200 litre 46gallon new build cost

[Rick's Reviews]

Hi, for me I have setup a 200 litre aquarium that was used and leaking (obviously seller said it's fine) for £100 which cabinet was included, so let's say £50 a piece, no problem, I painted aquarium stand ( black to white) and re-sealed 200lt aquarium by cutting out all internal sealent and resealing using aquarium sealent so this far great £120 total.
It was a little bit of hard work but better than paying more for each (cabinet can cost as much as tank) from this stage I filled up my aquarium to max. Just got water from my tap to check pressure and also hot water from kettle to raise temp above 80f, I left my aquarium alone at this stage (full of water to check for leaks) waiting impatiently,
I ordered ( best part of setting up is buying)
Viparspectra 165w at £110 from China (I'm patient so delivery time not so important)
Jaebo wavemaker £45 (again China)
External filter (cannister) from swell £53
200w heater £9
Surface skimmer £9 great for airating but need to change filter floss regularly (fine works better than coarse)

Yes sounds great and cheap... I started this aquriam in Feb march, I thought so to, then we move on to test kits and live bacteria etc,
I chose API quick start, as I was in no hurry to fill my tank, this changed everything in my aquarium, everything turned brown and strange growth all over my aquriam, so this tells me it has worked,

Please let me know if this has helped, I am currently£1500 in, I'll share some pics ( I have 2 common clowns 1 shrimp that is now massive tenticals, , hermits snails)
[email protected]

Thanks.
I will continue my build thread if Requested, from leaks to first fish and corals , thanks (genuine new build thread, in house not shops selling stuff)

 

[P-Dub]

So far so good!

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Hi, for me I have setup a 200 litre aquarium that was used and leaking (obviously seller said it's fine) for £100 which cabinet was included, so let's say £50 a piece, no problem, I painted aquarium stand ( black to white) and re-sealed 200lt aquarium by cutting out all internal sealent and resealing using aquarium sealent so this far great £120 total.
It was a little bit of hard work but better than paying more for each (cabinet can cost as much as tank) from this stage I filled up my aquarium to max. Just got water from my tap to check pressure and also hot water from kettle to raise temp above 80f, I left my aquarium alone at this stage (full of water to check for leaks) waiting impatiently,
I ordered ( best part of setting up is buying)
Viparspectra 165w at £110 from China (I'm patient so delivery time not so important)
Jaebo wavemaker £45 (again China)
External filter (cannister) from swell £53
200w heater £9
Surface skimmer £9 great for airating but need to change filter floss regularly (fine works better than coarse)

Yes sounds great and cheap... I started this aquriam in Feb march, I thought so to, then we move on to test kits and live bacteria etc,
I chose API quick start, as I was in no hurry to fill my tank, this changed everything in my aquarium, everything turned brown and strange growth all over my aquriam, so this tells me it has worked,

Please let me know if this has helped, I am currently£1500 in, I'll share some pics ( I have 2 common clowns 1 shrimp that is now massive tenticals, , hermits snails)
[email protected]

Thanks.
I will continue my build thread if Requested, from leaks to first fish and corals , thanks (genuine new build thread, in house not shops selling stuff)

Also during this time, I think 1 month of literally buying all and researching everything, I received my main sand and rocks. £150 , cheapest I could find including postage. (Postage is a big deal in regards to setting up and also on orders of fish or corals) I don't have a local fish store.

I started to aquascape on my floor, I did receive some broken pieces of rock, I used aquarium sealent to repair but unfortunately was to ugly to use, however company sent me a new piece, without hesitation big thumbs up charterhouse aquatics UK

I went for the old original center approach for my aquascape....

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Also during this time, I think 1 month of literally buying all and researching everything, I received my main sand and rocks. £150 , cheapest I could find including postage. (Postage is a big deal in regards to setting up and also on orders of fish or corals) I don't have a local fish store.

I started to aquascape on my floor, I did receive some broken pieces of rock, I used aquarium sealent to repair but unfortunately was to ugly to use, however company sent me a new piece, without hesitation big thumbs up charterhouse aquatics UK

I went for the old original center approach for my aquascape....

After deciding on my aquascape, I placed in my aquriam and used 2 part epoxy to fix in place (purple colour) I know this would show up so as it was curing I used my hand in sand and stuck it to the surface of the epoxy to try and blend, some worked but other areas not to well, .... Ah for this next bit I'm going to get an ear bashing.... So I used tap water with API tap water conditioner, also used cheap sea salt (not for corals) I think 15kg, using this method and also placing my aquascape in place I added sand (Caribbean) live sand and then API quick start

 

[Rick's Reviews]

After deciding on my aquascape, I placed in my aquriam and used 2 part epoxy to fix in place (purple colour) I know this would show up so as it was curing I used my hand in sand and stuck it to the surface of the epoxy to try and blend, some worked but other areas not to well, .... Ah for this next bit I'm going to get an ear bashing.... So I used tap water with API tap water conditioner, also used cheap sea salt (not for corals) I think 15kg, using this method and also placing my aquascape in place I added sand (Caribbean) live sand and then API quick start

 

[Rick's Reviews]

After deciding on my aquascape, I placed in my aquriam and used 2 part epoxy to fix in place (purple colour) I know this would show up so as it was curing I used my hand in sand and stuck it to the surface of the epoxy to try and blend, some worked but other areas not to well, .... Ah for this next bit I'm going to get an ear bashing.... So I used tap water with API tap water conditioner, also used cheap sea salt (not for corals) I think 15kg, using this method and also placing my aquascape in place I added sand (Caribbean) live sand and then API quick start

I used API quick start bacteria to see how it worked against Dr Tim's and all other brands, maybe in the future (my next aquarium I will try other)
From adding this API quick start I was checking daily with API master kit, worked great as a starter kit, I knew I was not adding anything until parimaters was stable.
However. I was still off the charts using API, I used Dr Tim's ammonia to get my cycle going and continued to use along with ghost feeding

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I used API quick start bacteria to see how it worked against Dr Tim's and all other brands, maybe in the future (my next aquarium I will try other)
From adding this API quick start I was checking daily with API master kit, worked great as a starter kit, I knew I was not adding anything until parimaters was stable.
However. I was still off the charts using API, I used Dr Tim's ammonia to get my cycle going and continued to use along with ghost feeding

Then it's down to cost of test kits and anything associated, I have all these wonderful chemicals plus more however, I still use old school floating thermometer and salinity tester
Never fails.
So from my growing list of what you require. Salinity tester/refractometer definitely, about £20 for accuracy, also great fun to use, test kits, I used API as it was £22 for a bundle, however I had time to do fishless cycle, so API gave me amonia, nitrates and nitrites and pH level, all in one,,

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Then it's down to cost of test kits and anything associated, I have all these wonderful chemicals plus more however, I still use old school floating thermometer and salinity tester
Never fails.
So from my growing list of what you require. Salinity tester/refractometer definitely, about £20 for accuracy, also great fun to use, test kits, I used API as it was £22 for a bundle, however I had time to do fishless cycle, so API gave me amonia, nitrates and nitrites and pH level, all in one,,

I have calcium, nitrate and nitrite test from salifert but these are close to £13 each, so another £40 ,

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I have calcium, nitrate and nitrite test from salifert but these are close to £13 each, so another £40 ,

So far so good!