Just a reminder: Budget saltwater tanks don't exist

[NanoNana]

Well, what does "budget" mean? Yes, you probably can't get a nano tank under $300, but "budget" could mean very different price ranges dependent on the person. IMO, people going to put animals under their care, should not be "on a budget." Yes, you could do it cheaper than the normal tank, but anyone caring for animals IMO has to be willing to provide the proper care, which in most cases means buying things that are more expensive. I mean, just go on social media and search up fish tanks, and alot of what will show up is freshwater fish crammed into a one or two gallon tank, filled with plastic. Unfortuantly, sometimes I also see that with the saltwater fish. So yes, I agree with your point. People should not have a budget to where they can't properly care for the fish. But, it can vary greatly from person to person.

I found a 24 gallon AIO with everything (pumps, skimmer, ATO, rocks, thermometer, wave makers, filter floss, 5 gallon containers for mixing, salt, dosing supplies, reef food, fish food, coral dip, Red Sea test kits, turkey basters, and stand and probably more I’m forgetting for $200. It was used 6 months (guy found it too labor intensive and went back to freshies.) got a noopsyche K7 mini while on sale. Came in at just under $300.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

I found a 24 gallon AIO with everything (pumps, skimmer, ATO, rocks, thermometer, wave makers, filter floss, 5 gallon containers for mixing, salt, dosing supplies, reef food, fish food, coral dip, Red Sea test kits, turkey basters, and stand and probably more I’m forgetting for $200. It was used 6 months (guy found it too labor intensive and went back to freshies.) got a noopsyche K7 mini while on sale. Came in at just under $300.

That number was just an estimate, but you were just under it. That is a really good deal you got.

 

[NanoNana]

That number was just an estimate, but you were just under it. That is a really good deal you got.

I was very pleased when it popped up on marketplace only an hour away! Now, stocking the tank…..completely different story. Lol. Not a lot of reef stores near me so shipping eats me alive.

 

[Glowurm]

So i've literally just finished the cycle on my first tank and the costs were high (hardware).

There are further costs down the line but, and its a big but i don't need an all singing all dancing solution on day one, its a journey. For instance i don't need to dose because i am not adding corals for at least 3/4 months (tank bedding in), i dont need a fancy controller because an inkbird can monitor my temp and i work from home so no need for an ATO in the short term etc.

From here on ill be taking it slowly, got a plan with a spend per month going out for a year, next on the list is RO set up, but even there my starting solution isn't my end goal.

I never entered the hobby expecting it to be cheap, bulk of my spend is done, going forward its about incremental improvements, should be fun!

 

[DanATL]

Haha the equipment is a lot more though

I disagree, you can run an appropriately stocked fish only tank with a HOB or canister filter. Swirl some instant ocean in some tap water and off you go. I guess you need a hydrometer but that's all I can think of. It's not a reef tank but you have salt water fish!

 

[William Chiavetta]

I disagree, you can run an appropriately stocked fish only tank with a HOB or canister filter. Swirl some instant ocean in some tap water and off you go. I guess you need a hydrometer but that's all I can think of. It's not a reef tank but you have salt water fish!

tap water is very unsafe for fish and needs to be conditioned just right. also with only an HOB filter you will need to do a lot of manal cleanup. Heater? Light? Lid? Sand? Rock? I don't know about this

 

[NanoNana]

Haha the equipment is a lot more though

I have a friend who’s only equipment is the tank, power heads and the light. He runs no filtration at all. Weekly 25% water changes. Manually tests parameters and doses by hand if needed. It can be done.

 

[Pntbll687]

I see people too often asking "I need help setting up a budget fish tank" but the best you can do is try to get sales or used things. the amount of money you spend reflects the quality of the tank. If you have a different opinion I'm open to hearing different viewpoints.

I think "budget" is in the eye of the user and what they want.

Radion xr30 - $1000ea
QuantaPro LED 6' - $300ea

3 QuantaPro bars will cover a standard 180g tank and grow a mixed reef for less than a single xr30. I would say the QuantaPro bars are a "budget" option.

I think where people go wrong with "budget" items are the amazon lights that no one has heard of before and just buying it and then wondering why it doesn't grow what they want.

 

[William Chiavetta]

I have a friend who’s only equipment is the tank, power heads and the light. He runs no filtration at all. Weekly 25% water changes. Manually tests parameters and doses by hand if needed. It can be done.

Personally I feel like that is not allowing proper living conditions. I'm not an expert on that but that is my opinion

 

[NanoNana]

tap water is very unsafe for fish and needs to be conditioned just right. also with only an HOB filter you will need to do a lot of manal cleanup. Heater? Light? Lid? Sand? Rock? I don't know about this

My grandmother ran her tanks for 60 years on WELL water. She lived in a town of 100 people and made it work with what she had.

 

[William Chiavetta]

My grandmother ran her tanks for 60 years on WELL water. She lived in a town of 100 people and made it work with what she had.

