How do you save money in this hobby?

[vetteguy53081]

You forgot beer, surely?

Don’t drink lol

 

[Tavero]

they wouldn’t last long in my warm water

These are sub tropical shrimp from north africa. Why would they die in warm water. (Mediterrane sea)
I live nowhere near close to rockpools.
Catching them myself would be the most expensive methode of obtaining them...by far. We want to save money in this thread.
And even the closest oceans to me only inhabit Palaemon varians (feeder shrimps).

 

[i cant think]

These are sub tropical shrimp from north africa. Why would they die in warm water. (Mediterrane sea)
I live nowhere near close to rockpools.
Catching them myself would be the most expensive methode of obtaining them...by far. We want to save money in this thread.
And even the closest oceans to me only inhabit Palaemon varians (feeder shrimps).

Both Varians and Elegans are native to my area in the Eastern side of the North Atlantic. Unfortunately waters round the UK are rather cold though. So yes I could catch them from rockpools however, getting them acclimated is a different story.

 

[Backreefing]

I haven’t gone through all the comments. But I save money by, useing cheap salt mix , buying cheaper used protein skimmer, used and ( I resealed ) aquarium. Find deals on rocks , trade corals locally. I do not buy high end corals . I bought used halide lights and I don’t use high price bulbs and I run them 2 years minimum. I also buy food on sale and get corals locally. Example I got a red planet and a Cali tort acropora for $40 and the guy gave me a 1 1/2” seasons greetings montipora.
BTW I give out plenty to . I always give away mushrooms, pulseing xena, montipora frags , ect .

 

[MnFish1]

This is an easy question to answer - and hard to accomplish.

1. Don't be tempted to buy xxxx - which you don't QT - and is going to kill the rest of your fish.
2. Don't buy the newest gadget - only to find that a firmware update caused a crash of all of your equipment.
3. Buy livestock from reputable sources - not necessarily the cheapest.
4. Research.
5. 90% of the gadgets advertised that cost hundreds of dollars - are not necessary. Don't fall for them - unless you trust and think you need them

 

[Fredrxn]

Have no money left to save tank took it all

 

[Pico bam]

@G Santana what nori do you buy? I just ran out and my tangs are giving me the stink eye.

 

[G Santana]

@G Santana what nori do you buy? I just ran out and my tangs are giving me the stink eye.

Here you go

 

[TWYOUNG]

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.

Do you mix it all together in a food processor?

 

[GarrettT]

Autotopoff.com mounting brackets. Cheap and always finding ways to incorporate them. Holds my probes, kalk line, carx effluent, ato pressure tube, etc.

AutoTopoff.com

autotopoff.com

 

[G Santana]

Do you mix it all together in a food processor?

I mix 6 shrimp to 4 scallops and 4 clams (when I have them) at a time in a ninja mixer and then repeat until all the food is mixed. I place in a zip lock bag and freeze. I use to freeze them in mini cube trays but the problem I found is that if you don't fill the trays full you get freezer burn from the bottom up.
In the zip lock I don't get freezer burn.

I mix small batches to insure everything gets minced.

 

[PeterEde]

Ask your wife permission before buying anything lol

Always easier to get forgiveness than permission

 

[flashsmith]

Turning one of my reef tanks into a fowlr tank. Now if I could just find somebody to take all the coral covered rock off my hands that would be great. Or maybe put a couple of known coral eaters in there to just eat it all.Ive already moved the stuff I want to keep out to my main tank. Lol

 

[TWYOUNG]

I mix 6 shrimp to 4 scallops and 4 clams (when I have them) at a time in a ninja mixer and then repeat until all the food is mixed. I place in a zip lock bag and freeze. I use to freeze them in mini cube trays but the problem I found is that if you don't fill the trays full you get freezer burn from the bottom up.
In the zip lock I don't get freezer burn.

I mix small batches to insure everything gets minced.

What do you put in for the herbivores?

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I buy bulk on items whenever I can. I'm not loyal to 1 brand or seller if the price is much better for a similar product elsewhere. Picked up 35 lbs of color changing soda lime off of Amazon for $133, which comes out to $3.80/lb compared to $4.93/lb at BRS when buying the largest package. I use all of these savings as a down payment for the thousands of dollars I somehow justify spending elsewhere in the hobby.

 

[Jase4224]

1. DIY LED
2. DIY Sulphur reactor out of PVC
3. DIY Carbon reactor out of RO membrane casing

Also DIY:
vinegar/vodka for carbon dosing
feeding ring (PVC)
nori clip
Calcium Nitrate
Potassium Phosphate
Soda Ash
Calcium carbonate/flocculant
+Probably more.

BUT I do not skimp on QT!!!! This costs some money and time but cheaper than losing a bunch of stock and peace of mind!!! I know from unfortunate but avoidable experience. To save money on QT you can use good quality storage containers as tanks with just air stones and a couple of heaters. Easy to transfer fish into a freshly made tub of water and tubs are easy to clean and handle.

I do NOT try to save money on food however, as the time and mess making food doesn’t make sense to me especially when the best quality prepared foods don’t add up to much and last a long time in the fridge. Ocean Nitrition, Hikari and NLS know more about fish nutrition than I do. I do buy Nori sheets though.

Oh one more thing.. DO MAINTENANCE! If there’s one thing that’s cleaned up my tank it’s me. I stir my sand and blow off my rocks every week, sometimes I toothbrush my rocks if needed but haven’t had to do this for a long time. No amount of equipment will cover for a slack reefer long term IMO.

Sorry about the cloudy water, that’s just flocculant and AF mud but my tank was as clean this morning as it was last week the day after I cleaned the tank..

 

[KrisReef]

I've never thought about this hobby as anything but a great value. I buy everything and save just like she does.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

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

Actually... you probably can. Just acclimate them properly. In my 40g I have a Norris Top snail and a Turban and a couple Turbans in my 10g. Came in with some kelp or rock. It's funny, it is easier to go warmer Temperate to Tropical, than the other way around. I haven’t found a Red Rock shrimp Lysmata californica for my tide pool temperate tanks , But a Peppermint has done nicely to represent.

​

 

[Spieg]

I do water changes twice a year and buy 2-part in bulk 4 gallon buckets. Get most of my coral at local waps or from Craig's List.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I find my chunk of savings by using the Offer Up app. For both gently used equipment and "Fake Coral Decor"... This hobby does have a super high attrition rate, I use that to my advantage. Pro tip... When some is trying to sell something for basically what he paid for it, just save it. 8 times out of 10 it won’t sell. Hit them up a couple weeks later, you can get a realistic price for the item. As far as coral, Their are those who are trying to make a living at it, and those who are just trying to clear some overgrowth in their tank. There are advantages to creating a relationship with both of those type of sellers.