Owning an aquarium. Luxury or hobby?

BRS
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Deltec
ngvu1 said:
This is an expensive hobby that requires a lot of dedication and sacrify specially when you are new to it. Most long time hobbyists do not spend much on the tank, maybe because they did their dues prior.
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This is a true fact :)
I change water every 6 months and buy the alkalinity and calcium once a year
 
Deltec
It can be a very very expensive luxury, or a fairly cheap hobby.

I got my first reef tank in 05 I was a single mother to a 3 year old, going to college part time and just starting up in RE. Money was very tight and very come and go. Yet someone was selling a whole system for 100.00 a 29 gal nano cube plus fish rock etc.
which expanded as I found other mostly free tanks on CL.....heck the skimmer and the 65 gal tank I am using right now was bought that year.(it was a predatory tank then)
The sump I'm using right now was a beside the road trash find, I put 15.00 worth of plastic in it Ta DA sump.

you can buy a 5.00 mushroom or a 5,000 one. You can buy a whole zoa frag for 25 or spend 50 a polp. You can spend 15 to 30 buck and get just about any fish or buy a specially one for a few hundred.

You can have a lovely health tank that you enjoy, thats a great conversation starter with friends and educates your kids with or you can worry about having the kinda tank that makes it into magazines and on to spot light blogs.
 
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I see this hobby as any other. People can take it as far as they want or as minimal as they want. I have seen many tanks set up simply with fairly cheap equipment that are very nice, it just depends on the person. My other hobby is fishing. Basically the only other thing I spend my money on other than my tank. Do I need the 25-30 rod and reel combos? Do I need reels that cost so much? Do I need 100+ wood lures? Probably not but it's something I enjoy. I also think it's all relative. By this I mean some people have more to spend than others so they do. $100 dollars to one Person may feel like $1000 to another. I'm also the kind of person that like quality equipment and other things and if I can't afford it at the time I wait Until I can and Don't just buy something of lower quality because I can't afford the higher quality item at the time.
 
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Deltec
Always love to see healthy mandarins. Even the cute ruby red scooters look like they're doing great. Did you get yours from a LFS or online? I've recently moved and don't know which LFS here is trustable. I tried liveaquaria but after two DOA mandarins I can't bring myself to try them again. I just miss feeding these guys by hand.

Either way great tank. As to the original question I feel it starts as a hobby/luxury, after which it becomes a huge responsibility.
 
I don't think of it as a hobby. Is a dog a hobby? You're taking a living creature (most often from the wild where it would live a relatively long natural life) and trying to replicate an environment that is almost unmatched in complexity. It is expensive, but people spend 10s of thousands of dollars on one animal. We're supporting a host of lives. Living ain't cheap, nor should we expect it to. It's the cost of the responsibility we've all taken on. We knew it when we came in (mostly).

The cost of reef keeping has gone up over the years, but it's due to our demand for automation. When I started reefkeeping, filtration was cheaper, but so was the technology. Lighting was cheaper, but cost to run was high. We can still run this equipment and it can still be cheap, but stocking will be lower and maintenance time will be increased. That's not what the modern reefkeeper wants, so tech has provided us with better equipment but at a price.

As far as livestock, yes, they can be expensive, but it's supply and demand that drives it. Sure, some fish are 1000 dollars or more, but how many command that price and how many have you seen at that rate. Even aquacultured fish come at a high price of production since these facilities require all the equipment we do but on a grandiose scale. Shipping things halfway around the globe is expensive, too (overnight, no less). It all adds up. As far as marked up color morphs go, they're a bubble (or bounce-shroom) market. They settle down eventually, sometimes we have to wait to get into the latest craze.

Summed up, we chose to care for living organisms that have traveled thousands of miles from their homes that are in boxes and try to replicate an environment that we still don't 100% understand and want it maintained with minimal effort. Yep, it's going to cost us, but it's worth every penny [emoji12]
 
Any hobby is luxury by definition. Maintaining a mature tank is not that expensive. Alk, Mg, Calcium, salt? In a years time I spend far less on those than maintaining my truck, and golf? It's a lot more expensive if it's truly your hobby. Electricity? with LED's I haven't noticed any detectable change in my electric bill since starting my 72x24 tank 3.5 years ago. Most of the expense of a tank is on the front end. Even that can be mitigated. Most of my coral came from my reef club (which is $25 a year membership). Some was given me by club members, I even have fish that I got for nominal $ from a member of R2R.

As far as a tank getting to 90 degrees, outside of using MH lights I don't see how that could happen unless you don't have AC in your house or have a prolonged summer power outage. Other than fish disease, every live stock loss I've suffered has been my own fault...not because of lack of knowledge but not paying attention to detail due to a distraction,etc.