I use well water lol. Well water is more safe than tap. was she keeping saltwater?

 

[NanoNana]

Personally I feel like that is not allowing proper living conditions. I'm not an expert on that but that is my opinion

What on earth gives you that opinion? If water parameters are maintained and stock is growing and happy and he Never looses fish or coral the conditions are obviously ideal. He has the ecosphere so dialed in filtration is not necessary. It’s not unheard of and is a goal for many reef keepers. We all chase a perfect replication of ocean conditions. Some people are either skilled enough or lucky enough to achieve it.

 

[Legomaniac]

Budget tanks 100% exist. I ran a tank in my office for a few years that I picked out of the trash near my parents house(free) complete with a stand. I purchased a light from Amazon, some dry rock and a small bag of sand. Total cost was less than $200 and it grew coral like crazy.

 

[SpyC]

I'm not saying spend 20k but the less you spend the more work and the more problems down the road you have. I would def say unless it's a tank 2nd hand is great

What is your evidence to this?

 

[SpyC]

I would agree but like if your doing corals maybe a better light would be optimal. Thank you for sharing your opinion. This has been a very interesting topic to me

Black box from amazon work just fine.

 

[NanoNana]

I use well water lol. Well water is more safe than tap. was she keeping saltwater?

She kept everything. Flint Michigan would disagree with your assertion that well water is saver than tap. In my area coooer was mined heavily, I’d no more use well water in a fish tank than step in a fire ant bed on purpose. There are places where tap water has very low TDS and is likely okay with minimal conditioning.

We all agree that it’s an expensive hobby but with patience and some luck most people could set something up with a reasonable budget.

 

[SpyC]

Personally I feel like that is not allowing proper living conditions. I'm not an expert on that but that is my opinion

How so? The rock provides all of the biological filtration you need. Cleanup crew takes care of waste. Water change to keep some levels down and/or replace some elements.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I use well water lol. Well water is more safe than tap. was she keeping saltwater?

I have a friend who’s only equipment is the tank, power heads and the light. He runs no filtration at all. Weekly 25% water changes. Manually tests parameters and doses by hand if needed. It can be done.

Personally I feel like that is not allowing proper living conditions. I'm not an expert on that but that is my opinion

What on earth gives you that opinion? If water parameters are maintained and stock is growing and happy and he Never looses fish or coral the conditions are obviously ideal. He has the ecosphere so dialed in filtration is not necessary. It’s not unheard of and is a goal for many reef keepers. We all chase a perfect replication of ocean conditions. Some people are either skilled enough or lucky enough to achieve it.

As has been mentioned, budget tanks are possible either by doing a ton of research to figure out what exactly will be needed and what cheap equipment will work to replace the typically very expensive stuff, or by looking for good deals on used equipment (for examples, $50 lights have already been mentioned; I've legitimately seen a 500 gallon tank given away free before, and a couple other smaller ones in the 100-300 gallon range; it's not common, but it happens every now and then - I pretty regularly see 10-40 gallon tanks offered free or super cheap though).

Anyway, to address the points above - well water and tap water both have incredibly variable quality: well and tap water are totally fine and safe for some people in some locations, but would literally kill everything in a tank in other places.

I've seen a few well water reports at this point, but I've mostly seen city reports on tap water - they basically sample a few houses from various areas around the city and test for a handful of specific things (such as copper); each house has different water quality, sometimes extremely different, so they test for averages and for any houses exceeding the limit for certain things (better reports will list the range found by the tests). That said, since the testing is meant to test the water's safety for human use/consumption, some of the tests (such as the copper tests) aren't typically sensitive enough to be useful for telling if the water is safe for our aquariums or not - so they could list zero or negligible amounts of something when in reality there's enough of it there to cause issues in our tanks.

Now, with regards to the filtration, as mentioned, if done properly, a tank can run with strictly biofiltration provided by rocks/sand, algae, and/or things like cryptic sponges - a lot of people actually aim for that (typically using a refugium/cryptic refugium, though). IIRC, you can find a few examples in the thread below:

Minimalist Reefer

I'd like to see R2R start a 'Minimalist Reefer' forum for those of us who want to keep it simple and maybe be a bit 'old school' in the way we do things. I'm a member of the Reef Squad here and in talking with a few other Reef Squad members, I've found they have some very similar feelings. So...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[William Chiavetta]

What on earth gives you that opinion? If water parameters are maintained and stock is growing and happy and he Never looses fish or coral the conditions are obviously ideal. He has the ecosphere so dialed in filtration is not necessary. It’s not unheard of and is a goal for many reef keepers. We all chase a perfect replication of ocean conditions. Some people are either skilled enough or lucky enough to achieve it.

If the water parameters are okay then that's fine but that is extremely hard to achieve with no filter

 

[William Chiavetta]

What is your evidence to this?

More money you spend the more likely it is that the things you buy will work well