What is the highest ONGOING cost to your reef tank?

[Jcascioli]

Salt mix.. about 30 bucks a month changing 4 gal per day. A large bag of bb Red Sea lasts me about two months
Trident reagents
And of coarse electric
Two part isn’t that bad right now bc my tank is still “new” (less than a year) so my sticks are still pretty small and not consuming more Alk/cal than my daily water change replaces. I’m sure that in another year or two the cost of dosing will become #1 expense

 

[Jbell370]

Coral Pro Salt Mix 200 Gallon Sack - Red Sea costs $100 at BRS.
10-15% water change every other week on a 180G +40G sump is 30G
So 7 changes (14 weeks) wipes out a bag
4 bags ~56 weeks
so $400/year in salt or a dollar a day

Actually glad you made me run through this bc I'd have guessed more, thanks!

Tropic Marin here, $130 bucket if I split a pallet with my buddy, 5g/day...35g/week on one tank, 5g/week on the other, monthly ~30g clean and change of sump....$1560/yr for salt. I don't like adding up any of it

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Electricity by far for me. My setup eats about $250/month in power. The good news is nothing else I do is overly expensive. 400 gallon total system, about half SPS and half zoas or other. A bit light on fish, but very coral heavy.

Electricity $250/mo
DIY 2 part $30/mo
Salt mix $35/mo
Food $20/mo (not a ton of fish for my size tank)
Aminos $10/mo
Trident Reagent $20/mo
Average other supplements or treatments as needed $30/mo

Having a 400 gallon system stuffed to the bring with coral that I can enjoy with my family, teach my kids about sea life, and sell/trade frags with local (and not local) hobbyists and meet a bunch of the nicest people around? Priceless

IMO, the first few years are the most expensive because you're frequently trying out new equipment or methods, adding coral, learning good habits, and possibly paying for more treatments for pests, then upgrading equipment or your tank. Or worse, you can be like me and start remodeling your home and drilling holes in your new hardwood floors so you can expand your hobby. I'm at a point now where I have little room left in my house to expand, so the majority of the spending is just maintenance now.

 

[robert teseo]

here on long island, i figure about 60 per month in electric

 

[Appoloreefer]

Getting my plan together for my tank has me wondering. After we're through all the costs of entry - the basics like salt, RODI unit, poweheads, testing kits, basic entry level livestock; what is the biggest cost when it comes to ongoing upkeep?

I dont mean expenses related to catastrophic failure interventions - just day to day, nothing particularly unusual going on upkeep costs.

Let me know! From a noob perspective it kind of looks like it might be salt, especially if you have a larger volume setup.

Before COVID hit I think prices for fish and corals were a lot more reasonable but since COVID fish and corals are expensive. I would have to say the most costly is electricity, fish, corals, food. I recently started up a 125 and only have 2 fish and a pipe organ that is doing okay but not as good as it was. I want to get of course more fish and corals and know I need to add things slowly so everything can catch up and I do not run into trouble. All parameters are great. Tank has been up for 2 months and I know I probably should not have put the Pipe Organ coral in and went with something else which I would like to get a zoa or Xenia or GSP and 1 fish then wait a few weeks and do it all over again.

 

[HJ99]

We are 3 months in. Stocking fish is almost done ......I hope. Next will be corals. We have been buying stuff as we go and there seems to be no end. Amongst a variety of issues, I have been dealing with filter rolls lasting a week or two. I think I'm getting a handle on that hopefully. I would hope, that at some point, food, filter rolls and electric will be the primary costs.

 

[Boomer52]

Hands down, electricity. Especially in the summer when the chiller runs much more.

 

[Ashibashi]

Coral Pro Salt Mix 200 Gallon Sack - Red Sea costs $100 at BRS.
10-15% water change every other week on a 180G +40G sump is 30G
So 7 changes (14 weeks) wipes out a bag
4 bags ~56 weeks
so $400/year in salt or a dollar a day

Actually glad you made me run through this bc I'd have guessed more, thanks!

