maintnance cost

[electricblue]

can anyone tell me the average cost of maintaining a pico, nano, or average size sw aquarium.

i have the itch for sw and begun doing some research on the basics but never quite finished.

I'm really considering at least a fish/shrimp sw small setup but the only thing scaring me away is the cost since i have a baby on the way.

[mgarrido]

For a basic maintenance:
1. $1.00 per gallon of saltwater
2. $0.25 per gallon of RO/DI water for your top off
3. $30.00 for a basic test kit
4. Around $20.00-30.00 for food (mini-mysis, cyclops, oyster feast, phyto feast, nls marine formula). All this can last several months.

For a more sophisticate kind of corals you may need more test kits like alkaline, phosphate, magnesium, salinity, calcium, strontium.

Most of the corals are photosynthetic so a good light is always recommended as well of water flow. Beside all this you are done :). The more expensive part is start, the list of equipments depends basically of your budget, the range would be a couple of hundreds or thousands of dollars for a nano reef.

Can I say welcome to the dark side? lol

[electricblue]

$1 per gallon of saltware? seems like it could get pricey
and what do you mean by ro/di?

And thanks for the kind welcome, i never expected the evil inside me to come out lol

[nhung]

ro/di is Reverse Osmosis / Deionized water. You can buy it at LFS or buy the filter system for home.

[fish daddy]

I built a super carbon filter to filter my freshwater. I have also read of the carbon filter/water hose. These allow for tapwater to be used. Still test it.

I also supplement my storebought feeding by keeping some fresh fish, shrimp, and raw oyster in the freezer. I shave or scrape off some of each using a sharp knife to create frozen snow. It is thawed by the time I get it into the tank. I have heard not one complaint yet. A frozen squid might find its way into the mix soon. Shuck the oyster before you freeze it. Closed frozen oyster is like a rock with a worthless seam.

[Ca Nguyen]

when instant ocean salt go on sale, i buy a bunch of it to stack up. right now i have a 10 gallon nano with just lots of rock and one clown fish. setting it up will cost an arm, a leg, and maybe another arm. but i'm sure once it's up and running, maintaining it won't be too expensive depending on what kind of corals you're keeping.

[RocketSurgeon]

Do you want start up costs or Maintenance costs?
My office 10 gallon costs me 2 gallons of water and a disposable filter cartidge every week. I also replace 2 gallons of saltwater every month.