The R2R Budget Reef Tank: What do we need and what do we want?

[snorklr]

well if your requirement for this budget tank is that everything be new there are only a couple places to save money...(1) limit the size of the tank so you obviously need less of everything (2) DIY as much as possible...which not everyone has the skills and tools to do (3) eliminate all automation making everything more labor intensive (4) buy low end equipment which could fail and cost you money in the long run....i think the only way to truly save money is to buy good stuff used, DIY, and KISS....

 

[SeaShoreScribe]

have set up a low budget.
Used tank was 100g
Bought some cheap powerheads and timers. A really nice genx pump that was used. Used basement sump and some used halides.
I don't remember total cost, this was in the 90's.
I do definatly say that joining a club will help. Cost and knowledge.

Reading about basic aquarium-keeping, biological filtration and water chemistry. KISS. More water, fewer animals. The rules of the road are simple, learning them requires patience. By the time I have the dosh for the tank of my dreams, there will have been a trail of research, starting with a review of the early masters in Coral, TFH, FAMA, Aquarium Fish. It was a low-tech-by-necessity aquarium model, as that was all that was available. Cutting-edge is always costly (and sooo worth it!), but it was someone's bright idea first. By the time you have the basics, you will have defined the type of animals you want to keep, defined, their special needs, and you may find that ...we can't keep 'em all, or I would have.

 

[attiland]

1. What tank would be a good budget starter tank? Size, brand?
Since in the Uk Tank would be aqua one

Aqua One AquaVogue 135 Aquarium and Cabinet £375​

2. What are the necessary pieces of equipment that will be needed?

Light AQUANEST plus M7 - £400
2 jebao wave makers £80
Auto aqua ATO £35
Buckets + can for RO water - £20
Doser 4head £80
Heater £20
Thermometer £3
refractometer £20
other scrapers clips water changing accessories £50-100
Algue reactor/ scraper from £200


3. What are the necessary dry goods, consumables that will be needed?
Rocks + sand + salt. £100
Test kits £100 ( on some I would really go more exp


4. Do you have any specific manufacturers or companies that you would recommend for certain products on a budget reef? LIST WHAT YOU KNOW!
Jebao Kamoer AquaOne, AquaNest

I am not dare to add it up. This is on the budget. Used equipment could save some though

 

[fish farmer]

well if your requirement for this budget tank is that everything be new there are only a couple places to save money...(1) limit the size of the tank so you obviously need less of everything (2) DIY as much as possible...which not everyone has the skills and tools to do (3) eliminate all automation making everything more labor intensive (4) buy low end equipment which could fail and cost you money in the long run....i think the only way to truly save money is to buy good stuff used, DIY, and KISS....

My first tank was a lot of DIY in 2000.

I had the 38 gallon tank and sump. I made a counter current limestone skimmer, not great but got me through the first year. I made an HOB overflow out of parts I had. If I was more confident in drilling I would have drilled and made an overflow box. Lighting was a metal halide kit 175 watt with a heavy tar ballast. The weed corals really liked that. I eventually added actinic PC's within two years. The sump allowed me to grow macroalgaes and was also a good place for a cheap gravity designed top off to fit, it also worked for kalk delivery when I wasn't using a wine bottle with a slow drip.

I did buy a stand, it was a really well built one, plywood. The hood and sump stand I built myself, They weren't pretty and my tank looked like a science project but it grew softies and LPS well. I made around $300 in store credit in the two years the tank was running and did some trading.

 

[Haacheew]

There are lots of was to pull this off, but one of the best way to save some money on flow is to use our Random Flow Generator® Nozzles instead of more expensive flow pumps

A good example is this small Waterbocx10 cube in our front lobby. not counting livestock you could pull this off for less than 500 bucks

Based on this 10-gallon build - here what we used


1. What tank would be a good budget starter tank? Size, brand?

Some of the Waterbox mini tanks are nice and easy to setup, and relatively inexpensive for what you get - WaterBox 10 Cube

2. What are the necessary pieces of equipment that will be needed?

Flow - Random Flow Generators
Pump - SICCE Syncra Nano or 1.0
Light - AI Prime


3. What are the necessary dry goods, consumables that will be needed?

Rock
A few good chunks for Live rock out of a Buddy's established tank
(Probably wont cost you more than a few beers -LOL)

Substrate
A single 5 or 10-lbs bag of CaribSea sand

4. Do you have any specific manufacturers or companies that you would recommend for certain products on a budget reef?

@Vivid Creative Aquatics (sorry for the unabashed self promo here)
SICCE
@Waterbox Aquariums
Aqua Illumination
CaribSea

I love V.C.A. Random Flow Generator Nozzle (connected with Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0) in my Waterbox 20 Cube.

