Can anyone give me an estimate on a 75 gal reef tank?

Theres really way too many variables to consider here. You could get a complete 75 reef off craigslist with everything for around $300-$500, or get a zeroedge tank with LED Light panels and a bubble king for upwards of $10,000 before your done buying top of the line equipment + livestock.

Being that your new to this, its going to be hard to sort the garbage from the true awesome deals on craigslist. You need to know what your looking for . . . if you cant tell the difference between a euro reef skimmer and a seaclone just by looking at them you might end up with some equipment that will need to be replaced and that only adds to the initial start up costs.

~Will.

 

+1 to illwill. i personally bought a ebay special custom 22gal fuge that came with two pumps and a skimmer. when i was a total noob to this i figured hell it was worth the $150. well let me tell ya, it pays to research and figure out what you want and need for the entire PROJECT before you go buying things one piece at a time.

this skimmer, already needs to be replaced. the pumps, crap. rated for 1100GPH only getting about 800 at 0 feet of head.

i learned my lesson personally and am now researching all components i need for my tank and what the pros/cons of the different ideals and applications are prior to purchase.

 

+1 for $500 to $10,000. It varies so much depending on how much automation you want, if you want to put time and effort into tracking down good used deals (and dealing with potentially bad used equipment). Whether you want to get top of the line equipment or try and take the cheaper road, or somewhere in the middle. Are you a gadget addict or do you want to take the simplest route available?

It also depends entirely on what type of livestock you want to keep and also possibly how much space you have for flexibility, tying in refugiums etc.

If you want an idea of the equipment you might need you can check out my build thread in my signature, although you can definitely get by with some cheaper components than I did.

EDIT: Also I laid out some of my thoughts on the matter only with relation to a 125 gallon tank in this thread if you're interested.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/125-gallon-tank-cost-76562.html

 

I have a 75 gallon that is not even complete with rock and I am missing a few pieces of equiptment such as a skimmer and I am close to 3K with corals, fish, rock, and all of the necessary equiptment. This is of course over time but after probably 600 for the tank it should only be 150 to 200 dollars for substrate and some starter rock. I can't say what youll need for filtration but I have done well with a fluval 305. Also, I cant price lighting because I do not know if your looking toward halides or t5's. A website that I would recommend is HelloLights.com where I found two 150w halide reflectors with bulbs and two atinic t5's for 484. However this is a retrofit kit for my canopy and I will have to spend another 75 to 100 dollars on fans.

 

lol! i'm afraid to add the numbers up! the total running cost over a few years, a few upgrades,inhabitants etc.. etc.. nope don't want to know, someone on another site has this in their signature "my next hobby will be sitting in my basement tearing up hundred dollar bills while continuosly pounding my head against the wall" and that about sums it up i think, once you're in you just keep spending and spending and spending. don't get me wrong though i'd do it all over again! such a wonderful hobby but if $ is tight or you want to get/stay married(lol) maybe the african cichlids would be a better way to go.

 

It really depends what kinda tank you really want.... I couldnt even calculate all that ive spent.... then upgraded (thats why research and buy right the first time).

I have a car sitting in the living room. With all the money that has been spent on it and is being spent on it. Definitely not a poor mans hobby.

Upkeep with chemicals, media, food, test kits, salt, bulb replacements, ro water (bought at store or water filters)

If I was to start a new stony tank (lets just say 90 or a 120) and would wanna buy everything off the bat without any future upgrades. Id wanna have about 10k in the pocket to set it all up "the way I want it to be" in regards to equipment. All bells and whistles

 

light 900
tank 600
stand DIY 100
sump 350
sump extension 85
skimmer 300
reactor 115
pumps 150
Power heads 100
rocks dry base 250
sand dry 100
misc hoses,clamps,etc 200
Ro/DI 2 of them 300

This is mine so far for my 120 averaged with tax inc.
You can save money alot of $ on the DIY stuff like a sump, stand. I didnt feel like fooling with the sump at the time (didnt have time) or I would have built it myself.

 

who wouldnt want 10k to start a tank? ;D;D

 

Lights $1000
Tank $250 (90G reef ready)
Skimmer $400
Sump $50
Return Pump $300
Reactor $40
Live Rock $300
Plumbing $100
Filter Sock: $80
Sand: $60
Salt: $50
RO/DI unit: $200
Timers: $25
Electrical: $100
Test Kits: $100
Stand: $30
--------------------

Total: $3055

YMMV. You could easily add another $2000 if you got a controller, calcium reactor, ozone generator, UV sterilizer. . etc.

 

I got a 72 with a 20 gal sump. This is what I paid for everything....
72g with pine stand....$150 (used from a friend)
20 gal long sump $20 (used 20 gal from friend)
silicone and acrylic for making baffles for diy 20 long sump $40
POS odyssea ps75 skimmer $30 (waste of money and need upgrade)
4x54 T5 Lights $90 used from friend
New bulbs 4x54 $85 (aquariumspecialties.com)
Paint to paint stand and tank $20
DIY Canopy for 72 $85
DIY fan controller for canopy $40
125 lbs of rock average of $2/lb. (pieced together from local reefers selling rock)
100lbs live sand $100 (bought from local reefers)
overflow and rio 2500 return $35 (used off of craigslist)
3 Koralia 3s at $20 each used $60
2 MJ1200s $5 each used $10
2 150w heaters $5 each used $10
4 digital timers $20
200g worth of salt $50
Misc Supplies and Chemicals $100
Refractometer $35

Total cost of hardware $1130

Corals....who knows, maybe $400 at least
Fish.....about 200
Cleanup crew.....$400 at least over the time I"ve had a reef and thats wholesale prices (cleaner shrimp, peppermints, emeralds, about 30 blue leg hermits, 5 zebra stripes, 50 nassarius, 10 nasarius tongas, 25 onynx nassarius, 2 trochus snails, turbo snail, 20 astreas, 10 margharites, fighting conch, and probably many more I forgot)
I spend at least another $20 every week on something, whether it be salt, frags, gas to go to the fish store, etc. The money never stops coming out of your pocket. Every day you will be thinking about your reef and how you can make it better and cooler. It never stops.
Total for Livestock: $1000 at least

Hardware and Livestock $2130 at least. Thats rounding down and I am a VERY froogle person. Please keep in mind this was not all at once. This was over a 12 month span. I pieced my tank together $20 at a time.

When I first migrated from freshwater to salt, I thought 20 bucks was a lot to spend on a fish. Now I think that is cheap and $200 is a lot. Same with corals, only willing to spend 20 max on a coral. Now I would probably drop $200 on one piece without cringing. Your "whats expensive" standard shoots up throughout the years.