Wow, I expected it to be higher too right up until the end! Thats actually not bad at all. Right on

 

[Ashibashi]

We are 3 months in. Stocking fish is almost done ......I hope. Next will be corals. We have been buying stuff as we go and there seems to be no end. Amongst a variety of issues, I have been dealing with filter rolls lasting a week or two. I think I'm getting a handle on that hopefully. I would hope, that at some point, food, filter rolls and electric will be the primary costs.

What fish did you start with?

 

[Ashibashi]

Tropic Marin here, $130 bucket if I split a pallet with my buddy, 5g/day...35g/week on one tank, 5g/week on the other, monthly ~30g clean and change of sump....$1560/yr for salt. I don't like adding up any of it

F

 

[Ashibashi]

PODS :<

Do you have a goby? I'm tentatively trying to devise a plan where I get a self-sustaining culture of phytoplankton -> pods -> mandarin goby going, but I have a lot lot lot left to learn. Not confident that I won't need a crazy amount of sand area to achieve that.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

All the little things add up for me. Testing reagents cost me 1-2$ Daily, dosing carbon, bio pellets, sometimes phosphate plus my normal 2 part and mag ($40-50 month)
Rox8 carbon ($7-8 biweekly)
Fleece roll ($30monthly)
I bought a years worth of food from brineshrimpdirect.com ($10 months or $120 a year)
RODI filters ($40-50 6months) not sure on the water bill maybe (5-15$ monthly)
I don’t think my electricity went up that much. 2 leds, 2 DC pumps 1 Powerheads and the heaters only turn on a few months out of the year here.
Salt can range from ($80 a month to $20) depends on how well I can dial things in after making a change.
Jeez it’s no wonder the wife thinks I’m Hooked.
This is not including the spontaneous purchases made at the fish store.
120G display 35g sump

 

[Ashibashi]

All the little things add up for me. Testing reagents cost me 1-2$ Daily, dosing carbon, bio pellets, sometimes phosphate plus my normal 2 part and mag ($40-50 month)
Rox8 carbon ($7-8 biweekly)
Fleece roll ($30monthly)
I bought a years worth of food from brineshrimpdirect.com ($10 months or $120 a year)
RODI filters ($40-50 6months) not sure on the water bill maybe (5-15$ monthly)
I don’t think my electricity went up that much. 2 leds, 2 DC pumps 1 Powerheads and the heaters only turn on a few months out of the year here.
Salt can range from ($80 a month to $20) depends on how well I can dial things in after making a change.
Jeez it’s no wonder the wife thinks I’m Hooked.
This is not including the spontaneous purchases made at the fish store.
120G display 35g sump

Do you have any pictures handy? It'd be awesome if others could add pictures too! It'll be interesting to see how different levels of expense relate to what the setup looks like

 

[HJ99]

What fish did you start with?

2 clowns, Lawnmower Blenny and Foxface.

 

[2Sunny]

Here's my annual cost estimate for my 240:

 

[ClownWrangler]

Just curious. For those who said electricity is the highest cost, are you using LED lighting, T5, or MH?

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Do you have any pictures handy? It'd be awesome if others could add pictures too! It'll be interesting to see how different levels of expense relate to what the setup looks like

 

[UK softy bloke]

Getting my plan together for my tank has me wondering. After we're through all the costs of entry - the basics like salt, RODI unit, poweheads, testing kits, basic entry level livestock; what is the biggest cost when it comes to ongoing upkeep?

I dont mean expenses related to catastrophic failure interventions - just day to day, nothing particularly unusual going on upkeep costs.

Let me know! From a noob perspective it kind of looks like it might be salt, especially if you have a larger volume setup.

I would say ocean nutrition frozen food, gfo which for 400g is nearly £40 and it looks like a little tub of dirt. And aiptasia x as I've never had success with a natural predator, oh and nopox.

 

[Laith]

Salt.

 

[pelicansreef]

1) Electricity _____3 Sky Led fixtures on main tank______ Kessil AP700 on Wife's tank ______Kessil AP700 8 t5's frag tank
2) Various Maintenance chemicals_____2 part alk-cal____carbon, gfo etc.
3) water and Salt our water bill went up about 50 a month
4) Latest gadgets