Poll - What is your monthly reefing budget/cost?

[pugcrush]

This should be fun. Looking for honest answers. No wives/spouses are looking.

After going to a few of the big shows like RAP/MACNA, it makes me wonder what is everybody's monthly cost/budget for the hobby? Do people even budget? Hobbyists drop so much cash at these shows, you'd think they're buying a Honus Wagner baseball card (if you didn't know that one, I know I made you google it). OK, that is a bit of an exaggeration. I know some folks like to do the weekly LFS scout too. It's impossible to leave empty handed if you step into your favorite store(s). It all adds up.

So how much do you spend on average a month? What do you allow for livestock? How about hardware?

 

[Straight_Chaos]

In my life my reef tank is almost on "back burner". I have been junky to buying frags and gadgets thats gets out of hand fast. Self control! I sold my MP10 and MP40 for a small chache of Rw pumps. If it gets the job done i dont need a name tag.(loved my mp40 tho)
I prefer the hands off approach.
I like to look at my tank and show it off.
NOT elbow deep, soaking wet, adding things, testing new products and theories on my established system, etc.

what ever i need to achieve that is that I will strive for. The less things to fail the better. The less "Over the counter" remedies and additives the better. The more Organic approach. Less is More

I just recently had my first "crash" in 5 years of reefing. a 2 part over dose due to me not setting all 12 channels on ONE timer!!! I had manually dosed for years. first week I add timer and doser it nearly drained a brand new gallon of Bionic. lost most/all SPS. I have a mixed reef but lost close to 30 corals. Before this never lost more than a few frags.


I clean glass and feed every few days. skimmers gets a couple days between cleans. 7-10 day water changes depending on schedule. IO RC. add kalk to and fill ato weekly. test and dose accordingly. I feed pellets and flake. sometime fresh/ freeze dried.

Id say less than $50 monthly but when i do splurge every few months it equates to around $50-75 monthly.

and about 30-60 minutes a week is all i give my tank....

I dont have a limit on my "coral show splurge" but the line i create for what something is worth to me to look at is a hard line.
Dont get me wrong I do own a few Sunburst anemones. But i stay out of the loop on the latest and greatest priced zoas that are a freckle different that the ones i own.

I Love Reefing, I love my coral, nems, and fish, but I also love SCUBA Diving, Spearfishing, Hunting, Motorcycles, gardening, and reptiles. 55 toys but time isnt one!!!


I will post a picture this afternoon of my tank, some of my livestock and all rock are 3-5 years old. my Reefing progression. 55 a few months then upgrade to 180.had the 180 for a year kept the 55 and added 5x 20L. propagated and sold RbTAs in the prime, then 350gallons of tanks and most livestock all sold or into 1x 20L for about a year. then into this 40B. added a 45 frag a year later that i just took offline last week. I plan on keeping my 40 breeder till I build a house in the next 5 years.
then a 5x5x2 island!!!! LWH!!!

Long winded, Thanks, Ty

 

[chris.scang]

I work for an airline and have traded buddy passes for reef equipment. That helps to free up cash for other reef related things such as corals, salt, rodi filters, etc.

 

[BlueCoast]

It can be hard to add up all the costs, especially when I try so hard not to save receipts, err, evidence.

Things that factor in:
large hardware, $400 one month for a Radion, but over the course of a year or 2, that equals out to $15-$30 a month.
$25 bucks this month for 6lbs of Kalk, that should last awhile, but bumps the monthly cost.

Livestock is really hit or miss. I do a good enough job keeping things alive that I have become pretty selective on coral purchases. This has the downside of searching out more colorful/unique corals. At RAP I spent a whopping $40 on frags partly to support local vendors that were there. I don't mind watching a frag growout versus buying a colony.
Things like RO filters, Salt, 2 part all factor into it as well.

Ive finally built up a good collection of tools, for awhile, I was buying little stuff all over the place, turkey baster, toothbrushes, dental brushes, bottle brushes, fragging tools, frag plugs... These little $5 buys add up when you look in the fish junk drawer after a year.

Over the years I have transitioned to spending less on livestock and more on quality equipment now that the tank is full.

I used to love to DIY stuff, but after you figure out what you spent on misc stuff, and the overall reliability of a lot of DIY stuff and resale value, it made more sense to buy commercial stuff, even if that is just a Jeabo pump over a hacked koralia or maxijet. The experience I gained in DIY was great, I understand the finer points of what makes a skimmer skim good, neck size to air ratio's.

All said and done, probably around $100 a month, or about $1 per gallon / month, with a garage full of misc equipment, tools and acrylic scrap.

