How Do You Afford...

[morgan]

I also got a £30 fish voucher (no time limit) as part of the deal. I have since spent about £65 on necessities such as a complete set of spare sponges, a new gravel vac, backgound picture and plants. I find that as a "mature" (in years anyway) person cash isn't such a problem as when I was young.

 

[Genesis]

Second hand is the way forward.

aye, i got a Jewel Rio 180 - RRP £270 (and £300's worth of accesories/scenery) for £150 second hand

 

[kris-b-]

I always look on ebay for tanks in my area but never really find anything

 

[Amerce]

So am I the only one scavanging building sites for glass cuts not required to build my own?

A local shop also charges:

48x18x15 £49.99
48x18x15 thicker glass, £120.

You still have to add a hood, lighting, filter etc, but well below the charges of of professional tank.

Though to be fair, I also have access to a workshop to make my own ornamental stands.

Was thinking of making myself a nice 18x18x36 for some angels if i can scavenge enough glass. will probably make it in a corner piece though, kind of like cutting a hexagon into 4 quarters.

What about car boot sales, try after Xmas, people decide to buy lovely new ones for Xmas and get rid of the old setups. Try Aquarist classified, people can advertise goods for sale and wanted items for nothing.

 

[littleimp]

Plastic money........lol.
Buy now......pay later.

In all seriousness....I have had nearly all of the juwel range as I found them to be very nice to look at in the living room.However we are in the process now of needing a big tank(8'x2.5'x2') which juwel don't do......so we will have to create this one ourselves.

You can buy seabray tanks in this size if you want a ready made one.

 

[clunkster]

i also have aquired second hand tanks have made all my stands and hoods myself the last tank i bought new was a 48x15x15 which was about £35

 

[Bryan1957]

I was given my first 5 gallon setup. A friend decided to upgrade and gave me the old set up. I bought the second 5 gallon at Walmart and don't remember how much it cost ( I might have $50 dollars in the cost of it). My wife found my 55 gallon complete setup with filter, hood, light and stand on Freecycle from someone who couldn't take care of it any longer. I was given my 90 gallon by a neighbor who couldn't care for it any longer. I was given another 10 gallon when someone upgraded and my wife found another free 10 gallon set up on Freecycle. There are people who have been storing tanks and equipment thinking they would start again, then realized they wouldn't, so they give them away or sell for very little.
Keep looking for the deals and you should find them.

 

[Durbkat]

Well I bought my 10g for only $60 and my long 20g was given to me second hand and it came with the stand and my 55g I bought for myself for only $180 and I got the filter ,heater ,and hood and light for that one price.

 

[dgwebster]

So it does appear from most people that they are purchased second hand. So it seems that:

Some toff with lots of money goes into Walmart/Pets@home etc spends £600 on this tank and stand setup thinking it will look very nice in their modern house. Realising after a short time that these tanks dont take care of everything themselves and a bit of work has to go into it, they fob them off to sly aquarium loving neighbours/sell them cheaply through normal sales channels they can find (local supermarket adverts, news papers etc) and the odd specialist circular.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Yup, seems about it. If you take a looky at the tanks on ebay, for instance, the very vast majority are Juwel/similar brands. You can tell half of them have no idea what they're doing, I asked about a nice looking tank near me and he/she said it was about 180l and had a pleco, fantail goldfish and a blue acara... Hmm...

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

I decided to get a Fluval 1000 duo deep, which was £250 with stand and equipment. I think that was a pretty good deal brand new.

 

[Nauplii]

I supply my fish hobby through my work. th eonly thing i actually buy is the new tank im replacing my old one with from another member, and if i need anything off the net like certain snails or snail food or anything.

everything else, food, treatments, decore, fish.. i all get from work.. quite lucky really

 

[morgan]

Are you calling me an ignorant toff?

 

[daza]

I don't buy anything on credit - I save.

My Rekord 70 cost about £115 inc. the usual hood/light/heater/filter and the stand. Which isn't too bad.

It could be done cheaper, but when it's your first tank you just want to get going, and some maybe don't have the knowledge to put the neccessary parts together themselves from the start (ie. how many watts light & heater, how many litres/hour pump, etc) - but once you do, it is probably as much fun as the rest of the hobby.

 

[cheeky_chappie]

got my rio 180 tank & stand as a complete set out of pets at home a few months back, can't remember what i paid . although i enjoy diy i wasn't really interested in building my own tank tbh, liked the look of the rio with its beech effect trimmings and matching stand . looks might not matter to some folk, or if it's in a basement / garage, but mine's in my bedroom, so want something that looks good.

something that has pleasantly surprised me is how quiet the pump is. as juwel probably don't put the best of the best into their setups, was expecting a bit of noise. some nights when in bed i hear it a bit, most nights i struggle to hear it at all.