How do you manage......?

[MoonInTn]

I'll go right to the question....how do you manage to stay in the hobby with the economy the way it is these days? I know we all use our tanks as a getaway, and I hate to be a rain storm on a sunny day, but I had to ask the question. And of course try to find the rainbow in all this.

We had two tanks, a 90 gallon reef setup, which we loved the calming effect and beauty of it. And we also had a 75 gallon that was basically a fish only setup with only a few sparsly scattered corals, (mushrooms mostly), that we pulled out of the 90 gallon, and we loved our dwarf zebra lionfish in that one. But of course we ended up having to sell both tanks because our parents took priority and we didn't have time to do the tavelling involved with them, and, to keep up the tanks. Our biggest thing back then was maintenance and upkeep on the tanks. And I know this may be unbelievable, but we actually didn't mind doing water changes. Every week, on both tanks, just like clockwork...almost therapuetic in keeping our tanks and fish happy. But if I remember right, the salt mix was our biggest expense, which wasn't cheap, and I had been wondering how does everyone manage to survive with all the maintenance nowadays, with the economy the way it is and most folks having to cut back. Are there any short-cuts? And as most of y'all know, two tanks, water changes every week,....the salt doesn't last long!

I had gotten ALOT of help from here when we first started, and I knew I could get real, honest answers if I asked. The biggest reason for asking is, lately we're starting to get bitten by the bug again and was looking at getting back in the hobby. Only this time, do it right from the ground up! But we can't decide on what kind of tank to go with. Either reef or fish only. We loved both of our first ones, but thought we might go with only one this time, and thinking of something between a 120 gal to 180 gallon tank.
And if we can find the right deal, "possibly" go a little bigger. But that's a whole different thread. lol

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing what y'all have to say. And by the way, it DOES feel good to feel like I'm already back in the hobby,....even if it is just posting in the forum. LOL

 

[reefergeorge]

I do feel your pain on the salt prices. I used to do 10% a week on my tanks, but cut back to 20% a month. I haven't noticed any difference in the parameters, fish, or corals. I also try to be happy with what I have, and put off upgrades, or unnecessary purchases.

 

[MoonInTn]

LOLOL Love the pic on your profile reefergeorge. That's a good one!! Yeah, we did probably a little over 10% on our tanks every week, just for peace of mind that our water and inhabitants were happy. We never waited for the ammonia, or anything else for that matter to start climbing. If we had checked it every time, we might could have held off on the water changes, and I'm sure our reef tank wouldn't have minded, but the fish only tank might have suffered a little. Thanks for the reply, and the hands on experience.

 

[stubby 58]

I have two tanks a 58 and 55 . I do a 10gal change twice a mo on each or I guess it's not really a mo change one one wk the other the next wk . I use Coralife salt buy 5gal bucket at Petsmart for right at $50.00 enough for 150 gallons . My wife calls them the money pits .

stubby

 

[MoonInTn]

Thanks for the reply stubby. I used Instant Ocean's Reef Crystals when we had our tanks, and had really good results with it. And we'd buy the 5 gallon buckets too. I had thought of getting it online, (if we got back into it), when I could find it on sale or with no shipping charges. And we all know those buckets come in handy at times!

 

[j4mypets]

We do a 20% change once monthly and buy a box of instant ocean for 200 gallons for 39.99. We have a 180 gallon tank and I keep our salinity lower at about 1.020. I have been doing this for over a year. I haven't lost one fish and the salt lasts a couple months.

Our electric bill is where we feel a little bit of a hit!

 

[kingfisher62]

I started off with a 55g FOWLR then I bought a 14g biocube and turned that into a reef tank. Over the last couple of years the small tank has supplied a lot of corals to my 55g which is now a reef tank. So that saved a considerable amount of money.
I have also started buying 200 gallon box of reef crystals.
I split shipping with other reefers to save a little.

The most important way I have managed to stay in this hobby is Ebay. Over the years we all collect a lot of "stuff" which we conveniantly store in our attics, basements , closets and garages. I started cleaning house. Opened a ebay and paypal account and started to sell . It has helped quite a bit

 

[DC_40gallon]

We do a 20% change once monthly and buy a box of instant ocean for 200 gallons for 39.99. We have a 180 gallon tank and I keep our salinity lower at about 1.020. I have been doing this for over a year. I haven't lost one fish and the salt lasts a couple months.

