what are initial cost to set up a saltwater fish tank? And monthly?

Answer 1

depending on the size of the tank

Answer 2

As others have said, this will depends partly on the size of the tank, but also on what type of saltwater animals you want to keep. Fish-only is the easiest and cheapest (for marine), reef tank with photosynthetic corals, clams, or anemones will cost considerably more.

The size of the tank will also affect the monthly cost, because you will have to get additional salt to do water changes - the more water you change , the more salt you'll need. If you have trouble keeping the pH 8.1-8.4, you'll need kalkwasser. If you use tap water, some dechlorinator - if you use reverse osmosis water, you might want to get something that adds the calcium and magnesium back (these get removed by the RO process).

A good reference book is a MUST! There's a lot of good and bad info on the web and in forums. Books are a bit more reliable - "The New Marine Aquarium" and "The Consciencous Marine Aquarist" are two that cover everything you need to get started and are fairly easy to come by. For a tank, you should plan on nothing smaller than a 30 gallon - a 55 or a 75 would be even better. You'll also need a stand, unless you have a very sturdy piece of furniture for it. If you buy a stand, get solid wood - the pressed board will "unglue" if it gets wet (this happened to a friend's 55 with freshwater) and metal will corrode from the salt. You'll need a filter for the size tank you buy (a protein skimmer is strongly recommended as well, but not absolutely necessary if you're just keeping fish), 1-2 powerheads to help circulate the water, 1-2 heaters, coral or aragonite substrate, salt, hydrometer (measures the salinity), thermometer, saltwater test kit, lights/hood/glass cover, plus containers for mixing the salt (a plastic garbage can works just fine) are the minimum. Then you'll want fish, possibly invertebrates, live rock, and corals as well.

If you aren't already keeping fish, you'll need cleaning supplies (gravel vaccuum, algae scraper, long gloves, bucket).

If you want to keep your costs down (somewhat), buy salt in buckets, not bags - you'll get a lot more and you can go through this stuff pretty fast. Flake and pellet foods is usually less expensive, but some fish won't eat these - they want frozen "live" foods. If you're only planning to keep fish, intense lighting isn't that critical and will only promote algae. If you want corals or anemones, you'll eventually need them. Power compacts are okay for soft corals and are less expensive than metal halides.

I like to give people the advice to start a saltwater tank by researching the animals they want to keep. Many are territorial and aggressive, so tanks won't accommodate as many fish as freshwater. Keeping the stocking rate lower also helps keep the water quality from deteriorating as quickly. Find out the adult sizes and activity levels of the fish you want and which fish can be kept together. This will give you the best idea of how large of a tank you'll want to get. Then plan the rest of the equipment around this.

Here are some websites you may find useful - the first two have marine fish info, the 3rd and 4th have info on starting a saltwater tank, and the last is an online catalog where you can get an idea of equipment types and prices. The last is a bit of everything for salt.

Good luck with the tank and welcome to the hobby!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/
http://www.peteducation.com/category_summary.cfm?cat=1987
http://www.apapets.com/MarineEcosystem/whatto.htm
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/index.web
http://www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterBeginners.htm

Answer 3

Salt water tanks are extemely costly. To manage it, you must keep the pH levels exact=even the smallest fluxuation will kill your fish. You must keep the minerals in the water exact for the same reason. If you put too much salt or the water evaporates even just a small bit, your fish will become dehydrated. If you don't put enough salt into the water, and I know this will sound odd, your fish will drown.
If you really want a tank, it will cost you about $700 for a good sized tank. You must get glass=plastic contains toxins that will kill your fish. You must also buy the salts, special rocks and structures, and medications to put in the water=another $200. You must buy kits or pay professionals to check the water for pH, salt, and minerals=$150. You must buy special filters and fish to clean your tank=$50 to $80 for a small tank $90 to $180 for a large. Then you must buy your fish. They vary on price, size and rarity. =$5 to up to a few thousand if you want to get fancy.
There ya go, salt water fish in a nut shell.

Answer 4

Truly depends on the size of the tank, filtration system, lighting, livestock you choose and all. Check out my MySpace blog for some ideas. www.myspace.com/Cnstnce I tried to blog the progress and the initial costs. Be prepared to spend a lot though.

Answer 5

for one a acrylic/plastic tank is NOT toxic. you can get a every thing for about 500.00 that is nothing to big and far from the best but will work good. monthly cost is very little its the start up that cost the $$$$$$$$$$$

Answer 6

that all depends how big the fish tank is but the average cost is about 50 dollars

Answer 7

There are a lot of archives on this topic if you type it in the SEARCH. That can help.
Also, there's a good site to ask questions: saltwaterfish.com