Things that reefers can do to help save themselves money
 

I thought I would start a thread that would allow members to share their wealth of knowledge with others in ways that they can help save a few bucks.
An example would be instead of buying seaweed sheets at the fishstore, buy unsalted unseasoned sushi wrap - it is often the very same thing and about a quarter of the cost
what things do you guys and gals do to cut the corners in this hobby?
are there home based subsitutes for additives that you use?
I am sure a few people have ideas that would be useful for other members

Silversides are way cheaper at the Asian markets:biggrin:

Staying away from lfs on payday!

Mattyjoly85 - very true - but people need to satisfy their reef cravings or they get grumpy.
Saving a few bucks here and there means that you get to buy more corals and fish.

Make friends with a plumber,electrician,electronics tech,etc.

saving money
 

buy bulk-i buy brine shrimp by the lb at $56 instead of a jar at the lfs at $35 for 4 oz.i make all my own foods.buy rowaphos at a 5kg pail.mix Epsom salt with nagari instead of magnesium,do a lot of diy projects

monocus - can you explain the process of epsom salts and nagari?

Cheap mounting rails for LED fixtures
 

I used this from Home Depot to make up my mounting railings for my Radion LEDs.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/wire...l-ivory/911637
Here's the thread describing how I installed them. All you need is a hacksaw and a file to smooth the edges, and a drill to make a few holes.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...t=81535&page=2
I recently did another installation with my new Gen2 Radions, using the same cheap HD part.

DIY Overflow
 

From a past thread...

Make your own Phytoplankton... It really isn't that difficult. Over the past week or so I have produced a couple of litres and my tank absolutely loves it. Every creature in there seems to be happy wit no exceptions.

It costs you pennies...

http://www.indiegogo.com/Stolleryaquarium

diy
 

nagari is used for making a more tender tofu and is made from seawater(dehydrated and salt crystals skimmed and then dehydrated again for all the minerals) mix 7 parts nagrai to one part epsom salts.i also grow phytoplankton and rotifers to feed my inhabitants

1) Buy in bulk! Group buys are great for this.
2) Read and understand your utility bills - if you have peak hour billing be aware and consider adjusting your usage to save some cash.
3) Invest in a kill-a-watt meter and regularly check your system and consider upgrading or replacing your equipment.
4) Regular maintenance - do it. Prevention is cheaper then disaster clean up. I'd rather spend $0.10 on a rubber gasket then $10,000 on repairing my house.
5) Do your research on equipment and livestock purchases; check reviews and prices to make sure you're not being ripped off. In short understand the value of what you're looking to buy before you open your wallet.


I completely endorse monocus' comment on DIY as well. Its a huge cash saver especially when some of the largest cash savings come from a very small amount of work.

instead of buying an underwater camera get a plastic super see threw cup or glass and just use that with a regular camera. or smart phone.

DIY LED lighting has saved me already.

Switching back to Instant Ocean salt has saved me a lot with no ill effects.

Investing in a RO unit for water rather than buying bottled water. Don't use tap water as you will be in a constant battle with algae.

Not overstocking your tank forcing yourself to do more/larger water changes. This can be a challenge.

Going with a softie tank with no clams or SPS. Your tank demands are considerably less.

Buying supplements in bulk.

But Arm&Hammer baking soda for dKh supplement. Buy your supplements dry whenever possible, it ends up being much cheaper and is easier to dose then you think.

Buy dry rock instead of live rock.

DIY LEDs saved me big cash, buy good used equipment if your able to find it & my biggest saving is the good old barter system, good all my glass for my 8'- 300 gal tank for a fraction of the price it would have cost to have a builder supply & build my tank. So I guess for me it's the DIY method that really saves me $$$ in the end.

If you quit the hobby stay quit.

Buy used equipment from quitters lol

Don't cheap out in the hobby; will end up paying more. That's what I have learnt till now.

Don't let friends get you startd in the hobby:mrgreen:

Other than that go used where you can may not be the best but it will keep you going till you can get what you want

don't try every LED fixture:cry:

You still havnt tried the vertex or Orphics but I am almost as guilty as u on this. Vertex ecotech and now Mitras.

The money you guys have spent on LED's...ouch
I recommend to people to figure out what they want at the beginning and go from there...buying junk and figuring out that it is junk or not good enough for your future plans is just flushing money down the drain.
I think most of us of all bought some piece of equipment that we soon realize is not adequate and should have taken the advice from others.
buying second hand is probably the best way to save money for sure..especially when you can get stuff from a tank shut down.

