I'm surprised at some of the tank quotes that I'm seeing here.
With all due respect, the $1 per gallon idea might be possible with a smaller tank (even that is unlikely with the labor cost involved in custom work), but there's no way you can get a large tank for that price, new.
A 300 gallon tank for $300? No chance.
For off the shelf standard stock tanks? Yeah, you can still get a 75 gallon for $80 when it's on sale. Jump up to a 150, you're looking at $250-300. 180? $500 when they're being blown out.
Glass and acrylic prices have both shot up and you'd be hard pressed to find anything cheaper now then you could have gotten say 5 years ago. Everything has gone up in price, and the only way prices come down is if they are being mass produced. None of the large builders even do that anymore for huge tanks, they are built when ordered.
I know we get ripped off here on the westcoast (not enough competition for tank builders) but I asked for a quote for an 8 foot 300 gallon and the price I got back was $1950. Acrylic came in at $2100.
I ended up ordering an acrylic tank from California, 8x30x24, for $1300, shipped. That is just the tank and lids: no overflows, stand, custom backgrounds or anything.
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