Yep it's expensive...that's one of many reasons it's not for everyone! :-)
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Nutramar Foods
Labridaedicted said:
I don't think of it as a hobby. Is a dog a hobby? You're taking a living creature (most often from the wild where it would live a relatively long natural life) and trying to replicate an environment that is almost unmatched in complexity. It is expensive, but people spend 10s of thousands of dollars on one animal. We're supporting a host of lives. Living ain't cheap, nor should we expect it to. It's the cost of the responsibility we've all taken on. We knew it when we came in (mostly).

The cost of reef keeping has gone up over the years, but it's due to our demand for automation. When I started reefkeeping, filtration was cheaper, but so was the technology. Lighting was cheaper, but cost to run was high. We can still run this equipment and it can still be cheap, but stocking will be lower and maintenance time will be increased. That's not what the modern reefkeeper wants, so tech has provided us with better equipment but at a price.

As far as livestock, yes, they can be expensive, but it's supply and demand that drives it. Sure, some fish are 1000 dollars or more, but how many command that price and how many have you seen at that rate. Even aquacultured fish come at a high price of production since these facilities require all the equipment we do but on a grandiose scale. Shipping things halfway around the globe is expensive, too (overnight, no less). It all adds up. As far as marked up color morphs go, they're a bubble (or bounce-shroom) market. They settle down eventually, sometimes we have to wait to get into the latest craze.

Summed up, we chose to care for living organisms that have traveled thousands of miles from their homes that are in boxes and try to replicate an environment that we still don't 100% understand and want it maintained with minimal effort. Yep, it's going to cost us, but it's worth every penny [emoji12]
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Dogs are companions. Dog breeding or dog shows would be the hobby. Dog training could be considered a hobby as well.

Keeping little environments in glass cages takes research, knowledge, passion, and money. Since owning fish, coral and the like isn't a necessity, its a luxury and a hobby.

hob·by1
ˈhäbē/
noun
  1. 1.
    an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
Dogs however, in terms of being a hobby? I think of them as being more therapeutic. You don't have to have a dog, just like you don't have to have a kid.
 
reeferfoxx said:
Dogs are companions. Dog breeding or dog shows would be the hobby. Dog training could be considered a hobby as well.

Keeping little environments in glass cages takes research, knowledge, passion, and money. Since owning fish, coral and the like isn't a necessity, its a luxury and a hobby.

hob·by1
ˈhäbē/
noun
  1. 1.
    an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
Dogs however, in terms of being a hobby? I think of them as being more therapeutic. You don't have to have a dog, just like you don't have to have a kid.
Click to expand...
Correct, but I think of it as a responsibility. Once you take it on, it's lives in your hands as soon as you add that first coral or fish. Like ol Websters said, a hobby is done in my free time (guitars, diving, brewing) but I have to plan my schedule around my aquarium.

It's true that it can be a hobby or luxury, but reefing is more than that for all of us on here. And I know we all wouldn't have it any other way. [emoji4]

It is a luxury that we can choose to do it, and a hobby to tinker with it and browse the forums. Ultimately, though, it's a resposibility we've all chosen to take on.

Maybe it's a luxurious hobby, that gives us the responsibility of being stewards to the reefs we keep?

Not as luxurious as yachting though. That's a super luxurious hobby.
 
Labridaedicted said:
Correct, but I think of it as a responsibility. Once you take it on, it's lives in your hands as soon as you add that first coral or fish. Like ol Websters said, a hobby is done in my free time (guitars, diving, brewing) but I have to plan my schedule around my aquarium.

It's true that it can be a hobby or luxury, but reefing is more than that for all of us on here. And I know we all wouldn't have it any other way. [emoji4]

It is a luxury that we can choose to do it, and a hobby to tinker with it and browse the forums. Ultimately, though, it's a resposibility we've all chosen to take on.

Maybe it's a luxurious hobby, that gives us the responsibility of being stewards to the reefs we keep?

Not as luxurious as yachting though. That's a super luxurious hobby.
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It can be a responsibility and a hobby. A responsibility would be to maintain its basic needs. But a hobby shows that you can progress to make things better. We have options on wave pumps, lighting, controllers. Price factor isn't a necessity and controllers are most certainly not our responsibility.
 
reeferfoxx said:
It can be a responsibility and a hobby. A responsibility would be to maintain its basic needs. But a hobby shows that you can progress to make things better. We have options on wave pumps, lighting, controllers. Price factor isn't a necessity and controllers are most certainly not our responsibility.
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Agreed!
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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