Cut back on massage girls and casino. If I cut those in half, would save at least 2 k a month. Lol

Take the thought of trying an expensive supplememt regimen like zeovit out of your mind.

there's a trick I used while saving up for tuition to keep myself from wanting to go out and do stuff (and spend money)... I go and get a new/used xBox game.

Admittedly, I've done this to keep myself from wanting to go back to the LFS after a few binge trips.

This only works if there are good games worth getting.....I miss blockbuster


Sent from my porcelain aquarium

Fortunately for me I saved a crap load going with Martin, only actually but out $700 cash & was able to work off the rest with light hangers & such. Even if I paid full price of $2200 it would still have been half the cost of any manufactured fixtures & I never have to replace bulbs again.

Eat KD

Sell the kids and other furry pets.

P.S. A couple of dogs, a cat and bird and a child all potty trained... will trade for fish and equipment.

Don't buy anymore tanks! I filled my fluval edge with coral and now I bought a second one!...gonna be a seahorse tank!

I'll try not to list anything already mentioned.

1. Reuse dead coral skeletons in a calcium reactor.
2. Sell frags.
3. Buy frags rather than colonies.
4. Feed fish free dead clams and mussels from a local sea food store. (they throw out the dead ones daily if I don't ask for them)
5. Hire a knowledgeable person to look after your tank when you go on vacation. Paying them a few bucks is cheeper than coming home to a dead tank caused by an inexperienced cheaper/free person.
6. Use non pharmaceutical grade magnesium chloride ice melting salt.
7. Purchase your annually consumed products during boxing day sales (bulbs, test kits etc)
8. Use crushed coral substrate rather than ARM fine reactor media in a Calcium Reactor.
9. Do weekly water changes rather than weekly trace element supplementing.
10. Lugol's Solution Potassium Iodide can be purchased from a pharmacy for less than half of what the Kent product retails for.
11. Plumb your tank with lots of unions and flexible hot tub hose. That way if you need to change something later you don't have to destroy everything with a saw. I've filled 2-3 garbage cans with old ridged plumbing configurations that I couldn't use anymore.
12. Keep spare parts, backup pumps and empty salt buckets. The extra inventory is cheaper than a dead tank caused by equipment failure.
13. Purchase an all in one controller rather than many individual controllers and monitors. Set it up to alarm and send a text message if something goes wrong. Again, dead tanks are expensive.
14. Buy small juvenile fish and clams rather than more expensive, less adaptive large adults.
15. Keep it simple... I think that is a contradiction to everything I just said. Oops.

there are also activities one can do, not to save money but to bring in money to subsidize your own expenses. By no means, does this typically produce much profit beyond a transaction basis, because a true business would have to consider all start up costs in its operations... thus one can only call it true profit if revenues have exceeded both 1) costs of goods & services of that transaction, plus 2) recovered all start up costs. Technically, it's called margin, where there is excess above cost of goods sold, but not yet considering overhead.

so some things one can do to 'subsidize' one's expenses in the hobby

1) buy a big piece of coral, frag, and trade/sell off surplus
2) grow and frag your own colonies for trade, store credit, or online sales
3) breed fish / seahorses
4) buy used or shut-down deals for further trading / selling
5) go get a business license and buy wholesale for trading / selling
6) write articles and sell first publication rights
7) leverage trade skills, for example, build aquarium cabinets and sell on consignment with a LFS, or make a service fee schedule for building DIY units... such as LEDs, for others
8) aquarium servicing. Weekly fish tank maintenance at offices and homes
9) culture Berghia

PS- be careful. the fastest way to take enjoyment out of a hobby is to turn it into 'work'

Salt and dosing savings
 

I have 2 display tanks, one on the main floor, and one downstairs on the other side of the wall from my sump room. When changing water (every 2 weeks) I reuse the upstairs water to replace the water in my downstairs tank. I also have a QT that also uses the upstairs tank water when I change it (about once every 2 months or more depending on usage).

My upstairs display tank has SPS and other more demanding corals. So it gets the new fresh SW with a change. For that tank, I also dose Ca and KH, MB7, trace elements, as well run a bio pellet reactor, carbon and GFO. When I change water, my N03 and P04 are at or near zero in that tank, so that water is still very suitable to reuse in my downstairs tanks.

But in my downstairs tank, I don't dose anything. I have mostly softies and less demanding LPS in it, and they seem to be just fine.

With my plumbing, and how my tanks and sump are situated, water changes are very easy to do. And I only have to use 1/2 the salt and other chemicals that otherwise would be necessary for all my tanks.