# Cheapest Way to Enter



## RCShevalier (Oct 6, 2015)

I was recently in Big Als and saw one of their display Fluval Evo's all set up and was unfortunately a little captivated by it. I've always been a freshwater guy, but for the past week I've been thinking more and more about saltwater. The big issue right now is that I don't have a ton of money for the initial investment so I'm thinking it might be impossible.

As a result of finances I have been intrigued by the smaller nano aquariums even though I've heard they are harder to maintain. I'm wondering if the Fluval Eco is an option worth further exploring. Also, I went to a local reef store and they promoted the Fusion Nano.

If I were considering between these two, which way would you steer me? Or does anyone have another path to send me on? I'm not very hopeful that this will actually happen, but I am very interested in it all.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

I think one of the best resources is nano-reef.com or the nano section of RC

Understanding limitations and other user experiences will best serve you on how to go about it and spending wisely.

You will "spend" in time and/or $$$ no matter how you slice the cake. The important thing is to enjoy the journey.

Best of luck and have fun


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## aaron86 (Jan 1, 2012)

Do lots of research first then once you know what you are looking for the cheapest why to get in is buying a complete used system 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

When I first started a reef I use my fluval pico 2g. Bought 2 corals and it was almost full, wife decided to buy me a long tentacle anemone from big als. Told her thank you for the wonderful gift and returned it the next day to big als for store credit since it was too big. I upgraded the tank to a 28g bowfront with a 20 high sump in under a week because I didn't want to top off the tank 5 tanks a day.


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## Bayinaung (Feb 24, 2012)

Famous last words.


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## poy (Jan 14, 2015)

Nano life is easy once you have an ATO - auto top off. As others have suggested, research all you can via forums. You can make this an economical test build and do an 10g tank and HOB AC20? But at least ATO to maintain salinity. Hope this helps


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

+1

An ATO will save you alot of grief, especially if you want to go away for a week. Making sensors/float switches blend in and not get covered in algae...you gotta get creative


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

In my opinion, and I know it differs then many you can do a reef tank with all your freshwater equipment. My 65 gallon reef runs on an Aquaclear 110, heater and tank, all of which were fresh. I have added a refugium but that is not a needed right away thing. Lights and live rock will be your big cost. Start with dry rock to save money and a small amount of live rock. For lights look up Mars aqua on eBay or SB Reef lights. So lets say a 35 gallon tank, 40 pounds of dry rock or live rock you buy from someone, the rest you hopefully have as far as heater and filter, and you will need a powerhead or two. Lights will cost you about $150. So what do you already have and what is your budget? I bet you can do it for less then you think.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Budget for a Thousand dollars and see how quickly that goes


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## twobytwo (Oct 25, 2014)

hmmm, I'd do this, if i was starting something small:

20 long = $40
AC30 = $30
Gravity fed float switch ato = $35
Black Box LED = $150
20lbs of sand = $25
15lbs of some nice, new, not-live rock = $60
little powerhead = $40
One of those heavy duty shelving units from lowes, to use as a stand and hang the light from = $80
50 Gal Bag of Reef Crystals = $25

So, $485 And you could get a reef going. You could do a less expensive light if it's just Fish only... but your biggest ongoing expense would probably be buying RODI or Distilled water for making fresh saltwater or ATO; or you could buy a RODI system.

With water changes, you wouldn't need a skimmer, but you could find a HOB one for a tank this size for <$100.

Add that RODI, a Skimmer, a handful of coral frags, Clean up crew and some fish... you could be at that $1000


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*nano*

agree with Wilson chk out some of the other sites that cater to nano tanks....

most on here believe on the bigger the better rule , I know that's not what u want to hear or caters to your budget ...

do your research scour the nano section look at peoples tanks , chk out the diy , those will be your best answer to cheap and entry level ...chk out the for sale adds , if u see something u like post a WANTED in the for sale section of what u want u can also chk out kijjii , but lately to be honest I have not seen anything half decent , maybe just me .

