you can afford to get started prt2

[murph]

It wont seem like it in the first few months you have the tank but time will begin to fly. Before you know it the tank will be a year old and if interest level is still high you can start to consider setting up that reef tank and have some experience to go along with it. Now if you decide to start investing larger amounts of money in the hobby you are not at the mercy of what an LFS tells you which in many cases is "salespeak" with little to do with what is right for your particular tank or any tank for that matter. You may even find that the LFS has two different price structures. One for the novice and a lower one for the more experienced that are not buying there BS.
I realize I may get some disagreement with some if not all of the points I have tried to make here and that's all good. My hope with this advice however is to hopefully save those who find they are not right for the hobby some money and make long term hobbyist out of those who find they have a long term interest in keeping there tanks.
With that said here is one piece of advice we are likely all to agree on. Do not take your credit card with you to the LFS

 

[symon]

Originally Posted by Murph
It wont seem like it in the first few months you have the tank but time will begin to fly. Before you know it the tank will be a year old and if interest level is still high you can start to consider setting up that reef tank and have some experience to go along with it. Now if you decide to start investing larger amounts of money in the hobby you are not at the mercy of what an LFS tells you which in many cases is "salespeak" with little to do with what is right for your particular tank or any tank for that matter. You may even find that the LFS has two different price structures. One for the novice and a lower one for the more experienced that are not buying there BS.
I realize I may get some disagreement with some if not all of the points I have tried to make here and that's all good. My hope with this advice however is to hopefully save those who find they are not right for the hobby some money and make long term hobbyist out of those who find they have a long term interest in keeping there tanks.
With that said here is one piece of advice we are likely all to agree on. Do not take your credit card with you to the LFS

Murph, you have hit the nail on the head! I agree that Most of the noobs to SW have listened to entirely the wrong info!
I personally wanted to start a reef, I have never had a a sw tank before, But I started looking at what people had in and on thier tanks and got a little overwhelmed! I put the 2-3000 dollars in tank equipment and inhabatiants!
I have lost alot of money in corals and fish because of what you call (salespeak) ( Oh yea , you can keep this , oh yea that tang will love your 60 gal tank! )
But that was 1.5 ago, I have learned a few things and wouldn't belive the LFS owners i like, as far as i can throw them! After all they only want your money !
LOL ok , so in aggreance with you! I would say to anyone that wants to start a SW tank, start with something very small, and very basic!

 

[f14peter]

Don't disagree, although I might say that the success/failure of a novice may depend a lot on their own approach . . . not just to aquariums but many other things in life.
Is a person impulsive and likely to jump into something new before understanding all the ins-and-outs? Or are they willing to spend the time and effort to try and discover as much as they can prior to emptying out their checking account or getting into something that's too demanding for them? As I said, this isn't limited to aquariums . . . it can be about buying a car, planning an extensive vacation, hiring a contractor, moving to a different state, entering a new career, etc.
This hobby should (does?) require a bit of soul-seaching . . . do you have the time? The patience? The ability to comprehend how a miniature closed eco-sytem functions and how to maintain it? Does a person want a saltwater aquarium just because they saw one at a restaraunt and thought it was really cool, or are they interesting learning about the realm and accepting the challenges inherent in the hobby?
Maybe it's just me, but before I sink myself into (no pun intended) a new endeavor I know little/nothing about, I want to know more, more, and even more.
For the Mrs and I, once we decided to seriously look into a saltwater aquarium, we spent a good three months of serious, time consuming, and in-depth research prior to getting to the "it's a go!" stage. Before we even made the decision of "Yes, we're going to do this", we had discovered . . .
-- Yes, a tank takes a lot of effort and attention, but it isn't as hard as a lot of people think. Interestingly, the vast majority of responses we got from people we told we're getting a tank was "are you going to have somebody come in and maintain it for you, or try to do it yourself?"
-- The advice of a LFS can be suspect.
-- Quality can make a difference, better to invest in a good product. Of course, that doesn't mean we had to spend an excessive amount of money.
-- Even deciding on what particular specimens to have in your tank is an art, fish/inverts can't be bought willy-nilly or solely on "Coolness" but takes darn near, if not more, planning and forethought as the tank system itself.
Also interesting is that since at first our collective knowledge on saltwater tanks could fit on the head of a pin, initially we were considering getting a complete package from a LFS, so that we would be sure of not forgetting something crucial and would have everything we need. However, our research taught us that piecing a system together on our own would not be beyond our abilities. Thus, through judicious shopping, I estimate we've saved at least $1500 (probably more) over just walking into a LFS and saying, "Give us everything we need!", and we have a very nice system.
On another note, while many will suggest "going big" from the get-go, like you the author of the bible of the hobby, Fenner, does indeed advocate starting somewhat small. If someone isn't confident in their ability to be as dedicated as the hobby requires, or afford the seemingly geometric increase in price of larger systems, that would undoubtedly be a way to go.

 

[ice4ice]

A simple yet affordable way for a beginner to get started into this hobby is buy your equipment a little at a time while you are researching and reading up the ins and outs and upside-down in SW biology and aquaria keeping.
At least going that route won't give you the sticker shock all at once.