Reefkeeper1 brings up a great point. This is an expensive hobby and you have to not only be commited to the maintenance of the hobby but also the cost of that maintenance! This is the most expensive aspect of the aquarium industry. The livestock, equipment, energy to run the equipment and dont forget your time. Some have argued that if the cost of the equipment goes down then the hobby would grow and the efficency of the equipment goes up then more would be attracted. I agree, but as many of you know the more efficient the product generally the more it costs (initially)! I am a huge fan of the Solaris LED systems. I have been able to convert several people into believers just by showing them the overall efficiency and the long term savings when presented with a choice of either MH system or the LED. Using the calculating system here on RC you can see that at the end of one year the Solaris will end up saving you a couple hundred dollars! Take into consideration that includes buying a chiller for the MH, changing the bulbs 2x a year and the cost of running the chiller 6 times a day for 6 months. The LED does not have a chiller factored.
The lighting is just one aspect to saving money .... in the long run. Maybe one day there will be some way of reclaiming spent water, more efficient pumps, etc.
One thing that really annoys me is the cost of skimmers. Sorry I cant see spending $2000 for a skimmer. Call me cheap but how does $50 worth of plastic and a $20 pump translate into a $2000 dollar skimmer? Sure the design and development of the thing, but being a retailer I see every type of hobbiest come through the door. The one that wants the latest gimick or fad. Or the customer that looks through the hype and simply wants something that works well. Case in point ..... we starting carrying the Eshoppes skimmers about three months ago. Ask any of the salesmen that come through our door, I am the biggest skeptic and doubter of products. We got a skimmer to "play with" and I tore it apart to see how it was put together and then put it on a system. Sure the thing looks like a four year old put it together but I'll tell you this....the thing works!! Side by side it out performed a EuroReef, Octopus, and of course an ESU Super Skimmer. Like any other product there was one or two things that I needed to adjust or add to to make it work a little better like adding another o ring to the adjustment knob. But otherwise the end result was an inexpensive skimmer that outshined a couple "higher end" skimmers.
I really dont know where I was going with this editorial but I guess it was giving an example of how you can save a couple bucks and still keep your tank going.
We all have to tighten the belt with the way the market is teeter tottering. But please remember that almost all of you started in this hobby by going to a LFS. You cant walk into Dr. Fosters and Smith or Marine Depot and pick their brains or be able to return products or bring in something to troubleshoot or hand pick livestock. LFS are here to provide service and product to the general public, lets just hope that more people realize that buying from "Box Stores" and online just add one more nail the the LFS coffin.
OK end of my tirade, time to feed the baby fish!
tyler