the prob that u will find with the nano tank is that as a newbie , shit happens 
and if something goes wrong in your tank parameters or something just doesn't go right there is not much room to correct the issue ...
may be more beneficial to start a more of a mid size tank ..and u can tweak your fish to be more of the nano types ...its a slippery slope tho , once u go big u will only want to go larger .
darkangel gave u an idea on a 65 and its totally doable .
it all depends on what u want ,space u have , and of course money ..
good luck 
tom


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## someguy (Sep 7, 2009)

If you're going small IMO the best option is one of the nano "all in one" tanks. One to price out a tank, reef lights, and filtration can be expensive, Two they give a cleaner look, and three you will have a lot less issues with evaporation because they come with hoods which keeps the tank relatively stable in regards to salinity because of less water evaporation. 

The Fluval EVO looks cool and there is a lot of hype around them, for the price they seem like a decent option, but I don't have much experience with them. I do have experience with the old Biocube 14 as well as the new 32 and can say they will definitely do what you need them to do, even basic SPS corals. The old biocubes you can probably find for cheap used but the power compact bulbs are expensive to replace and hard to find. Ideally if you can snag the newer LED versions you will be better off. 

All that said you will probably upgrade (bigger) after you get the itch, but it doesn't hurt to start small, get your feet wet, then transfer everything to a bigger tank when the time comes.

P.S. try not to skimp TOO much on gear, most people find after buying cheap equipment they end up replacing it with the stuff they should have got in the first place, thereby increasing your cost even more. A little bit of research and scouring the forums will help with that.


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## Sandeep (Aug 10, 2009)

Nano reef tanks are my specialty. I love small reefs, sure they are more work than a larger tank, but they are a lot of fun as well.

Price wise, you can be all over the place in this hobby, a lot of folks get caught up in the technology rather than focusing on the biology. I like to keep my tanks simple and a stable biosystem.

Currently I'm running a 10g nano reef and a 50g reef. On the nano reef tank I just have a AC50 with foam and a small powerhead for extra flow in the tank. A glass top cuts down on evaporation causing salinity instability big time and eliminates the need for a ATO. Monthly salt water changes of 40% keep my corals happy and I have no need for dosing and have no need for reactors, protein skimmers, reef controllers, refugium tanks, etc. Just keeping it simple and stable.

Chinese black boxes are highly recommended for full spectrum led lighting as they have been used long enough now in the hobby that there is a lot of body of work attesting to their very effective coral growth capabilities and longevity of these fixtures lasting at least 3 years or more typically which is fantastic for the price. If you go for a very small tank, than a par38 full spectrum bulb in a desk lamp would work as well, but no control over color channels.

I would stay away from the all in one kits as they normally have pretty lame lighting for corals where it is key for effective photosynthesis and growth for most corals. Just pick a tank size that you like, I would recommend a 10g as bioload becomes an issue with nano reef tanks and a 10g will allow you to have two small fishes like a pair of clowns easily and controlling water chemistry is a lot easier than a 5.5g or 2.5g nano reef tank.

In terms of advice, stay away from anything that a LFS tells you that you need, do your research on the forums and see what folks are doing and what they are using.

Here are a few links for your interest:

My current 10g nano reef tank
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/380730-10g-reef-islands/

My 5.5g Tank of the Month
https://www.nano-reef.com/featured/2010/sandeep-r38/

Chinese black box
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00INM0J1M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Par38 bulb
https://coralcompulsion.myshopify.c...-20k-full-spectrum-g3-non-dimmable-reef-light


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I recently had to set up a holding tank for my 79-gallon takedown due to moving.

I repurposed my 20-gallon for this, and decided to go bare bottom since it's meant to be temporary (although it looks like it's going to be there for a while).

For filtration, I used an old AC 110 that I had lying around, with some ceramic ring as media.

For light, I went and bought a 2x24w Odyssea T5HO from AI, and 2 power chrome bulbs from BA. Altogether, the fixture and the bulbs cost around 150$, it's easily the most expensive purchase.

