How do you manage your tank on a tight budget?

[Gumbies R Us]

I know some of us on here love our reef tanks but might not have a lot of money to dump into it. I am wondering how are you managing your reef tank on a tighter budget? Are you having to cut corners in areas your normally wouldn't? Maybe you are trying to not buy as much livestock/coral for your tank.

 

[shakacuz]

the only place i cut corners on are lights/skimmer(used). when i come back to the hobby i'll likely buy everything i can used within reason.

 

[Tahoe61]

Luckily I prefer small tanks. I have a Reef Casa Pico 6 gallon, and a IM 14 gallon. The AIO feature saves me money initially. Equipment is interchangeable between tanks. You're limited on what fish are appropriate. There are only so many corals you can fit. The price of using dosing products is reduced. Pico and Nanos are definitely not for everyone, but if you can pull it off it is significantly cheaper.

 

[56longroof]

By being irresponsible.

 

[JayM]

My experience has been that the expense to manage my tank isn't significant enough to warrant a budget.

Setting one up and stocking it on the other hand is an entirely different story.

 

[Luigi Reefs]

By not biting off more than I can chew.

 

[Fish_Fry]

Being patient and waiting. Initial setup costs were high, but I've taken my time with everything else.

For example:

• I wasn't in a rush to add livestock
• I didn't add a skimmer until I had more livestock
• I dosed 2-part manually for a while
• I didn't add an extra PH until I needed the flow
• After 2.5 years I'm finally automating the refilling of my ATO reservoir
• Setting up an AWC system will be a '25 project
• I've deliberately run under powered lights to minimize nuisance alage until the tank stabilized. I'm finally adding an extra light which will allow more flexibility with regards to placing corals around the bottom & perimeter of the tank.

A battery backup is next on my list. Shame on me for not doing it sooner. In the meantime if I lose power I have battery powered air pumps ready to go, the only problem is that someone needs to be home.

 

[ColorMeGone]

I have no budget to worry about, but I do like the KISS method. I'm just crazy like that.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I always buy the cheapest option first. Sometimes it works for a while, sometimes I have to rebuy it or find a better alternative. But I have no product loyalty.

 

[jerricolaboy]

I’ve setup a 15g aio mostly on a budget, bought well taken care of used gear and mostly have soft corals and light stock of fish. Water change every week with reef crystals salt and it’s pretty simple and cheap

 

[PotatoPig]

Almost everything I buy is on sale and I did a fair amount of DIY. Tank + Sump from Petco’s half price sale, stand was DIY, stand top was a workbench on sale, lights on sale (noops), RODI was on a 60% off for some reason at BRS, heaters mostly from sales, sump was DIY with siliconed in glass panels, everything’s soft plumbed, skimmer was on sale, diy screens on top. Power heads on sale. Alk doser is my ATO, which was on sale, Calcium doser is a DIY drip feed from a manually topped plastic bottle.

Last I added it all up my tank cost about $25/gallon, which I understand is definitely at the low end for a reef tank.

Maybe 90% of corals have been from the sales rack also, IME most of the stuff there is primarily there because it grows well, which is nice.

I could have saved more buying second hand, and having actually seen a carbon reactor suspect I could have done a DIY one very cheaply, but this is my first ever salt water tank I typically didn’t have the experience or baseline knowledge to have confidence buying stuff second hand until after I’d bought the thing new at least once to get real eyes-on for how it works “and what to look for.

 

[subodhs]

I know some of us on here love our reef tanks but might not have a lot of money to dump into it. I am wondering how are you managing your reef tank on a tighter budget? Are you having to cut corners in areas your normally wouldn't? Maybe you are trying to not buy as much livestock/coral for your tank.

I used to throw money at my tank like I was trying to buy its love. Had a great job, shiny gadgets, dosers everywhere—you name it. Red sea 7 part? Sure, take my wallet. KZ this, fancy phyto that. Life was good. Tank was happy. I was the king of reefing. (Well, I had experience from before so wasn't exactly a noob).

Then, life happened. got laid off. Budget tightened. Aquaforest became my "downgrade," and guess what? Same money, lasted twice as long. Tank seemed the same. What a joke, right? One year later, even Aquaforest was out. Consulting gigs weren’t cutting it, so I turned to good ol’ BRS chemicals. Cheaper, more of it, less fluff. Now its Amazon. And the tank? Still doing alright. Turns out, all that fancy stuff? Not the MVPs I thought they were.

