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Setting up a marine tank has not been easy and cheap. I thought I would spend no more than $1,000 for this hobby. In less than a year, I have spend nearly $10,000 and it is not even halfway through my reefing journey. From setting up a small tank of two feet, I did the usual after it cycled. I added the clownfishes (premium ones even though it is not advisable as a starting fish) and also some soft corals. I soon realised that colors are quite lovely for tanks and even if I am buying soft corals, I should not be buying those brown ones just because they are cheap. Of course, taking into consideration that I have learnt how to care for corals. That will be more important. Zoas are pretty and nice ones are expensive. Always want to have a small zoa garden and I hope I can make it. What are the favourite zoas out there? My first big mistake was adding small blue tang to a 2 feet. I wasn't advised against it in the shop too. He was all okay till he got stressed one day, most likely due to other fishes in the tank sharing space with him. It was a nightmare as I lost all my fishes to ICK. I was in pain for a month or so. This was when my tank was empty without fishes. This is also when I started playing with LPS Corals since I had no more fishes. I had to wait for about 10-12 weeks for the ICK parasite to die in my tank. Eventually, they did die and I could start again. However, while waiting, I was filled with interest to play LPS Corals. Well, I didn't had a chiller first. I bought some fans to cool the tank. Still, it was about 28 deg and I can see that some LPS Corals could not tolerate it. I wanted them to be happy and so I bought the chiller. Everything else was much better even though I do not do any dosing for the BIG 3. I had a small skimmer QQ1 which might not be the best nano skimmer but I used it anyway. Tank matured and everyone was happy. This time, in the restart, I stopped adding fishes for fun. I become more careful. I only added 2 clownfishes and that's it. I was more keen on corals. Right now, I have plunged into a new big tank project. It is a big player game and I was keen to stock up and grow fast. Then I paused for a while to focus on making money and spending time with my family. We shouldn't ignore all these things to be spending time in reefing and auctions all the time. I might lose out, but I am happy. So keep going reefers. Enjoy the hobby. Do what matters to you most.

If anyone else has opinions/suggestions please do let me know [emoji4] any help is much appreciated [emoji120] Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Hi, looking to buy large queen angel if anyone is selling

Actually most reefers including me, want to save money in the beginning by buying inferior stuff, in the end upgrade waste more money. This hobby is better to plan ahead on in terms of livestock and equipment, know ur budget and know what you want, the only way is to be more patient and not rush into buying something, do more research. I would say this hobby is generally expensive, the equipment that makes life easier for u is not cheap. just take chiller for example, u wan save money for chiller, go buy fan, u initially tink u definitely can do the manual topup cos fan the evaporation can be crazy. But end of day with work and family commitment is not sustainable. Not expert here, just sharing my 2 cents, hope it helps. happy reefing! Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app