Where can I cut expenses?

[Fishnerd7]

New to saltwater. I just bought 100 gallon dual corner overflow with no plumbing yet (just the pre- drilled holes). Trigger 30 sump came last week. Goal is to grow reef with many fish. What equipment can I cut costs on? Which equipment is essential to buy the name brand as well? Details are welcome as I piece this together. Feel free to talk about making water and the small tools to measure water quality, nets, food and cup of coffee you drink while enjoying your tank on Sunday mornings before church. I'm hooked on this hobby including the DIY side so please don't hesitate to dummy it down. Any help much appreciated. I'm in southern California between LA and San Diego so feel free to direct me to places or peeps for advice.
V/R
John

 

[Crabs McJones]

New to saltwater. I just bought 100 gallon dual corner overflow with no plumbing yet (just the pre- drilled holes). Trigger 30 sump came last week. Goal is to grow reef with many fish. What equipment can I cut costs on? Which equipment is essential to buy the name brand as well? Details are welcome as I piece this together. Feel free to talk about making water and the small tools to measure water quality, nets, food and cup of coffee you drink while enjoying your tank on Sunday mornings before church. I'm hooked on this hobby including the DIY side so please don't hesitate to dummy it down. Any help much appreciated. I'm in southern California between LA and San Diego so feel free to direct me to places or peeps for advice.
V/R
John

Check out The King of DIY on youtube. His name is Joey, and he does alot of stuff and shows you how to make alot of DIY stuff. That would be a great start.
https://www.youtube.com/user/uarujoey

 

[trevormass7]

I cut cost with lights. I use a mars aqua led that's WiFi adjustable. My corals have doubled since I got it, some have started entrusting already (havent had them long). You'd need 2 for a 100g but they're only $80- $90 which is super cheap compared to most lights

 

[trevormass7]

*encrusting

 

[Fishnerd7]

I've been looking at a lot of his videos already. I'm so new that some of his projects are above me. I have no idea what a few of these devices do. Still reading.
Any advice on skimmers. I've got my eye on a skimmer from Amazon for up to 180 gallons. Gets great reviews but is not a huge brand name either.
Same with kessil lights. Love what they do but I have five kids. Papa's gotta buy new shoes for these kids. any good knock offs or should I be patient there as well?

 

[Fishnerd7]

Awesome. That's the stuff I'm looking for. I'm going to search for them now. Thanks for your help.

 

[trevormass7]

I've been looking at a lot of his videos already. I'm so new that some of his projects are above me. I have no idea what a few of these devices do. Still reading.
Any advice on skimmers. I've got my eye on a skimmer from Amazon for up to 180 gallons. Gets great reviews but is not a huge brand name either.
Same with kessil lights. Love what they do but I have five kids. Papa's gotta buy new shoes for these kids. any good knock offs or should I be patient there as well?

Try the lights I mentioned above, they're on Amazon and I've gotten great growth from them from softies and lps. They can support sps I just don't have a doser so i don't have any yet

 

[Greybeard]

1st: Buy used! The rate of people dropping out of this hobby is astronomical. There are _always_ high quality, nearly new systems being broken down and sold off. On this forum, look for a local reefing group... lots of sources.

That said...

Lighting. T5 lighting, which can be found at a reasonable cost (especially if you pay attention to item 1!) is a perfectly acceptable alternative to spending several grand on the latest high end LED lights. I bought a used 4 ft 8 bulb TEK T5 light that (IMHO) looks _better_ than the new ATI T5's (Chrome? Really?) . Put new ballast in it, polished the reflector a bit, new bulbs... it's working very well, thanks. Total cost for lighting my 60x30" tank? $325. I could have bought 3 Radion 52's + mounts, for what, $2500? Wouldn't have grown corals any better than what I have. Number one place to look for value... lighting. It's a critical component, but high end lighting is not, IMHO, worth the price difference.

Things _not_ to skimp on:

ANYTHING that you're going to have to look at every day. A nice looking tank on a rickety 2x4 stand is an eyesore. Build/buy a stand that you can be proud to own, and you'll own it for a long time. Throw something together cheap, and you'll be sick of it in no time.

Items that are going to require regular maintenance: Skimmer, ATO reservoir, media reactors (I actually like the BRS dual reactor...) You'll be spending time cleaning, changing, etc. on these constantly. Don't get something that is going to be a pain to maintain.

