If money wasnt an issue. Would you hire an reef/aquarium maintenance service?

[jft]

NO . I only touch my tank,

 

[vlangel]

No, I was an reef/aquarium maintenance service tech. I would not have done that as a job if I did not enjoy it.

 

[snorklr]

this reminds me of the ATM tv show tanks that get overstocked and hire local firms to maintain them that fail miserably

 

[Arego]

Absolutely not. Reefing is a journey, not a destination.

 

[shakacuz]

i can deal with the aspect of doing water testing/feeding. but i loath having to clean equipment.

 

[Waynerock]

Heck no half the fun is the maintenance. Has been for 20 years and will always be. I could never imagine relying on someone else to take care of my tank. Just like shooting…it’s almost as fun stripping and cleaning your weapons after shooting them all day. Some people just want something pretty to look at I guess. Got to have the connection with your tank to be successful. I give a pass to people suffering with handicapped issues or they just can’t physically do it, but if you are lazy and are just throwing money at other people so you can claim you are a reefer I don’t like. No room for posers.

 

[jfoahs04]

I've done it while I'm away, even though my tank is pretty much automated for my time away. It's nice piece of mind to have someone come in, clean the glass, check on equipment, and do a little testing.

 

[Dave-T]

Well I'm fortunate enough to have accumulated enough money to do pretty much whatever I want, so I guess I fall into the "money is not an issue" camp. And I decided after about a half century hiatus from aquarium keeping, to get back into the hobby. Although I am very "sciency", and would love to go through the process of having my tank be totally DIY, I need to get it right the first time. You see, I somehow got my wife to agree to keeping a 240 gallon reef tank next to our kitchen table. So the pressure is on. After some research, I found a LFS to help me through the process. They will do the initial install, plumbing, etc, and gradually wean me to the point where I can maintain the tank myself. One day I hope to be totally self-sufficient wrt aquarium keeping, but I appreciate being able to afford having an expert help me along the way.

 

[Oredigger77]

I voted weekly but that's not quite right if money were no object I'd have a full time marine biologist on staff.

I'd like to do a small home aquarium with 7 display tanks totalling a hundred and sixty thousand gallons. It would be a full time job feeding and maintaining the systems and as much as I find it fun to look and do the maintenance I have other hobbies too. So I'd keep my aquarium habit at a couple of hours per week and pay someone to do the other 40 hours of work while I was doing other hobbies.