 

[sirrealism]

We are counting the cost of electricity to run our tanks right? Because for most of us that 50$ per month right there. Maybe not the tank itself but the extra AC cost because of the extra moisture from evap. The cost of salt, extra water from our RODI systems. I would have a hard time believing anyone spends less then 100$ per month if everything is added. Having multi systems I would think I am spending 200$ at least and thats not buying any new equipment.

 

[pugcrush]

Livestock is really hit or miss. I do a good enough job keeping things alive that I have become pretty selective on coral purchases. This has the downside of searching out more colorful/unique corals. At RAP I spent a whopping $40 on frags partly to support local vendors that were there. I don't mind watching a frag growout versus buying a colony.
Things like RO filters, Salt, 2 part all factor into it as well.

Ive finally built up a good collection of tools, for awhile, I was buying little stuff all over the place, turkey baster, toothbrushes, dental brushes, bottle brushes, fragging tools, frag plugs... These little $5 buys add up when you look in the fish junk drawer after a year.

Over the years I have transitioned to spending less on livestock and more on quality equipment now that the tank is full.

That pretty much describes my hobby habits right now. I have an easy time saying no if I try being very selective. At RAP, I purchased what I was looking for nice unique mushrooms & a plate (Got great bargains on what I got).

For hardware, I usually focus on 1 new QUALITY toy each year. I got an apex last year. Also upgraded my skimmer to Aquamaxx ConeS CO1 after looking at a lot of reviews. It's a bit overkill for my tank but its for plans for a long overdue upgrade. It still does a fine job on my tank.

 

[pugcrush]

We are counting the cost of electricity to run our tanks right? Because for most of us that 50$ per month right there. Maybe not the tank itself but the extra AC cost because of the extra moisture from evap. The cost of salt, extra water from our RODI systems. I would have a hard time believing anyone spends less then 100$ per month if everything is added. Having multi systems I would think I am spending 200$ at least and thats not buying any new equipment.

Ha, I was going to factor electricity but people rarely run halides anymore. Of course with larger systems & multiple tanks the costs go up significantly. I was probably going to say for ease of the equation to remove upfront costs from the equation. You factor that in and it can blow the avg monthly costs out of the water depending on what you bought from the start.

 

[IrishTang]

We are counting the cost of electricity to run our tanks right? Because for most of us that 50$ per month right there. Maybe not the tank itself but the extra AC cost because of the extra moisture from evap. The cost of salt, extra water from our RODI systems. I would have a hard time believing anyone spends less then 100$ per month if everything is added. Having multi systems I would think I am spending 200$ at least and thats not buying any new equipment.

That is what I also factored into my cost, so I said around $150. I also maintain a 200 gallon at work but the boss pays for most of that!

 

[TheAquatect]

I just make sure there is enough left over for bills and the family to eat.

 

[IrishTang]

We are counting the cost of electricity to run our tanks right? Because for most of us that 50$ per month right there. Maybe not the tank itself but the extra AC cost because of the extra moisture from evap. The cost of salt, extra water from our RODI systems. I would have a hard time believing anyone spends less then 100$ per month if everything is added. Having multi systems I would think I am spending 200$ at least and thats not buying any new equipment.

That is what I also factored into my cost, so I said around $150. I also maintain a 200 gallon at work but the boss pays for most of that!

 

[Safir]

I had a kill-a-watt on my system over the weekend, my cost for electric should be ~ $16/month for a 125 w/LEDs

Ha, I was going to factor electricity but people rarely run halides anymore. Of course with larger systems & multiple tanks the costs go up significantly. I was probably going to say for ease of the equation to remove upfront costs from the equation. You factor that in and it can blow the avg monthly costs out of the water depending on what you bought from the start.

 

[Straight_Chaos]

I say $50 a month not counting electricity or the cost of water thought that was understood.

 

[CrazyEyes]

I used the electricity calculator on the home page and the tank is going to cost between $5.00 and $5.50 in electricity, Im good with that. Then around $25-$30 a month in water (no ro/di). So around $35 a month for electric and water, then whatever else.

 

[jokeefe727@aol.com]

To much.

To much.

About $250.00 electric, food, new corals, salt, fish, supply's.

 

[St Pete John]

50 a month?! You guys are impressive.

Maybe its because I just started but mine is definitely over $100.

 

[risin]

About 200, but I rarely get a chance to spend anything these days. Work is busy and kids make it difficult to get out to the lfs. Lately it's been a trip to the lfs every other month for salt and I'll get a few frags. With the less frequent trips I am more willing to get higher end frags.



I would guess the electricity is about $40 a month. Tank is a 250DD.

 

[Mrs Postal]

My budget or my husband's????

 

[Postal]

My budget or my husband's????

I have a budget? :lol:

 

[maroonman]

My reefing calculator broke yrs ago.

 

[MJNTWise]

depends on my overtime....