Critical single point of failure devices: Heaters, for instance. Can't tell you how many tanks have been killed by a cheap butt heater. Buy a decent one. Better yet, plug a decent one into a Reefkeeper Light... then you've got some redundancy. Watch BRS's video on heaters, and the one on using the reefkeeper light and a heater. ATO systems, I won't buy anything but Tunze ATO's any more. It's a prime culprit in system failures, floods, etc. Power strips: Don't buy a $5 wally world power strip to run your expensive aquarium.

And... the number one resource in this hobby... TIME. Nothing good happens fast, and the learning curve is steep and broad. Take your time, and ENJOY the process!

 

[lilchris_357]

If you can help it, don't buy new. Buy used equipment whenever possible. Everything you will need will be listed on the For Sale Forums, you just have to be patient and wait for someone to list it. That word patient brings me to my next point, be patient with everything. Do not go out a buy a bunch useless stuff just because you read that someone uses it on their tank. You will end up with a big platic storage bin full of crap that you don't need. Don't try to keep up with the Jones', again just because someone says, " I brought the new APEX Auto top off and it works great"., don't rush out and buy one. It may not fit your setup.

 

[TylerMoralez]

I would say to probably cut down on your mortgage and rent. No need for that nonsense[emoji14] throw out the car payments too!

 

[Greybeard]

I would say to probably cut down on your mortgage and rent. No need for that nonsense[emoji14] throw out the car payments too!

Unfortunately, there are idiots out there that will take this sort of advise...

 

[Velcro]

Here's the thing about DIY: If you aren't super hands on you might end up spending the same amount of money as a quality (not necessarily always most expensive) item vs. having to build something DIY 3 times.

 

[TylerMoralez]

Unfortunately, there are idiots out there that will take this sort of advise...

It's quality advise! Haha

 

[Fishnerd7]

Very good advice . Thanks. Maybe not the mortgage part. ha ha. very good reminder on the DIY as well. I attempted to make my own bulkheads out of the conduit plugs. I saw Joey do it on his channel but I think its a bit risky for me as the holes are in a reef ready tank down in the corners. I'd hate to have a leak and have to drain 100 gallons to correct a drip.
I think I have the answer now but a day ago I was on here looking for bulkheads to fit these four pre drilled holes in my aquarium. I measured this inner part of the hole as 1 1/4 inch. could not find anything large enough to fit this as far as bulkheads. my measurements may be off by an eighth of inch. I'm hoping i can fit 3/4 inch bulkheads here. All four holes are same size. with 100 gallons I expected the PVC to be 1 1/4 inch minimum. Had no idea I could run drains and returns on 3/4 inch. Figured I'd have to control flow more with ball valves on each opening as well. Does this sound right? Just validating?

 

[XNavyDiver]

Very good advice . Thanks. Maybe not the mortgage part. ha ha. very good reminder on the DIY as well. I attempted to make my own bulkheads out of the conduit plugs. I saw Joey do it on his channel but I think its a bit risky for me as the holes are in a reef ready tank down in the corners. I'd hate to have a leak and have to drain 100 gallons to correct a drip.
I think I have the answer now but a day ago I was on here looking for bulkheads to fit these four pre drilled holes in my aquarium. I measured this inner part of the hole as 1 1/4 inch. could not find anything large enough to fit this as far as bulkheads. my measurements may be off by an eighth of inch. I'm hoping i can fit 3/4 inch bulkheads here. All four holes are same size. with 100 gallons I expected the PVC to be 1 1/4 inch minimum. Had no idea I could run drains and returns on 3/4 inch. Figured I'd have to control flow more with ball valves on each opening as well. Does this sound right? Just validating?

You won't need to plumb with that large of pvc. I have a 100g also and mine was done with 3/4. Works great and plenty of flow. 1 inch would be a good option also. Put in unions every 2 feet or so. Also, use true union ball or gate valves.

 

[Fishnerd7]

Glad to hear someone with same tank size can run this with same size plumbing. Confidence restored. Especially from Navy Diver. I'm active duty Navy currently on last tour. Finally get to take my hobby to the next level.

 

[Vince57]

I would say to probably cut down on your mortgage and rent. No need for that nonsense[emoji14] throw out the car payments too!

Now that's funny!