Soto1220 Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 I have been looking into buying a saltwater nano tank, I was just wondering about the price, i was looking to buy a 20 gal. nano tank with 2-3 small fish(clowns etc) and some crustacians so how much would i be spending in this? and how many watts would i need for the retrofit lamp? Link to comment
Vincerama Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 Think carefully about this if money is an issue...here is my 10g setup... 10g glass tank ~$15 72W PC Lamps and bulbs $120 (retro kit) Lighting hood $10 homemade R/O drinking water system $140 20 lbs Live Rock $80 10 lbs Live Sand $20 Shipping of LR & LS $60 Skimmer (optional for nano) $80 2 Maxi-jet powerheads $30 1 RIO pump $10 Watching weird life forms show themselves? Priceless! I screwed the pooch on the lights, I bought two 36w kits seperately which ended up costing me for shipping and other stuff, meanwhile, I could have bought the coralife 96w quad hood (with fan) for 100 bucks. Whatever. Shop wisely! How much lighting do you need? Rule of thumb is 3-5 W/gallon, but I thought I had too little lighting with just 36W on a 10, so I went to 7W/gallon (based on random internet readings, take it with a grain of salt), which is why I bought a second 36w kit. A bit of planning would have saved me some money, but I didn't know. Good luck! V Link to comment
Soto1220 Posted June 19, 2003 Author Share Posted June 19, 2003 thats a little over 300 dollars for a 10 gal! i thaught it would be in the reange of 100-150$ if i want a 20 gal id better start saving Link to comment
cuteios Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 well things are a lot cheaper in my neck of the woods...a whole lot cheaper here in the philippines. Here's my Breakdown: 5 Gallon Tank $4 mini PH 260 lph $3.5 mini HOB $8 lamp and bulb 1x13W $6 DIY Hood $4 6lbs LR $1 6lbs LS $1 Salt Mix $3 I'm still working on improving my lighting by adding another 13W bulb into the hood. Unfortunately my bulbs are only 6500K, I wish I could get some 10000K bulbs but it doesn't seem to be available around here. Dio Link to comment
Soto1220 Posted June 19, 2003 Author Share Posted June 19, 2003 i wanna move there! is it that the economy is bad or is it always cheap? and does anyone have different prices? Link to comment
cuteios Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 Soto...it's both...the economy around here was never that great. But as far as the marine aquarium hobby is concerned it's dirt cheap around hear. But please take into account that my allowance per week is just about $25 Link to comment
Raise Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 20g would probably get pretty pricey pretty quick. Why not shoot for something smaller?? Something like a 5.5 or a 10 even... Just a thought. It can get pricey either way: 5.5 AGA-$10 Penguin Mini HOB- $20 Ebo Jager 50w HEater- $15 Mini jet (maybe micro jet-cant remember)-$12 Custom Made Hood (dave espi)- $40ish 2x28 bulbs and 1 ballast-$105 Then you get to add in all your Liverock, Livesand and LiveStock! Which is a money suckling beast all its own!- Atleast $250 in my 5.5 If you're looking for a "less expensive" nano, id probably start smaller than 20g. My 55g was a hell of alot more money than my 5.5, so a 20 would be between 'spensive and "hot damn whered all teh $s go!?" Have FUn Ray Link to comment
Raise Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 BTW- there is a board member making/selling 2.5 Canopy/stand setups. They are really cool little tanks, im trying to convince a friend to start one up Link to comment
Soto1220 Posted June 19, 2003 Author Share Posted June 19, 2003 well now that i know that it is 250-300 for just 10 gallons i will probably start their, but iis a 10 gal. nano alot of work. like i heard you have to do a 50% water change every week, and clean it and stuff, and do any of you guys hire pro's to come and clean it and stuff? Link to comment
cuteios Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 You know 50% water changes are way too much for any tank either fresh or salt water. about 10-20% per week is a more suitable amount if I recall correctly. Besides keeping a nano is not suppose to be harder than a bigger tank...we shall see Link to comment
skeletor Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 you are far better saving the money up and getting exactly what you want.... buying poor quality stuff in this hobby can be fatal, a cheap heater can kill $100 worth of livestock in an afternoon... one thing you'll learn in this hobby is paitence... :-) don't forget the ongoing costs as well, electricity, RO/DI water, chemicals, bulbs, test kits, salt, it all adds up.. anyway, I figured my 20 gallon cost about $600... -skeletor- Link to comment
skeletor Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 oh yeah, that doesn't mean you can't DIY a lot of stuff and really keep the costs down. My first nano was a 10 gallon tank with a couple of 20w lights, a skilter, some LR and LS. total cost wasn't much over $150 (with lots of DIYing..).. -skeletor- Link to comment
Raise Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 I havent done a waterchange in nearly 5 months Most dont have that luck, but im doing good If you're gonna do waterchanges, 1-2 gallons would be suitable fora 10g. Either weekly or bi-weekly Link to comment
katydidit Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 did you say that you planned to keep corals in the tank?? if you dont want corals, light isnt an issue, which can save you about 100 bucks. Just think ahead though, i didnt think i would want corals, but after looking at everyones BEAUTIFUL tanks, i changed my mind . If you want something less expensive, go the FOWLR approach, or freshwater. Just go slowly if money is an issue, ive been aquiring things to setup my 7g minibow for 2 months already, and i wont start til august, it has helped not to buy everything in a short period of time~ Link to comment
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