Cheapening the hobby

[KrisReef]

Quit messing around with the hobby and go pro, just admit that you are a full time professional reef addict and once you figure out that life is expensive just spend what you have and thank God you live in His bountiful earth.

You deserve a Dr. Suisse Soapfish!

 

[Northern Flicker]

Quit messing around with the hobby and go pro, just admit that you are a full time professional reef addict and once you figure out that life is expensive just spend what you have and thank God you live in His bountiful earth.

You deserve a Dr. Suisse Soapfish!

screenshotted this comment and sent to wife

 

[ReefGeezer]

1. Plan your system and invest is quality from the beginning.
2. Start the tank with 100% ocean cultured live rock.
3. Cycle/establish your tank in a manner that avoids the need to buy gadgets and additives to manage the ugly phase.
4. Use DIY supplements and foods where possible.
5. Stick with easy, fast growing corals. These corals are less expensive and fill your tank quickly (In reefing time).
6. Stay away from hard to keep fish.

I know all this sounds like it is the expensive route to a boring tank. I think it is much less expensive in the long run though, and a healthy tank full of colonies of easy corals can be pretty impressive. You are much less likely to have an expensive crash or wipe out, won't need to constantly replace substandard equipment, won't need to purchase gadgets and chemicals to deal with issues posed by an unnecessary ugly phase, and won't spend as much time cursing the tank.
I suggest that you plan the type and size tank you want and price everything needed. If that plan costs too much, maybe changing the type or downsizing the tank, or both, could make having having a high quality, enjoyable tank possible. I think a well done reef tank in 40 gallon Breeder is way better than bigger ones with issues because the Reefer struggles to afford its initial cost and maintenance.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Spend more up front on quality mechanical goods so that I don't have to replace them over and over. DIY and or cheap bulk supplements.

Over the years my tanks are getting smaller. A lot of that due to cost. I'm my 20's salt was all cheap and I think randy taught me how to make it out of driveway de-icer at one point. A 200 gallon softie rig was easy.

30 years later, driveway deicer is even expensive. It's just easier to manage a small tank.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

I buy used gear. I got my red sea 130dd with stand pumps, rock etc for $250. I got my wife a plug and play 32g led biocube for $140. I'm already buying up used equipment for a vague future build. Equipment can be had for a song if you're patient. I got a Kessel h80, Milwaukee digital refracto, a UV, 2 media reactors, NIB jebao auto doser, 2 slw-20, jebao gyre, submersible return pump, 8 maxijet 1200, and a half bucket each of reef crystals and phosguard for $150. Keep an eye out for people breaking down tanks. The 2 lfs I go to have a huge selection of nice fans from $5-50, and 1 does a weekly online auction.

I also diy stuff. My dosing station is made from a cardboard box and containers from the dollar store. I've tried hard to buy gear that I can use on a bigger tank too when I'm ready to upgrade.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I buy used gear. I got my red sea 130dd with stand pumps, rock etc for $250. I got my wife a plug and play 32g led biocube for $140. I'm already buying up used equipment for a vague future build. Equipment can be had for a song if you're patient. I got a Kessel h80, Milwaukee digital refracto, a UV, 2 media reactors, NIB jebao auto doser, 2 slw-20, jebao gyre, submersible return pump, 8 maxijet 1200, and a half bucket each of reef crystals and phosguard for $150. Keep an eye out for people breaking down tanks. The 2 lfs I go to have a huge selection of nice fans from $5-50, and 1 does a weekly online auction.

I also diy stuff. My dosing station is made from a cardboard box and containers from the dollar store. I've tried hard to buy gear that I can use on a bigger tank too when I'm ready to upgrade.

Keeping prospective and imminent tank upgrades in mind is huge!!!

Anything to keep from buying twice.

 

[CoralB]

Make your own supplements.

Easy for you to say lol !!

 

[bakbay]

I've learned to accept that it's an expensive hobby many years ago. Certain things (e.g. heater & ATO) I would buy new but the rest have been used, albeit high quality, equipment. Outside of my XR30 Blues that I bought new (it was a steal) but my other Radions were bought used -- LEDs can last several years. For example, my old Gen2 XR30s lasted 8+ years and were still working when I gave them away! Same is true for MP40s -- just swap out the wet side.

Having said that, to compensate for the high cost of this hobby, I would try to find another source of passive income to help fund my passion (ok, addiction). My justification to the Home Boss is that Reefing is way cheaper than many of my friends' hobbies: golfing, exotic cars, traveling, sailing, etc...

 

[CoralB]

Buy in bulk , fight impulse , enjoy what I have unless it’s a incredible find and can’t live without it , don’t buy things I don’t need no matter what they say it can do to save me time and money cuz that’s usually the que that it’s going to cost me more time and money , dyi when I can , trade when I can , and when I need something I think about fragging to pay for it but always come to the realization that fragging would make the tank like i fragged something to buy something else . LOL !!

 

[ninjamyst]

I take advantage of live sale after party coupons where you get 15% off if you spend over $1000000000. When you factor in the up to 80% off live sale pricing, I literally save thousands by spending thousands

 

[crahan]

Only add fish that have a specific job. Eat algae, stir sand, eat pests, etc.

Avoids having to go outside the lines to get gadgets or treatments to fix issues that could/would have been handled by the tank itself.

