Great Idea for a New Thread

Hey guys,
I have a great idea for a new thread. I think myself as well as a lot of newbs looking to get into the hobby would like to hear from you established guys on this subject. How much do you spend on a monthly basis financially for food, testing, maintenance, water changes, etc etc. List the size of your tank and how much you spend approximately. I'm not talking about electric cost here or time spent just the actually finances you spend on the products you're using to maintane and take care of you're tank and fish and such. Thanks guys.

Mike

 

I just looked at a budget the other day. For my 90g SPS tank, it comes to about $140-$150 a month. Food, water, chems, light bulbs, test kits and various expenses thrown in. And yes that includes electricity. Adding $20-$30 a month to your electric bill is a cost. I was a little depressed after doing that.

 

Come on guys there has to be more people that have an idea of their monthly aquarium budgets than that? Definitely could use your help here fellas. Thanks.

Mike

 

I'm guessing there are more that don't actually want to know.

 

The title of the thread is the problem. Try this again but change the title to "What does the hobby cost you each month" or something condensed but that would get more action. Try again.
In my own case I have a 210 gal reef and given what I spend in food, supplies, bulbs, meds and water changes I came up with $275-$300 a month. That does not include purchases of livestock and inverts and corals.

 

I am of the "Don't want to know" category. My tank is a 75 gallon with a 29 gallon sump. Soft corals and 5 fish. I don't spend too much on food and supplements. Most of my expenses are upgrading equipment when I can. I am slowly replacing my existing stuff with better products. Most of the cost is salt (10 gallon water change weekly) and electricity. I live in Idaho and have no local LFS. (I don't count Petco.) So everything I need I have to order online, so I constantly look for deals on shipping. Monthly cost is probably only 50 to 75 a month, with the occasional large item purchase.

 

75G w/ 20L sump. I figure I spend about $90 a month not including fish and coral purchases.

 

oh i don't know. no idea on the electricity.

i spent 77 bucks this month on a year supply of filter replacements for my RO/DI and a frag tool.

I spent like 50 bucks last month on a replacement Alk test and some more DT phyto.

I spent like 80 bucks two or three months before that on replacement bulbs.

I spent like 50 bucks on a bunch of new inverts a few months ago.

But lots of months I don't really spend anything... other than electricity. My water doesn't really cost anything. I pay a flat rate up to some gallonage and never go over...



Of course, all the equipment is already paid for.

 

I'll try to give a rough estimate with no electricty costs included. I have a 55 galllon tank with a 20gal sump and about 60%sps, 40% lps. To come up with my number, I guestimated about how much I spend a year on stuff, then totaled and divided by 12. So, I spend about $50 a month just for maintenance and supplies, which I guess isn't too bad, unless I forgot something big.