Have you ever added up the cost of your tank and realized....

[lorenz0]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

I hate my job so much. All I want to do when I get a pay check is blow it on something stupid. My reef tank is that something. Worth every penny to take away my misery.

couldn't have said it any other way. Its my out and to be honest, i will just keep dumping cash into it... just not as much as it cost to set up lol.

[Mrfish55]

I find this hobby to be kind of like owning a boat, everything is twice the price! need a part for the car? no problem, need the same part for a boat? double the price! I heard a saying once, "when you buy a boat you are buying a hole in the ocean that you will spend the rest of your days trying to fill with money" would be funny if it wasn't true. I once sat down and calculated how much cash I would have if I didn't spend it on the tank, was a scary high amount, sad thing was the first thing I thought of if I still had all that money was what a kick a$$ tank I could build with all that money

[randallino]

My LFS has or had a running total of what I spent on my system....I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW. What I mean is what if the wife asked me how much I spent, then I would have to lie to her and thats just not right. (Because I am a bad liar ).
Ps. I love my bubble king...2 jobs to pay for it though .

[goby1]

I've kept my system pretty simple and have had some good luck so far (knock on wood) so I don't feel the maintenance costs to be too high. As long is it doesn't spring a leak I'm good with it. That's probably my biggest concern, 50 g of water and fish on the floor. I love my tank and there's always insurance but I think that cost and cleanup would make me wonder if it was worth it.

[cprowler]

I often think about this topic and have to agree with you Justin, it's a obscene amount of money for a fish tank.

I keep coming back to most if not all hobbies are expensive and most of the time they are as expensive as we make them. Unfortunately I have multiple hobbies, Boating, Diving, Photography....oh yeah Reefkeeping.

Back when I was getting into this if someone told me I would spent 10k for a fish tank I would have never done it.

Having said all that I keep planing my upgrade in my head.

[my2rotties]

The money is spent and we have to keep spending. I have been doing this for 16 months now and still find better things to upgrade to. Even on a bad day, I look at what I have and think of how great it is to participate in such a rewarding hobby.

It is horribly expensive and losing fish hurts badly, but you look at the survivors and feel blessed that they are there and that they really DO need you. When I see coral growth that is happening because I am doing things right, it makes me so happy.

I hate buying equipment since it does not have the same gratification of seeing something living... but after the money is spent and I see my living things thrive due to the ridiculous money I spent, I am feel at ease.

What kills me about this hobby is I really hate spending money... I always tell my friend I am done for spending for awhile, and then he says the LFS is getting Aussie corals the next day. I do try to fight it... but he knows I will be there in no time.

I am an addict but at least I have a wonder of nature in my home and will do whatever is needed to keep it healthy. I will be cranky when I buy a new pump again... but will get over it, I always do...

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by my2rotties

The money is spent and we have to keep spending. I have been doing this for 16 months now and still find better things to upgrade to. Even on a bad day, I look at what I have and think of how great it is to participate in such a rewarding hobby.

It is horribly expensive and losing fish hurts badly, but you look at the survivors and feel blessed that they are there and that they really DO need you. When I see coral growth that is happening because I am doing things right, it makes me so happy.

I hate buying equipment since it does not have the same gratification of seeing something living... but after the money is spent and I see my living things thrive due to the ridiculous money I spent, I am feel at ease.

What kills me about this hobby is I really hate spending money... I always tell my friend I am done for spending for awhile, and then he says the LFS is getting Aussie corals the next day. I do try to fight it... but he knows I will be there in no time.

I am an addict but at least I have a wonder of nature in my home and will do whatever is needed to keep it healthy. I will be cranky when I buy a new pump again... but will get over it, I always do...

Yeah your right...you really do have to keep spending to keep a tank going. Even if I just kept the tank going (water changes, electricity, ect.) it would cost me around $200 a month I think.

For me, its not that I don't like to spend money--I do. Thats actually the problem. I don't and never will spend all my "extra" (and I use that term loosely) money on the aquarium.

As cprowler said, it really is an obscene amount of money for a fish tank when you think of it. Having said that, a few years back I paid what I thought was an obscene amount of money for a brand new Audi TT and...I got over it. Don't have the car or debt from it anymore, so perhaps thats why