Poll: TOTAL MONEY SPENT on Reefing

[Mr Cypher]

I thought it was asking at one time......lol

 

[Chrisv.]

Jesus man, don't ask don't tell. Are you trying to increase the rate of divorce in the hobby?

 

[gbroadbridge]

So I was working on my budget and it blew me away as to how much money I spent in my first year of this hobby. I was curious as to whether this was normal or if I could gather some data to back myself up to my fiance and friends to justify this LOL

Just to get the conversation started, I spent around $12,000 Canadian, which I think is about $9,000 USD.

My greatest fear is that when I croak, my wife sells my gadgets for what I told her they cost.

 

[Turnage]

Sorry. My calculator can't display that high of a number.

 

[shakacuz]

if i were to ballpark it...about 5k$. initially a lot of money was spent on water testing @ my LFS(before i came to find this forum). slightly regret it, but i did help me some.

edit: have also bought unnecessary items that i haven't used as well.

 

[Dani305]

I got my tank on Christmas. Lol

We are at about $3500 US. I think I am pretty much done with buying big ticket items for now. So mainly the next expense will be more fish and coral.

 

[BillFish Coral Lover]

Oh, you're living in the edge, my friend! I can't get near it or the family will push me over. And that's about the depth of the Marianas Trench!

 

[mikeytrw]

I reckon I'm £4000 in and I have only just started on livestock, my first couple clowns and dozen snails lol.

Also, I bought a lot of equipment used and everything is more expensive in the UK.

A couple of examples:

Hanna testers - US $50ish, UK £65 ($88)
Brute 32 gal with lid - £88 ($120) each delivered.
Red Sea LED 90 with stand- £400 ($542) each.

Crazy.

 

[Duncan62]

Over the last 2 decades plus, probably somewhere around $30,000. I lost track... $10,000+ seems like an inadequate description.

A couple hundred a month since 79. Lol. It's a good price if you like it.

 

[KevyKevTPA]

We had an old school (roughly 2007ish) 55g that had been down for several years, but my wife recently decided to surprise me and get it back up and running.

And now we've really caught the bug, so I just spent ~$3,500 on a brand new Redsea Reffer 350, a Reefbreeders V2 Pro, a Redsea 300 skimmer, along with a couple of their wide wavemakers. Add to that the value of our old rock (which is now fully live because we seeded the tank with an aquacultured rock and live sand), and the relatively limited amount of fish and corals so far, and we're probably up more around $5k, though the rock is an old expense. We also put a RODI maker in the garage.

I guess that puts us a little over $6k total, plus future fish, corals, and salt. But we're not likely to be going out and buying $1,500 corals, especially when we can get something that looks 95% identical for 10% of the cost. Zoas and LPS for now, with plans to get into SPS "someday".

 

[CourtNjoeZreef]

well over 10k in the first year much of that wasted on trying to keep it cheap. DIY is not cheaper in my experience and they end up biting you in the end. I have had more success doing it the expensive way in 4 months then I did for the year before. Makes it feel like it wasn't a waste. we all work too hard to waste.

I guess what i'm saying is do it the way you really want to in your heart the first time around and you will love yourself for it later.

 

[shakey]

I'm north of 10K on my new build SCA Island peninsula 120. The scary part is I don't even have water in it yet. This is not my first reef so I kinda knew what I was getting into. I've spent a lot of the budget on automation, apex, and tried to buy the best equipment my budget would allow. I think it is a great hobby and I could be spending my money on boats, motorcycles, cars, etc. I like that I can enjoy my aquarium at all hours of the day and in any weather.

 

[Caleb123]

I bought my tank as a used package. It's a Waterbox Frag 105.4. Roughly $7500 worth new for only $2500. But the extras start adding up....Hydros, Alkatronic, Reefbrites, etc. Not to mention my expensive taste in coral

 

[watdachuck]

Likely need to add a zero over my lifetime.

 

[sfin52]

I never keep track of how much I've spent on my tank, and quite honestly I don't want to know. I diy just about everything that I can so mine is fairly low compared to most but I'd still guess it to be around $3,000 or so.

I'm the same way. It's best to not know

 

[Gtinnel]

I'm the same way. It's best to not know

Oh what a difference a year can make. I would guess that since my first reply I have easily doubled how much I've spent. Curse you Neptune Systems.

Although I still don't want to know a total, and I definitely don't want my wife to know a total.

 

[BrianAnthony]

I've spent Nunya... And don't understand why you care about it.

 

[Kmst80]

I am in the over 10 k club, my life rock alone was over 1k. Nothing is cheap here in down under, and atm prices seem to go up weekly.

 

[Mirkus]

I decided to pull up my Brs history, back to 2009, and add up purchases. I get $7,780! I’m on a roll so I pull up premium aquatics, another $3,075. There it is, I’ve only spent $11k on reefing…


(My online vendor of choice was actually marine depot because of their shipping times and Cali tax discount)

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I've been in the hobby for 15+ years, so definitely over 10k. Now I am still spending a lot, but probably closer to breaking even in the past couple years by selling frags as things grow out. Definitely well in the red overall tho!