My brother wants a saltwater tank. He has been looking on EBay for complete setups. I dont really think its a good idea to buy one with everything included (fish and all), but the lights and filter and all that good stuff sure.

I forgot to ask how much he was willing to spend but the one he showed me that he bid on jumped up to almost $400. He was thinking that was too much. So my question is, how much would it cost to get a 55 gal tank with stand plus buy all the stuff needed for a saltwater tank?

He asked me to help find him something but I deal with goldfish not marine so I haven't a clue.

i just bought a 55 g tank, hood, lights, filter, and heater a few days ago for $170 with tax at nnnnnn. I looked about 3 different places before i bought it, and nnnnnn was the cheapest by about 20 or 30 bucks.

as for the other stuff i dont know, i think i saw a wood stand at nnnnnn for $75? maybe. i would say build one yourself, its a lot cheaper, and thats what i would have done, but i put mine on my counter.

Hi ! We just went to nnnnnn and ther is a 55 gal kit with hood, filters, heater, light for $158.00 the wooden stand is $76.97 .But the iron stans are much cheaper, I prefer wooden. do you have the Thrifty Nickel paper in your area? I dont know where you live but around here I found a 55 gal with stand and hood for 200 dollars. I wasnted it but cant afford it right now. The other thing about buying used is you have no warranty and the tank or stand could have problems.

He lost in the auction anyway but he still wants a fish tank so im gonna try to talk him into getting a tropical tank. That way I can help him with it. The only thing is he wants some corals cause he likes the way they move .

So as soon as I can talk him into that I'll start looking for some cheap used tanks for him. I actaully think my grandmom might have some in her basement that used to be my other brothers. That would be good if she does then he can use that money to buy nicer looking fish, he also liked the colors of the marine fish.

Oh and YAY if I can talk him into that, since he doesn't like to setup tanks, I get to

he! your lucky!

The main expense in saltwater is the initial setup. After that routine maintenance isnt too expensive. If youre doing a fish only system you can get a decent setup (not including tank and stand) for roughtly $300-500. If youre wanting to do corals and things like that you can double or triple that amount. Lighting is very expensive.

Your biggest expenses will be sand/crushed coral gravel and live rock. You want about a pound of each per gallon. Live rock is your tanks biofilter and will cycle it. You also need sea salt (I use Oceanic but there are a lot of good brands out there) and a hydrometer to measure the salt level. Good luck, setting up new tanks is always exciting.

my fiance LOVES the way salt waters looked, so our old 30 gallon we set up to look alot like a salt water. We bought all the nice fake coral, and backgrounds to go in it. It acctually turned out really good. We dont use the stuff anymore, because I wanted a 55 gallon, planted, natural looking env. for my goldies. So its just sitting there. I tried selling it on ebay, and then the guy who bought it harrassed me because he decided he didnt want to pay the amount he bid for it, so now its still sitting in my closet. Now its just collecting dust in my closet.

You should set it up! I recently set up my 30 as a SW tank and am LOVING it! If you do a little at a time it wont be too expensive. Like I said in the post about cycling, I dont have all my live rock in my tank but it is completely cycled. And really salt isnt any harder than freshwater. Most of us here are the types of people who keep up on their tanks, and thats all you need to do. I did a water change yesterday, which wasnt difficult.

I really love the animals I have in my tank and the whole look of it. I have an invertebrate only tank for now and have a chocolate chip starfish, two red & white camel shrimp, four sea urchins and some red and blue hermits.

building your own stand is waaaaay cheap. buy some wood at homedepot, and start building.