Building an Aquarium with $1000 budget?

Question

So could anyone build me an aquatic system with tank, equipment, and supplies needed for an saltwater aquarium. Don't include price for tank because i can get a good cheap one. Now for everything else like equipment (filter, lighting, and etc.), and supplies (gravel, RO/DI water, salt mix, and etc.). If you can stay inside the budget it would be gret and please do try to do so but if you can't then go overbudget but not too much. But still try to stay in budget anyway. And don't include price for fish either.

Answer 1

this really depends on your aquarium size and if your doing a reef or FOWLR(fish only with live rock)

reef systems cost a lot more money then a regular FOWLR, so im going to give the suggest equipment for a FOWLR based on a 55 gallon

1-live sand or aragamax sand. live sand is suggest and will cost from 19-30 dollars per pag which usually consist of 15-25 pounds. aragamax sand isnt live but is still better then the rest, usually 20-25 dollars for 20-30 pounds. the amount needed varies on aquarium size, for example a 55 gallon marine aquarium should have 60-70 pounds of live or aragamax sand. $50



2-live rock. can be very expsenive depending where you buy from, i suggest liveaquaria. i have bought over 100 pounds of premimum fiji live rock for them only at 3 dollars per pound! stores usually sell 7-12 dollars per pound. amount needed varies on aquarium size, for example a 55 gallon marine aquarium should have 60-100 pounds of live rock. $220



3-filter. i suggest a canister filter or sump, for beginners i would go for a canister. the recommended canister filter for the best price is either the fluval series or the incredabily cheap penn plax cascade. this can range from 80-300 dollars for these brands so for a 55 it would be $130



4-heater. for marine aquariums i would got for the best brand possible as well as external control. what i use and recommend is the Azoo titanium heater 300w for a 55 gallon cost about $36



5-power head. i suggest the hydor koralia brands or ones alike this can cost about $50



6-protein skimmers. are optional but necessary, they can be very expsenive but some are cheaper but still good such as the sea clone 100 which cost $75



7-all glass hood/canopy. these increase light penetration, decreases water evaporation. for a 55 with brackets it would cost $30



8-lighting. for a FOWLR you can use the standard t5 for coralline growth for a 55 this will only cost around $100-150.



9-magnet cleaner. $10



10-hydrometer. $6



11- marine salt. 200 gallons of marine salt cost $50 for instant ocean



12-make your own filter pads. i do this and i save so much money instead of buying replacements, it cost 7 dollars for 10 feet of filter padding! found on ebay



13-frozen food. if you want to keep healthy vivid marine fish you should feed live or close to live foods, cost about $9 dollars for about a few months worth



14- 5 gallon buckets for mixing your water cost about 2 dollars at home depot



over all $800 dollars for the minimum equipment

Answer 2

the important part is... what size tank do you want. for $1000 you could get two top end nano cubes.



If you want a large tank then the best answer I could possible give you is to save money onlive rock by buying from craigslist is someone has is for cheap or to by base rock from marcorocks.com. (under $3 per pound shipped)



Lighting is your next biggest expense if you plan on it being a future reef tank. Cheapest light I found was on ebay. A 30" quad t5 ho fixture with two actinic and two 12000k bulbs for $89 with free shipping.

Answer 3

why dont u look on craigslist for a private contractor. for 1000, you are going to ba able to get a wonderful tank made. your fish are going to be very happy. i know someone that could do it, but i live in cleveland and i think with just the shipping cost, it wouldnt be worth it for you. you should definetely get the most bang for your buck