Cost Comparison ~new Poll~

[Snooks1!]

Which would you think costs more to set up and maintain. A koi pond, or a Marine tank?

 

[cheesy feet]

Koi probably cost more than a marine, goldfish less.Koi need pristine water, or so all the information and ponds I have seen say/have (except ours, but thats an exception as it is huge ).But if your creating a reef tank or something that might be even more costly.All depends on what your going for.

 

[Iron Man]

I voted marine. VERY expensive investment if you're going to do it right.

 

[PRW1988]

I nulled my vote as it all depends on the size of the Pond and tank you'd be setting up, aswell, is the Marine tank a reef? Are the koi in question Japanese Koi (i've seen some going for $3400+). What type of equipement would you be running? And many more things. Personally if it's a standard Marine tank (FWLRO) then a koi pond would cost more, if it's a reef then the reef (in the long run) would probably cost more. But yet again that depends on the system and equipment you'd get for the reef.

If you're thinking of a goldfish pond( water garden) then that would be the least expensive.

 

[shang hi]

if doing marines right, it will cost alot more for all the equiptment and fish. even more if setting up a reef, and dont forget a none reef can cost the same as a "big" reef.

 

[jakeroberts]

what siz epond or marine tank are you thinking of if you tell us the siz e it may be easier to tell you wich one will cost more

 

[Snooks1!]

what siz epond or marine tank are you thinking of if you tell us the siz e it may be easier to tell you wich one will cost more

1000-2500 gal. 15x15x5 ish

 

[andywg]

It all depends on the size and aim of each set up. You can do marine really cheap if you know what you are doing (and it doesn't have to be expensive to be done "properly" like a poster above claims).

If you were comparing like for like in size then a marine will be expensive just in the amount of salt to go in 1,000 gallons or so of salt water. If you decide to glass the pond then it will push the cost of that up.

Far to open a question to really vote on.

 

[Snooks1!]

1000-2500 gal. ish pond

40-60 gal Marine tank

 

[andywg]

1000-2500 gal. ish pond

40-60 gal Marine tank

And what is the aim? A general pond just in the garden, or a heated pond all year around to accelerate the growth of koi? A general fish only SW tank, or an Acro farm designed to grow out frags as quickly as possible. How much automation do you want on each of them? It is very hard to compare costs until you have decide exactly what you want on each and then researched what that entails.

Then there is the time cost to actually set up a pond or a tank (digging large holes in the ground takes a while).

 

[Snooks1!]

General , overall costs....I can't go into exacting, precise and overly extravagant details because I don't know what I want to do yet. I just wanted to get a general idea of which would cost more in the long run so I could better decide which of the two I want to do. Aside from the very vague fact that I do plan on starting one or the other, I don't know much about what I'm going to do with them when/if I get them up and going.

I don't think I'll start up a terribly complex reef-tank. Maybe a FOWLR and a very hardy coral or two and some CUC. Just a very basic marine tank to start out with, just to get my fingers salty and see if it's something that I'd want to do long-term.

 

[andywg]

Essentially, the costs of each can be very similar. If you can do some DIY then you can save a fortune in both (by making your own LR in marine, and by digging the pond out yourself). Better to decide what one you would rather do and then go with that than make a choice purely on cost.

 

[Snooks1!]

I'm not going to decide just on cost alone, I just wanted to know which one would end up costing more to make/maintain. If a koi-pond is going to cost me 10,000$ in a year....Then I would like to know. I'd much rather set up and maintain a 5k marine tank than a 10k pond at the moment.


How would you go about making your own live rock?....

 

[Iron Man]

I guarantee you I could make a 2500 gallon koi pond for MUCH cheaper than any marine/reef tank. You can DIY all you want to a marine reef tank but you're still going to wind up paying $$$ in the end for what you can't make/build (like the livestock, etc.).

Just because koi fish can go for thousands of dollars doesn't mean they all are that expensive. Fancy goldfish can sell for hundreds but you can get one at the lfs for $5 or cheaper and if you do your choosing right get one just as beautiful as the "show" fish going for hundreds. Koi are no different and are sold at many pet stores.