On the fence on JBJ 45

[Diwrigh]

I've been going back and forth so much about what tank to buy for my first saltwater..

Somewhat price limited, let's say about $1,000 all in. Ideally, I would like a 45-55ish tank (must be less than 3 foot wide), that I can eventually do corals in.

I found a decent deal on the JBJ 45 with stand for about $580. I know I will need lighting and a heater, and eventually probably replace the pumps and add a skimmer.

What are your thoughts? Should I pull the trigger?

 

[Ranjib]

I doubt 1000$ will cut it, since you'll need ATO and few more bells and whistles (RO/DI setup ??), but its very close to that,, so you should not get lot of surprises. I am assuming corals. Without corals its definitely doable within 1000$ as Lights dont need to be that good (which is probably the second biggest cost after tank)

 

[Zeal]

Heater is cheap. If theres ONE thing you dont wanna skimp out on its the light. Save money else where but lighting is very very important. Is there a specific brand you want?

Edit: When I first started looking at everything for my tank I wanted to spend no more then $1000. Week later I already spent about $1700 for everything. The light alone was $350

 

[Diwrigh]

Yeah I think my plan is to get the tank going, start it as a FOWLR setup, then once things are stable and I'm used to it (and have saved up some more $$) I will transition into a reef tank, with ample lighting etc. Yeah the more I look at people regretting buying sub par lighting for their corals the more I realize I shouldn't stretch myself now and buy bad quality products only to have to replace them down the road.

So for now, FOWLR tank with some cheap lights, and then transition into corals. I'm pretty confident I can get some used stuff for cheap like skimmer, RO/DI etc.

 

[NY_Caveman]

My JBJ 45 build (in progress) cost $2,000. I have some redundancies. You can see my equipment list here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-received-a-box-of-rocks-today.335926/

JBJ has had good customer service, but I must admit I have had some issues getting a usable tank. You can read further into the thread link if interested about that.

 

[Zeal]

Yeah I think my plan is to get the tank going, start it as a FOWLR setup, then once things are stable and I'm used to it (and have saved up some more $$) I will transition into a reef tank, with ample lighting etc. Yeah the more I look at people regretting buying sub par lighting for their corals the more I realize I shouldn't stretch myself now and buy bad quality products only to have to replace them down the road.

So for now, FOWLR tank with some cheap lights, and then transition into corals. I'm pretty confident I can get some used stuff for cheap like skimmer, RO/DI etc.

Honestly Petsmart has pretty good tank sizes for decent price. Might have to do a bit of DIY for the sump but you sive a little bit of money. OR you can check OfferUp/LetGo in your local area. Lots of people are leaving the hobby or just trying to get rid of stuff they have. Or even forums like here or other (cant link) in the buy/sell section. Youd be surprised for the deals you can find

 

[Diwrigh]

Honestly Petsmart has pretty good tank sizes for decent price. Might have to do a bit of DIY for the sump but you sive a little bit of money. OR you can check OfferUp/LetGo in your local area. Lots of people are leaving the hobby or just trying to get rid of stuff they have. Or even forums like here or other (cant link) in the buy/sell section. Youd be surprised for the deals you can find

Yeah I actually found a pretty good deal on a 57 rimless. Comes with a sump, stand, and T5 lights for $450. I think I will go with that instead of an AIO for roughly the same price. But again, still looking around Thanks for the help!