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Originally Posted by Aquattro

Last time I calculated total annual cost divided by 12, it was about 127.00/mo for a 150g running 400w MH lights. All costs were considered, RO membrance replacement, bulb costs, hydro, water, food, test kits, etc.

This did not take into account replacement parts for pumps (impellers), but that's minimal.
That number though, can vary greatly, depending on your setup and equipment.

I always forget the little things. RO. I saved my typhoon 3 but it probably will need a filter change when stuff starts flowing again.

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

If cost, not room, is the biggest concern, go with a 6' fowlr but with decent lighting, such as an Aqualight Pro 150w all-in-one unit. These are going for very low prices nowadays. As a fowlr, you can either run just the two side MH and not have the center light on most of the time (so 300w). Then later, if you add some hardy softies, like green sinularia and toadstools, you can turn on all three lights. If you use 14000k Phoenix bulbs, these can easily last 1.5 years or more for this application. The last few Aqualight Pros for sale on this site went for under $100.

Save up for LEDs if you eventually decide to go more reef, than fowlr. Also look at some of the DIY LED threads to light up a 6' tank without blowing your budget.

180g is a nice size since it is a full 6' long but only 2' tall, so more powerful lights are unnecessary - thus saving you some $$.

Until I switched all my lighting (tanks & even some for the home) to LED, I used the Aqualight Pro lights for years.

Anthony

I know everyones talking LED and there are some great lights but holy man some people even diy sure spend some coin on them. Im thinking t5 but I will definitely do some more research. I do like the versatility of diy led.

Originally Posted by Myka

I agree that a 4' tank is too small for a FOWLR. The cost of a FOWLR is much less than a reef because you aren't paying so much electricity for powerful lighting. after startup costs, the costs of maintaining a FOWLR aren't very significant. You would mainly be looking at electricity, food, and salt. Keep costs down by buying things like carbon in bulk from www.bulkreefsupply.com

You can figure out electrical costs fairly accurately by using an online electrical consumption calculator. Find out what a kWh costs in your area, and then look up the wattage of the equipment you will be using. My 90-gallon reef costs me about $40/month in electricity at 11.35 cents per kWh running 250w halides, skimmer, return pump, heater, powerheads, etc.

A bucket of salt lasts me about 4 months, so that's 3 buckets per year doing 10% weekly waterchanges. IO is perfectly fine for a FOWLR and it's cheap, but you may need to do bigger waterchanges on FOWLR, although a really good skimmer would help reduce waterchanges. Heaters can cost a lot of electricity if the tank is in a cool part of the house (basement?). Pay attention to electrical usage when you're picking pumps and skimmer.

This totally makes sense. Little embarrassed I didnt think of this. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I will investigate these suggestions and browse some more tank journals. Lots of good ideas in there.