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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vess1, post: 671161, member: 13650&quot;]Thanks.&nbsp;&nbsp; Mine&#039;s just a basic 38 gallon with no sump that I&#039;ve had for probably 6 years now.&nbsp; I haven&#039;t upgraded because of the increased cost.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The cost is bad when totaled together but not that bad if spread out over several years.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some stuff you need up front.&nbsp; You can get a basic tank with regular glass (is green when looking at the edges) or you can opt for the better starphire glass that&#039;s all the rage.&nbsp;&nbsp; It&#039;s low iron, high $ but is perfectly clear.&nbsp; No green when looked at from the edge. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Great deals can be had buying used stuff from people getting out of the hobby.&nbsp;&nbsp; Your main costs would be the initial tank and stand of course, and sump if you wanted one.&nbsp;&nbsp; For example, I would really like to get a 45 gallon Oceanic Tech cube.&nbsp;&nbsp; They have starphire glass front panels.&nbsp; Tank &amp; stand = around $575.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Next big expense is lights.&nbsp;&nbsp; Initial cost is high.&nbsp; My 36&quot; Tek&nbsp; 4-bulb T-5 unit w/individual reflectors was $300.&nbsp; That&#039;s as cheap as it gets.&nbsp;&nbsp; The bulbs are $80 a year to replace them.&nbsp; You can easily spend over a grand on a lighting system.&nbsp; &nbsp; Metal halide bulbs are 70-100 dollar a piece.&nbsp;&nbsp; All bulbs need to be replaced annually, minimum because the spectrum goes out of them, even though they still light up.&nbsp; They go bad.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Next big expense is a protein skimmer.&nbsp; They are basically an acrylic tube fed by a water pump that mixes air with water from the tank that creates fine bubbles that rise up to a collection cup.&nbsp; The bubbles make foam and you have foam refraction, which keeps your water really clean and clear.&nbsp; Once in a while you have to dump dark green water out of the cup and clean it.&nbsp;&nbsp; These run anywhere from $200 up to $7,000 plus, depending on the size and quality you want.&nbsp;&nbsp; Median price for a very good one is usually around $600.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Then&nbsp; you need substrate sand.&nbsp; $20 bucks a bag.&nbsp; Live rock to build rock structure with (rock from the ocean containing live bacteria) costs on average 5 to 7 dollars a pound.&nbsp;&nbsp; Several hundred for rock is typical.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; $40 will get you a 5 gal. bucket of salt that will mix up 160 gallons of salt water.&nbsp;&nbsp; Oh yeah.&nbsp; Most of us would recommend the first thing to get is a RO/DI unit and a tub to store the water in.&nbsp;&nbsp; Tap water normally has high TDS and phosphates added by cities, which grows algae.&nbsp; &nbsp; RO/DI units will make 0 TDS water for you to use.&nbsp; &nbsp; A good RO/DI unit like the one I got can be had for $200.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Then I&#039;ve got a controller that runs the lights, pumps, heater, etc... That was $260.&nbsp; &nbsp; Then I&#039;ve got an auto-top off that I would highly recommend, which tops off the tank as water evaporates so you don&#039;t have to do it every day.&nbsp;&nbsp; Major pain without it.&nbsp; &nbsp; That was a couple hundred used.&nbsp; $300 new.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Then I&#039;ve got about $300 in test kits.&nbsp;&nbsp; Probably around $1500 in livestock.&nbsp;&nbsp; The most I ever paid for a small piece of coral was $260.00.&nbsp; And it got a brown slime disease and died.</p><p>&nbsp; But they can be much, much higher for premium &#039;Limited edition&#039;, named stuff with lineage.&nbsp; Median cost for a piece of common, average coral is 40-60 dollars.&nbsp; &nbsp; The cheapest fish are $10 a piece.&nbsp; $20 on average.&nbsp; But $100+ fish are common.&nbsp; &nbsp; Deals can be had from fellow hobbyists and frag swaps.&nbsp;&nbsp; Pet shops are much higher.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Throw in filter media, RO/DI filters, bulbs, pH probe, pumps,heater, test kits, food and cleaning supplies, and the initial cost is quite high.&nbsp;&nbsp; But honestly, I can go months without spending anything on the tank at all.&nbsp; &nbsp; Buying in bulk is your best bet. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; So basically, if you wanted to do it, there&#039;s no sense thinking that a grand would cover everything and you&#039;re done.&nbsp; That would be a good start, essentially.&nbsp;&nbsp; FWIW, you can grow stuff out and sell it as time goes one.&nbsp; You don&#039;t recoup all your cost of course but you do get some back.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I sold $400 worth of pieces last month and I don&#039;t even notice the stuff missing.&nbsp;&nbsp; But as you can see, it&#039;s not free money.&nbsp; &nbsp; HTHs. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; P.S.&nbsp; The die hard &#039;reefer&#039;s around this country and around the world, easily have 20-30k in their aquariums and have huge electric bills.&nbsp; My little set up tacks about 7 bucks a month on to mine.&nbsp; &nbsp; But when you start running 3 to 8, 400 watt metal halides, electric bills become a major factor.&nbsp;&nbsp; Then if you lose electricity, you better have a generator available if it&#039;s going to last more than a day or if there&#039;s extreme temps.&nbsp; Power outages are basically everybody&#039;s worst nightmare.&nbsp; That&#039;s the only concern I have with it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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