It's working surprisingly well. I was worried at first that the lights wouldn't be strong enough, as my 79-gallon was running 4x54w. However, the corals are all growing quite well. The xenia and zoas have gone wild, and even the birdsnest and digitata frags have shown significant growth.


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## sdergar (Nov 11, 2010)

Just started my Fluval EVO 13.5 a couple of weeks ago. I really like this kit. My "build" thread is at

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268105

You don't have to go nuts with getting into saltwater. Problem is you will go nuts the more you stay in the hobby...

Steve


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

You could setup a really nice 10g nano for very little. I know quite a few people (including myself with an 8g) that were quite happy with their setups

Although...

I don't know one person in this hobby that hasn't upgraded their tank 

Here is my path:
8g nano with a PaR38
20g DT, 10g sump, T5HOx2
50g DT, 20g sump, T5HOx4
125g DT, 40g sump, T5HOx8, MP40, Maxpect gyre 130, BM Curve c5, full automated water changing system as well 

Was I happy with my 8g nano? Yep! So why did we upgrade to a larger tank? The biggest reason we went from an 8g to a 20g was, as others said, the evaporation problems that smaller tanks tend to have. The idea of having a sump where you can put all your equipment like heaters and ATO is definitely appealing and less stress in the end. 

The only reason for the other upgrades is due to our Hippo tang. I felt bad for the little guy when he was at NAFB for a month in a tank with one other clown, so I bought them both and brought them home. Bluey (as the kids have named him) started the size of a quarter when we brought him home and I thought he'd be a goner after a few months but I thought I would give it a try. Now four years later and much bigger we've had to move to a much larger system to accommodate him. 

So, if you're going to go small just make sure that you get what you want the first time. Do your research and one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to head over to other reefers houses and talk to them about their experiences. Take the experiences they have and put it to use in your own system. At this point in my build I've been to atleast 100 other reefers houses and seen their setups. I've seen what works for them and what they would have changed. Everyone makes mistakes and we all want to correct them but once a reefing system is up and running we very rarely get to correct those mistakes. 

As for price, just check out the forum marketplace and keep your eye open for pieces that you like or a whole system. 

You would be amazed at how little I've spent on my new system


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## Rookie2013 (Jan 17, 2013)

Your story is the same story for all of us who have been in this hobby. We all wanted to start low and ended up spending lol.. You have to set your goals first and than work towards it. There are two kinds of system you could own in this hobby a Fish Only (low cost with less equipment) and a Reef (lots of equipment and high cost). Under the Reef you have softy tank (low maintenance, cheaper lights) and mixed reef (softy,lps and sps corals..higher maintenance expensive lights)...
This is a hobby where once you dip you would want to get a bigger tank very soon(trust me on this) so think think think..dont rush on anything..control your pulse  guys around here are more than helpful...Good luck and welcome to the Dark Side lol...


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

altcharacter said:


> You could setup a really nice 10g nano for very little. I know quite a few people (including myself with an 8g) that were quite happy with their setups
> 
> Although...
> 
> ...


This is great advice from Dave, When I first started it was a 2g spec. I made a post about getting some live rock to seed the tank and Dave graciously offered some live rock to get me started I went over to his place and he showed me his setup. He explained how it works and what he wish he would of done to improve on it. I took it all in and when I upgraded a few weeks later I incorporated everything he suggested.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

This is what I have learned.

Cheapest way to get into the SW side IMO. Would be to buy a full functioning used system off a member that is selling. You will be looking at spending a bunch of money up front but saving tons of money and frustration down the line.

Problem with this hobby is the more you learn the more you will want better equipment and buying inferior stuff then selling that to get better stuff is what 80% of the people do.

If you want to get started I would recommend a 20 gallon AIO nuvo fusion 
http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/fusion20.html

I have one and was my first tank purchased it with the lights and had pretty good success with LPS and SPS with the lights. I had the Skimmer as well but don't really recommend one of this tank (too Small)

An Auto top off is a must, I did without one but it wasn't great for the high end stuff.

But LPS and a couple fish its perfect and very well made.


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