Would you pay someone to...
 

...no, not that :wink:

Maintain your reef tank? I was talking to my dad last night about his tank and he really doesn't know much about it, equipment wise. I mean he knows he has his Vortechs, Bubble King, ect. but not how the thing is put together, ie. Plumbing. I haven't seen this tank yet (its an upgrade from a 210 to a 400) so I was asking him all kinds of details but he can't answer much :)

The reason is, he paid a company there in Singapore to build the tank on site, plumb it, get all the equipment and when he chooses livestock, they go get it too. He pays something like $500 a week to have the tank maintained. They come 5 days a week to care for everything. This cost includes twice monthly water changes (or if needed), QT if needed, glass cleaning, skimmer emptying, everything you can think of. Even equipment replacement if/when needed.

He literally just enjoys the tank and picks out livestock. He does have to go through them for livestock though as part of the deal because they do not want to deal with fish fighting.

Anyways...just thought it would be interesting to see how many of the hard core reefers here would do this if you could (had the money to spend $2000 a month on a tank)? For him, its all about enjoying the tank and the maintenance is not fun for him. They have a massive Koi pond that the same guy takes care of and I would hate to think of how much that costs :eek:

Just curious because a few years ago, I would have said no way. But after years of dealing with the maintenance and whatnot, I would gladly pay someone else to do it if I had the money.

This almost relates to some of the other threads going and my take on them, it's not so much the money, but the gouge factor.

Call me cheap but even if I had the money, I would have a hard time passing over $500/wk for a few hours work.

If I had the money I would definitely pay someone to maintain it. I love going to stores to pick out my livestock for the tank so that wouldn't be part of the deal, but having someone else come do water changes, clean the glass, empty the skimmer would be great. Hummm..... now that I think about, I guess I shouldn't talk because my boyfriend pretty much does all that not me.

No, the point for me is to not have a nice tank, but have MY nice tank that I created. And maintaining it allows me to get a feeling for how everything is flowing. For me, this is a hands wet hobby. If I had a billion dollars, I'd still manage my own tank.

Yeah this is pretty much what I though...

He does go to the store and choose corals when he feels like it. I just meant fish are suppose to go through the guy. The reason is, the guy QT's them at his store and then puts them in my dads tank. If my dad were to start introducing anything he wanted, then all the guys hard work could be wasted. For corals though he seems to just buy most himself although the service guy can get much nicer stuff direct from wholesalers, so he said there is really no point in him buying them for triple the price and they don't look nearly as good.

The tank was all aquascaped by my dad along with the guys help. They are more of a team I guess. He just doesn't want to spend time doing all the little things when he is home.

I guess it depends how much this kind of thing would be worth to you. To him, $500 a week is nothing to have a nice tank and I would agree...if I had his salary ;)

You may be surprised how money changes people (Im not saying you would for sure of course but..). Everyone says they would be the same but usually thats not quite the case. I know my dad used to be the most DIY guy I knew growing up but not so much anymore. It was a gradual thing as far as I saw. Kind of like the more you could afford things, the more you went ahead and bought things or paid for things you may not have in the past.

Oh sorry...is there already a thread? I missed that or I would not have started another one. I just wanted to see how many people would do this.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'd hire people to cook, clean, etc, just not the tank. That's mine. :)

LOL...ok yeah fair enough.

That'd be a bit like Brad hiring someone to ride his bike. :p

Hahaha...

So you didn't answer though. Would you hire someone to set up that 280 if you had the money to blow?

Hard to say. I think probably not though, it's something I can channel some creative energy into and make it mine. Which is probaby something we all can relate to, since we're here (ie., online) talking about our obsessions and not focusing our attentions on other things. :)

Well, if I could burn 1500 calories paying the guy, I might consider that too!!

I like having my touch in my tank, but for cleaning I would think about hiring someone to clean out the tank as well as the equipment if the price was right. For $ 500 a week I would be inclined to do it myself, as well at that price I would probably start setting up, picking out fish and cleaning tanks.

I wouldn't pay to have it done, but I have been paid to do it for people. So much per hour though as I'm not usually there on a regular basis. Please don't take this as advertising (mods)

Well I doubt you can make that much here cleaning tanks! I don't know though. In Singapore its $800 Sing Dollars a week, which I think is about $500 CAD or so. Thats just for this guy though and I bet there are cheaper maintenance guys there but my dad used this guy for his Koi Pond and then when he upgraded tanks, had him do it as well.

