Saltwater Tank Running Costs (FULL Breakdown)
Рет қаралды 28,065
Күн бұрынHow much does it cost to run a saltwater fish tank? In this video, I give you the full ongoing monthly and yearly cost of running a saltwater tank, by going through all the costs I spend on my 10 gallon nano tank and my 100 gallon reef tank.
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0:00 How much does a saltwater aquarium cost to run?
1:09 Water
2:35 Filtration
3:37 Dosing
4:39 Testing
6:03 Electricity
7:36 Food
8:06 Grand totals
9:18 Livestock & equipment costs
9:55 Full breakdown
@jasonbrock5342 Жыл бұрын
Love the video, But I think I will hide it from my wife🤣
@ianstafford3642 Жыл бұрын
I came here to make the same comment 😂
@javiergamez3343 Жыл бұрын
I have a 20 gallons tank, and im pretty sure I'm gonna get rid of that one because my girlfriend lol
@joshroyce6114 Жыл бұрын
amazing how it adds up lol.... really gives the whole insight to the running costs.. especially for a beginner, great info to share man. thanks for the content
@michaelhans2509 Жыл бұрын
Loved the video and would love to see the livestock and equipment costs as well. Very informative.
@IndoorReef Жыл бұрын
Good job condensing that down so concisely! I think this info will be quite helpful to a lot of people. I started to record mine but not good any helpful info yet. Started taking energy measurements last week. Very interesting to see that the cost scaled almost entirely linearly with the water volume between your two tanks.
@fishy_vinny Жыл бұрын
I have been watching your reef videos along with others reef videos for around 2 years now and I don't even have a reef tank yet! But that's about to change in the next couple weeks. I'm setting up a 40 gallon soft coral/macro algae reef. I can't wait!
@mitchstew Жыл бұрын
You got my like for adding all the freedom units
@jungfraujoch11333 Жыл бұрын
A very pertinent feature in these costly times for energy reef dork, I’ve closed down my 100 gallon and my ‘leccy bill has breathed a huge sigh of relief. Already planning the nano though 😊
@CarlEves Жыл бұрын
Thanks for doing the research into this. Not as bad as I was dreading to be fair. 👍🏻😃
@Fishgeek1979 Жыл бұрын
Great videos as usual 😊
@nimal_r Жыл бұрын
Great topic and very timely. Just worked out my numbers and I am coming around £165 per month with not much stock at all (gulp!).
@banasophia Жыл бұрын
Wow, great video… very helpful info.
@jasonnell1477 Жыл бұрын
Very informative!
@devinm8453 Жыл бұрын
You finally gave me a piece of information that I have been scouring the internet for lol. An honest answer about how much in frozen cubes you feed a day to a fish population about the same size as mine! And from a source I trust with beautiful tanks! Thank you sir!
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
That number has gone up and down over the last 12 months but I've settled on 3 now, which is what I've been doing for a good few months now 🙂
@schukls993 Жыл бұрын
Im really new and still learning on a couple nano tanks but I think you need to test the nutrient levels to know if you should/could feed more. As you grow corals you will need more waste in the tank for them to consume.
@devinm8453 Жыл бұрын
@@schukls993 Oh for sure. I have my feeding dialed in. It is just nice to double check myself vs others in the hobby.
@letsgobrandon987 Жыл бұрын
Nice summary. I had a 180 total gallon reef tank very similar to yours for about 15 years until I recently moved and got rid of it all. Tank was antiquated and a little scratched so didn’t make anything on it just the livestock. Many of my main coral colonies had died back from neglect, system entropy and years of over fragging. But my fish were huge and highly sought after. Also had about 200 lbs of nice live rock. So I made a little money in the breakdown. At the height though yeah I’d say it cost me about $3-4,000 a year to run here in the southern US. Insane when you think about it….$60,000 potentially….wow. Glad I got a different hobby lol.😂
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Yeah, it's when you write down the total figure that you start realising what you could have had instead!
@sherwood279 Жыл бұрын
Ouch that is painful on the 100 gal Alex! Great video though! Exactly why this year i have the lid on the tank and the living room shut up at night and during work, means my home heating holds the tank steady withouth relying on the tank heater so much! Even noticed my dd sump fans on this evening while unpacking my new corals and fish🤣😳
@artistic_spaz3724 Жыл бұрын
Wow. Can't believe how expensive your energy costs are there! But what an eye opening video- people don't talk much about ongoing costs-focus is usually just on set up.
