Reality check

[HellBliss]

Haiz. previously decided to setup a 100-120gallon reef tank. BUT after much research(im a noob) decided that it would be impossible to maintain with my current savings account... protein skimmers, lightings, wavemakers, pumps all these equipments need alot of money. i mean i rather get the good stuffs than get the budget stuffs and risk my LS dieing..

This hobby is really not for the faint hearted and the equipment prices scales alot with the tank size and after much considerations decided to downgrade my ambitions and start with a 50 gallon tank first. hope i can make it work in the end. been crazy over reefs after visiting some of my friends' and LFS tanks..

[Solo77]

hi, dont be dishearted. It depends on you and there are bros here who got simple setup but nice livestocks. The magic is patience with proper understanding on certain setup. Search for past posting to learn and move on. There are lots of helpful reefers around. All the best.

[Fuzzy]

Haiz. previously decided to setup a 100-120gallon reef tank. BUT after much research(im a noob) decided that it would be impossible to maintain with my current savings account... protein skimmers, lightings, wavemakers, pumps all these equipments need alot of money. i mean i rather get the good stuffs than get the budget stuffs and risk my LS dieing..

This hobby is really not for the faint hearted and the equipment prices scales alot with the tank size and after much considerations decided to downgrade my ambitions and start with a 50 gallon tank first. hope i can make it work in the end. been crazy over reefs after visiting some of my friends' and LFS tanks..

Start slow, you can get a lot of the equipment at great prices 2nd hand here on the forum. Maybe an alternative method would be to start buying the equipment you need first, then buying and setting up the tank last.

[johntanjm]

consider a setup based solely on algae screen filtration

you get to save on skimmer and FR

[[V]tEc]

consider a setup based solely on algae screen filtration

you get to save on skimmer and FR

i m running skimmer n screen together as i m overstocking my tank. dun think the screen alone can provide enuff oxygen n filter fast enuff

[markietan]

Start slow, you can get a lot of the equipment at great prices 2nd hand here on the forum. Maybe an alternative method would be to start buying the equipment you need first, then buying and setting up the tank last.

i can't agree more with this point... i'm also a poor student and almost all my equipments are 2nd hand / hand me downs and they are all still working great. many times you can even get free stuff on the buy/sell forum... i've personally gotten a tank, aragonite sand and life stock free. i've also given out a tank, chiller, mh fixture too... so 'troll' around more and you should be able to put together a decent setup for the right price. you can ask your friend's if they have anything they wanna let go too... they should have quite a few usable spare equipments in their store room.

also its a wise choice to start smaller... the cost associated in equipments and utility bills really scales exponentially with the amount of tank volume. more volume = more pumps/lights/chilling/water change/additives and better equipments. nano reefs is actually pretty cool! i have both a nano and a 3ft display and i personally like my nano better... maybe becase i'm more into small things like zoos and gobies.

welcome to the club, good luck in equipment hunting!

[RevellClownfish]

Haiz. previously decided to setup a 100-120gallon reef tank. BUT after much research(im a noob) decided that it would be impossible to maintain with my current savings account... protein skimmers, lightings, wavemakers, pumps all these equipments need alot of money. i mean i rather get the good stuffs than get the budget stuffs and risk my LS dieing..

This hobby is really not for the faint hearted and the equipment prices scales alot with the tank size and after much considerations decided to downgrade my ambitions and start with a 50 gallon tank first. hope i can make it work in the end. been crazy over reefs after visiting some of my friends' and LFS tanks..

How much is your budget?

[zorden]

Start slow, you can get a lot of the equipment at great prices 2nd hand here on the forum. Maybe an alternative method would be to start buying the equipment you need first, then buying and setting up the tank last.

that what i am doing. i have 3 wavemakers tunze, 7095 all from bazaar. all from this forum. start something affordable. read up more and know what is the needs and wants. then if possible. check out various members tank threads and bazaar.

do BECAREFUL of multinickers who will sell your of their inferior products.

btw.. invest in good equipments (from bazaar) read up, and get cheap corals (sps frags) from ppl here.

[Achilles Tang]

Want an opinion?

It's an expensive hobby. No denying it.

Dun go down the slippery slope unless you have deep pockets.

Either you end up killing your livestock or yourself for 'wasting' money.

These are extraordinary times and priorities have to be made. Save up your money for better things and use that to improve your studies/work/business opportunities. When you are richer and the world isn't dead yet... i am sure you can enter the hobby with passion and stability.

[zorden]

Want an opinion?

It's an expensive hobby. No denying it.

Dun go down the slippery slope unless you have deep pockets.

Either you end up killing your livestock or yourself for 'wasting' money.

