does anyone else cringe when someone asks how much their setup costs?

[Dtackett]

lol yeah no doubt about that.

 

[ironeagle2006]

I have to wait 4 years before I get back into it however when I do get back into it I get the Entire Tax return for it about 9 Grand for my tank setup. Looking to go about 300 gallons then I can get a couple fish a month I will not be going into reef love my FOWLR systems to much.

 

[trio91]

to me, i see this hobby as a reflection of the cell phone industry ....in a sense where they are always launching something new which is bigger or better than what is currently out or than what we already own ....which in turns leads us as the consumer to buy more and more pieces of equipment or whatever ....which we may not need and probably (in reference to what we own) probably have not gotten 100% usage out of it.

i am the 1st to say i am guilty of this...always looking 1+ on something

the point of all this, is that (IMO) over the long haul its pretty hard to gauge what we as hobbyist have spent and what we are looking to spend overall in the near future

i think the future spending would be something for me to cringe about

 

[HiddenUser]

I don't even want to total everything up...Doesn't help that sometimes I get an idea in my head and then it doesn't quite work out as expected so then back to the drawing board, which ends up costing more $$$.

 

[twilliard]

What I like to say to my wife..
I would never do this if I kept track of my last 10 years of spending in this

 

[Brian Kim]

Happiness has no price, just consequences......

 

[Dtackett]

lol this has been a fun thread. yeah, im pretty sure most of us have spent more than we would like to admit and I agree its hard to guess due to upgrades, mistakes, changes, repairs and everything else. im not even interested in guessing on that one. but as far as my wife was concerned its cheaper than cars and im not on drugs.

 

[dbl]

Actually I do know exactly how much I've dumped in to "My Ocean", with the exception of regular maintenance items (I haven't tracked those expenses, but could venture a pretty accurate guess).

Is it more than I thought...yes. Do I care...no. Would I ever share that with someone that asks...likely not. However, if they are asking because they are considering getting in to the hobby (read addiction) it's easy enough to speak in generalities. It's only fair to let them know what they are contemplating.

Real life example...new neighbor started asking very specific questions. Well, my generalities scared him right in to a small fresh water tank!

 

[Dtackett]

Actually I do know exactly how much I've dumped in to "My Ocean", with the exception of regular maintenance items (I haven't tracked those expenses, but could venture a pretty accurate guess).

Is it more than I thought...yes. Do I care...no. Would I ever share that with someone that asks...likely not. However, if they are asking because they are considering getting in to the hobby (read addiction) it's easy enough to speak in generalities. It's only fair to let them know what they are contemplating.

Real life example...new neighbor started asking very specific questions. Well, my generalities scared him right in to a small fresh water tank!

I got a guy like that at work. says hes got 2 150s and a 180 sitting at his house and hed like to turn one into a reef. all are drilled, all have stands and sumps so I went through the math and told him what his cost would be with all the equipment and everything for a reef and he was speechless. then I explained that was a budget setup (told him around 1500) that if he wanted a higher end setup he could spend just that on lights. he said he was going to do another planted tank lol