@brunoczyz1185 Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@brandon-vi8cl Жыл бұрын
amazing video!
@marcuskinnard2406 Жыл бұрын
Learned a lot from these videos and am now a few weeks into my years anticipated 29g reef (the largest my Mrs. allowed), partially inspired by Reef Dork! A little cross-the-pond translation, the hobby seems to cost about the same in the North-East US. With the closest stores supporting Saltwater in my area about a 1 hour round trip in directions I do not regularly go, shipping/fuel were significant for startup. Hopefully, it is negligible for an established tank.
@moshpitsonly2778 Жыл бұрын
There’s no way I have more stores near me I’m Tennessee than you do on the coast what state?
@francisgarcia565 Жыл бұрын
Once again great video now that you took the time to check the cost 💲 😮😬
@philsreef746 Жыл бұрын
Great informative video. A video on what you’ve spent on equipment would be good as long as Mrs Reef Dork doesn’t see it.
@ReefDudes Жыл бұрын
Interesting video! i have always been to scared to add it up! 🤣
@Jzzo Жыл бұрын
Great video, thanks! One point I would like to make on energy consumption/heating as I live in the 10% of the countries that are even colder than UK (Nordics). Depending on how you heat your apartment (do you have to pay heating on your own or if it is part of your condominium fee) most of the heating energy that you use on your tank will be transferred to you apartment. This will (in very small part, I admit) reduce the energy you have to use to heat your home. So part of that monthly energy usage is not actually truly "wasted" but used to keep you and your loved ones warm. I recommend using these exact lines when your spouse opens the electricity bill next time.
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I think what you're saying is that I should buy another tank 😁
@Jzzo Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork Only if you dont want to see your family freeze. ^^
@bananna7465 Жыл бұрын
If like a lot of UK people are turning their home heating down due to extortionate energy costs is insulating tanks an option worth considering?
@petermckibben1657 Жыл бұрын
My son and I have just got into our first marine tank after years of keeping fresh water fish. We decided to start with a nano and I think we'll just keep it that way for a while 😳 The difference in running costs is crazy. Great video as always - you've helped my son and I build our knowledge massively these past couple months!
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Good luck!
@sunnygoold9449 Жыл бұрын
Half of the costs are electricity and don't you have to keep freshwater temps higher? I have no idea about freshwater but it seems to me that the more electricity prices go up the lower the % difference between the 2 :D
@petermckibben1657 Жыл бұрын
@@sunnygoold9449 yeah the electricity seems to be the biggest part... I'm based in Northern Ireland and electricity is mental at the minute. It depends in what you're keeping in your fresh water tank and what temperature your house is / time of year. I've manages to keep one of my tanks with no heater successfully for several years, another larger one has needed a heater... but honestly electric has never been an issue...it's been a pretty cheap hobby right up till we decided to dive into a reef tank! Sure...what else are going to spend our money on, right!?
@sunnygoold9449 Жыл бұрын
@@petermckibben1657 Oh for sure. CPI is 18% here in Czech. Power is the worst
@isiheisenberg4784 Жыл бұрын
thx for this video
@stewste4316 29 күн бұрын
Great video, damn i was thinking about getting into that hobby, but it seems so expensive :)
@pauletour2550 Жыл бұрын
Hi! I love your videos, and I was wondering if cats could eat fishes. Keep up the good content!
@sunnygoold9449 Жыл бұрын
That salt may be expensive but they have an abrotanoids (or rmaybe robusta) on the bucket - love that coral - I was watching Jake's extended tour of Sanjays tank last week and he has one - need to get one.
@sunnygoold9449 Жыл бұрын
In regards to the rest of the video I wish I didn't watch it - now I need to get amnesia
@ryanm784 Жыл бұрын
Hi Reef Dork, I was wondering if you would do a vid on your Goni care, how you much u dose manganese where ya get it expect growth, do you feed them etc? think it would make a great vid even some prestigereef input 👌. keep up the great vids!!
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I will at some point, but I don't have enough successful experience under my belt yet - I've only been able to keep them alive in the last 6 months, so I'll wait to see if I've definitely figured it out before I make a video
@Richs_reef Жыл бұрын
Really useful video which I will not be sharing with the missus… also don’t throw the remaining frozen mysis cube away for the nano - use a knife to chop off and defrost what you need and keep the rest in the pack for the next day
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I actually put the rest of the cube in my Waterbox tank...
