A new hobby: a saltwater reef tank

Jeremiah

Jeepster47 said:

Wow, those setups are fantastic.  Luckily, we travel too much to get pulled into aquariums, 'cuz they are very appealing.

That was my wife's argument. An auto top off is next on my list of investments, as is an auto feeder (only to be used when we're gone) and finally a wifi video camera. Even still ill be a little nervous to leave it for a few days. 

fishlessman

ive got some size 26 shrimp flies that would probably catch those fishes

Sea2Ski

fishlessman said:

ive got some size 26 shrimp flies that would probably catch those fishes

Size 26 shrimp? teeny tiny guys. That is like krill. Can you grab a picture? I would love to see one. 

fishlessman

Sea2Ski said:

fishlessman said:

ive got some size 26 shrimp flies that would probably catch those fishes

Size 26 shrimp? teeny tiny guys. That is like krill. Can you grab a picture? I would love to see one. 

have caught some really nice trout with these. i do my own tying

SmokingPiney

Nice tank, @jeremiah.

I have a 75 gallon fish only salt water setup.

Thatgrimguy

It's guaranteed that when you leave, bad things will happen. Skimmers will overflow, leaks will start. The world will melt. And it will happen right as you leave!!  It's a fun hobby, but it's a lifestyle.  

I swapped to bbq because when I don't cook for 2 weeks nothing dies! If I left that 210 alone for 2 weeks all hell would break loose. I messed with it every single day.

HeavyG

Thatgrimguy said:

It's guaranteed that when you leave, bad things will happen. Skimmers will overflow, leaks will start. The world will melt. And it will happen right as you leave!!  It's a fun hobby, but it's a lifestyle.  

I swapped to bbq because when I don't cook for 2 weeks nothing dies! If I left that 210 alone for 2 weeks all hell would break loose. I messed with it every single day.

I use to be into aquariums a few decades ago. Went out of town for a long weekend once and came home to find the heater in my salt tank had stuck on and the water temp was over 100°. Sad (and pricey) loss of all fish and anemones.

Darby_Crenshaw

i was in a store the other day that had a similarly sized tank.  thing looked beautiful, really nice fish, lots of coral etc.

price tag said 6500 WITHOUT fish.

is this roughly accurate?  we never had a salt water tank, just a small standard "pet store" level set up (when i was a kid).

is it really that much of a leap to salt water, or was the store just jacking the price?  the tank itself didn't appear "high end" FWIW, just glass and a basic cabinet below (i.e. the 6500 wasn't for some high end cabinet in teak or something)

nolaegghead

The price is the price.   F-steven.

Jeremiah

The prices get real high once you get into the 100s of gallons. Mine wasn't anywhere near that.

badinfluence

By the time I get water into my tank. WITHOUT fish or coral I'm betting it will be right at 5,000 but I am also going high end with the equipment. If I didn't want to keep hard corals and clams I could cut easy 600.00 off the price of the lighting. But I'm going LED so that way I don't have to run a chiller.

so to answer your question. YES it can really cost that much to set up a tank. Mine is only 90gal.

just a guess but I'm betting @thatgrimguy had 15K + in the 210.

hondabbq

@thatgrimguy 's tank looks incredible. I love the look of a SW tank.

If I wasn't so busy with everything else I dabble in, knowing the maintenance involved in keeping one up, id love to have one.

3 jobs ( 1 fulltime and 2 part time side jobs), a nasty BBQ habit, Charcuterie habit, golfing (when there's time), 5 acre property, man im just tired typing.

Foghorn

"It's guaranteed that when you leave, bad things will happen. Skimmers will overflow, leaks will start. "

Or you'll get called by your home security company at a New Year's party to be told that your house is on fire and go home to find that salt built up on an electrical connection and it shorted out and started a fire....

We do freshwater in our 90 gallon tank now.

tarheelmatt

Nice looking outfit @Jeremiah !  

Thatgrimguy

badinfluence said:

By the time I get water into my tank. WITHOUT fish or coral I'm betting it will be right at 5,000 but I am also going high end with the equipment. If I didn't want to keep hard corals and clams I could cut easy 600.00 off the price of the lighting. But I'm going LED so that way I don't have to run a chiller.

so to answer your question. YES it can really cost that much to set up a tank. Mine is only 90gal.

just a guess but I'm betting @thatgrimguy had 15K + in the 210.

I sold the corals alone for $10k.  Everything else I sold for 4500. I kept a few things, enough to start up my 90g.  

I don't even want to know what I spent to get to the level you see that tank.

Thatgrimguy

@Jeremiah How's your tank going? What are your levels? Are you reading any nitrates? I was able to keep my 210 where I never could see any on a test. My 30g always had some.

What are your cal/alk/mag numbers looking like? Have you/are you planning on corals? And if so, will you be doing SPS, LPS or just softies?

Found a pic of my old 30g. 

Ladeback69

Looks really cool, but we will stick to our small 20 gallon fresh waster tank.  We almost got rid of it when ich started killing of all our fish.  My wife is the keeper of our tank and we had one fish liuve so it's name is Rocky now.  We removed all the rock and everything in the tank a month ago and now we have about 8 fish again and it looks good.  I would love a big salt water tank, but it seems like a lot more work and cost a lot more.  Does anyone here watch the show Tanked?  They have built some cool tanks.

nolaegghead

I'm pretty tanked right now. (*burrp*), sorry.  Love the passion of the fish.  This is my favorite thread right now, as it is also the one I'm typing stuff on.

YukonRon

The images posted of the salt water tanks are extremely impressive. @Thatgrimguy@Jeremiah I had always enjoyed SW aquariums, and got into it, but I did not have enough time to give it the proper attention required for as elaborate as I had wanted it to be.
Tipping my hat to y'all, I know what it takes, and y'all got it going on.
Very nice work on the cabinet and stand.

55drum

Tank looks awesome...good luck with it....when you're ready for the next level...try this mod....

FISH

Fosk

HeavyG said:

Thatgrimguy said:

It's guaranteed that when you leave, bad things will happen. Skimmers will overflow, leaks will start. The world will melt. And it will happen right as you leave!!  It's a fun hobby, but it's a lifestyle.  

I swapped to bbq because when I don't cook for 2 weeks nothing dies! If I left that 210 alone for 2 weeks all hell would break loose. I messed with it every single day.

I use to be into aquariums a few decades ago. Went out of town for a long weekend once and came home to find the heater in my salt tank had stuck on and the water temp was over 100°. Sad (and pricey) loss of all fish and anemones.

Failed at salt water aquarium...Successful sous-vide??

Jeremiah

We went last weekend and bought a diamond watchman goby. Poor guy went carpet surfing that night. I had screens over the top but had maybe an inch gap open. I then spent Sunday building a canopy. Thankfully the clowns aren't jumpers!

Jeremiah

An update for fellow reefers: The yellow tang graduated to the display tank late last night. He's out and exploring this morning, terrifying the other fish who pale in comparison size wise.

dougcrann

When we were in AZ had several salt tanks. Only reef one I had was a 35 gallon setup. Place I dealt with wanted it gone, made me a smoking deal. Had a 125 gallon,  bottom filtered swim tank and a 300 gallon setup with the drain boxes in the back, sump under it. Multiple filters, protein skimmer. Had 3 Metal Halide lamps. Had to run 2 20 amp circuits for the lamps...they each drew 9 amps....
Sorry for rambling 

Jeremiah

@dougcrann the metal halides are now gone. LEDs are king now. Honestly my power bill hasn't seen a noticeable increase!

northGAcock

Waiting for an up close and personal look. I'll bring the BM's.

milesvdustin

I have a 1 gallon freshwater with a micro filter and two neon tetras in it. 

Jeremiah

@northGAcock Actually I was contemplating something for today, but I've felt like crap all weekend. Aquarium maintenance and some burnt chicken wings is all I've accomplished. Soon though. 

northGAcock

Lol.....hang in there. Love the deck. You been working your butt off on that.