I think what puts many freshwater aquarists off from switching to reef tanks is the crazy upfront cost of it all. A fully kitted out planted tank needs a filter, a CO2 injector, a light, heater, soil, plants, driftwood, and fish. I can build a complete planted tank and fully stock it for less than the cost of a single Gen 6 XR15. Trying to explain the costs of certain equipment to a freshwater guy or someone that wants to go straight into reefing, they're gonna think you're crazy.
Sure, you can go budget builds, and I recently did a budget build myself, but once you catch that bug, you're either going to want a second larger tank or upgrade the current one, and if someone is going invest that amount of time and money into a dream build, they're going to also want the best equipment on the market.
I usually tell people that want to get into the hobby to get the biggest tank they can and go all out on the best equipment possible, to save them money in the long run, because it's almost guaranteed that if you go for cheaper equipment, you're just gonna want to upgrade later on. Even on my budget nano build, I eventually dropped the black box lights and went with an ai prime and a nero 3, because they're honestly worth the slightly higher price tag. The black box lights were perfectly fine and my corals were thriving, I just wanted something that looked more sleek and was controllable through an app.
