How can you make money from the reefing hobby?

Do you have a little reefing side hustle that helps you earn money to put back into your hobby?

  • Yes

    Votes: 142 20.6%
  • No

    Votes: 247 35.8%
  • Not yet but want to

    Votes: 290 42.1%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 10 1.5%

  • Total voters
    689

dtruitt

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 2, 2020
Messages
492
Reaction score
303
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I believe that Ive got the same issue. Im having trouble growing even the simplist of corals and it seems like the rock eventually absorbs it somehow. Ive never been able to lower my phosphates after a certain point. I just need to do a little more research...

Look into lanthanum chloride. Very, very careful administration of lanthanum chloride can help pull phosphate out of your rock. If you're stuck at 0.15, dose enough to bring it down to 0.1 and test again after 24 hours. If you're back to 0.15, dose to bring back down to 0.1, etc.

But do more research, don't just take my word for it.
 

thought

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 5, 2020
Messages
45
Reaction score
42
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am learning so much from this thread, greatly appreciate it being started and all these posts sharing experiences and insight
 

kichimark

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 14, 2015
Messages
675
Reaction score
4,065
Location
Canyon Country, Ca
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I would say no. I really at this point just aim to sell some extra corals only to fund new additions or do trades. I used to breed clowns and was fun but never made any profit and broke even with the buying of rearing tanks, raising the rotifer/phyto and other necessary things.

I am also an old school type and don't sell things expensive and have given lots of things away.

Now, with my reptile and tarantula collections/breeding projects....that is a different story and indigo's do not sell for cheap
GIF by Discovery Europe
 

JustJoan

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2020
Messages
51
Reaction score
43
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have seen and bought coral off Facebook Marketplace. It appears to be an excellent way to sell your frags. It was cheaper for me, and it was more profitable for the vendors.
 

mattdg

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 18, 2017
Messages
866
Reaction score
1,382
Location
New Hamburg NY
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
It would be a disservice to yourself, the coral you keep and your fellow hobbyists to not have some sort of a method to share and sell coral, if you are successfully growing it. People want to buy healthy, locally grown coral and new hobbyist need encouragement in the form of free, easy to grow frags.

I've had setups with frag racks in tank, but love the new basement aquaculture setup I currently have going. I can experiment on something other than my display tank and fine tune my coral growing skills, while selling coral to raise cash for the main display and a few family extras. I am just getting to the place where I can break even on a yearly basis. At this point, there is only so much left to purchase and I tend to be someone who doesn't jump at the newest, best thing, especially once my system is dialed in. I'll let other people work out the kinks first.

selling and trading coral is a blast, when it comes to the conversations you have with store owners and fellow hobbyists, not to mention getting to see other people's setups. In reefkeeping, what is good for the reefkeeper, is often just as good for the overall hobby.

The basement frag tank. All one system, plumbed together via central sump.

Rack and Rubble Frag System - Craft Aquatic.jpg
 
Last edited:

Exotic_Reefer0

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
487
Reaction score
255
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Every frag you sell is one less they have to take from the ocean :) although at this point I think our oceans are pretty crap and we're preserving the corals by having reef tanks
 

don_chuwish

Smells something fishy
View Badges
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
3,013
Reaction score
3,386
Location
A better place
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Where are you located ? I’m looking to get some frags and have had good luck on here from previous sellers.
Southern Oregon. I've looked into shipping before and it is crazy expensive, so it pretty much has to be an in person transaction.
 

amps

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 12, 2016
Messages
311
Reaction score
285
Location
Ontario
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've started making custom parts for peoples tanks using my CAD skills and a couple well tuned 3D printers. It can be crazy getting things to work sometimes and I often wish I had either bought more commercially oriented gear (CNC laser) or just never started. I still enjoy doing it though as it's a nice bridge between several of my hobbies.

My latest custom sock silencer for a friend:
 

Attachments

  • neptune_sock_silencer.jpg
    neptune_sock_silencer.jpg
    86.7 KB · Views: 26

Brian W

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
1,298
Reaction score
932
Location
Arlington
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I had a buddy who was selling corals on here, facebook, instagram and local fish forums out of his tank, he put together a website to easily share his coral for sale from his frag tank. All of his photos had his website name or a logo or something on the photos so no one would steal them, I do not remember. When he posted here to R2R he was told he could not sell as a business...even though he was not a business lol. Just adding that this is one way NOT to sell lol.
 

JimFuller

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 31, 2017
Messages
253
Reaction score
556
Location
Billings, MT USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I sell or trade a few frags with others to help promote the hobby. But with the COVID-19 restrictions in Montana, we have very few stores surviving and open in the Billings, MT area. Thus not able to trade with the LFS.
 

Techno10

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
20
Reaction score
20
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I use to trade to the LFS until they decided to stop buying from any one local. Now I have started to sell to the local reef club and will try to sell here on r2r.
 

Alex Cataldo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 25, 2020
Messages
311
Reaction score
143
Location
Verona, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have a lot of frags and most of them have good coloration. Currently they’re all LPS and are growing slow so i dont think it’s time to sell.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 66 37.5%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.2%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top