Is the hobby becoming too pricy? Discussion
- Thread starter macscale
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This hobby is as expensive as you let it become. I know from experience it can be done with an investment of a couple hundred dollars and a budget of 75 dollars a month. Granted your getting used equipment and you won't be keeping sps but it's possible. And for buying coral, just wait for a live sale...150 bucks on a live sale can buy ya 10 frags including shipping.
hummer
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My electric bill on tank is 100 $ a month alone
then there's vitamins food and mag/ cal. trace elements. Ph buffers and r/o di filters and resin and the water bill .. DOH. LOL. may have missed some things tank is only five months old
tigerdragon
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I currently have 4 tanks running and my combined household electric bill is under 200. There are ways to control your costs and fig once the equip is bought other than maintenance the costs are really not that bad other than those who are always wanting to buy the most expensive coral pcs sure they are nice and i would love to have some but a person has to be realistic. Make a plan save up for that expensive stuff, trade with others, even sell some pieces locally or if your stuff is nice trade with lfs for store credit many lfs are willing to do this it helps with their costs and yours. Chillers can be expensive to run but if you really dont need to run one a fan blowing across the top of tank works great. People love their halides but the big trade off is temp increase in tank and power consumption increase but if you know this and expect it then you are willing to accept it. Do you have to have the latest and greatest and most expensive to have a very successful reef tank? I dont believe so but that decision is on you. Just my $.02 worth.
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So what would you say total monthly running cost would be. Thats just electricity, water, salt, wearable parts ie bulbs, filter media ect., nutrients ie food and trace suppliments?300 gal total
120gal MT
180 gal sump
2 radion pro .
100 blue line pump ..
2mp40 vortec pumps with battery back ups .
c99 bubble magnus skimmer.
Some kind of led on the refuge
This is my sump room
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
Geez there are a lot of nuts in this hobby! "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!" 
This is a funny topic cuz we all sound like we need to be accountants when all we want is a piece of the ocean in our living rooms. Lol. I started this hobby with a 20 gallon high tank that cost me $20. Then got a hang on the back filter for salt water which cost me $30. Then I got a protein skimmer rated for 75 gallons for $150. Then the normal live rock which costed me $100 and sand for $20. After that I bought fish and I was happy with that for a while until I wanted to go bigger. But for starters I was happy with maintaining what people was saying was hard to do. Naturally after u get your feet wet u decide to upgrade and get proficient and redundant to ur hobby. U then get more professional with it and there lies the money
jeffrey m
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I have 3 tanks set up all tied together in one system total of 300 gallons. My total cost buying setting up plus corals and fish is 1000 dollars. I dont have expensive corals but have a few I picked up for cheap that I see for higher prices. I run 2 250 halide fixtures and 1 175w fixture. With 2 54w t5s for the sump. Mu power bill only went up 60 dollars a month. But I bought most of my stuff from people moving and selling their tanks and equipment for cheap or free.
143MPCo
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I'm @610-gallons (roughly) total water volume in my house, thats a little shy of $40K:Cry: in tanks, sumps, lights, plumbing, etc., etc., etc... and worse yet, I have all the receipts to prove it... that's an expense spread over about 8yrs so is that a bad or a good thing:noidea:... I love this hobby but, that math makes me think I'm a little loco:crazy:.
As far as a hobby it can be one of the less expensive if you watch what you pay for things. You can spend thousands on radions or a little over $100 for t5. You can buy mp series powerheads and drop a ton of coin or buy jebao for under $100. The same thing goes for corals. You can buy reef raft at $500 per half inch or buy $80 colonies on divers den. This hobby will be as expensive as you make it. My suggestion for the people who don't have an unlimited disposable income is to shop around for bargains. Lots of times you can find low priced corals that will compare to any so called "high end" for a great price.
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