Was it worth it in the end
 

Due to deep financial difficulties in this economy, I am thinking of shutting my tank down. It is heart breaking to even consider this, but of all things that are non essential, my tank tops the list.

For those of you that shut your tanks down due to financial issues or whatever, was it worth it all in the end? The money was already spent on my tank, and it runs itself now after 13 months. I have no corals anymore (summer neglect and flat worms), and I only have my prized fish left. All I pay for now is salt and food, and it is not that much anymore. Everything is healthy and I adore my fish.

Because I have no more corals, I know I don't need to be running my halides so much anymore, so the T5s will do. I am trying to justify keeping my tank since it was a lot of hard work and I am very attached to my livestock. Did you save a lot of money when you shut the tank down? Did you regret shutting it down?

I don't want to regret this after all my husband and I have been through with setting the system up. What do you think, after all the building expenses are over with, is it that much more to keep the tank running at this point? Will I save THAT much money or will I kick myself in the a$$ and wish I never did it and have to start all over again some day?

Hey Diana if its going then leave it, its not hurting anything moeny always comes around when you are not expecting it. Its its jsut running on bare min funds then ya but to rip it down to just get stuff sorted out na its not worth it in the end. Time will be good to you trust your heart ok. Serious it will worth its self out in the end. you have to really want this to stay thou.

I vote with the feeling in my gut KEEP IT

go with NORMAL FLOURESANTS THEN its a FOWLR sell the MH

haven't shutdown a tank, but the on-going costs compared to the initial setup cost, that I wouldn't realistically be able to recover, would seem like I would just be throwing money away if to close up. Then imagine if decided to start up again later..., I couldn't see starting again after the first lesson.

Would think though if the make/break point is the cost of running a tank, I'd be wondering how I extended myself so much and be looking over a lot of lifestyle choices. Either way, the economy will turn around.

Oh ya sell all your fancy equipment too to get money back. go back to the old caveman days in reefing

Thanks Mike I appreciate your reply. This has been a gut wrenching week, and it is only Monday for me... I don't want to sell my tank and selling it would never recover what I paid. I just wondered if it would pan out in monthly savings in the long run.

I have wonderful fish and would ahte to sell them and then have them die afterwards. I have a gift for keeping fish, and would hate to give them a death sentance.

I would say Keep it running. For what life has delt me with the way economy whent. My tanks keep me buzy keeping my mind off things. Put this way the money spend on it is better then spending it drinking!:biggrin:

I have been hanging in there thinking this exact same thing. I never turned the halides on today, since I don't really need them. They look much prettier though...

you know your answers here Diana and frank you have already have it in your mind

Too late, I already hit the wine this evening... coping mechanism. I do love my fish and am glad they are so healthy and tame. They eat from my hands and swim behind me when I am at me desk... begging for food. They are my couple of dozen extra pets.

I was going to keep mine running as well until things got REALLY serious and it was my entire lifestyle and house I was downsizing.

If that's not your case keep it going. The startup costs are killer and the cost to let it run with vitals is minimal. Over the course of my last 3 tanks I've invested about $20,000 and made back MAYBE $6,000. Unless a person is forced into that...it hurts too much to do. It'd be bad enough if I'd been able to run and enjoy all 3 tanks!

Come close to tossing in the towel a few times. I think there comes a time when you'll know if it's time. Personally I would miss it. I know I spend *way* too much on my tanks, it would probably save me loads if I did sell all, but I'd miss it.

One thing to take into account also is how much you'll lose if you sell the equipment. Used to be you were lucky to get pennies on the dollar, think it's a little better nowadays but not sure.

It's a hard decision. I don't know what to suggest to help decide, other than you usually know when it's the right time. :neutral:

Sorry and good luck. :(

Thanks Brett for the advise. Frank is still looking into your tile...it just has been sort of insane since we last spoke in PMs. I will remind him again for tomorrow to look into it again. Nobody was around over the holidays and now since the holidays are over, all hell has broken loose for anything and everything.

I am glad I posted this thread. I was afraid to since I did not want to be judged over having serious financial issues... I guess it happens to the best of us no matter how hard we have worked to try to stay ahead or break even.:sad:

Thanks Tony... I do love my fish... they are my little pets and they swim into my hands and we interact so well together. I would hate to give them up, but I would alspo hate to lose them if I could not afford to maintain their tank, if you know what I mean.

Please don't worry about the tile. That was the old me.

The new me is just drywalling the stand and canopy and calling it a day. This new me also decided to go with koralias over the vortechs...i know! The new build is coming in WELL under the cost of just my last light (hey that's my username sweet). I feel good knowing I won't be so heavily invested this time.