@Richs_reef Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork Well that is even better then! Sounded in the video like you just tossed it in the bin
@TomoBishBosh Жыл бұрын
Forwarded this to my Mrs as we are about to move house 😅
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
"darling, we're gonna need a bigger mortgage"
@mcstan101 Жыл бұрын
dang... thats put me off getting a big tank now lol i think i stick with my 32gallon tank thanks for the video as all ways
@itsbeertimenow Жыл бұрын
Yeah, you need to make that video. Plz.
@germanytraveller2419 Жыл бұрын
Wow! You listed up everything very accurate. I am surprised, how much electricity you need for your main tank. I had a 100gal peninsula tank until November (2 Straton, 3 streaming pumps, filtration etc. like yours, climatic conditions like yours) and that needed 5-6kWh/day avg. Do you know to what temperature you heat up your room? We had about 21°C and in winter times often a fireplace in the evening hours. It would be worth a try to increase the temperature in the room step by step by 1°C each time to measure the effects on the power consumption.
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
The room the big tank is in gets quite cold - my house is over 100 years old so the heating isn't very even throughout the house unfortunately!
@germanytraveller2419 Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork That's old! But sounds quaint and cozy. 🤗 But exactly these „John Doe“-conditions would be worth a try just then to put the extra consumption heating against the underconsumption of the heating rod, right? ..in the motto "Sustainability - how can we all save energy and costs?" After all, the hobby is expensive enough, so why not tackle such cost traps? So far, to my knowledge, no one has measured anything like this.... Claude of Fauna Marin is (as a Swabian😉 - German insider) also strongly looking for efficiency and cost savings. In his latest videos, he has announced a new flow concept, for example, that is supposed to save a lot of energy.
@saratchawallberg2298 11 ай бұрын
Thank you so much! But ... I will just keep continuing enjoy my freshwater tank. 😅
@coktavianuss406 Жыл бұрын
@reef dork i got inspired by your nano reef tank video but got into some problems. Firstly my local reef shops water turned out to obly be at 1.018 salinity which i am slowly trying to get up. Second the clownfish pair i ordered arrived extremely battered and turns out they have some ich. From the pair 1 died after a week how long should i keep the tank fallow if the second one goes?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I believe it's 12 weeks...
@bryanalfonso8049 Жыл бұрын
Man this is a lot of work
@mijtec Жыл бұрын
Great video as always Alex. I’m deciding between a Red Sea 250 and 350…do you think running the extra 100 litres on the 350 would be a significant jump in running costs ?
@hughraynor8670 Жыл бұрын
Probably not - but it will have a signicant impact on your setup costs, sand, rock, livestock. But of course, with bigger tanks it is easier to manage the parameters!
@mijtec Жыл бұрын
@@hughraynor8670 Thanks for the reply !
@JT-mg2if Жыл бұрын
What happened to the royal gramma, in the nano tank Alex?. Was going to get one for my fluval evo too, as I'm not the biggest fan of clown fish. (Dark red ones are nice!).
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Died unfortunately - I tried 2 but neither made it :-( so I switched to clowns which are doing great!
@rudra7615 Жыл бұрын
One of those videos every reefer would watch and then immediately delete from history. Never sweated so much as it led me to think about my own tank 😬
@hagicj1770 Жыл бұрын
excluding food cost both tanks are 2.374 pounds per gallon. quite cool
@sebastianlundgren7653 7 ай бұрын
So the energy part scares me as a person living in Norway 😅 but on the other hand I have about 20-25 stabile heat in my house year round so most likely it will keep the temperature very stabile
@ReefDork 7 ай бұрын
Yeah, my main tank is in a room that gets cold in the winter!
@assassin3003 Жыл бұрын
I was planning to convert my fresh water south Amerocan 150 gallon to saltwater I guess I'll just stick with my nano reef for now... or maybe I'll upgrade a little instead of 13 gallons I'll go to 25 gallons
@matthewlunt5139 Жыл бұрын
Curious to know what you maintain your parameters at in the Evo? I'm currently using the tropic marin salt in my Evo but concerned about the low dkH of the tropic salt?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I made a video on that last week but Tropic Marin alk levels are fine and very close to natural seawater levels.
