Thinking about breaking down the tank

[snakeblitz33]

Hello all,
I was thinking about all of the things that I do for my tank and in the hobby - how much time it consumes and how much money it takes away from other things that I feel important. I spend quite a bit of money each month on my tank, including electricity and water costs as well as other maintenance things. I feel like if I sell my tank and all of it's components off I can actually live a more stress-free life at this time.
I am really enjoy the simple life - gardening, being prepared for anything that may come along - I also want to be debt free in a few years as well as to be able to buy a home in the country within the next five years. I really feel like one of the things that is preventing me from reaching my long term goals is my tank. It's kind of like the symbol of consumerism in my house. I don't need it, but I wanted it... I like all the pretty fish and what-not, but it adds too much stress on me to keep it clean and maintained. Things wax and wane in it too often and I find myself spending a lot of money on it in order to "keep up with the Joneses" on this and other forums. I feel like I need a good long break - so that I can re-prioritize my life and reach my long term goals.
I haven't really been on the forums a lot lately because this semester at college has been really rough - especially taking both chemistry and microbiology in the same semester. I have a year and a half left of college and I can tell you right now that those are going to be the hardest couple of years of school yet!
I have been debating whether to keep upgrading the equipment on my tank or not - and I feel like every single time I upgrade something, there is always something better out there... there is always a better fish or coral. There is always something to do on the tank - and I simply don't want to invest any more time and money in pursuing the "perfect system" because right now I don't have the time, money or energy to do it! What precious time and money I have, I need to spend with family and on family.
I want to choose to live deliberately. I want to stop pursuing consumerism and concentrate on the things in life that matters to me - my family, my friends, and my future. I am not finding happiness in the hobby right now, and I feel like I need to take a step back and re-prioritize.
Anyways, after that long rant - I want to tell you all that I am not pushing anyone away - and I will be communicating with many of you through texts and e-mails like I always have. I will stop by in the forums every now and then to say hello and help out when I can. I just won't have a tank set up.

 

[reefraff]

We are debt free. It's a good place to be. We earn a couple thousand dollars a year by not carrying a balance on the credit card we purchase EVERYTHING on. Gotta love that cash back thing. Take an interest free loan and get money back for doing it. And unlike the interest in our savings account you don't get taxed on it. Living within your true means opens up all kind of doors. You just gotta be patient.
We are seriously looking at buying another house and will finance it. With interest rates this low I can make more money putting the cash in the stock market rather than using it to buy the house.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I am going to put the tank on the back-burner for a while and just let it do it's thing and really see how much money I am spending on it. I guess I will re-prioritize my spending and quit spending money on the tank and invest in other things and paying back some debts ASAP. Maybe just try to do something different for the time being instead of spending so much money on the tank.
When I move out of the place I am in now, I guess I will sell everything off then.

 

[flower]

Hi,
Just a thought...you know so much about tanks, you might offer your services to help others to set up and maintain their tanks. Doctors offices and such pay for that all the time. That way you can still enjoy the hobby, but with somebody else's cash. If I was healthy enough I would do that in a heart beat, it's an extra couple of hundred or more a week if you get a few folks that need you to help out with your know how.
I couldn't have a SW tank when my kids were growing up...Family needs always come first. I kept Freshwater tanks because a home isn't a home without a fish tank to me, I liked having a tank too much to go without for very long. Although I had done without a tank over the years off and on, I always got the urge to have fish again... So I kept my tanks and equipment in the basement/garage and only got rid of the fish. Live rock may not stay alive, but a rock stores without a problem. Just really scrub down the PHs and let them run in RO water for a while before storage, or they freeze up and will not work years later, when you want to set things up again. Same method with the filter... RO water evaporates and won't leave a crusty sediment in the internal motor parts...or so I always believed anyway.
It cost so much to first set up...even if you will want new equipment when that rebuild day comes. Being able to use what you have, and purchase the needed new stuff slowly, will give you a little wiggle room to pace yourself when you get back into the hobby. So it isn't such a shock to your pockets.
I sure hope you stay on the site, telling us about your methods, and continue your fish book that you wanted to write.

 

[beth]

I broke down my tank in 2005 due to move and a change in job that required a lot of travel, but still stuck around here. Slowly but surely, you loose touch with the latest goings-on in the hobby, but I can still help out in the disease forum since diseases don't really change.
I've seen a big change in activity in the hobby because of the recession. People just do not have the same income, or, at least just don't feel like they can invest major money every month in keeping a tank. Hobbies take a back seat to real life demands and priorities regarding where the family's income should go.
Hope you can still stick around.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Flower, ive done services before and its sometimes not worth it. There are good accounts and bad accounts. Im just satisfied with what i have for now. If i truly wanted yo get back in the business it would be a major investment of time and resources that i want to use more wisely. Thank you, however, for your suggestions.
Beth, yeah, at some point we all have to call time out. Im doing it now so that i dont go deeper down the rabbit hole.

 

[acrylic51]

Just take a deep breath Seth......I did the same thing back in 2005-2006 time frame......Just wanted to pursue other interests at the time that were more expensive and time consuming......I didn't loose the love for the hobby, but time to take care of the big tank was limited. If your truly into it at some point you'll find yourself migrating back into the hobby......
I do agree with Seth on the maintenance aspect.....I've been that route and that's what actually burnt me out with maintenance on 10 other tanks, and my own and racing......Some accounts just don't pay and dr's office's are usually the worse IMHO......

 

[snakeblitz33]

Yeah, just time to take a break. I'm not selling off just yet - just putting the tank on the back burner and concentrating on school and other things that I find more interesting for the time being. If it gets to the point where I see I can't take care of the tank or just don't want to - then I'll sell off the livestock and put the dry goods in storage. But, it hasn't come to that yet.