How do you save money in this hobby?

[Dburr1014]

Sell aptasia and say there nems or a new zoa.

 

[Tavero]

Over engineered DIY lights, DIY dosing pumps, breeding my own cuc, mixing my own 2 part and buying fish food in sale.

Next I buy Nori made for people, I get 100 sheets for less than $15 on Amazon. I cut those in quarters and it lasts 400 days.

I have seen pure spirulina powder on amazon for smoothies. Is this a cheap phytoplankton alternative, or too coarse?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I have seen pure spirulina powder on amazon for smoothies. Is this a cheap phytoplankton alternative, or too coarse?

It would depend on the brand - some are of an acceptable fineness, some are way too coarse.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I actually applied much of my overtime pay for the hobby not that salary would have not supported it.

This. The second job hustle (or OT) pays for toys.

 

[Rmckoy]

Over the last 2 yrs I have tried to save where I can, for no other reason than I feel some things in the hobby are way over priced.

The 3 ways that I apply daily are:
I make my own fish food, on most occasions it's just shrimp, scallops and clams.
Today I didn't have any clams but the fish enjoy it just the same. This got me thinking, what other ways do people save?!!!

Next I buy Nori made for people, I get 100 sheets for less than $15 on Amazon. I cut those in quarters and it lasts 400 days.

Lastly I bought a roll of filter material, I think it was less than $25. My wife sewed 9 socks and that was almost 18 months ago. The socks are still going strong giving me at least 4 days before I have to change them out.

What do you folks do to save a buck. I'm sure there are many great ideas.

1) I bought cheaper equipment ( jeabo )
I use a old t5 fixture I salvaged from a demo job years ago
2) tank is mature and I’ve slacked on water changes

 

[G Santana]

Over engineered DIY lights, DIY dosing pumps, breeding my own cuc, mixing my own 2 part and buying fish food in sale.



I have seen pure spirulina powder on amazon for smoothies. Is this a cheap phytoplankton alternative, or too coarse?

The spirulina powder that Amazon sells Is what I use for my brineshrimp hatchery

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Sell aptasia and say there nems or a new zoa.

How's the sales going

 

[G Santana]

1) I bought cheaper equipment ( jeabo )
I use a old t5 fixture I salvaged from a demo job years ago
2) tank is mature and I’ve slacked on water changes

I refuse to pay $400 for a power head, I have 3 $20 powerheads and three on the shelf in case they break, two years they have held tight.
I am waiting for the patent to expire and hopefully different companies will make powerheads with a wet and dry side.
I also have 3 powerheads that are over 32 years old that still work. I use them for blowing the debris off the rocks during water changes.

I can afford to buy the more expensive powerheads I just won't.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I do the DIY socks by buying felt in yards. Mine have lasted years so far. I have made my own food in the past, but for me it seems the frozen stuff is just as good and about same cost by the time I add the extras and time to make it.
I buy all my nori in the human sushi sheets and it is much cheaper.
I try to keep my maintenance up on my filters, pumps, etc to eliminate early wear.
I bought some large equipment used in the beginning and did not skimp on cheap pumps. My first set of Tunze pumps lasted over 12 years and two were used.

I do not keep super expensive corals and love the ease of my tanks. I went away from the expensive, low tolerant corals years ago. I love my softie/nem tanks. I do have clams, so that is my expensive bit, but I am working on that. If my current clams keep going, no need for more for a long while.

 

[MoshJosh]

Buy used, make DIY stuff when I can, jump on deals when I can, and buy cheap coral other people don't want haha

 

[hockeyhead019]

Over engineered DIY lights, DIY dosing pumps, breeding my own cuc, mixing my own 2 part and buying fish food in sale.



I have seen pure spirulina powder on amazon for smoothies. Is this a cheap phytoplankton alternative, or too coarse?

Breeding your own CUC? That's a new one, what in particular are you breeding? I assume snails?

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Over the last 2 yrs I have tried to save where I can, for no other reason than I feel some things in the hobby are way over priced.

The 3 ways that I apply daily are:
I make my own fish food, on most occasions it's just shrimp, scallops and clams.
Today I didn't have any clams but the fish enjoy it just the same. This got me thinking, what other ways do people save?!!!

Next I buy Nori made for people, I get 100 sheets for less than $15 on Amazon. I cut those in quarters and it lasts 400 days.

Lastly I bought a roll of filter material, I think it was less than $25. My wife sewed 9 socks and that was almost 18 months ago. The socks are still going strong giving me at least 4 days before I have to change them out.

What do you folks do to save a buck. I'm sure there are many great ideas.

