What is more important in this hobby, knowledge or money?

Stuartmercer · Dec 14, 2018

I would say knowledge always! I have had a reef tank do great and stable without a sump, and skimmer and both are expensive. Knowledge is important because it keeps you from making mistakes later on which will cost you money!!

MARK M. DAVIS · Dec 14, 2018

Knowledge and no money gets you frustrated because you can't afford participate in this hobby. No knowledge and money makes fish stores happy because you'll be replenishing like crazy. No money, no knowledge then, you won't kill whole lot of fish and coral. Money and Knowledge and you can become a happy, satisfied, expert reef hobbyist!!! I can help provide the knowledge: "Advanced Aquatic Solutions" Facebook public page. I write a blog on successful SPS reef keeping.

MARK M. DAVIS · Dec 14, 2018

Luckily, Christmas and you're birthday comes once a year! With knowledge, you'll know what to ask for.

BZOFIQ · Dec 14, 2018

Combination of both. You can have lots of knowledge for free, but no money to actually start.

You don't need crazy expensive equipment to have an excellent setup, but you do need money and lots of it to buy decent equipment and nice livestock.

It costs thousands of dollars to setup beautiful display tanks (way more without knowledge) so please don't start flaming that one can setup a tank on few 2x4s for less - that's not a display tank; that's an eyesore.

Wrasse-cal · Dec 14, 2018

Knowledge. My tank is an example of the fact that money doesn't solve problems.

I've got a lot of top of the line equipment, but I've still been struggling.

steveaus10 · Dec 15, 2018

If you do not have knowledge you will soon not have money either but you also may not have money even with a ton of knowledge JUST SAYIN'

stacksoner · Dec 15, 2018

Wouldn't it be so cool if the prizes/giveaways on this forum were educational rarities, like "Enter to Win a Copy of Julian Sprung's 20,000 Page Tank Journal Giveaway"!?

Money can buy you an experienced all-star tank maintenance team, who can put in the man hours required to make your reef tank dreams come true.

Lukas75 · Dec 15, 2018

Knowledge hands down. That having been said this is an expensive hobby and spending money can increase the ease with which we keep corals. I say this to a point. The more we rely on automation the more failure points we add into the system. Like I've said in other posts I'm setting up my acro dominant system and adopting the method of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). The less I rely on bells and whistles and build in more redundancy the less there is to go wrong. And I just contradicted myself, because redundancy costs money!

GQuinn · Dec 15, 2018

Knowledge, unless your paying someone to do everything for you.

Dragon52 · Jan 3, 2019

Knowledge=Money!! if you have the knowledge someone will always be willing to pay for it.

FishyDP · Feb 17, 2019

This is an old thread, but interesting. I would say a person with money and limited knowledge has a much higher chance of failure vs. the person with a limited budget and knowledge. Give an experienced reef keeper a 75g glass box and a $500 budget. I am willing to bet after a year their tank will be doing better than someone who doesn't do their research, and has a $3000 budget.

ZoWhat · Feb 17, 2019

The inner city school system where i live....they just keep throwing millions of dollars at the system with no success or improvement.

Now with that said buying high quality equipment does cost a lot of money....which results in better success.

But once you have the equipment investment.... its all about knowledge

.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 17, 2019

B O T H !!!

Once you have the knowledge, you can take the money and put the plan in place

Streetcred · Feb 17, 2019

Lukas75 said:
Knowledge hands down. That having been said this is an expensive hobby and spending money can increase the ease with which we keep corals. I say this to a point. The more we rely on automation the more failure points we add into the system. Like I've said in other posts I'm setting up my acro dominant system and adopting the method of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). The less I rely on bells and whistles and build in more redundancy the less there is to go wrong. And I just contradicted myself, because redundancy costs money!

I cannot agree, having been on both sides of the divide. Automation EXCLUDES failure points. If you are budget constrained, you must allocate a lot more time to your marine husbandry. I have a very successful 15 year old 500 gal tank and automation has been a God send ... automation costs money.

Streetcred · Feb 17, 2019

FishyDP said:
This is an old thread, but interesting. I would say a person with money and limited knowledge has a much higher chance of failure vs. the person with a limited budget and knowledge. Give an experienced reef keeper a 75g glass box and a $500 budget. I am willing to bet after a year their tank will be doing better than someone who doesn't do their research, and has a $3000 budget.

There is basic knowledge that every 'marine enthusiast' must have but that threshold of knowledge is not as great as what you may think. We did ok in the 90s but access to better and more pricey equipment that we didn't have has made things significantly easier. And, don't believe everything you read on the interweb ... GIGO ... Somebody that 'researches' garbage information will fail just as easily as someone that does no 'research'. By 'research', I don't mean asking your friends. Read the old masters like Calfo, Borneman, Delbeek, Fenner, Sprung ( :-O JS's not that old), et al.