And if it ever gets running...it'll be a small upgrade from the 68g I started off with. 68 -> 400 -> 225 -> 70. You can sorta see my magical gallonage for having livestock =)

And who's going to judge? Everyone has felt the economic strain I think. Good luck with whatever you choose. Even after loosing my shirt again...I feel great not having such a massive (physically and financially) symbol of my living outside my means in the middle of my livingroom.

It's hard but I think you need to find a way to keep it, you will find it way too hard to deal with without it in your life. Give it up on your own terms.

I know if I were to sell everything, I'd be done forever. That's one reason I keep plodding along .. if I'm not 100% certain I'm ready to call it "forever" then I might as well keep what I've spent money on for the time being.

This isn't forever though. The economy will recover and so will all of us =) You're thinking of taking a break not getting out for good right?

If you enjoy the build as much as I do and you make improvements with each one...you might be able to see this in a positive light.

Well Brett you say that now... have you started taping that drywall yet? We got our cards done and don;t need anything in return. I can get you the tile at wholesale and do not want anything out of it. Just for you to pay for it and pick it up if you change your mind.

I have had Koralia 700s for over a year, they are very reliable and to non tank people they don't even get brought up.

I went from a little tank that came with out house to the 260g... I had no clue it was so expensive, and if I did, I never would have done this hobby. Mind you, I think most people would be the same. I paid $500 for the tank and sump... did not think of all the plumbing, rocks... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... to infinity...

Tony, if you ever kick out of this hobby, I will soon follow. Often I hang in there because of you.

It would be for good, or so I think. I notice most people I have bought stuff from have shut down and restarted numerous times... we could afford the build last year, but I have no clue when we can afford this again in the future. I am very lucky with my fish, and doubt I would be so lucky with the fish I keep and their survival rates.

Guess I will keep things going, I just wanted to know if people regretted shutting down. I am gutting even thinking about it, but if it saved money which made a big difference, then it would be a slam dunk on what should be done..

Thanks for the advise!

I look at it this way. I left the big tank hobby for good I'd say. I think it's totally possible to not quit if you find what's sustainable. For me it's smaller tanks it seems.

Glad you're hangin in there ;)

I have had my fair share of shut downs and restarts and regretted each and every shut down. Each new start up was an evolution and kind of fun but ya, it is expensive, which is why my main 150g tank is probably it for me. Even if I had to move this tank is coming with me. I would miss it terribly but also would not want to invest the kind of money that I've already put into this tank to do it again. The "forever" part for me is I plan on being in this hobby forever, through thick and thin. I think I've gone through all the trials and tribulations.. tank shut downs, moves, crashes, algae, ich, fish deaths, corals, heater meltdowns, etc.. etc.. Those things used to bother me but eventually I learned that they were part of the experience. No one wants any of the bad stuff to happen but they are good learning experiences in the end. Another thing I've learned is that you make this hobby what you want of it. If you're happy just watching your fish that's great. You don't need to spend a zillion dollars on fancy schmancy equipment just to watch a couple of clown fish and a tang swim around (been there done that too! :lol: ).

Keep your tank unless it means the difference between putting food on the table or losing your house. Your fish only tank costs you next to nothing to run. You could just use your t5's for lighting. The only costs you've got is electricity and food. Maybe $50-70 bucks a month? Don't sell your tank cause you'll only get pennies on the dollar. Large tanks especially are hard to recover $$s spent. There's a guy in Richmond trying to sell a 270 8 ft acryclic with custom oak stand, lights and filters for only $1,100 and he's having a hard time selling it. Don't sell it. You'll only regret it later down the road.

Ya I'd keep it. I'm downsizing my other tanks, but keeping the 150g running bare min like you. It doesnt cost much at all to keep it running, like you said. Little food and salt. It's my Upgrading tendency's that cost the most LOL

If you get rid of it all, it will just cost that much more to get it all again when you come back. Keep the halides off, but don;t sell them. They will not wear out if they are off. Will save on power, and they will be ready when you get back into it. Like oyu said, it's bought and paid for now. Unless your downsizing homes, with no room, or are really financially in trouble that you need the few hundred dollars for food or whatnot, then it makes no sense to me to sell.

Yup, I agree with most of these comments about not selling at this point unless feeding/housing yourself becomes an issue.

You can sell off some of your extra equipment that you no longer need & use that towards upkeep costs.

In the past, it is usually when I no longer am able or have the interest in keeping my pets that I end up selling things off & sending my pets to a better home. This, however, does not sound like the case for you. You still get enjoyment out of your fishies, so hunker down, cut spending to a minimum, but maintain the tank. It may help keep your sanity.

Just my $.02.

Anthony

I am not going to lie, my situation is quite dire at the moment. I am still hanging in there. I never turned the halides on yesterday and left the T5s on. However my T5s are over a year old now and need to be replaced. The tank is not costing anything at the moment if you know what I mean, but it does need new T5s. I went through the entire system the other day and everything else is running properly. All my corals died over the summer (neglect and lack of funds, as well as flat worms). My fish all thrive and grow... and that is what matters the most to me in this hobby.