@matthewlunt5139 Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork sorry must have missed that one - I'll have a look back through now. Thanks for the all content you make. Helped a novice like me enormously! 👍
@liampritchard4163 Жыл бұрын
Hey I have a 2000litre and pay my electric bill yearly and my year of electric was only 2k for the hole 3 bed house that makes my monthly electric cost to be 166 pound a month I don’t think that’s too bad
@yuyutoys Жыл бұрын
holy cow. your electricity bill is insane. i probably pay only $30 a month for my 120gal in canada
@captainwin6333 Жыл бұрын
How does the evaporation and humidity affect things like your heating bills for the house?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Doubt it makes any real difference
@fishyjoe6470 Жыл бұрын
Aside from the energy crisis, what's the normal energy cost in UK like? Where I live it's around 7 cents (US) per KwH
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Wow! It was £0.20/kwh before the war here
@davidmorffi7940 Жыл бұрын
whats a better tank to have a wider one or a taller one ? i might want a 45 or a 50 gallon can you give some tips for those please and thanks
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Wider (front to back) is great as it makes your aquascape much better length (side to side) is better for fish as it gives them more swimming distance.
@davidmorffi7940 Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork thank you
@PabloTBrave Жыл бұрын
The running cost of 10 gallon tank is a tenth of the 100g tabk amazing
@marineexoticaquatics2923 Жыл бұрын
hey reefdork , lm a new begginer wants to start a nano reef tank , planing to get fish and corals , what is the most important tests that i need to do ? (15gallons tank) thank you .
@marineexoticaquatics2923 Жыл бұрын
and i dnt have a skimmer, and planning to get Gfo & carbon is that useful?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Salinity, nitrate and phosphate. Then when you have corals, alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. Gfo removes phosphate, carbon does nothing except make your water clearer.
@kyletavares7326 Ай бұрын
Curious why you throw out the unused cube when feeding your nano ?
@ReefDork Ай бұрын
I just don't want to overfeed and end up with excess phosphate in the tank
@ToneyDouglas23 Жыл бұрын
Is that a Breitling I spot around 5:35?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Might be 😉
@pdw1977 5 ай бұрын
How is your water free? Great video by the way. I was going to upgrade my reefer 170g2 to a 425 but i think ill keep the 170 😢
@ReefDork 5 ай бұрын
I filter it myself so the cost is pennies (apart from the salt mix of course)
@pdw1977 5 ай бұрын
@ReefDork I make my own RO as well so glad to hear it's only pennies!
@NuclearSpinach 7 ай бұрын
I'm American but I've never heard "freedom units". Laughed out loud.
@shadyacres87 Жыл бұрын
Do you have any extra coverage on your home insurance in case of water damage etc?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Just standard escape of water - I did ask and they said it'll cover damage to the house, although sadly not loss of livestock...
@shadyacres87 Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork Great stuff, thanks!
@sammielou Жыл бұрын
i cut my frozen food into quarters and keep them in a food bag in the freezer. no waste then :)
@samuelevans5129 Жыл бұрын
I have the Fluval 13.5 and I'm spending more a month on salt water than you do overall. Might be time to start mixing my own saltwater rather than spending £25 every two weeks to do water changes.
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Yeah, filtering and mixing your own water saves a fortune!
@madmasreef5412 Жыл бұрын
Don’t let the wife see this one 😂😂😂
@vicluu8026 Жыл бұрын
I used tap water with prime and carbon treatment. Cheap salt from reef crystal and no filter sponge. My LPS and SPS grows like crazy ... You don't need all these extravagances to stay in the hobby.
@TomsReefs Жыл бұрын
Why didn’t you include your frag system?
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Video would have been another 50% longer and I reckon just big and small is enough info. But I'd definitely be up for doing the Waterbox Frag 55.2 (40g ish) if people wanted to know 🙂
@TomsReefs Жыл бұрын
@@ReefDork I’m curious…specially since I’m running alot of systems so it’d be interesting to know for comparison etc.
@Mlh1978 Жыл бұрын
Avv not one for the misses 🤣
@havo1977 Жыл бұрын
I will never do this as i have a 6x2x2 and i like to tell myself it is a cheap hoppy as kalk is so cheap lol
@bananna7465 Жыл бұрын
Holy sponge Bob 12.6 kWh per day is more than my whole house , damm no way the misses will let that happen.
