re: Lets discuss home Fish Aquariums

Your little tank kinda looks like the one I got on Craigslist.

Aqua Hut

haven't been inside but looks nice. I used to frequent Mark's Marine quite often when I had my S/W tanks. I also bought alot of fish and corals online, but it's kind of risky.

Not sure who James is. I never made it to the one on Tiger Bend either. Is that store not there anymore?

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Setup: $35/gallon, which is around $6-8k

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All depends on what you do. But I guess it's a good estimate. For example, to make a 200 gallon look full, you would need at least 400 pounds of live rock. You can save money by buying a couple hundred pounds of live and some lace rock or other suitable rock for a base that will be seeded by the live rock eventually. That's just an example on the variance of a cost.

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Maint: Monthly expense is around $2/gal ($400/month).

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Seems a bit high unless you are paying someone to do it? Are you including new fish / corals? Electricity?

Time commitment for a bigger tank is just like a pool. If you do 10-15 mins of work on it everyday, it will be a lot less painful. Just one water change a month and then each day inspect your tank, corals, fish, pumps, etc. Top off with freshwater, feed fish, wipe gladd, etc.

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What about the added humidity in the house from the tank? How do you deal with that?

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I never had a issue with this. LED lights are actually ALOT cooler tyhan the metal halides I used to have. I think it will be a lot less evaporation.

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What about the salt? Any problems inside of the house with it?

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Another non issue, unless you are a dumbass like me and spill about 10 gallons of saltwater on the carpet. Don't do that....

Setup estimates are close, depending on equipment.

Tank/stand $2500-3000 (big range here depending on materials)Go "Reef Ready" or drill your own holes.
Marineland's Deep Dimension tanks have been a popular, widely available tank and are really nice.
Sump $300-400
Skimmer $400+
Lighting $4000+ if doing LEDs
Chiller $1500 I used TECO chillers and really liked them, so I am basing that price off the 1/2HP they have
Main pump $200
Powerheads $1500 (Vortech or Tunze are the 2 popular brands here, and for good reason. They cost more, but are well worth the expense)
RO/DI unit $200
Controller Unit $500+ depending on how intricate a system you get. I have used the Aquatronica and ReefKeeper and both do the job well.

So that's roughly $12k with just the equipment. Of course, that is using all top-brand components which you will most likely end up buying eventually anyway- might as well not waste money and get it the 1st time. Obviously, you can save money in some areas; if you choose to use T-5's or Halides instead of LEDs, you will save quite a bit of $ on lighting.

Stocking a 220 with sand, rock and fish corals can EASILY run you another $10k...just don't do what the TANKED people do and add everything at once; you will shock the system and most likely kill everything you just bought. Cycling is very important.

As for humidity, it won't be much of an issue if you are running LEDs. It will be a huge issue if you do Metal Halides (still done, but have been losing favor for the last few years. I had halides exclusively until my last tank that ran T-5s) To combat the humidity, you may need to install vents directly above the tank and vent the hot air into the attic.

I've been aquarium keeping for 18 years now. It's definitely something you have to enjoy. I've never done saltwater... I've heard to many cons and have never done it. However, I will one day! The water change requirements depends on the fish and how crowded the tank is. The goldfish will definitely require a water change ever
y two weeks. Goldfish are the dirtiest fish I've ever had. I would definitely recommend a Fluval canister filter if you have the space for it. I would also recommend real plants whenever possible, however the do generate more algae problems. This is just scratching the surface of the basics. Hope it helps.

A good size to start, for fresh water, is a 35 gallon. Anything smaller is way too much work to keep clean. If you have tap water you will need to treat it and let it stand for 3 or 4 weeks before you add any fish. Tap water is full of chemical, this also accounts for your cloudiness. Well water works better but I know sometimes it is hard to come by. There are several products that help nutralize the chemical in tap water. You then need to get a good canister filter. The unit may come with one but I would suggest getting a better one off the shelf. Don't skimp here.I have a 60 gallon fresh water tank. I add water periodically as it evaporates and clean about every 6 months. Get a Plecostomus Catfish It will eat alot of algae off of the glass, rocks and about anything else in there. They get along with all kinds of fish

I used to have a 55 gallon and a few smaller freshwater tanks. Best I had was discus fish. Had some huge ones. Prettiest freshwater fish in the world imho but they're just too sensitive.

Like the others have said, it's a money pit. Got rid of them all, dug a pond off my back porch, filled with goldfish. Don't have to do much of anything to keep goldfish alive in a pond.

I used to have two aquariums..29 and 10 gallons..

I used the 10 gallon for sick fish.

I have had many different species, but my favorites were the smaller fish:
Neons, Mollies, Swordtails etc...

You can put lots of them in a tank, they are inexpensive and the tank stays cleaner than having bigger fish like Oscars.

They are very cool to just stare at, very relaxing.

You can get pumps and filters now that make cleaning a breeze.

I had on of those fish encyclopedias and could probably name 90% of all fresh water tropical fish. I even knew some of the Latin names.

Good luck.