250 Gallon Tank

[MrLOL]

Hello, so recently I been wondering if I should put money to buy a 250gallon tank. For this being said, I wanted to know the price to own a salt water tank that has 200 gallons and all the requirements other than the tank itself and the parts and how much that would cost. If you would like to help me a bit more, I am planning to buy a bamboo Shark or a Banded Cat Shark and I would like to know a bit about them.

 

[DylanM]

Have you ever owned an aquarium before? Sharks would need a tank with as much floor space as possible, it should be flatter and take up more floor space than many of the vertical reef setups you see. Also these animals live a long time, and although I only own small tanks I do own other animals and I could foresee a bamboo shark tank requiring about as much care as something like a dog, as they may need to be target fed and you need to pay close attention to their eating and health.

 

[skippyenthalpy]

If you have never had an aquarium before I would not recommend going salt water. It is VERY hard. and fish losses costing you hundreds. The price of a 250 salt water reef aquarium would be very expensive.
The tank itself would cost around a 1000 dollars. You then need a sump similar in size to the tank itself. so like 2600 dollars. You also need filter media, salt water solution. A pump, heating, currents, and a skimmer. then the fish them selfs would cost anywhere from 50 to 1000 dollars. Coral anywhere from 40-1000. I've never had salt water but ive heard they are very challenging.

 

[MrLOL]

If you have never had an aquarium before I would not recommend going salt water. It is VERY hard. and fish losses costing you hundreds. The price of a 250 salt water reef aquarium would be very expensive.
The tank itself would cost around a 1000 dollars. You then need a sump similar in size to the tank itself. so like 2600 dollars. You also need filter media, salt water solution. A pump, heating, currents, and a skimmer. then the fish them selfs would cost anywhere from 50 to 1000 dollars. Coral anywhere from 40-1000. I've never had salt water but ive heard they are very challenging.

Yeah I am planning on getting a custom one made, instead of me actually buying one and doing it myself since I have only have had freshwater fish before and I don’t want to mess up on something this expensive. For that being said; Since there are people in our area who make custom salt water tanks, right now I am just trying to do some research on what the best options are for the tank to make sure everything goes well. The process would cost a lot of money itself and a lot of time learning everything about the aquarium and the fish I plan to put in it, but I am fully committed to a duty like this; So for right now I am just planning everything out before I actually buy the aquarium and the fish.

 

[saltwater60]

If you’ve never had a saltwater tank I would not recommend starting with sharks. They are not an easy fish to keep. The $2600 is a very low estimate IMO. By the time you buy the tank, stand, pumps, lights, sand, reef rock. Also likely need a skimmer. These sharks hide a lot and are not super active.

 

[Marsh980]

Hi, thought I’d pass my recent experience on. I’ve just ordered a custom 220 gallon reef tank with all the equipment I would need (for more information on what see my thread in the saltwater build section). To note I’m British so bear that in mind when it comes to equipment and costs etc

In total I spent £7922.78 so approx $10300 and this doesn’t include the auto coral doser that’ll I’ll buy in the next 2-3 months.

I’m budgeting £200 a month $260 on upkeep and maintenance (not including costs of fish, corals, invertebrates etc). This will cover electricity, food, water tests and finally buying the saltwater and RO water from my local LFS.

Buying the water in I know is madness to some people but I’ll be doing 75 gallon water changes every week and im on a water meter here in the UK. The cost of making my own, not including the wastage when making it would cost me a lot, plus I don’t want all the hassle that comes with a RO unit.

Hope this helps. Follow my aquarium build thread as my new tank arrives in approx 5 weeks.

Cheers