Would you pay someone to...

GreenSpottedPuffer · #1 01-02-2009, 05:45 PM

...no, not that

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

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.

mark · #2 01-02-2009, 05:54 PM

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.

fishoholic · #3 01-02-2009, 05:58 PM

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.

Aquattro · #4 01-02-2009, 05:58 PM

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.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #5 01-02-2009, 06:09 PM

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

GreenSpottedPuffer · #6 01-02-2009, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquattro

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.

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.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 01-02-2009, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark

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.

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.