 

[Haacheew]

Have around $300 in this one. Got everything used on on trade.

You have THE most beautiful and State-of-the-Art look reef tank I've ever seen!!

 

[WallyB]

I have to agree, New and budget don't belong in the same sentence these days.
Inflation and the new names on coral that drive them up...
Maybe with jebao pumps and gear and a very small tank it can be done. <$1000

I agree with the agreement.

It's an illlusion that you can run a Reef Tank low budget. Maybe if you don't want anything special and have friends you will give you free coral frags, it could be possible. Quite possible if you want FOLR, however fish cost more and you need QT and meds to succeed in the long run.

Smaller tanks can be more work in different ways and time is money.

Sure you can start cheap. Glass box, water and salt. Then comes the rest of the equipment to make the hobby not a mega-chore. (eg Auto Top up). Once you get going, come Newbie mistakes, and mistakes cost $.

The one thing after another to succeed. (eg Test kits, pumps, maintenance) , and a few year later things break, pests come along, etc, etc.

So it's best to be informed of the real overall cost and effort, rather than be mislead that you can have a beautiful reef in an all-in-one starter-kit, and plug-and-play too.

So yes, you can setup a budget reef tank, however know the real budget cost since it probably won't be low budget one way or another.

 

[Nano New]

Thanks for the input so far!

If you're setting one up today, WITH ALL NEW EQUIPMENT, what would you buy and need?

I have a nano reef and it's pretty basic. This is my first tank so I started with the most basic build and have been adding as I've learned what I've needed. I don't have anything that's not required to keep the tank thriving. Some things I bought second hand (the tank), most I've had to buy new. Things I've found I have to have:

• The aquarium!
• A stand for the aquarium
• The rock - I have artificial rock
• Cement to put the rock together with
• Substrate - put it in, took it out, put it back because the nassarius snails like it and keep the algae down and the fungia needs it so he doesn't develop rot.
• A good heater that can keep the temperature stable within a degree. Was having too wide of temp swings with the original one.
• A temperature probe to be sure the water is actually the temperature I want.
• A refractometer
• An appropriately sized and powered wave maker (I went through 4 before I found the one that was perfect, which then died and I am currently on my second choice)
• A protein skimmer. Read I wouldn't need one with the nano tank, turns out I needed one with the nano tank. Read the small ones don't work, mine works like a charm.
• Pump / filtration unit
• Filters for the filtration unit
• Salt
• RDO unit to make seawater from
• A container for mixing and holding the saltwater needed for water changes
• A container for the RDO water before it's mixed
• A good idea is a powerhead to assist in mixing the salt water. I use one of the wavemakers that didn't work for my tank and heat it with the heater I replaced
• Testing kit(s) (I still don't have all I need, anything outside a basic kit seems incredibly expensive)
• Clean up crew (I have only snails currently)
• Appropriate lights for tank (have gone through three types, everyone seems happy with current one)
• Corals!
• Glue for attaching corals
• frag cutters
• Food for the corals unless all the corals are mainly photosynthesising
• Pipette for feeding coral and putting water in the refractometer
• Tubing for water changes
• A power board (or three) to power all the equipment (I hadn't considered this when I started)
• I have a glass top on the tank and have very little evaporation but if the top is open or netted, I'd say an auto topup unit
• An internet connection - to access all the reef keeper information you're going to need to learn and, for me, to manage the light system
• AND...Sedatives to control the anxiety of trying to keep your corals not only alive but happy while you consume mountains of conflicting information and advice before throwing up your hands and saying, if they look happy, they ARE happy! (I assume some people may even need therapy but that's free here).

There may be other stuff but this is it so far. I haven't yet started on additives as I don't have the test kits to understand what may or may not be needed to optimise the environment for my corals. So far they're alive and healthy looking but not expanding. I also have two fish in the tank but their not necessary (although they helped cycle it before the corals arrived).

All this has cost a packet to be honest. Compared to my fresh water tanks, both nano and large, the marine is by far the most costly. I don't see that cost going down either if I want to continue in the hobby.

