New Budget Reef any suggestions?

[sw26303]

Hi everyone I am brand new here and thinking of starting my first reef tank!!! I want to have a reef tank any where from 20 to 40 gallons and I want to be able to grow all kinds off coral. I also want to only spend $250 on the tank, light, filter and rock. Please any suggestions will help. Thanks!

[ef4life]

10 minutes ago, sw26303 said:

Hi everyone I am brand new here and thinking of starting my first reef tank!!! I want to have a reef tank any where from 20 to 40 gallons and I want to be able to grow all kinds off coral. I also want to only spend $250 on the tank, light, filter and rock. Please any suggestions will help. Thanks!

Your best bet is to start looking for some used stuff on Craigslist it OfferUp etc, $250 is doable but it’s going to be a tight budget. used biocubes can be had around that price, or if petco has their dollar per gallon sales a few times a year. 

 

I actually got got my biocube on offerup for $200 and it had some heaters, cheap protein skimmer, air pump I didn’t need and sold off to recoup some of that money.

[sw26303]

1 minute ago, ef4life said:

Your best bet is to start looking for some used stuff on Craigslist it OfferUp etc, $250 is doable but it’s going to be a tight budget. used biocubes can be had around that price, or if petco has their dollar per gallon sales a few times a year. 

 

I actually got got my biocube on offerup for $200 and it had some heaters, cheap protein skimmer, air pump I didn’t need and sold off to recoup some of that money.

Thank you. Any ideas for cheap lights that actual grow coral?

[olive]

13 minutes ago, sw26303 said:

Thank you. Any ideas for cheap lights that actual grow coral?

You could do 2 Higapero Aquaknights on a 20g long. You can find them on amazon for $60 each. They aren't controllable but you can adjust the intensity of the blues and the whites. There is a PAR video out there on youtube and they put out enough power to grow anything as long as you are careful with placement. 

 

For a filter you could use an Aquaclear or Seachem Tidal hang on back, get one rated for at least 2x your tank size. 

 

[ef4life]

11 minutes ago, sw26303 said:

Thank you. Any ideas for cheap lights that actual grow coral?

It’s really going to depend on your tank size. Biocubes and some other all in one tanks can grow stuff with their factory lights. Ai prime hd is another favorite- good for smaller nano tanks, but you can use multiple primes all controlled Together on bigger tanks, or add more as your lighting needs grow.  The Chinese “black box leds” have grown plenty of beautiful corals at very low prices. T5 fixtures are still widely used. I run a very old metal halide on my biocube.

 

look around in the build journals sectionto see what people are running in tank sizes your looking for.

[billygoat]

Lighting is definitely going to be where you're spending most of your money, I think. If you end up going with a longer tank (20 long, for example) the Current USA Orbit Marine is a good and fairly cheap light. Seems to be a common choice for reefers on a budget. 👍

[sw26303]

Wow thank you all for all the great input keep it up😀

[Gravity]

You could also pickup one or two Hipargero AquaKnight lights depending on the tank size you choose. They are about $65 for 30w of lighting and manually adjustable color spectrum. 

[William]

Best bet is to look for used setups on Craigslist or your local reef forum. 

[burtbollinger]

a good idea would be to save up a bit more...and spend an extra 30-45 days or so reading and watching BRS videos....then dive in, scouring the craigslist in the meantime.

 

 

[sw26303]

What size Current USA Orbit Marine would I need for a 40 gallon breeder.

[ef4life]

9 minutes ago, sw26303 said:

What size Current USA Orbit Marine would I need for a 40 gallon breeder.

40b is a 36” long tank. You would want at a minimum the 24” long light. I would probably go for the 36” long one myself. But I have no experience with that light so I’m not really sure. 

[monkeytrumpets]

Inappropriate Reefer had a build series on a budget nano tank a while back.  He was focused on 10g, but you may find some good takeaways.

 

Youtube linkey

[Thrassian Atoll]

Do people still use craigslist?  Join a local reef page, or the nearest cities, on Facebook.  There should be a ton of equipment there for sale.  That’s where you will want to connect to local reefers as well and also where you will find corals for lowest prices.  
 

BRS videos are good like mentioned above.  $250 is a tight budget though if that includes lighting.  

[monkeytrumpets]

On 4/15/2020 at 10:10 AM, William said:

Best bet is to look for used setups on Craigslist or your local reef forum. 

Used will definitely save you money, especially if you can wait until the weather is nice where you are, and shelter in place is lifted in your area.  You might be able to find some really good deals on equipment once people are spending less time indoors looking at their tanks.  😊