@AmriKFT Жыл бұрын
Crazy expensive...i should be thinking 1001 times for 100g tank
@manueldjsescalante9266 Жыл бұрын
I'm the First 🥇
@manueldjsescalante9266 Жыл бұрын
Let me take the opportunity to thank you @Reef Dork for sharing your knowledge and your passion for reef tanks with the community. I've learned a lot from your videos since I added reef to my Aquarist Lifestyle haha 😂 keep up the good work 👍😊
@AbbasReef Жыл бұрын
My boarder Terrier cost more to run per month lol. Just shows how much of a piss take our energy costs are. Other than that thou this shows that reef keeping is not a rich mans hobby and if people think its expensive doing a track day on motorbike will cost you £400 plus a day providing you don't crash and my sister keeps horses and trust me you don't want to start adding that shit up!
@Noodleanrgry Жыл бұрын
You just this get these high cost because all keep running, No need to run pumps 24/7 on full speeds , Shut down skimmers @ night
@davideamer8617 Жыл бұрын
Mr Reef Dork, your light unit changes must costs you £500 a month also 🤣 interesting figures, I'll keep this quiet from the Mrs 🤣
@CarlEves Жыл бұрын
Interesting you only feed 3 cubes. I feed 4 and I’ve only got 12 fish. I have shrimps etc and they need some as well I expect. I could feed more every time I walk past the tank they are at the front begging to be fed 😃😃
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I've fluctuated a bit over the last year but I've settled on 3 now - I fed more when a couple of my fish were skinny but 3 seems plenty at the moment.
@Seedyrom247 Жыл бұрын
And I thought my hobby of setting money on fire was expensive.
@queencityreefs Жыл бұрын
I'd rather not have to think about how much I spend and continue to spend on my reef tanks 😆🤣
@williamwilson271 Жыл бұрын
Oft the wife's definitely not seeing this.. lol
@dannyboygunner Жыл бұрын
£12.16 a month for 2ml a day of Manganese???? Did i hear that right? Also how on earth have you got 30 pumps/lights on your main tank?? The cops will be round thinking you're growing something if you're running that many pumps 🤣🤣
@overindulgent Жыл бұрын
Why throw the rest of the food cube away with the nano? Use a knife and cut it into quarters…
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
I actually put the rest of it in another tank - I just thought it would be easier to only talk about these 2 tanks!
@thedommyllama9175 Жыл бұрын
lol freedom units
@Ciego80 Жыл бұрын
Your water cost per tank and your salt cost per tank should have the same ratio of 1:10 rather than the 1:2 ratio for water and 1:10 ratio for salt that you have shown.
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Yeah, I could have used different numbers for that. I do about 14% water changes on the small tank and 11% on the main tank hence the odd looking ratios for salt. And they're both slightly over 100 and 10 gallons. And for the water, I tried to work out what I'd spend if I only had the small tank because nobody would have such a big and expensive rodi filter for such a small tank! But either way, there's no perfect way of doing it but overall I think this is a reasonably accurate estimate.
@imCXS-zh2yt 10 ай бұрын
In summary, you’re ready for a reef tank when you can burn a hundred-dollar bill without caring
@42Time Жыл бұрын
I’m second 🥈
@patiacat1 Жыл бұрын
Don’t tell me this 😂
@tekkersreefer8055 Жыл бұрын
Mite get gold fish lol
@les959 Жыл бұрын
i knew i shouldnt of watched this, ignorance is bliss
@reefkichards2345 Жыл бұрын
This video is wildly inaccurate and should be taken down immediately. I’ve assured my (fish) wife (Mrs Kichards) on several occasions that my 200G running costs are roughly similar to the upkeep of a dishwasher. Let’s hope that if Mrs Kichards finds this video before you take it down, she’ll at least read the comments. 😉 - in all seriousness great video
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
Yeah, it's just a parody Mrs K 😬
@EJGraham14 Жыл бұрын
I have five tanks, this video is depressing.
@TomsReefs Жыл бұрын
I have over 5 and ditto 😅🤣
@ReefDork Жыл бұрын
🤣
@ThaoNguyen-jv4up Ай бұрын
Saltwater is not for me lol
@kylemoss1135 Жыл бұрын
Unnecessary waste of money
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