 

[LegendaryCG]

The only item I feel is a must have is an ATO.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

10 gallon aquarium with a box filter, bcb basket, nicrew lights, tap water, salt, sand, rocks. Couple hundred bucks.

 

[Richsoar]

First of all you have to define "budget". Wouldn't a Nano reef tank be considered budget?
My first tank was a 72gal "used" bought at Auction for $120, used a hang on Penguin 400 filter, two 48 inch T-20 Florescent fixtures two bulbs each, 300 Watt titanium heater, back pack skimmer and one circulation pump. Add all the Live rock, sand and shells and I was probably under $600 before adding coral and fish.

 

[Spicy Reef]

 

[Unitylover]

I thought it would be a cool idea for us all to put together a budget reef tank for anyone looking to get into the hobby and not spend a crazy amount of money. What we need to do is come up with everything that will be needed to set up the tank as well as sustain it's success for at least a year. Not sure how this will all pan out but let's give it a shot! I would like to compile all the data at some point and have a really good list that a new hobbyist could go by! So help us out!

PS. I don't expect everyone to completely answer these questions so just answer what you can or want to answer.

Let's outfit this tank up to the point where we can add water. NO LIVESTOCK!

MUST BE ALL NEW EQUIPMENT!

1. What tank would be a good budget starter tank? Size, brand?

2. What are the necessary pieces of equipment that will be needed?

3. What are the necessary dry goods, consumables that will be needed?

4. Do you have any specific manufacturers or companies that you would recommend for certain products on a budget reef? LIST WHAT YOU KNOW!


budget reef image via @aaron186

I would grab a 10 gallon kit from petsmart, buy a heater, sand, rock, salt, and 2 corals.
it would cost around $130.
would be a great clownfish tank (1 only)

 

[Aquajunkie Jannis]

My Nano Setup before i upgrade :

Fluval Spec XV : 130€
Tunze 6040 : 90€
Red Sea Reef Led 50 + Mounting-Kit : 250€
Tunze Osmolator Nano : 70€
Some cheap skimmer with air pump : 30€
Eheim heating rod : 15€
(Optional) : Food and other care products : 50€

In Total : 635€

 

[RV Reefs]

I thought it would be a cool idea for us all to put together a budget reef tank for anyone looking to get into the hobby and not spend a crazy amount of money. What we need to do is come up with everything that will be needed to set up the tank as well as sustain it's success for at least a year. Not sure how this will all pan out but let's give it a shot! I would like to compile all the data at some point and have a really good list that a new hobbyist could go by! So help us out!

PS. I don't expect everyone to completely answer these questions so just answer what you can or want to answer.

Let's outfit this tank up to the point where we can add water. NO LIVESTOCK!

MUST BE ALL NEW EQUIPMENT!

1. What tank would be a good budget starter tank? Size, brand?

2. What are the necessary pieces of equipment that will be needed?

3. What are the necessary dry goods, consumables that will be needed?

4. Do you have any specific manufacturers or companies that you would recommend for certain products on a budget reef? LIST WHAT YOU KNOW!


budget reef image via @aaron186

i did a budget reef by going to a saltwater store. they sold me a whole kit with lights, return pump, skimmer, heater and socks for the sump. It was easy and didn't cost much because it was a small tank.

 

[RV Reefs]

I would argue a temp controller and rodi for a reef tank are necessities. That's one thing I love about this hobby is that there is no "right" way to do anything.

I think temp controller is good but you don't need a rodi if your going budget. Could always buy water from a saltwater lfs, though this is talking budget tank. if it was my own aquarium, rodi is a must

 

[Mr Cypher]

Not for me lol I'm addicted haha

 

[Forty-Two]

I think you guys are trying to make a 'The first hit is nearly free' kind of situation



and then upgrade fever starts.....next thing you know they are eyeing a 200G custom tank.

 

[D4jack]

It all depends on what you consider budget. I built my entire setup from scratch excluding the tanks. I ended up investing about $500 after everything. Not including time, sand, rock and livestock. Did I mention time?? That's another story. Check out my build thread.

 

[AIRDADDY]

I’ve had many low budget setups, the most impressive was probably the 3.6 gallon pico that I had for 2 years in my Alaska barracks room. $80 AIO that I bought on sale $70 RO Buddie, $50 LED off Amazon that worked better than I expected.