used 55gallon with stand for $150 (you can find them). Eheim Pro II 2026 filter $180 (, 200w heater (or 150w not sure of the right one), light colored stone, some large rocks from outdoors, plants and not sure about lighting. I don't know enough about it to decide yet.

 

[revhtree]

I'm with you Malkore...

 

[supaoopa]

Only $500. I'd probably go with a ADA style frameless 20 long tank. Some type of suspended lighting, open top with a pressurized co2 system with all the bells and whistles, and a Ehiem 2213. But I think I'd be a bit over the $500 budget.

 

[ace1uno_00]

500$ i would get hundreds of betas and hundreds of one gallon tanks. lol that would be crazy lookin. and set them all up of the same wall.

 

[smallfry]

Can we up the budget to $5000? THEN we'd have something to work with! YEAH

 

[Zezmo]

heh... I like the hundreds of Beta Bowls Idea.

Put them on some sort of wall hanging... like candle sconces or somthing.

You could then use the variety of colors and bowl shapes to create a mural... maybe an under water scene. Oh, or even better a Desert scene, in the Santa Fe style... made from water and fish.

<<starts looking at that empty wall in the hallway

 

[Crusis]

I have a planted 75G that I am approaching $1000 with... so with $500 I'd buy another 75G from the LFS (I got my tank and stand for $350 with lights). I'd get rocks from the local landscaping place I use, get some sand, and buy $100 in supplies off Ebay. Probably could get a nice filter, air pump, heater, and airstones for that. I got an Emperor 400 for $29 on Ebay, a 300W heater for $17, and a nice pump for $20. The rest would probably go for shipping. Then, with the remaining $50, I'd get some colorful very small African Cichlids from the LFS and watch them grow. I'd leave the tank unplanted. I'd probably feed them all the fry from my other tank where the Sunset mollies are breeding like nuts.

 

[krap101]

id want to move to a house by the ocean, build an underground tunnel leading to a giant glass room so i can look out into the ocean from underneath

 

[mattrox]

I saw a 8ftx2ftx2ft tank in the paper 2nd hand with everything.... a bit over budget but they wanted AU$930 for it.... very tempting!!!!

 

[Andos99]

I would buy 2 Arapaima Gigas ($250/fish at my LPS) and throw them in my pool.

 

[jaysono]

If you had $500 to spend on your dream tank (or at least the best that will get you), what would you get?

I'd have it clean itself