tank for my school

[ExiledInfidel666]

Ive been asked by my marine biology teacher to make a tank reef-ready for his class and get every thing it needs, it will be a 5.5g tank with a acrylic divider, it will divide the tank into the display and fuge, intake and out let, also need to get the right lighting and glass hood, heater, everything but the live and wet stuff, the materials are a total of $150, how much should i charge, $40, $50, $75, $100, I have no idea, it will be payed for by my schools funding so its no big deal, just want to be reasonable but still get some good cash

 

[incysor]

Ive been asked by my marine biology teacher to make a tank reef-ready for his class and get every thing it needs, it will be a 5.5g tank with a acrylic divider, it will divide the tank into the display and fuge, intake and out let, also need to get the right lighting and glass hood, heater, everything but the live and wet stuff, the materials are a total of $150, how much should i charge, $40, $50, $75, $100, I have no idea, it will be payed for by my schools funding so its no big deal, just want to be reasonable but still get some good cash

Honestly since schools are notoriously underfunded I'd just point them at a nano-cube deluxe. Then offer to do all the running around to get stuff for them for $20. They'd get a much larger tank for less money. You could possibly get several of the LFS in your area to donate the sand/LR/salt/Livestock.

That said what you can charge for building custom tanks depends on two things. How 'professional' a job it will be. and how many hours it'll take you. The higher your craftmanship is the more you can charge per hour for labor. This goes for everything from computer modding to car stereo installation, to construction work.

 

[ExiledInfidel666]

I can do professional looking work, trust me, and it wont take me that long plus its a private school that I need to pay for so yea, and they don't know anything about ti really, they just get the cash, this is me and me teachers little project, plus im not sure what the difference is between the nano cube and the deluxe is but what I do know is I really don't like them that much, Id rather just make a big fuge next to a display, I can go bigger but thats up to them, il find out tomorrow, its just I have a 5.5 laying around brand new so why not just use that, plus my teacher wants something low maintnence and this is the best I can think of, I was think charging half the price of material because I can do fast professional work so its hard to calculate, and its not like their inspecting

 

[incysor]

I can do professional looking work, trust me, and it wont take me that long plus its a private school that I need to pay for so yea, and they don't know anything about ti really, they just get the cash, this is me and me teachers little project, plus im not sure what the difference is between the nano cube and the deluxe is but what I do know is I really don't like them that much, Id rather just make a big fuge next to a display, I can go bigger but thats up to them, il find out tomorrow, its just I have a 5.5 laying around brand new so why not just use that, plus my teacher wants something low maintnence and this is the best I can think of, I was think charging half the price of material because I can do fast professional work so its hard to calculate, and its not like their inspecting

The difference between the nano cube and the deluxe is basically a better stock lighting kit and a couple fans with a splash guard. Kind of the normal basic mods that most people do to them. If you're looking for low-maintenance I'd make the tank bigger. The larger they are the less daily maintenance there's gonna be. I'd definitely put as large a fuge on there as you can, as well as an auto top off and a decent sized reservoir. I only have a 32W 50/50 bulb over my 6gal at work and over the weekend I lose a gallon to a gallon and a half of water to evaporation. And it's a covered tank, in an office building with a stable inside temp. I assume that the tank will be like mine and there won't be any maintenance during the weekend? 50% over cost is certainly reasonable for a nicely made custom tank. It'll be great to see the pics once you have it up and running.

 

[Narkon'n'more]

If you had to room, I say go 10 gal, with 10 gal refuge/sump. You going to put a skimmer on this one?

I agree bigger is less maintance, and if he is asking you, that means he is not confortable doing it himself, he needs a good easy setup.

I never had a marine biology class when I was in school, fun I would have taken that over my physics class any day. And I love physics.

 

[ExiledInfidel666]

ok well there price to worry about and my school dosn't really like to spend a lot of money, 10g with 10g fuge is getting a little out of hand because its a small room and already filled with other tanks of fresh water thing and shells and skeletons and all that fun stuff, I assume the reef tank will be on his desk, I have found a way to keep water in the tank, just get a super tight fitting hood, im going to make one out of clear acrylic, if theres no room for air transfer then theres definitly not going to be water transfer, il start him off with 2 gallons of distilled water for his top off and if it really is losing water Il build a actual topper offer, lol, the fuge il be 1/3 of the whole tank, and im charging $55 for this, I hide some costs in the supplies, like stuff I already have but still will chage them for, some plumbing I have, the weld-on, the silicone, the acrylic, the tank, this puts an extra 50 bucks in my pocket so im happy

oh and yea it is a good idea for the nano cube but this would require making a fuge which will up the price and im pretty sure it only has 24w for the 12g and to me that is not enough, I like stonies and I no he wants to put everything in it