(Skip to the pics if you aren't keen on reading)
I recently moved cross country, from San Diego to State College, Pa (Penn State). I gave my sister almost everything I owned that was saltwater, including my DT. So now I am here, and starting from scratch. I decided to see just how cheap I could do it this round. I seem to get better and better at it, as time goes on. So I thought I'd share what I am getting, how I'm getting it, and for how much. Any experienced reefer will tell you, if you don't have a lot of money, you better have a lot of patience.
So here's what I did so far:
First, I perused Craigslist daily for aquariums. I especially looked under the free section. It wasn't too long before I was able to pick up a 55 gallon and 75 gallon from a ex-state trooper- for free! First big win. I also searched CL for people selling their setups for cheap. I looked outside my immediate area as much as possible. I was able to pick up two pump-less protein skimmers for $80 in Pittsburgh; a two hour drive away. And I got a wet dry filter and a reactor (I think).
(actual picture from the CL ad)
Next, I found a guy getting rid of his entire setup for $100. He was leaving to Hawaii, needed to offload it asap, and it was kind of looking in bad shape. I got HOB overflow, Mag Drive 9.5, HOB Protein Skimmer, and a bunch of other great stuff. I actually cheated here. I looked on CL in San Diego, and had my sister buy this as one of my Xmas gifts. She was the one who really won though because she got a bunch of much needed live rock- about $300 worth. My cost- zero.
I needed to build a stand, I decided to build a large enough stand to support both tanks, and later maybe upgrade to a monster tank. I needed wood for that, so I checked Lowe's cull wood section. I was able to talk them down on prices, and got enough wood for under $50 and have surplus. I also picked up screws, bolts and some acrylic from an auction, and now have a surplus of each after building the tank. Cost $15.
I grabbed some black nylon tubing (down flow) from a neighbor for free, as well as a few fittings, and then bought a few ball valves, some reinforced nylon tubing (up flow) and whatever other fittings I needed; $40.
I needed a pump for the skimmer, and got a new Rio 1700 off Amazon for $42. I threw away the old busted pump, which looked like a Rio, and just got the size I thought would work. I ended up getting two 29 gallon tanks from goodwill for $10, and those will be sumps (I'm just building out the 75g at the moment).
So........ I'll get to the meat and potatoes and start with the pics.
Here is the stand I built. It's 8'6"L X 38"H X 27"W, and will easily hold both the 75 and 55, plus the 29g sumps, with room to spare. It doesn't look that long, but it's an optical illusion. That 75 looks tiny until you realize there's a fridge back there.
The Rio pump works great, but I had to do some rigging to get the venturi to work on the skimmer- which was probably built in the late 1700's. It might have been George Washington's for all I know. I stuck a few of the fittings on, that came with it, to make a pocket for the airstone, and when I tested it in saltwater, I was gratified with more foam than my dog can even muster- which is saying a lot.
Yes, I said "black vinyl tubing" earlier. It worked. And if I ever start a band, I may just call it that. I got the idea from the piece still attached to the wet/dry filter that came with the skimmers (that definitely belonged to a "founding father"). You'll notice a "T" fitting right after the ball valve... I put a down pipe that's capped to make a brace, to hold things steady... I can easily remove that whole section of pvc if it ever get's dirty/clogged.... By hitting my head, scraping my knuckles, banging my elbow... Okay, not that easy. But I CAN remove it.
(Heavy guitar riff) That black vinyl tubing goes up to the HOB overflow. I really wanted to drill and install bulkheads, but for the sake of staying budget savvy, and the fact the setup is in the garage which has floor drains, I just went with it... So, just go with it too. It'll be cool, I swear.
He's going to get a bath. And a shower. Maybe even a mani/pedi. Once he's all cleaned up, he'll stay thirsty my friends.
I have a extremely temporary return out flow just to get the system churning. Don't make fun of him. He's self-conscious and shy. (Shh, don't tell him... I ordered a real one from BRS today ($9).
So, I got that acrylic. I know glass is better, but the acrylic baffles are working great. I plopped a heater in, and a thermometer... Don't mind the price tag on the tank, that definitely was on there before it got to Goodwill.
And then another thermometer on the return end, to get a good gauge of the temperature range across the system. You'd think the water would be hotter by the return pump, rather than the protein skimmer side, but surprisingly it's not. 76 degrees on the skimmer side and 72 degrees on the return side. In other news... a mag 9.5 doing it's job well- pumping water and making noise. Don't mind the silver bracelet it's wearing (clamp), that'll come off way before the saltwater arrives.
I'll be getting the sand in, in a day or so, and hopefully the rock by this weekend. The salt was supposed to be here by now... So, I don't know when that's gonna happen. Might have to ruin someone's day over at Amazon here shortly. Hopefully, I'll have it ready for cycle no later than two weeks from now.
Back to the budget side of things... With the rubble, rock, sand and salt; all "must haves..." I am out $280. Plus I ordered and received a Sun Blaze T5 HO for $170 new. So, even with extreme budgeting, I am still up over $500 easy; I think. I don't know, I'm not good at geography.
Anyway, I will post pictures later in the wee... month? We'll see how it goes...