These are extraordinary times and priorities have to be made. Save up your money for better things and use that to improve your studies/work/business opportunities. When you are richer and the world isn't dead yet... i am sure you can enter the hobby with passion and stability.

boss don scared him lah. there are ppl giving up hobbies @ the bazaar, selling the whole tankset at less than 2k which is fairly cheap. for their setup. do take a look when u free

[Achilles Tang]

not scaring him. just pointing out some facts. I have seen too many 'dropouts' who can't go all the way....

[onizukaa]

not scaring him. just pointing out some facts. I have seen too many 'dropouts' who can't go all the way....

actually i agree with boss, once you start, you can never stop (unless decomm or all livestock dead).

lets say even for fishes food, new life spec big bottle already cost $30. constant water changing and electricity bill.

(not really deep pocket), but if the TS wanna start reefing, its better to have a income / CFO to sponsor the TS into a marine setup.

Those little tiny thing (test kit / additives / live stock) cost.. though little, but as times goes by , it add up to quite a sum (i started a excel sheet calculating all the things i brought )

my 2 cents, all the best to you TS . consider wisely.

cheers.

[zorden]

actually i agree with boss, once you start, you can never stop (unless decomm or all livestock dead).

lets say even for fishes food, new life spec big bottle already cost $30. constant water changing and electricity bill.

(not really deep pocket), but if the TS wanna start reefing, its better to have a income / CFO to sponsor the TS into a marine setup.

Those little tiny thing (test kit / additives / live stock) cost.. though little, but as times goes by , it add up to quite a sum (i started a excel sheet calculating all the things i brought )

my 2 cents, all the best to you TS . consider wisely.

cheers.

yes the add up can be very high. why not do a fowl. cheaper. well expensive hobby but rewarding .

setup the basic RIGHT with a big picture of what is next and next.

[Fuzzy]

I just worked out how much I spent over the last 4 months prepping to get my first tank up, JBJ 28G.

Close to $2500.00...I have basically everything I need except livestock but I've only got a few small frags of LPS and mushrooms in it at the moment.

Could probably do it for way less than half if you were going FOWLR. But still, not for the faint of heart.

This is relatively harmless as far as "serious hobbies" go though, I have seen people who spend way WAY more on their hobbies than we Aquarists do.

Remote Controlled Toys are a killer, especially Helicopters, Modifying your Cars for Track driving is another.

[wilsontantw]

I just worked out how much I spent over the last 4 months prepping to get my first tank up, JBJ 28G.

Close to $2500.00...I have basically everything I need except livestock but I've only got a few small frags of LPS and mushrooms in it at the moment.

Could probably do it for way less than half if you were going FOWLR. But still, not for the faint of heart.

This is relatively harmless as far as "serious hobbies" go though, I have seen people who spend way WAY more on their hobbies than we Aquarists do.

Remote Controlled Toys are a killer, especially Helicopters, Modifying your Cars for Track driving is another.

On the contrary, i personally feel RC cars (i think helis/planes/petrol RC cars are different class) are lower in costs... i could be wrong, coz i just started the RC hobby.

My personal experience:

Initial setup cost

RC: <$800 could get you an upgraded controller + car + decent parts upgrade (drift tires etc...)

Marine: <$1,000 gets you only a basic tank+equipment setup, and mostly used item. (Live stocks not included)

(Some equipments, even 1K not enuff)

Maintenance cost

RC: charging of batteries (approx. 25-30mins per charge) <$5?? + buying new rims+tires. <$50

Parts upgrade ranges from $5 - hundreds (rarely in thousands)

Marine: approx. $80 per month on electrical bills + $30 on food (abt 2 months) + buying of corals when hand itchy (assuming running on MH + chiller)

Decomm returns

RC: you should be able to get 50% of your investment

Marine: almost the same. Depending on equipment brand. (depreciation is normally better with branded & well sort-after equipment)

Oh well... This is my personal reality check when i calculated cost.

Do i hear a 'decomm' somewhere??? hahaha...

[Thexder]

Modding your car... thats a real killer

Seems like guys' hobbies are always heavy on the wallet

[iskay]

Modding your car... thats a real killer

Seems like guys' hobbies are always heavy on the wallet

Girl's hobbies are as heavy or even heavier... Think "Retail Theraphy"....

[Fuzzy]

Ok keeping a marine tank is not cheap, especially if you are serious about it, but neither is owning a dog or a cat.

People pay $1000 - $2000 for a dog or a cat, and they don't even intend to breed them..which I could never understand. I guess if you have the money to burn

and you think the animal looks cool/cute enough that you'd be willing to spend that kind of money on it..not happening in my world though.

And monthly maintenance, food and vet bills also add up over time (potentially 10 - 20 years) We all know that you can't sell an old dog or cat, you'll probably

have serious problems even trying to give the animal away.

All my 3 cats are free "longkang cats", haha, but they are threatening to eat me out of house and home.

There is a huge difference, between casual RC and competitive RC. I also bought an electric RC Car for Drifting about 2 years ago.