This whole "budget reefing" thing is why Reef.Tools came to life. Born out of desperation, it secretly tells me the cost per mg/L per dollar, because honestly, one can spend 10x for the same thing when you have a lot of it but for bare-bones reefers like me, trying to keep the hobby fun without a second mortgage is more important.

Oh, and a word about them vermetid snails. Yeah, they’re still having a rave in my tank. I've been planning a "kill all vermetids" button, for a while now. Until then, it’s me vs. them. They’re still winning.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Kidding!

 

[RockRash]

Well, I haven't really cut any corners on my build. Well, arguably my tank, a 75 gallon Top Fin from Pet Smart ( boughtfor half price) . I've spent the last 11 months building this tank, so I've taken advantage of almost every good deal available. I've saved almost 1.5k buying things on sale. I want in a hurry so it worked out for me.

 

[JoJosReef]

I stopped buying lunch at work. I also sell my BTA splits when I can and sometimes overgrown zoas. Plasma, bone marrow. Sometimes I'll do a little turn on the catwalk. Hey, I need the money... for coral!!

 

[Razorbacks]

I like what someone said earlier. Being PATIENT is the biggest money saver. The first few corals I really wanted I spent decent cash on and found much better deals later on...but I had to have it when I wanted it. Now I wait for a better deal. 99% of corals have no "going rate" or fixed price.

I also agree that setup is by far the biggest expense. My "maintenance" costs are minimal with salt being the largest line item.

Tips for Reducing Setup Costs that I've Done on different tanks:

1. Don't grow SPS. That cuts out a boatload of time and fancy gadgets you'd be tempted to buy. As well as on going maintenance.
2. Start with a Petco tank or second hand if you must go fancier. You'd be shocked how good even a Petco tank looks with the back glass painted.
3. Put a glass lid on. I'm over 2 years into the hobby and don't own an auto top off system. I've manually refilled my nano all this time when I feed and it's really not been hard.
4. Gravity fed ATO. I'm installing one of these now for my new 6 foot tank which also has a glass lid.
5. DIY sump. In my opinion this is both vastly cheaper and actually BETTER than a premade one. Having that giant open space let's you use whatever equipment you want vs just what fits (more control over the cost).
6. Buy "undersized" everything. External overflow boxes, skimmers, return pumps, led lights, clean up crew packages, etc....the guidance on this stuff when being marketed to you is flat out ridiculous at times. You're being sold more than you actually need. People are buying things that can do 2 or 3x what they need then turning it way down and basically wasting that extra money.
7. Jeboa wavemakers /return and Nicrew Lights (or similar). You don't need a Ferrari. Camrys run just fine.
8. Quarantine your fish or pay extra to buy from someone who does it for you. Granted there is expense to doing this, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than nuking your tank with a new inhabitant and starting over (again patience). I think most people skip QT not because of cost or complexity but because they lack patience.
9. Ignore the "trendy" corals and just buy what you actually think looks good.
10. Don't chase the lastest magical potion or gadget that probably doesn't do squat for you.
11. Feed flakes or pellets most of the time. Frozen is fine, but it's not necessary and even then MAKE YOUR OWN. The premade stuff is highway robbery compared to the cost of making your own.

 

[Hats_]

Got a great deal on my tank second hand, managed to sell only the lights that came with it for more than I payed for the whole system since I had my own lights. And to maintain budget I sell frags and save the money up on a separate savings account for additives or other things I want/need. I also only buy corals from other reefers, never from stores.

 

[salinity now]

I know some of us on here love our reef tanks but might not have a lot of money to dump into it. I am wondering how are you managing your reef tank on a tighter budget? Are you having to cut corners in areas your normally wouldn't? Maybe you are trying to not buy as much livestock/coral for your tank.

I live on my SS. I've been able to build a 75-gallon reef tank 14 months old, with R/O filtration, backup power, great lighting, and the lot. I've given up on buying any more coral though as I can't seem to get my phosphates down to a manageable level. My livestock seems happy with no parasites or visible diseases.

 

[Cool tangs]

Preparation, planning, and budgeting. You'll be surprised how much you can save buying in bulk or mixing your own 2 part and traces