I recently moved cross country, from San Diego to State College, Pa (Penn State). I gave my sister almost everything I owned that was saltwater, including my DT. So now I am here, and starting from scratch. I decided to see just how cheap I could do it this round. I seem to get better and better at it, as time goes on. So I thought I'd share what I am getting, how I'm getting it, and for how much. Any experienced reefer will tell you, if you don't have a lot of money, you better have a lot of patience.
So here's what I did so far:
First, I perused Craigslist daily for aquariums. I especially looked under the free section. It wasn't too long before I was able to pick up a 55 gallon and 75 gallon from a ex-state trooper- for free! First big win. I also searched CL for people selling their setups for cheap. I looked outside my immediate area as much as possible. I was able to pick up two pump-less protein skimmers for $80 in Pittsburgh; a two hour drive away. And I got a wet dry filter and a reactor (I think).
(actual picture from the CL ad)
Next, I found a guy getting rid of his entire setup for $100. He was leaving to Hawaii, needed to offload it asap, and it was kind of looking in bad shape. I got HOB overflow, Mag Drive 9.5, HOB Protein Skimmer, and a bunch of other great stuff. I actually cheated here. I looked on CL in San Diego, and had my sister buy this as one of my Xmas gifts. She was the one who really won though because she got a bunch of much needed live rock- about $300 worth. My cost- zero.
I needed to build a stand, I decided to build a large enough stand to support both tanks, and later maybe upgrade to a monster tank. I needed wood for that, so I checked Lowe's cull wood section. I was able to talk them down on prices, and got enough wood for under $50 and have surplus. I also picked up screws, bolts and some acrylic from an auction, and now have a surplus of each after building the tank. Cost $15.
I grabbed some black nylon tubing (down flow) from a neighbor for free, as well as a few fittings, and then bought a few ball valves, some reinforced nylon tubing (up flow) and whatever other fittings I needed; $40.
I needed a pump for the skimmer, and got a new Rio 1700 off Amazon for $42. I threw away the old busted pump, which looked like a Rio, and just got the size I thought would work. I ended up getting two 29 gallon tanks from goodwill for $10, and those will be sumps (I'm just building out the 75g at the moment).
So........ I'll get to the meat and potatoes and start with the pics.
Here is the stand I built. It's 8'6"L X 38"H X 27"W, and will easily hold both the 75 and 55, plus the 29g sumps, with room to spare. It doesn't look that long, but it's an optical illusion. That 75 looks tiny until you realize there's a fridge back there.
The Rio pump works great, but I had to do some rigging to get the venturi to work on the skimmer- which was probably built in the late 1700's. It might have been George Washington's for all I know. I stuck a few of the fittings on, that came with it, to make a pocket for the airstone, and when I tested it in saltwater, I was gratified with more foam than my dog can even muster- which is saying a lot.
Yes, I said "black vinyl tubing" earlier. It worked. And if I ever start a band, I may just call it that. I got the idea from the piece still attached to the wet/dry filter that came with the skimmers (that definitely belonged to a "founding father"). You'll notice a "T" fitting right after the ball valve... I put a down pipe that's capped to make a brace, to hold things steady... I can easily remove that whole section of pvc if it ever get's dirty/clogged.... By hitting my head, scraping my knuckles, banging my elbow... Okay, not that easy. But I CAN remove it.
(Heavy guitar riff) That black vinyl tubing goes up to the HOB overflow. I really wanted to drill and install bulkheads, but for the sake of staying budget savvy, and the fact the setup is in the garage which has floor drains, I just went with it... So, just go with it too. It'll be cool, I swear.
He's going to get a bath. And a shower. Maybe even a mani/pedi. Once he's all cleaned up, he'll stay thirsty my friends.
I have a extremely temporary return out flow just to get the system churning. Don't make fun of him. He's self-conscious and shy. (Shh, don't tell him... I ordered a real one from BRS today ($9).
So, I got that acrylic. I know glass is better, but the acrylic baffles are working great. I plopped a heater in, and a thermometer... Don't mind the price tag on the tank, that definitely was on there before it got to Goodwill.
And then another thermometer on the return end, to get a good gauge of the temperature range across the system. You'd think the water would be hotter by the return pump, rather than the protein skimmer side, but surprisingly it's not. 76 degrees on the skimmer side and 72 degrees on the return side. In other news... a mag 9.5 doing it's job well- pumping water and making noise. Don't mind the silver bracelet it's wearing (clamp), that'll come off way before the saltwater arrives.
I'll be getting the sand in, in a day or so, and hopefully the rock by this weekend. The salt was supposed to be here by now... So, I don't know when that's gonna happen. Might have to ruin someone's day over at Amazon here shortly. Hopefully, I'll have it ready for cycle no later than two weeks from now.
Back to the budget side of things... With the rubble, rock, sand and salt; all "must haves..." I am out $280. Plus I ordered and received a Sun Blaze T5 HO for $170 new. So, even with extreme budgeting, I am still up over $500 easy; I think. I don't know, I'm not good at geography.
Anyway, I will post pictures later in the wee... month? We'll see how it goes...
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