Costs are relatively harmless compared to competitive racing, RC Cars quite hard to compare, because you can get a ready to run for $200 or less, but that's considered "not serious" into RC.

I spent about $1200 on my RC drift setup a few years back and it was already quite simple(Tamiya TT-01 kit, Sanwa 3PK, Battery packs, Peak charger, upgrade parts, replacement parts etc)

Many of the SG Drifters were running cars and equipment in excess of $2000 - $5000 per person (multiple cars, transmitters, batteries, spares etc).

If you want to get serious competing in Tamiya Asia Cup for example, you are looking at at least several thousand dollars every year, unless you're good enough to secure a sponsorship.

Things really break a lot when you are racing on track, accidents happen and those silly plastic parts are not cheap.

Nitro RC Cars don't seem to be in fashion any more though, and they have even higher parts costs. The competitive money and serious competition seems to all be in electric RC now.

I know the cost of entry into RC Aircraft is insane $1500 would probably be the minimum buy in, unless you are buying the "toy helis"

Even those powered kites that were so popular in the last 2 years would cost you at least $800 to start (kit + transmitter and other accessories)

I don't have the nerve (or the wallet size) for it, sudden gust or crosswind and you're looking at a potential $100 - $1000 repair bill.

Crazy friends of mine into RC helicopters spend about $100 - $200 on a pair of rotor blades if they crash. And that is considered "very minor" damage, if you damage your

electronics, servos, gyroscopes etc, you could be looking at a total write off in a crash..scary stuff. Nitro powered helicopters are even potentially more expensive to crash, heh.

Also their Lithium Polymer batteries are only good for around 50 - 60 charge cycles.

Total flying time per charge cycle is at most 5 - 8 minutes and the batteries are $30 - $60 a piece.

For the casual marine hobbyist $500 should set you well on the way towards a Nano FOWLR, really not that expensive.

There are definitely much cheaper hobbies, but ours isn't even close to being the most expensive.

I agree if you get serious its not cheap, but then again neither are any of the other fairly common hobbies: Freshwater tanks, Golf, Astronomy, Scuba diving, Sailing, Photography, PC Gaming, skiing/Snowboarding, annual vacations

even buying books can potentially cost more yearly than running a marine tank...heh.)

So newcomers should not be intimidated, do your research, decide if you are still interested, plan a realistic budget, start slow.

To put things in a more "Singaporean Perspective" for the price of one Louis Vuitton handbag, or one/two month(s) of car installment payment. I've bought a complete 28G nano marine setup.

On the contrary, i personally feel RC cars (i think helis/planes/petrol RC cars are different class) are lower in costs... i could be wrong, coz i just started the RC hobby.

My personal experience:

Initial setup cost

RC: <$800 could get you an upgraded controller + car + decent parts upgrade (drift tires etc...)

Marine: <$1,000 gets you only a basic tank+equipment setup, and mostly used item. (Live stocks not included)

(Some equipments, even 1K not enuff)

Maintenance cost

RC: charging of batteries (approx. 25-30mins per charge) <$5?? + buying new rims+tires. <$50

Parts upgrade ranges from $5 - hundreds (rarely in thousands)

Marine: approx. $80 per month on electrical bills + $30 on food (abt 2 months) + buying of corals when hand itchy (assuming running on MH + chiller)

Decomm returns

RC: you should be able to get 50% of your investment

Marine: almost the same. Depending on equipment brand. (depreciation is normally better with branded & well sort-after equipment)

Oh well... This is my personal reality check when i calculated cost.

Do i hear a 'decomm' somewhere??? hahaha...

[boxerz]

How a 28G setup cost so ex ?????

[albinosage]

How a 28G setup cost so ex ?????

The 28G is different from the 24G, it costs $700 plus brand new if I'm not wrong. Throw in the chiller, skimmer upgrade and other rubbish, it will easily cost as much as a large LV bag LOL!

But yah I got to ask too, fuzzy: you bought the entire set up with stand and chiller 2nd hand from yongshun right?

[Fuzzy]

The 28G is different from the 24G, it costs $700 plus brand new if I'm not wrong. Throw in the chiller, skimmer upgrade and other rubbish, it will easily cost as much as a large LV bag LOL!

But yah I got to ask too, fuzzy: you bought the entire set up with stand and chiller 2nd hand from yongshun right?

Yeah, $488 for the tank+stand+liverock+wavemaker+chiller.

Everything else was in addition to that, FR, CR, pumps, new MH tube, ATO, Crystal Pro, Tunze 9002, SALT, Test Kits, Additives etc, really sneaks up on you quite quickly.

Most of this is not necessary, but will involve increased maintenance or poorer living conditions for livestock. If I was just going FOWLR I would have spent less than $800 I think.

Part of the cost is for future use also, for example I have enough salt for the next 3 - 4 months of water changes...

Oh and buying Biohome is a killer too, like $40 a Kg, could have just bought more LR I guess...but space is at a premium in this setup.