That is a broad question to answer. A suitable answer would be “it depends”. The variables included in the costs are hard to account for as they are numerous and vary from one person to the other. But we at reef kinetic decided to narrow down the answer as much as possible to give a more concrete idea regarding the cost of starting a reef aquarium, maintaining it, and assessing the risks.

First, we are going to account for the fixed costs, or as we like to call them the straightforward costs. To start a reef tank you need: an aquarium (obviously), lights, heater, protein skimmer, filter, sand, rocks, fish, corals, and aquarium stand. The aquarium’s cost will depend on its size, shape and its material; Its price could be as little as 200 USD and could easily reach thousands of USD. The lights price will also depend on their quality and the technology used to manufacture them. The same goes for the heater, protein skimmer, sand and other materials you would like to include in your reef tank. After setting up the tank, we advise you to wait approximately 3 to 4 weeks before adding live inhabitants to it, allowing it to cycle. Then, after 2 weeks, you can start adding your first corals.

Next, we are going to help you calculate the “maintenance” or variable cost. This cost includes but not limited to: electricity cost, food, salt, water test kit, electric devices and tank maintenance. If you would like to add more corals and fishes, the cost will likely rise. The maintenance cost per month will be minimal at 40 or 50 USD and it will go up depending on the variety and size of the variables used to maintain the reef tank. In addition, to the monetary costs, you need to invest time cleaning your tank from time to time, feeding it, changing the water, and measuring your tank parameters. You can decrease this cost by investing in our reefbot product which is responsible for measuring the following parameters automatically.

In addition to costs, we will also help you account for some” unexpected events” that could prevent you from taking care of your aquarium. After spending so much money, time and effort to set up and maintain your reef tank, how frustrated would you be if you lost it all due to unfortunate events which you did not account for? One of these events could be your physical absence due to getting into a hospital, or getting locked down in a foreign country due to a pandemic such as Covid – 19. Such barriers will likely prevent you from checking your water chemicals, feeding your corals and fish, and changing the water whenever it’s needed. The reefbot will help you measure the water parameters while being away from your house and ask one of your family members or friends to perform the necessary adjustments when the software accompanying the reefbot installed on your phone tells you to.

Finally, after setting up the aquarium and taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of your fish and corals, how cool would it be to start upgrading the living inhabitants in your tank? We all know that the diversity of the corals and fish is what brings beauty to the aquarium. However, some coral and fish species can cost up to thousands of dollars, making it more reasonable to invest into buying the reefbot which will monitor the quality of the water automatically depending on how you see it suitable. This can help you save thousands of dollars by prolonging the life expectancy of your new expensive corals. Also, the reagents are ensured to be available at the market at all time, so you don’t have to worry about looking for alternatives. As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please get in touch with us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please get in touch with us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!