Here are some basic costs involved in setting up this aquarium, which also double up as a list of equipment which one would need or want:
| already had | 7.00 EUR (GBP 6.16) | 100 ml dechlorinator (JBL Biotopol, but I will normally use a generic, unbranded dechlorinator) |
| already had | 5.00 EUR (GBP 4.40) | new bucket for aquarium use |
| already had | 2.00 EUR (GBP 1.76) | 150 cm of aquarium tubing/hose for water changes |
| already had | 1.14 EUR (GBP 1.00) | cheapest white towel (I use a Tesco Value bath sheet) |
| already had | 3.00 EUR (GBP 2.64) | aquarium alcohol thermometer |
| already had | 0.99 EUR (GBP 0.79) | spray bottle for keeping plants wet while out of the aquarium, I use VILDBÄR from IKEA |
| 2011-06-15 | 105.99 EUR (GBP 93.81) | Arc Tank II 60 litre (aquarium set, including filter, lights and heater) from verm_de on eBay |
| 2011-06-17 | 2.50 EUR (GBP 2.19) | plain black background from Aquarien Meyer |
| 2011-06-21 | 5.99 EUR (GBP 5.29) | electronic light timer from OBI |
| 2011-06-28 | 9.85 EUR (GBP 8.59) | 9.5% ammonia in water, 1 litre bottle, from aqua-splash-hamburg on eBay (available for GBP 1.79 from Boots) |
| 2011-06-29 | 21.89 EUR (GBP 20.00) | new API freshwater master test kit from a friend |
| 2011-06-29 | 6.57 EUR (GBP 6.00) | new API GH and KH test kits from a friend |
| 2011-07-11 | 7.95 EUR (GBP 7.06) | 250 ml Eheim’s Substrat Pro bio media from eBay |
| 2011-07-11 | 1.79 EUR (GBP 1.59) | 15 kg of play sand from OBI |
| 2011-07-11 | 17.17 EUR (GBP 15.11) | second hand external filter, Eheim 2211 from eBay (I will be explaining how to upgrade a filter about 2-3 months after the aquarium is set up) |
| 2011-07-24 | 3.00 EUR (GBP 2.64) | Cardamine lyrata and Hydrocotyle species ‘Japan’ from hobbyist found through a forum |
| 2011-07-24 | 1.00 EUR (GBP 0.88) | Pogostemon erectus from hobbyist found through a forum (added later) |
| 2011-08-03 | 23.10 EUR (GBP 20.17) | Ecology of the planted aquarium by Diana Walstad |
| 2011-08-10 | 17.00 EUR (GBP 14.84) | 3 pots of Lindernia rotundifolia (I received these from some unknown benefactor, so have not had to pay for them) |
| 2011-08-26 | 7.09 EUR (GBP 6.25) | 30 × 25 × 20 cm aquarium wood from zierfischtreff_de on eBay |
| 2011-08-29 | 6.92 EUR (GBP 6.13) | JBL external filter inlet, 12/16 mm from zierfischtreff_de on eBay |
| 2011-08-29 | 2.12 EUR (GBP 1.88) | 1 metre of grey aquarium hose for the external filter, 12/16 mm from zierfischtreff_de on eBay |
| 2011-08-30 | 27.68 EUR (GBP 24.51) | Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Tropica’, C. wendtii ‘Mi Oya’, C. wendtii ‘green gecko’, C. parva and 2 × Rotala rotundifolia from Wasserpflanzen-Freunde |
| 2011-08-31 | 1.59 EUR (GBP 1.41) | 1 metre of grey aquarium hose for the external filter, 9/12 mm from zierfischtreff_de on eBay |
| 2011-09-01 | 2.28 EUR (GBP 2.02) | 8 cm fine fish net by JBL from zierfischtreff_de on eBay |
| 2011-09-06 | 7.79 EUR (GBP 6.82) | 50 tabs of Sera’s florenette A from aquaro24_de on eBay |
| already had | 1.00 EUR (GBP 0.87) | 1 m of airline |
| already had | 6.40 EUR (GBP 5.54) | 20 ml of eSHa 2000, an antimicrobial medication |
| already had | 11.10 EUR (GBP 9.61) | 25 ml of Sera Protazol, an anti-Ichthyophthirius multifiliis medication |
| 2011-10-17 | 1.71 EUR (GBP 1.50) | postage for Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ which was sold on 2011-10-10 |
| already had | 3.84 EUR (GBP 3.37) | 12 g of generic tropical flake food (the tub I have is from King British) |
| already had | 5.35 EUR (GBP 4.69) | 90 g of small high protein granules (the tub I have is from JMC) |
| already had | 2.50 EUR (GBP 2.19) | 100 g (10×10 g double blocks) of frozen Daphnia (the blister pack I have is from Ruto) |
| 2011-10-17 | 25.00 EUR (GBP 21.92) | 10 Danio margaritatus from a local breeder |
| 2011-11-01 | 0.75 EUR (GBP 0.66) | postage for Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ which was sold on 2011-10-30 |
| 2011-11-04 | 62.00 EUR (GBP 53.39) | 10 Yunnanilus sp. ‘rosy’ |
| 2011-11-16 | 1.45 EUR (GBP 1.24) | postage for Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ which was sold on 2011-11-13 |
| 426.63 EUR (GBP 369.98) | Current total | |
| future | 13.00 EUR | fish |
| future | 20.00 EUR | other critters |
Items on the list which are already paid for are at the top, in black; greyed out items are ones I have not bought yet and include price estimates. I will be updating the list and revising the estimates as and when needed.
And everything divided into categories:
| Aquarium | 105.99 EUR (GBP 93.81) |
| Decoration | 7.09 EUR (GBP 6.25) |
| Equipment (permanent) | 33.64 EUR (GBP 29.61) |
| Equipment (replacement filter) | 27.80 EUR (GBP 24.53) |
| Equipment (usable) | 45.31 EUR (GBP 40.75) |
| Fish | 25.00 EUR (GBP 21.92) |
| Fish food | 11.69 EUR (GBP 10.25) |
| Medication | 17.50 EUR (GBP 15.15) |
| Plants (including fertilisers) | 56.47 EUR (GBP 49.69) |
Sales
As with the costs, I will try to keep track of profits as well.
| 2011-10-10 | 2.91 EUR (GBP 2.50) | Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ via a generic US/GB forum in UK |
| 2011-10-10 | 2.91 EUR (GBP 2.50) | Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ via a generic US/GB forum in UK |
| 2011-10-30 | 2.86 EUR (GBP 2.51) | Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ via eBay |
| 2011-11-13 | 3.10 EUR (GBP 2.65) | Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ via eBay |
| 2011-11-20 | 4.30 EUR (GBP 3.68) | Hydrocotyle sp. ‘Japan’ via eBay |
| 16.80 EUR (GBP 13.84) | Current total |
Balance
The current balance is -409.83 EUR (GBP -356.14)
Water usage
I am going to try estimating how much water I use at least for a few months. I don’t expect these to be particularly accurate, but they should be useful as a rough guide on what can be expected.
- Washing the sand (7 lots washed 3 times each with approximately 6.5 litres each time): 136.5 litres
- Filling the aquarium (taking into account 15 kg of wet sand): 50 litres
- Topping up: 45 litres
- Water changes: 125 litres
- Total to date: 356.5 litres
Test kit usage
Lets see how many tests each of these does in practice.. current until 2011-08-16:
- KH: 14
- GH: 4
- ammonia: 40
- nitrite: 34
- nitrate: 13
- pH: 1
- high range pH: 5
An aquarium adventure 