Aquarium expenses
- Thread starter eon aquatics
- Start date
Most hobbies you should never, ever look at how much money you've spent.
As much money as you want to depending how interested you are in the hobby. By spending more money you can purchase bigger, better, and more supplies. If you only spend minimally you become limited as far as the types of projects you can start up. Which might start to get boring after a while.
how much would it cost to set up a 120 gallon?
i probably spend like $1000 or more on a 55 gallon
i probably spend like $1000 or more on a 55 gallon
In 50+ years of fish keeping, I've bought only 2 tanks new, the rest used (that's about 20 tanks totaling about 1500+ gallons). So tank cost was minimal.
I could often pick up a number of 50 gal tanks free just driving around the university at the end of a semester.
Larger cost items, have been water pumps, even then maybe only $100+ each on-line for good ones
With about those 20 tanks, my energy bill in winter (Dec, Jan, Feb and Mar in WI) for my fish room (heat, lights, water changes) averaged about $400 per month, in summer about half that.
I could often pick up a number of 50 gal tanks free just driving around the university at the end of a semester.
Larger cost items, have been water pumps, even then maybe only $100+ each on-line for good ones
With about those 20 tanks, my energy bill in winter (Dec, Jan, Feb and Mar in WI) for my fish room (heat, lights, water changes) averaged about $400 per month, in summer about half that.
Spent thousands, but luckily being an avid DIYer, which many can relate to on here, I have probably saved thousands too! This is the perfect hobby to put your skills and years of stockpiled junk to good use.
So i'm pretty much even,
, that's what I tell the wife anyway, lol.
So i'm pretty much even,
, that's what I tell the wife anyway, lol.The money doesn't even matter at times when you are dedicated to this hobby. There was time where I spent well over 1k attempting to save a $250 dollar because of the sentimental value.
The horror...the horror...
Yes, you can spend as much or as little as you want, which in turn will limit what you can do in the hobby. You can "save" a ton of cash by DIY-ing a lot of things like tanks, filters, sumps, lighting, etc...and there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in building stuff yourself...but in reality you won't spend less; you'll just buy more fish with that cash and end up even deeper into the hobby.
Just keep in mind that it isn't necessary to have the biggest/newest/shiniest/most-expensive/rarest gear and fish to enjoy this hobby. The fact that a certain species of fish is expensive or rare isn't a good reason to get it unless you have that "hey, look at me!" type of personality. Buy and keep things because they interest you, not because other people want them. That might mean an elaborate mega-tank loaded with high-tech equipment and stocked with odd-ball overbred inbred mutant monsters...but it could also be a simple 20gallon fishtank with a few livebearers or some such. Please yourself. That's the whole point.
Yes, you can spend as much or as little as you want, which in turn will limit what you can do in the hobby. You can "save" a ton of cash by DIY-ing a lot of things like tanks, filters, sumps, lighting, etc...and there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in building stuff yourself...but in reality you won't spend less; you'll just buy more fish with that cash and end up even deeper into the hobby.
Just keep in mind that it isn't necessary to have the biggest/newest/shiniest/most-expensive/rarest gear and fish to enjoy this hobby. The fact that a certain species of fish is expensive or rare isn't a good reason to get it unless you have that "hey, look at me!" type of personality. Buy and keep things because they interest you, not because other people want them. That might mean an elaborate mega-tank loaded with high-tech equipment and stocked with odd-ball overbred inbred mutant monsters...but it could also be a simple 20gallon fishtank with a few livebearers or some such. Please yourself. That's the whole point.