Price suggestions on 200 Gallon Aquarium with Oak Stand?
I was just wondering if anyone could tell me a fair price to pay for a 200 gallon aqaurium with oak trim and an oak stand. My roomate is wanting to sell it to me for 600 dollars, and considering it is used, and I would have to do some massive cleaning to turn it into a fish aquarium from a snake cage, I just dont know if that is a fair price to pay, but then again I really dont know the price on these things, I am new to the world of keeping fish. If anyone could let me know if this would be a fair price or not, and if not could give me another price to bargain with I would really appreciate the help. I would rather not get screwed out of 600 dollars. Thanks again!
The only thing I will be getting if I purchase it will be the aquarium and the stand. No extras for a fish setup of any kind, right now he has a snake in it, the only thing I am going to be getting with it will be a hood that I am going to have to change out the lighting on. I was thinking about saltwater, me and my husband have a small 2.5 gallon setup right now with freshwater tropical fish, but we thought that a saltwater setup of that size would look really nice, we know it is going to cost a lot of money, but right now I just want to get the basics. I take it from the answers I have gotten already that just the aquarium and the stand being used would not be worth 600 dollars….
Whoa 200 gallons eh? Nice!
ummmmm does it come with a filter, heater, gravel, ornaments?
if it doesn’t come with this stuff than it is a rip off in my opinion. I mean a filter for that size of a tank would cost you like $200 or more! Cuz it’s your room mate you should be able to get it for cheaper.
Aquarium. go for around $2.00 a gallon new. As far the stand hard to say. Not really a bad price if the stand is nice.
250-300 since its just a tank and stand, your gonna have to invest a ton of money in tops, lights, heating, and filtration. When you buy all of your equipment i would go to petsmart.com print out the prices of the items you want to get and bring those printouts to the store, they will match the online price in the store, you will save a ton of money that way.
also make sure the tank holds water before you buy it
It really depends.
1. Is it glass or acrylic?
2. Any scratches?
3. Drilled w/ bulkheads?
4. Does it have a hood and/or light system? What kind?
5. What do you plan to do with it? Saltwater? Reef? Freshwater?
How much it is worth really depends on the answer to those questions.
I got a 240 gallon 8x2x2 glass tank that had a couple of lizards in it for 200 bucks. It was immaculate. My husband built the stand for another 200.
There are going to be *alot* of extra costs whatever you go with, be it SW, reef or FW. Setting up a SW or reef tank of that size will cost you thousands more. Remember, you have substrate, filtration, lights, decorations/rock and animals to still purchase.
If you have never kept fish you could buy an entire smaller set up for that money and see if you really like it.
If you can give a more detailed picture of what you want to do we can estimate your costs alot easier.
EDIT- Yeah, for a 200 gallon SW you would be looking at a couple thousand just in live rock, and if you wanted to get lighting and a protein skimmer suitable for corals another couple thousand (unless you can find these things used).
IMO you would be better off using the 600 to get a much more complete system like a 40 gallon cube.
To be honest, thats not a bad deal when you compare it to a new one… BUT (big but)…………
You can get a better deal than that. Most 200g aquariums are very nicely made. Almost all of them will be made of a nice hard wood or similar quality stand. On ebay they go much cheaper. You should be able to get a 200g complete set up for a few grand. Because this was a snake cage, Its dimensions may not be ideal for an aquarium containing fish too.
In addition to the aquarium, you will have quite a few expensive pieces of equipment to buy in order to turn it into a fish tank. A marine/salt water tank will be more expensive than a fresh water tank too.
Because you are new to fish keeping, I wouldn’t even consider a tank this large. The cost and time needed for upkeep may be overwhelming and way more than you expect.
I would suggest looking on ebay to buy a tank that someone cannot take care of anymore. Don’t go over 55g. Its a great size and a good happy medium between size and upkeep for a beginner. You should be able to save a lot of money that way. Expect a nice salt water set up to run you in the range of $300-$500 on ebay for everything you need (new would be around $1500-$2000).
Keeping fish is ALL about the research. Don’t buy anything until you’ve researched it to death. Most importantly don’t buy any fish until you’ve researched them, their care, compatibility with your size and other fish, corals, and inverts. You could end up buying some very expensive fish that just turn into food for a really cheap fish.
I have a 200 gallon fish tank w/pump, filters, heater, gravel, plants, rocks. and air lines for 200 dollars
more volume = less maintenance required ie. water change. can the thickness of the glass hold 200 gallons of water weight? can it even hold water?
changing water for 3gallons is ‘not’ equal to water change with 300gallons.
Large aquariums are nice… my advice is go to several stores and ask for a price range for a similar setup.