Our electric bill is where we feel a little bit of a hit!

May I PLEASE find out where you are buying IO reef crystals for $39 a box for the 200 gallon size?? If you tell me and I can buy it online at that price I'll be your best friend haha

 

[Octoshark]

You aren't alone, check out this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1487572

 

[MoonInTn]

They have salt/reef crystals in a box now? lol What else has changed?? lol Anyway, on to the replies.....

J4mypets...... I hadn't thought about lowering the salinity to save a little. Hadn't even occured to me. Thanks for the idea....I'll have to give that some thought. And while I'm on the subject, and if others reads this, what do y'all keep your salinity at? We kept ours at 1.025. And yeah, the electric bill gets a pretty good hit off this hobby too. Anyone can imagine with all the pumps and powerheads that has to run 24 hours a day. Plus the lights, especially if doing a reef tank. Not 24 hours at full daylight, but still, it causes the electric bill to shock ya sometimes. Not just by the current either, but on paper!!! lol


kingfisher62....... That's kinda what we did. We started having a few too many mushrooms in our 90 gallon, and wanted to kinda spruce up the 75 fish only tank a little. So that's what we did. We took a few things from time to time and put over into the 75. Nothing major,.....just a spot of color here and there. But yes, it does save money in doing somethig like that. And yes, ebay can be a good source. I've been looking over the ads, but nothing in this area as far as tanks goes. And I guess I should get a tank FIRST, to see just what kind of equipment we're going to need. Of course this is still something we haven't decided on yet. Whether to go with reef or fish only. I could be wrong, but I'm thinking a fish only could be a little cheaper than a reef. But then, you might want to put a little color in there, and there you go with having to buy a stronger light for everything to thrive. It's a ying-yang hobby, and one ya can't get enough of! lol

And by the way, I'd like to know where you can buy a "box" of salt that cheap too! lol

Thanks everybody for the replies. I'm looking forward to alot more!!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I'm a believer that if you keep your nitrates and phosphates at 0, water changes aren't that critical, I replenish alk and cal (which is a minor expense to salt) on a daily basis, and to keep the nitrates and phosphates down I dose vodka and skim wet.

Now this isn't for everyone and I'm not advocating it. but I bought 3 buckets of reef crystals about a year ago and still have 1 1/2 buckets left for my 125 and 72 gallon tanks. I maybe do 15% water changes every 2 -3 months. The biggest expense for me (as already mentioned) is the electricity.

 

[MrsHaggis]

We feel the pain mostly in Electric Bills and Water Bills!!!
But, we knew what we were getting in for so we have to live with it now!!!

 

[jtrasap]

If you go fish only, you can save a whole lotta money on your power bill as you won't need high powered lights. You can skimp on water changes, as you won't have to worry about replacing the trace elements and such that corals use up for growth. I have two fowlr tanks running and they never get water changes. I top off with RO/DI, and that's it. They have both been up and running for nearly two years and I haven't lost a fish in them yet. They are both running a cheap walmart hang on the back filter. One tank is a 75 with a Snowflake eel, Niger Trigger, Orange Toadfish, and an Engineer Goby. The other tank is a 29g and has a Pair of Percula clowns, a Strawberry basslet, a Yellowtail Damsel, and a Yellow Watchman Goby. Both tanks are running standard cheapy strip lights.

My Reef tanks are another story. They require me to keep up with water changes, although I've cut back on them, and the big money goes into the lights. Replacement bulbs aren't cheap and neither is the electricity they use. Beyond that there is equipment that you need for a reef, that's not needed for a fish only tank. One up for a reef tank is that you can sell frags to offset some of the cost.

I use Instant Ocean salt in my fish only tanks and keep them at 1.022 and Reef Crystals in my reef tanks and keep them at 1.026.

I've been buying the 200 gallon boxes. They come divided into four separate bags and I just seal up the unused portions of the bags by rolling them up and putting a chip clip on them...

 

[MoonInTn]

Well, I did check out the thread that octoshark had mentioned, and I have to agree with everybody else that you can't keep track of the money spent on the hobby. I mean as far as equipment and livestock goes. If we did keep track of it, noone would be interested in getting in it. When we had our two tanks before, I sat down one day and tallied up what we had in both of them and couldn't believe it. It was a bit of a shock, (coming from having freshwater tanks for about 12 years). But we knew that going into it, and once we got started, we never looked back! So if you do keep track of money spent, it just isn't going to be that enjoyable. The main thing on our minds are the upkeep and maintenance on them nowadays.