 

[LadAShark]

I bought high output t5 fixtures and ordered royal blue and 420 nm bulbs through alibaba. Came out to $6 a bulb even with shipping included. I'm looking into diy or similar deals for led's. Doesn

1. Plan your system and invest is quality from the beginning.
2. Start the tank with 100% ocean cultured live rock.
3. Cycle/establish your tank in a manner that avoids the need to buy gadgets and additives to manage the ugly phase.
4. Use DIY supplements and foods where possible.
5. Stick with easy, fast growing corals. These corals are less expensive and fill your tank quickly (In reefing time).
6. Stay away from hard to keep fish.

I know all this sounds like it is the expensive route to a boring tank. I think it is much less expensive in the long run though, and a healthy tank full of colonies of easy corals can be pretty impressive. You are much less likely to have an expensive crash or wipe out, won't need to constantly replace substandard equipment, won't need to purchase gadgets and chemicals to deal with issues posed by an unnecessary ugly phase, and won't spend as much time cursing the tank.
I suggest that you plan the type and size tank you want and price everything needed. If that plan costs too much, maybe changing the type or downsizing the tank, or both, could make having having a high quality, enjoyable tank possible. I think a well done reef tank in 40 gallon Breeder is way better than bigger ones with issues because the Reefer struggles to afford its initial cost and maintenance.

The easy corals, I find, also add stability when you want to add harder corals, I've found. Just gotta make sure to replenish what is used up.

 

[LadAShark]

Only add fish that have a specific job. Eat algae, stir sand, eat pests, etc.

Avoids having to go outside the lines to get gadgets or treatments to fix issues that could/would have been handled by the tank itself.

Entirely avoid fish that are known to move things around or eat clean up crew (and obviously none that are very likely to eat coral). Avoid crustaceans as well. The former will definitely eventually get some frags killed, the latter will eventually take out a coral or clean up crew.

My planktonivorous indian trigger has made reefing far more painful than it has to be, simply because he loves moving around corals, burrowing, and probably also nabs some clean up crew here and there (never seen it in action, though).

 

[LadAShark]

Buy in bulk , fight impulse , enjoy what I have unless it’s a incredible find and can’t live without it , don’t buy things I don’t need no matter what they say it can do to save me time and money cuz that’s usually the que that it’s going to cost me more time and money , dyi when I can , trade when I can , and when I need something I think about fragging to pay for it but always come to the realization that fragging would make the tank like i fragged something to buy something else . LOL !!

Oh, that reminds me, yes, buy in bulk, but always quarantine everything! Quarantining saves so much money and stress.

 

[areefer01]

Maybe consider picking up another hobby. Say knitting?

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Maybe consider picking up another hobby. Say knitting?

Oh that's not cheap. My wife started out on hobby lobby synthetic yarn. Now she can't go anywhere in the world without coming home with multiple $100 balls of baby alpaca yarn sourced, cleaned, dyed, and spun on the same farm.

She spends so much on yarn that when she questioned my cornbreads Valhalla purchase, I merely reminded her of the angora knit beanie she spent 225 making. Fight in LFS averted successfuly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Buy on sale
Buy used
Check classifieds here- Craigslist-Facebook groups
Work Overtime

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

Oh that's not cheap. My wife started out on hobby lobby synthetic yarn. Now she can't go anywhere in the world without coming home with multiple $100 balls of baby alpaca yarn sourced, cleaned, dyed, and spun on the same farm.

She spends so much on yarn that when she questioned my cornbreads Valhalla purchase, I merely reminded her of the angora knit beanie she spent 225 making. Fight in LFS averted successfuly.

Yup! My wife goes toe to toe on spending with me. If I spend $200 on reefing, she spends $200 ln knitting/crafts. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[KrisReef]

I've learned to accept that it's an expensive hobby many years ago. Certain things (e.g. heater & ATO) I would buy new but the rest have been used, albeit high quality, equipment. Outside of my XR30 Blues that I bought new (it was a steal) but my other Radions were bought used -- LEDs can last several years. For example, my old Gen2 XR30s lasted 8+ years and were still working when I gave them away! Same is true for MP40s -- just swap out the wet side.

Having said that, to compensate for the high cost of this hobby, I would try to find another source of passive income to help fund my passion (ok, addiction). My justification to the Home Boss is that Reefing is way cheaper than many of my friends' hobbies: golfing, exotic cars, traveling, sailing, etc...

Mind sharing how you help bring the Boss to the mindful conclusion that I need that ultra colony of Wilsoni?

??

 

[areefer01]

Oh that's not cheap. My wife started out on hobby lobby synthetic yarn. Now she can't go anywhere in the world without coming home with multiple $100 balls of baby alpaca yarn sourced, cleaned, dyed, and spun on the same farm.

She spends so much on yarn that when she questioned my cornbreads Valhalla purchase, I merely reminded her of the angora knit beanie she spent 225 making. Fight in LFS averted successfuly.

Hmm....yarn. That makes sense. Dancing? I don't know - I've always considered hobbies as disposable income and not taken out of primary accounts.

Start small. Get an understanding of what is required to keep various fish and corals while practicing basic husbandry. Read, learn, plan, and the small rolls into medium and medium to larger over time.

Yarn though - didn't see that one coming.