New to hobby.

[mach4_9]

With $400 how big of a tank can i set up?Any recommendations of shops with cheap deals on equipments?

[Qxnviolet]

Look through the pasar malam/sell off thread. There are lots of good deals there!

[andylee]

Suggest u do a thorough read-up first before u plunge into this hobby and throw away that $400

[jervismun]

You must plan ur budget prudently... $400 is not a lot for Saltwater. Yeah, try Pasar Malam section. It's better to buy reliable second hand products than some lousy first hand equipments. But be careful with the conditions though, always good to view items before committing... since u r still new here... it's hard to tell who's reliable and who's not.

You can always PM any bro here for second opinion if u r not sure about items on sale/reefers selling the items.

Another good way is to double check the normal retail price at Reefdepot.com.sg or eAquaNature.com(.sg?)

Welcome to the hobby!!!

[lightbolt75]

All the prices that I stated is for getting the product 2nd hand.

1) Obviously u need a tank right? Although alot of ppl say should get as big a tank as possible, think in your case... maybe a 2ft tank? You should be able to get it for FOC usually or at the most $5-$10.

2) Next is your filter. U can get a cheap cannister filter like jebao etc for around $15-$30. I would seriously recommend Eheim whenever possible. Dun need to get up to the 2028 model. 2215 should be more than enough. U can get it usually for $50-$70?

3) Chiller is the expensive but less troublesome option. With fans, u need to top up water to maintain the salinity pretty often. Resun is a pretty cheap brand but consumes quite abit of electricity. They usually goes for $200? Think carefully what u wanna keep. Corals prefer cooler temperature around 25-28 degrees whereas fishes are normally quite ok with temperature around 29-30 degrees, normal room temperature. That few degrees of difference can mean the life and death of a coral. Fans u can easily get for around $10-$20?

4) For water movement in the tank, you can get the seio M620 for around $20-$25. Or u can get the 02 x maxijet for $25 each to mimic waves in your tank.

5) As for skimmers, u can get the extremely cheap weipro 2013 for around $15 excluding the pump. The pump should set u back for another $20-$30 unless u got a spare one lying around? I am using a macro that I bought for $100.

PL Lights should be your choice if u wanna go cheap, $20. Of cos the next best will be T5, around $100? U dun usually need MH unless u are keeping SPS etc.

These are only for the basic equipments alone.

Water u can buy salt mix or Natural Sea Water from LFS. I am not really that sure about the pricing for the salt mix. But maybe u can get it off from someone who is giving up on their tanks? You will need about 4-5 bags of NSW if you are choosing the other option.

LR u can get for around $3-$5/kg in the forum. Or u can just buy in bulk. I think around 15-20kg should be enough?

So I guess u may need to stretch your dollars abit. But the equipments u buy is for long term. Think about it. When u wanna upgrade, you can always sell away the equipments again.

Set up all your equipments and cycle for around 4 weeks? Then u can start looking for fishes and corals.

[cdckjn]

In my opinion, I started a 2ft tank with sump, with around that budget. Actually when I started I had no budget, just as little cost as possible.

I started with a 2nd hand 2ft tank - cost $40. It came with some live rock and sand, lights. I then purchased lights (2nd hand) at $170, then Weipro 2011 & 2014 ($30 & $40 - also 2nd hand), overflow piping ($20) DIY my own sump.

No chiller because expensive. If you have no space from sump, get a cansister filter (got 2nd hand $40).

What is new or 1st hand are fishes, although I managed to get several fishes FOC from fellow reefers.

In afterthought now I thinking if can find very good lobang for 3ft or 4ft tank, I will go for it - as this will give me more water and more stability in the tank (water parameters)

Instead of dropping $400 into 1 tank project - suggest you start small - 1.5ft first. Not too many fishes, then learn about this hobby. Then slowly have more money than upgrade later to bigger tank.

Better to be FOWLR instead of buying chiller for the corals.

[Qxnviolet]

Great deal....

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...pic=36951&st=15