What has happened to The reef hobby

[boacvh]

I've been out the reef hobby for about 8 years now I used to have a 240 gallon cube and I've noticed a lot of the equipment has changed which is great for the hobby but I also notice a lot of the corals are the same with different names and crazy high I'm not sure what has happened over the last 8 to 10 years but I was considering getting back into the hobby definitely will not do it at this point.

Imo that's a bad reason to stay away. Plenty of cheap corals around.

 

[Lyss]

Re: made up names vs scientific, I would be tempted to agree, but that didn’t work w/plants. EVERYone knows the scientific names of these darn things and wants them still. See Monstera Albo Variegata…

 

[Lavey29]

Clearly you need re-educated in the one true way.

I don't guess anyone here does adult things like go to the grocery, buy gas or stuff from home depot.
It's just this darn hobby and greed.

I just come from a different generation and way of thinking. Perhaps 2 years of forced covid lock downs has caused large numbers of people to join the reefing hobby as they sit home? This may contribute to the supply and demand pricing aspect. I cant figure out what's more troubling at the grocery store though, the record high prices or empty shelves? Only makes sense that the same problems causing this evolves into the reefing hobby to at some point.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

See Monstera Albo Variegata…

That is insane!!! Lol!

 

[Lyss]

That is insane!!! Lol!

It is! Some ppl must have a few screws loose I swear lol

 

[i cant think]

The question is, why do more people spend more money on fish than they do coral? Coral don’t have life spans and can grow to be HUGE yet fish can have rather short life spans unfortunately. I can’t really talk though - I spend more money on fish than I have on coral.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

It is! Some ppl must have a few screws loose I swear lol

Wow. I’ll stick to corals. Lol.

 

[Nano sapiens]

What happened to reef keeping?...

Lots since I set up my first small reef in 1985. What it was like 'back in the day' has been discussed ad nauseum, so to generalize as reefing became a thing people saw $$$...and the rest is history. Common and normal progression.

At a deeper level, what has happened is that people have become much more exposed to being influenced by other people (mostly via social media) in the last 20 years or so. As a result, many reef aquariums are overly complex, house 'must have' overpriced fancy named corals and people's wallets are a lot lighter

 

[JaimeAdams]

I run a small B&M saltwater LFS. We have $1,200 frags and lots of $15 frags. You do not have to buy $1,000+ trendy coral. There is the option of stocking a tank with $10 - $30 frags. Granted a year ago my $15 frags were $5.

Prior to Indo shutting down a mushroom rock may have cost me $25 to tranship it, now it might be $50. The shipping on that box used to be $200 now is $600.

Now way back in the day you could import coral for basically nothing. Then technology improved and became pervasive. Now those collectors in remote islands have access to the internet too and see what the stuff they collect are retaking for and fairly want their piece of the pie as well.

 

[FMF0331]

I'm very rich , richer than that amazon dude.

I'm going to send everyone on this thread a birdnest and red cap frag.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I've been out the reef hobby for about 8 years now I used to have a 240 gallon cube and I've noticed a lot of the equipment has changed which is great for the hobby but I also notice a lot of the corals are the same with different names and crazy high I'm not sure what has happened over the last 8 to 10 years but I was considering getting back into the hobby definitely will not do it at this point.

It's not just this hobby.

I'm a shutterbug and that has gone through the roof, as has RC aircraft.

Technology makes things simpler, but means an endless upgrade cycle.

COVID didn't help much either.

 

[cmmatxh]

just buy from local reefers and stay away from online vendors

 

[i cant think]

just buy from local reefers and stay away from online vendors

Even then some LFS’s/Reefers know what the coral is and sell it for some wild prices, in an old LFS I saw a beautiful frag of acro (Cant remember what it was) and it was sold for something like £300… forget frag, for that I’d personally want a healthy thriving colony of a cheap acro like staghorn.

 

[HB AL]

I've been out the reef hobby for about 8 years now I used to have a 240 gallon cube and I've noticed a lot of the equipment has changed which is great for the hobby but I also notice a lot of the corals are the same with different names and crazy high I'm not sure what has happened over the last 8 to 10 years but I was considering getting back into the hobby definitely will not do it at this point.

Obviously your really not into getting back into the hobby and that's perfectly fine but there are plenty of cool looking corals that are cheap enough etc.

 

[Tim617]

May I present a contrarian view?

I just started a build on a 75g new tank. The equipment alone is going to set me back 15 grand. The corals will be at best 2-3 grand (though I wont buy any for the next year till the tank settles). Fish would be at best one grand (I plan to keep sturdy fish solely for the purpose of keeping corals). So, relatively speaking, shouldn't we be complaining (if we must) about the price of equipment than livestock? It doesn't seem to be that livestock prices have gone up as much as equipment, from when I exited the hobby in 2009-2010.

 

[HB AL]

In July I upgraded to a 180g (biggest I could fit in my bedroom) Got the new tank, stand, plumbing, and sump for $1700. Used all my previous equipment from the 90g it replaced and a 50g I took down. I have no controllers or anything else fancy, just a really simple setup. What costs $15000 in hardware to have a successful tank. Here's a pic from yesterday and a cool feeding time video of my simple setup. Point is you don't need all the latest, fanciest equipment to have a successful reef tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

May I present a contrarian view?

I just started a build on a 75g new tank. The equipment alone is going to set me back 15 grand. The corals will be at best 2-3 grand (though I wont buy any for the next year till the tank settles). Fish would be at best one grand (I plan to keep sturdy fish solely for the purpose of keeping corals). So, relatively speaking, shouldn't we be complaining (if we must) about the price of equipment than livestock? It doesn't seem to be that livestock prices have gone up as much as equipment, from when I exited the hobby in 2009-2010.

Yes, as others have mentioned, technology as well as a growing interest in the hobby has led to lots of new, shiny, frequently "updated" or "improved" equipment on the market.

I'm curious how setting up a 75 gallon will cost so much... Unless you're spending over 10-12k on lights, I can't even imagine how you'd need to spend anywhere near $15k.

 

[Tim617]

Yes, as others have mentioned, technology as well as a growing interest in the hobby has led to lots of new, shiny, frequently "updated" or "improved" equipment on the market.

I'm curious how setting up a 75 gallon will cost so much... Unless you're spending over 10-12k on lights, I can't even imagine how you'd need to spend anywhere near $15k.

Aquarium, stand, sump, controllers and associated gizmos (think full Apex suite), chiller, UV sterilizer, may be ozone reactor, lights, pumps. filter roller, algae reactor, that stuff adds up. I need to auotmate everything as I travel for work, so add failsafe redundancies on top.

I was shocked myself.

But I am happy. With the planned setup I can be gone for a month and the tank wouldn't miss a beat.

 

[Tim617]

For example, a Triton ATO container costs nearly 200 dollars for 10g.

Why?

 

[polyppal]

May I present a contrarian view?

I just started a build on a 75g new tank. The equipment alone is going to set me back 15 grand.

Who's building your tank??? Maserati?