I should have also mentioned my dad travels at least a week a month around asia for work, so he not home on a regular schedule and my step mother is not going near the tank for maintenance :) I think that makes a big difference as well. They also travel every few months to dive and miss a week or so.

I don't know if I would..... I have never had close enough the money to be able to afford that. So, I am a DIY lifestyle. I do everything pretty much. I kringe when the wife calls the gas guy to service the furnace. "I can do that" I say. "But your out workin in the arctic" she says LOL But, If I WAS in the financial position to be able to afford "Tank People", then my Mindset would be totally different I think.

ANd on that note, Im off to town to get more supplies for a ATO so the Mrs doesnt have to fill the sump with buckets when I'm gone LOL

This is true. I told him to join the forum and he didn't like the idea or talking about his tank. Said he would rather sit in front of it with a glass of wine and enjoy the fish.

I guess it really does depend on how you look at the hobby or what you enjoy about it. I enjoy watching the tank and do the least amount of maintenance possible because I hate messing around with the tank. Its way nicer to me to sit and watch things.

Yes I think your mindset is very different when you can afford these things.

maintainence
 

Even if the money was given to me, I would still maintain and research myself. I wouldn't have learned much from this hobby if I didn't do all the maintenance and research (along with the help of friends, books and the net along the way too). Not only that, but I couldn't imagine looking into my tank, seeing something, and not knowing what it is (and that STILL happens here and there). I think maintenance is a part of the true passion for most saltwater enthusiasts and even though it can be a bit of a pain in the BUTT, here and there... It's worth the personal relationship you build with your tank and inhabitants along the way...
Even though they're 'just fish and corals' its amazing what a huge part of your life they can be. I don't know HOW many times that tank has had something in it make me laugh, gasp in awe, shake a fist in anger, and the odd time... almost cry. That's just a couple things that makes that bit of tedious maintenance is worth to me, but to each their own. This is completely MY opinion and nothing more.

P.S If anyone in Edmonton and Area would like their tank maintenance done for $500 a week please shoot me a pm. I'd be more than happy to look after that for you. lol

Yeah cause if you didn't set up the tank yourself, there is no way you would know the names of anything in it...

I disagree that the maintenance is the true passion. Well maybe it is for some but that does not make someone more of an enthusiast than someone who hates/doesn't want to do the maintenance. I can tell you the true passion for me is watching everything grow and interact. The maintenance is just something that I have to do. Not something I ever enjoy.

A friend of ours in Hong Kong pays a guy to look after their fish tank and koi pond for $650 cd month. They never touch their tank at all, just look at it and admire it. If the water was low or something, they phone him up and bam its $100 on the spot, just to top it up. Some people owns high end vehicle but not necessary wants to repair, maintain themselves or tinker with the mechanical part and willing to pay the high bucks to have it look after. Regards Ken

The Koi pond I really understand. They can be a lot of work! I guess in Singapore the weather never changes year round, so weather is not an issue but still. I was playing with one of the KOi when I was there last and my dad came in and was like "you like him?...that guy is worth about $10 000..."

I immediately stopped petting it and watched from a bit farther away :wink:

I personally would never want to care for such expensive fish (although they never bought it for that much). Actually I wouldn't want to even own such expensive fish. It would be stressful for me!

I don't quite understand why fish could be worth so much. I might be a jerk for saying this, but ... they're still fish? I.e., sooner or later they are going to die just like any other fish. :( Heck I just learned this lesson myself with my eel, most expensive fish I ever spent money on, and only got to keep him 4 months. :(

I guess it would depend on how well off I was. If I was dirty rich I'd probably have some crazy custom built 5000+ gallon reef tank. At that size I couldn't do all of the maintenance by myself so I would have to resort to hiring help.

If the size was more manageable, then I'd be inclined to think that I'd do my own maintenance, even if I could afford to hire help. I'd probably spend big bucks up front on a proper setup that will make maintenance as trouble-free/automated as possible.

I think most people that frequent boards like Canreef are more than casual aquarists, who enjoy the hobby through hands-on experience (sometimes painful).

But hey, we can try a little experiment. Pass me a few million and we can see if I'd change my behaviour. :)

If I had the money I think I would pay someone twice a month to come and make sure everything and I mean everything is just right. I don't mind the regular water changes, and testing, but it would be nice to have someone pick it over with a fine tooth comb. This way, if something was amiss, they could help me with solutions to the problem whatever that might be.