I use commercial, bulk/tech grade chemicals (sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, sodium carbonate) and save about 80% off BRS bulk prices with NO ill effects despite their claims that "impurities" exist in non-pharmaceutical grade components. I get this stuff in 50 lb bags delivered to the house, then I repackage it in old salt barrels making it airtight. The chemical data sheets show that the impurities tend to be things like magnesium, which we're dosing anyway, calcium, etc, with hardly anything harmful. I run ICP periodically and there are no high levels of anything undesirable. I dose about 320 ml of 2-part a day which is super pricey otherwise. I use a filter mat, that I cut to size. It lasts about a week and costs about 50 cents apiece. While it sounds like a waste of money compared to socks, it's worth it when you factor in the fact that you aren't running electricity running a washer, and the PITA, not to mention the inevitable divorce isn't going to be cheap either. You don't need to have the latest lights, the faciest wavemakers or the most expensive skimmer to have a nice tank.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I don’t lol!

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

1) I bought cheaper equipment ( jeabo )
I use a old t5 fixture I salvaged from a demo job years ago
2) tank is mature and I’ve slacked on water changes

dang right. I've bought a few jaybows lately. What's a water change? lol

 

[Tavero]

Breeding your own CUC? I assume snails?

Snails are multiplying on their own so i don't breed them actively.
What I'm talking about are shrimps hermits and crabs.

I did emerald crabs but getting them out of a regular tank to check on their eggs is nigh impossible and therefore too much work. A breeding setup in a almost empty tank with a pair would work great though. They are the easiest CUC to breed (raising the larvae) as long as the male doesn't mess up the female during mating.

I ran out of microscopic small shells for hermits so i stopped with them. Also the hardest to breed but usually cheapest, most available CUC in lfs so not worth it.

Shrimps are probably the best candidate. You can check on their eggs without the need of getting them out of the tank and they are also the easiest to get out. I settled on Palaemon Elegans because skunk cleaner shrimp will start their own hunger games when they turn adult and only stop after only two are left.

Palaemon Elegans are great at eating algae and food scraps though. Maybe a bit too great though because they don't leave anything for my hermits and nassarius snails.

Never had urchins and i won't. I don't even want to imagine what they would do to the frags in my reef rack.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Snails are multiplying on their own so i don't breed them actively.
What I'm talking about are shrimps hermits and crabs.

I tried emerald crabs but getting them out of a regular tank to check on their eggs is nigh impossible and therefore too much work. A breeding setup in a almost empty tank with a pair would work great though. They are probably the easiest CUC to breed as long as the male doesn't mess up the female during mating.

I ran out of microscopic small shells for hermits so i stopped with them. Also the hardest to breed but usually cheapest, most available CUC in lfs so not worth it.

Shrimps are probably the best candidate. You can check on their eggs without the need of getting them out of the tank and they are also the easiest to get out. I settled on Palaemon Elegans because skunk cleaner shrimp will start their own hunger games when they turn adult and only stop after only two are left.

Palaemon Elegans are great at eating algae and food scraps though. Maybe a bit too great though because they don't leave anything for my hermits and nassarius snails.

Never had urchins and i won't. I don't even want to imagine what they would do to the frags in my reef rack.

Not to go too far off topic here, but if you don’t have threads explaining how you breed these guys, you should make some - I love learning about how to aquaculture our tank inhabitants.

 

[Tavero]

Not to go too far off topic here, but if you don’t have threads explaining how you breed these guys, you should make some - I love learning about how to aquaculture our tank inhabitants.

Sure i can do that. I will start with a new spawn in a few days so i i can make a diary/guide then.

 

[i cant think]

Snails are multiplying on their own so i don't breed them actively.
What I'm talking about are shrimps hermits and crabs.

I did emerald crabs but getting them out of a regular tank to check on their eggs is nigh impossible and therefore too much work. A breeding setup in a almost empty tank with a pair would work great though. They are the easiest CUC to breed (raising the larvae) as long as the male doesn't mess up the female during mating.

I ran out of microscopic small shells for hermits so i stopped with them. Also the hardest to breed but usually cheapest, most available CUC in lfs so not worth it.

Shrimps are probably the best candidate. You can check on their eggs without the need of getting them out of the tank and they are also the easiest to get out. I settled on Palaemon Elegans because skunk cleaner shrimp will start their own hunger games when they turn adult and only stop after only two are left.

Palaemon Elegans are great at eating algae and food scraps though. Maybe a bit too great though because they don't leave anything for my hermits and nassarius snails.

Never had urchins and i won't. I don't even want to imagine what they would do to the frags in my reef rack.

Breed them?
I could go out to a tide pool and catch a couple of my own… Obviously they wouldn’t last long in my warm water reef unfortunately.

 

[paul01609]

I collect natural sea water saves a bit

 

[Mark Goode]

Budget for the hobby like I do . . . . . .

You forgot beer, surely?