i want to know how much having a saltwater fish tank would cost to have it serviced.
Answers:
I've had marine tanks for 20 years and really never understand why everyone says they're so hard to manage and maintain. The initial startup will cost a bit. You need a decent sized tank (55 gal+ recommended), good lighting (at least one 10,000k full spectrub bulb and one actinic bulb for a fish only tank)...a heater..good filter system (I recommend cannisters as they are cost-effective and easy to maintain but there are several options out there) ..a good test kit and I also recommend a protein skimmer and a u/v sterilizer (you can price out all of this on www.drsfosterandsmith.com easily enough). Once you add in sand and water (if you choose to buy it from a pet store) you're probably looking at about $500-600 not including live rock or fish...maybe a bit more. After that though it's pretty easy. I've never used a "fish service" as I think the reason for having a tank is to interact with it. The 20% water changes we do every month or so take all of 20 minutes...feeding takes no time at all and is a blast to do.. water testing takes maybe 10 minutes (you can even bring your water to the pet store for free testing in most stores now) and if you don't overfeed or overstock the tank you will rarely have to fix any chemical problems. So figure about 30-45 minutes a month in servicing..I wish my dogs and cats were that easy! And keep in mind you have us to answer questions too!
Welcome to the salt water world! Enjoy!
After the initial cost of $500-700 to set up the right size tank, you would be paying someone about $20 per visit at the bare minimum. Salt water tanks are very labor intensive as far as testing and water changes. Unless you do most of it yourself, they would be coming to your house about 4 times a month or more in the beginning.
If you live near a fairly large city, there should be lots of aquarium maintenance businesses in your local yellow pages. Just give them a call and they will be glad to tell you or send you a price list.
Your local fish store (LFS) should have the number of more than one service, check with them first. They can make reccommmendations, I'm sure.
Having a saltwater tank is very hard to maintain because you have to have the right amount of salt in it and you have to make sure the temp. is just right. Having someone to fix it is $20, at bare minimum just as the other person said.
I depends on the size of the tank what you want to put in it. My 120 gallon saltwater tank has live rock (75lbs), live sand (55lbs), a wetdry filter, 750 watts of lighting, several different corals and fish. I have invested about $4800 in this tank. My set up ran about $2600 for the tank, tank stand, live rock, live sand, and wetdry filter, lighting, wavemaker, heater, salt, hydrometer, additives (calcium, stontium, iodine, and purple up). So it can be costly to set up depending on how big you go. The bigger the tank the easier it is to maintain, my 120 I maintain it every 3 weeks.
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