I wouldn't pay somebody. The wife looks too sexy packing pails around the house. JK.

I still wouldn't pay to have it done. To me playing around with the equipment and in the tanks is the best part of the hobby.

Their Koi Pond is just over 3000G, so it was one of those situations where I don't think they would be able to maintain it themselves. And actually it came with the house they bought, so they didn't have many choices other than to keep it. Its in the middle of their home in a courtyard.

I actually asked why he didn't go bigger than 400G since he doesn't take care of it and he didn't have any reason really. The guy who built the tank just recommended the 400G. I think I got it into his head though that he should have gone much bigger :D

I don't understand with Koi but its a color morph thing and species. I think its all about the size too. This Koi is worth more as it grows. They got it with the house they bought though, my dad would never have actually bought a fish that expensive. The previous owners were Chinese and said it was a good luck fish to them. My dad says he likes it cause it looks cool and lets you pet it.

Im not a huge fan of Koi, so they all kind of look the same to me. The expensive one kind of looks like a cow fish because if the pattern.

hands on/off approach to what you enjoy in life
 

how to appreciate what's in your possession is upto each individual. this is akin to the person who's been trained all his/her life to practise and perfect works of musicians such as mozart, beethovan,etc and yet will never touch any keyboard again once the person reaches a certain goal in life but will continue to enjoy vicariously what he/she was once trained to do so by symphony, concert attendances.

Oh Tony, not the eel?????:neutral:

I'm all for maintaining my own tank, half the fun of it is all the water chemistry, aquascaping, frag placement and of course, picking caulerpa (I so hate waterchanges though but would hate paying someone to do it even more, that would take away from my coral budget :wink:). I've discovered that I get bored when the tank is "full" or looking good as I don't want to mess with it, but then I end up doing it anyways. The other half of the fun is buying stuff :razz:

GSP, is it to bold of me ot ask what your parents do for a living??? And how can I make that kind of $$$ LOL a $10,000 Koi. Got with house or not. My little blue collar brain just can't fathom LOL

Now when this post went up there was no money amount....
If I had 1 million I would do my own maintanence as that is not a whole lot of money these days, mind you water changes would be as easy as turning a few gate valves and never lifting a bucket ever again. 1 million if invested properly could last you the rest of your life living normally.

But if I had 5 million then I would definately pay someone to maintain the tank or maybe not... as mentioned above it would be all automated, however because of the amount of money I had, the tank would be very big and tall like 15ft long by 8ft wide by 8ft tall so technically I would need divers to stalk the tank and pick up stuff if it fell. Now I know my dreams are large here but it all started on rc when I saw this lucky guys tank hope he doesn't mind...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=1

Yeah I like how you put this...

i would only get it done if i was gone for periods of time often, or maybe when i get old and im too weak or tired to do it

but as for now its mostly a factor of its my tank and i dont want anyone to do anything bad to it :P
and also when you do your own maintenance you notice things physically that you wouldn't notice about your tank by looking at it

To be honest, I would not even be able to tell you exactly what he does :redface: ...Managing Director, Global Equity Finance, Asia. If that means anything to you. I just know he works for a large bank and thats his title. I have never had much interest in what he does. Not in a bad way but its just not my thing. I am an artist and make my living in a much different way, LOL. He has worked his way up though to this job literally from the bottom and I know is proud to be where he is. Many of the people he works with came from money and have been just kind of given jobs their whole life whether they deserve them or not.

Really I just thought it was an interesting topic because I knew most people here would never want someone else messing with their tank regardless of whether they could afford it or not. I am still kind of like that and take great pride in my tank but man I hate maintenance. I really do prefer to just watch the tank and enjoy things.

Hey, go to YouTube and type in "LA Fishguys" you will find out how the aquarium maintenance business work. Very interesting !!!:biggrin:

i dont think id ever want someone messing with my tank even if it was free. i like doing all the little things and water changes etc. to me thats half of the fun and you can enjoy it so much more because you know all the hard work you put into it:)

We enjoying maintaining tanks so much that we do get paid to do it! That being said our own tanks do suffer a little because of it....

This question is really similar to many hobbies, like gardening, some people get landscapers to do their garden and some wouldn't dream of it!

If I had the money I think I would get someone in to do some maintenance on my tanks, but I enjoy aquascaping and coral pruning myself. Coral and fish selection would be my own choice, but I would not shy away from someone making knowledgeable suggestions to me! :)


-Diana