I guess if I started having issues with dying fish, I would pull the plug on this entire thing. That would be the last nail in the coffin so to speak.

I know I would NEVER recover a dime if I sold everything. I know my fish would be quite a score for someone, but I had already told Tony that I would GIVE him my Achilles of he wanted him. The fish are pets and I am not worried about recovering funds of any kind for them. I would sooner hand pick homes for the hard to keep fish and know they are happy and thriving some where else.

Thankfully it has not come to this just yet. My tank will be impossible to remove from the house on many levels... I don't want a disaster and tank shut down seem terrifying. I am very proud of my tank and the livestock, and am trying to hang in there. I just wanted to know if you all kicked yourself in the butt for ever selling out. I see it happen and then you guys start all over again.

I can honestly say I could never afford to do this again. This was my one and only shot. It started with a run down 44g and went to the 260g. I still wish I could have gone bigger sometimes...:wink:

Thanks everybody!!!

I can't imagine my house without my tanks I love my fish and the space the tanks sit in would be depressing to look at without them there. Even when I had the marine velvet outbreak I still wanted to keep my tanks, because I couldn't imagine life without them. Besides the little $$ we'd recoup from selling everything compaired to what we paid for it would so not be worth it.

If it means putting food on the table or buying a bucket of salt for the tank then yes (although horrible to think of) you should shut it down. However if there is anyway you can afford the salt and costs of power per month (which is about $70-100) then you should keep it. You love your fish and I think you would feel sad anytime you went into your office area and looked over and didn't see your beautiful tank sitting there.

Yes you are right... plus I like the sound of the tank, and when we have had blackout the house was way too silent without the sound of water running.

I guess I will have to buy cheap salt at Big Als for now...

What's wrong with IO?? LOL

I use IO all the time, but pay more else where since I don't like to shop at Big Als for numerous reasons... now I have to save the money regardless...

I should add that if I thought I could afford to run a big tank in the future I would have kept my high-end skimmer and light as they are simple enough to move. I know that no time in the near future if any can I see that happening so i fire-saled it all. The tank and stand had to go as my stresses at this time are huge,wanted to list and show my house asap and my new place has no space for something that large not can I move it myself.

I won't mind startup (again) with my small cube. I can take it wherever I go and won't have to give it all away.

If you can manage fish only I'd do it. But keep in mind a tank that size when you're under financial stress is not just a stress on the pocketbook. It has this... presence... in your life that could contribute other stresses. I know my relief was huge as I drained mine. You may possibly be more attached to yours since it has life in it...tho I had a long TIME into mine and still had no issues tearing it down. I think when priorities change you will thank yourself for lowering the priority or removing it...if all along maybe it was a little too high on your list and you always knew it.

This is just me tho =) I hope you get you situation under control.

For me, getting this tank out of the house would be impossible. We had to cut it apart at the seller's house and assemble it in our house. We tiles the bottom and back walls with travertine and then hubby cut a couple of hundred pounds of live rock on his tile saw and siliconed it to the back walls. Then we had our stone mason friend put real stone on the outside bottom of the tank... I don't think it all could come out of the house to be honest. Then it is plumbed to three additional tanks in the basement... there is miles of plumbing and whatever else you can think of. I have over 500 pounds of live rock in the entire system, so it keeps up with the bioload at this time, and I don't even ever have to touch anything... just clean the skimmer and change the carbon. When we first set it up I was doing tons of water changes since I stocked the tank quickly. Now the last fish was my Achilles and he was added in May of last year.

The tank is behind my desk and I like the sound it makes and I relax and watch my fish watch me. I have watched them grow and get accustomed to tank life in the past 14 months, and am pretty attached to it. If worse came to worse and I had to sell this house, the tank would have to go. I would have no choice. This house can fit this 7 foot wide tank no issues. I can;t see that working out in a smaller home.

Lets just hope things turn around before we have no choice but to put the house on the market... so far the ship is sinking, but the strainer I am bailing it out with, is keeping up. Lets hope I can keep up until thing come around. We do tile and now the houses are being built again. We just have to wait for them to be in the finishing stages so we can go in and do our work. We are the best at what we do, and this is the only reason why we have managed to stay afloat.

Just think "Scoop Scoop faster faster" :wink:

:lol::lol::lol: I'm running out of breath, can you scoop for me for awhile.

For what it's worth, I am just now going through getting back into the hobby. I very much regret my decison to get out in the first place. So much so, that I am essentially looking to get all of the same setup (with a few minor changes) that I used to have. You will miss it. Things are already turning around. Stay with it.

This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks...

Sure anything for a friend :biggrin: