---

Reef aquarium costs are elevating all the time. The key to keeping the costs under control is to do your homework. Do as much research as you can “before” you jump right into the hobby. Granted, you will have to start building your reef tank sometime, but the time you spend in the research period will save you plenty of wasted effort and money in the long run

Remember, this is not a race. It takes plenty of patience to setup a great looking reef aquarium. Most if not all of the really great reef aquariums that you see in pictures or in person, took a long time to get that way.

Before you start buying things for your reef, you need to know what you want it to look like. By that I mean what corals and fish you would like to have in it. If you buy a lighting system for soft corals and then decide you want to start keeping SPS corals, you will need a different lighting system. Same goes for your skimmer.

So many people buy a piece of cheap equipment, trying to save a bit of money, only to go out and buy a better one a few months down the road. It happens to everyone, including me.

Other things to consider may be the cost of electricity. Pumps, heaters, fans, skimmers, and especially lights all cost money to run. Metal Halides will be the biggest draw of electricity in your system if you choose to have them.

The bigger the tank, the more the reef aquarium costs to setup and maintain. Good test kits are not cheep and are a necessity that you must have.

If you are a handy person, there are many things you can build yourself to save a lot of money. Things like skimmers, sumps, stands, calcium reactors, etc are not that hard to build yourself. There are many DIY (do it yourself) plans on the Internet for building such things. Just do a search and you will find them.



Back to Common Reef Keeping Mistakes

Exit Reef Aquarium Costs and Return to Homepage