Which leads me to the water and electric bills, water changes, etc. Obviously, the utility bills are going to be the biggest things that hits us in the pockets. Then I would assume the maintenance would be next in line. But all these little things that you folks have mentioned, can add up to making things a little easier on the pocket. And for the most part, none of them seems any worse for wear, for example lowering the salinity just by a little and everything may still do fine.

So I guess it comes down to what we already knew, and what jtrasap mentioned. What kind of tank to go with. The reef tank is much more beautiful and calming, but along with that comes the more high powered equipment. Which costs more to get to begin with, then will cost a little more to run and keep going, versus having a fish only tank.

Hmmmm....decisions, decisions. lol Anyone have any ideas???? I'm not talking about expense wise with this one. I'm talking about getting the most enjoyment and having a really cool, enjoyable tank with personality! Think about that one for a minute....."personality". And if a fish only, what kinds of livestock would it be? And if I don't get many responses from that, then I may have to go into the fish only forum and post it.

Thanks for the replies everybody,....and keep 'em coming!

 

[SDahmer]

I gave up Jack In The Crack and cigarettes... :hmm5:

 

[Adam76]

Its not reef crystals in a box but instant ocean, made by same company but different salt. Local ship store sells a box for 38, can't beat it

 

[theo4thorn]

I feel all your pain fellow reefers! I had lost a complete system about two years ago and ended up financially not being able to rebuild it. I am just three months into this new build and am almost at my budget the boss (aka My Wife) has agreed on. Its all seems to be a matter of keeping it simple and being patient. When u budget for your maintenance just remember every new fish,coral, etc that you add also incurs more costs. I am adding mostly fish that all eat the same food so i dont have to spend alot on ten different types. If there's a will or passion there is a way.

 

[Dlhirst]

TN, I am new to the hobby myself. Been afraid to figure out how it affected the electric bill. I did start much smaller, so I only use about 2 cups of salt a week. But, I did recognize early that I needed to buy SMALL frags, and practice some patience that I don't normally possess.
My tank is intended as a reef tank, though I do have a few small fish in it - to keep the kids amused. I think a FO tank would end up costing me more - the fish I REALLY like aren't cheap. And, you can't cut 'em in half and share!

 

[MoonInTn]

LOL....sdahmer Quitting smoking was already on my to do list. Or as we should probably call it...my "try" to do list. And I had already thought about that as well. The money spent on cigarettes could be used on other things,...like another expensive habit.... a saltwater tank! lol And yeah, it would give me a little incentative to quit.

adam..... $38.00 a box?!!! Dang, ya can't beat that! Everywhere I've looked online, it's running around $50.00 a box.

theo4thorn.... Yep, I'll have to agree with you about patience and keeping it simple. Kinda goes along with what dlhirst said about starting out with small frags. Also, what's the sense in getting something pretty well grown, and not being able to watch it grow, and know you've done everything right and seeing it thrive. Also, getting fish that will eat pretty much the same thing will help. When we had our tanks before, we had a nice mixture in them. And as far as the food went, we'd get the different types of food that each one would eat, then mix alot of it together, making a cocktail of sorts out of it and then freezing it. We'd then break off what we needed, let it thaw, then mix it up with a little tank water and take a baster and feed. (Used to LOVE watching the feeding frenzy that took place.)

Dlhirst.... Yeah, like I was saying above, starting small and having some patience may be the way to go. And I'm kinda in the same boat with ya. Some of the fish I like aren't cheap at all. But getting what I really want and being happy, is the initial start up cost. After that, it's just a matter of tank maintenence, and the cost of that. Although, I do have to say we loved our dwarf zebra lionfish, and it wasn't expensive at all compared to the other things we like.

All in all, I know it can be done as long as we plan ahead and know what kind of tank we're going to go with. Which, will determine the cost of maintaining it. I think we're leaning toward a fish only, but would like to have a few mushrooms for color but then we'd have to get a more powerful light to run. Although, I still havent' gotten the final ok from the other half on that one. lol Decisions,....decisions. lol

 

[jtrasap]

Actually, mushrooms don't need a whole lot of light. I've got some hairy mushrooms and GSP that I threw in my 75g fowlr just for the heck of it, and both have been multiplying and seem to have no problems with the lesser light.