bang guy
Moderator
That comes across as total gibberish Beaslbob. Are you off your meds again?
you ever think about just getting out of it?
- Thread starter seecrabrun
- Start date
seecrabrun
Active Member
Glad I wasn't the only one.
flower
Well-Known Member
You can't count your critters! My goodness me...yes, you can spend a small fortune on nothing but corals. I was talking about salt mix for water changes, filter media and fish food...
flower
Well-Known Member
I can no longer do regular water changes, the macros keep the tank going. Once in a blue moon I do manage a water change. The tank looks nothing like the glory days, but I can't even harvest the macros like it should be done. Still the critters seem happy and healthy enough...the only coral are mushrooms.
Beaslebobs tank could live quite well with no water changes at all. I knew a fellow who had a reef, and hadn't done a water change in 26 years. The tank was beautiful, the corals were huge and the fish healthy. Some folks do manage an actual ecosystem... I personally never could.
Even on my best days, some tanks on this site are so drop dead gorgeous, I could never get anything close to them...even if I did a water change every day.
Beaslebobs tank could live quite well with no water changes at all. I knew a fellow who had a reef, and hadn't done a water change in 26 years. The tank was beautiful, the corals were huge and the fish healthy. Some folks do manage an actual ecosystem... I personally never could.
Even on my best days, some tanks on this site are so drop dead gorgeous, I could never get anything close to them...even if I did a water change every day.
mandy111
Active Member
. Salt $169. Rowa $119. Spectrum granules. $39. Water bills electricity bill are all an expense you have to include them in the cost or it's not real. I hate it when people in forums tell newbies its a cheap hobby because you know if done properly it is not a cheap hobby. Anyone that does not water change and watch phos etc shouldn't be in this hobby. Totally irresponsible fish keepers & don't deserve to own these beautiful creatures. Leave them in the ocean
seecrabrun
Active Member
I think the thing is most people are telling newbies about fish only tanks, not reef tanks. Fish only is definitely very affordable, and tanks with softies are, for the most part. It's when you get into the more difficult things that it gets more expensive, and that is true with any hobby.
Also my power and water bill haven't gone up, LOL
Also my power and water bill haven't gone up, LOL
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
My power bill has always averaged about $20 higher per month when keeping a tank. About $10 extra a month on my water bill.
I was once one of those penny pinchers because I simply had to be. There are alternatives to many chemicals that we use in and out of our tanks - like pickling lime, baking soda, sal soda, pickling salt, mag flake, Epsom salt, insecticide, and more. Sometimes you can save some money and sometimes your just taking a risk.
I was once one of those penny pinchers because I simply had to be. There are alternatives to many chemicals that we use in and out of our tanks - like pickling lime, baking soda, sal soda, pickling salt, mag flake, Epsom salt, insecticide, and more. Sometimes you can save some money and sometimes your just taking a risk.
seecrabrun
Active Member
My tanks are just too small to make much of an impact. 2 LED lights, 2 HOB filters, a few power heads, and some heaters that don't need to work very hard.
And then my water is special... I only pay $13 a month for water and the only time it went up is when I accidentally left the garden hose on all night long at full power. I was filling up one of those outdoor swimming pools. It probably ran for 18 hours at full power and it brought my bill up to $18... so all of $5 extra... LOL
I don't know why my water is so cheap. I'm not going to complain. I have city water, but I live outside the city. Actually I have a different city's water than my address' city. We don't have sewage and none of the houses in the city have sewage either. We all have septic tanks. Actually not even all businesses are on sewage either. I guess it's because we are just a little country town.
And then my water is special... I only pay $13 a month for water and the only time it went up is when I accidentally left the garden hose on all night long at full power. I was filling up one of those outdoor swimming pools. It probably ran for 18 hours at full power and it brought my bill up to $18... so all of $5 extra... LOL
I don't know why my water is so cheap. I'm not going to complain. I have city water, but I live outside the city. Actually I have a different city's water than my address' city. We don't have sewage and none of the houses in the city have sewage either. We all have septic tanks. Actually not even all businesses are on sewage either. I guess it's because we are just a little country town.
flower
Well-Known Member
Just in case anyone using tap water is reading this : You should not be using tap water for your fish tanks... not only does it contain inhibitors for the very bacteria we try to cultivate, sea life has no need for fluoride, just to name one thing you don't want in the tank... nuisance algae just loves tap water. RO (reverse osmosis) is what you want to use...Walmart by me sells it for 37 cents a gallon. Your own unit is best, that way it also makes good drinking water for the whole family.
flower
Well-Known Member
My PO4 and NO3 is a beautiful fat 0.... macroalgae absorbs it to grow. I don't do regular water changes, maybe you shouldn't be so fast to judge others and say we shouldn't be in the hobby because we don't/can't do the same thing you do. Frankly I could be a jerk and say that you haven't ever managed to create a proper ecosystem, that's why you have to do constant water changes just to keep stuff alive.
seecrabrun
Active Member
I was filling a swimming pool, not a tank.
I have an RODI since September and before that I used that RO water from those machines.
Never used tap outside of freshwater tanks.
I have an RODI since September and before that I used that RO water from those machines.
Never used tap outside of freshwater tanks.
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
I used to fill tanks with tap and use prime to dechlorinate/dechemicalate it (I know that's not a word, just being funny.) and then would run a deep sand bed to manage the nitrates and phosphates. Granted, I wouldn't add additional tap to the system for top offs after the initial fill. I think it's all in what you know and how you know to manage it. Now days anyone with some GFO and carbon reactors could clean up tap water enough to mix salt in.
The hobby has gotten so much easier over time with new technology. But that's the thing: it's not cheap.
The hobby has gotten so much easier over time with new technology. But that's the thing: it's not cheap.
Personally, I find that doing daily water changes beat the bigger water change done for "maintenance". I did a gal a day on my reef tank, 72 gal. That amounted to 30 gal RO water change and 30 gal of top off every month---totally 60 gals water changes monthly with little effort. 2 gals total daily. Maintenance done as needed entailed cleaning or checking pumps, equipment, a light blow around the LR with a tiny little pump. Daily clean up of glass. My only filters were a skimmer, live rock, dsb, and a very large Halimeda that doubled as a nursery and safe haven for microfauna.
Big water changes IMO are risky and, at the least, pretty stressful for fish. It is near effortless and fun to just do it daily while you are doing your daily admiration of system(s).
Big water changes IMO are risky and, at the least, pretty stressful for fish. It is near effortless and fun to just do it daily while you are doing your daily admiration of system(s).
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Cool. Never thought of a daily change. Makes sense.
flower
Well-Known Member
I did daily water changes when the tank was in distress, back when I used it as a reef, just to get things back where they should be... What your saying makes a whole lot of sense. I miss my little thumbs up icon. Maybe I can figure out a way to keep my tank after all...if I can find a way to harvest the macros without climbing a ladder... or maybe just get a smaller tank.
flower
Well-Known Member
Good to know, that's why I put a "just in case" anyone reading the post uses tap water, since I wasn't sure if you were saying you did or not. Like Snake said, it can be cleaned up if you don't top off with it, and just used it as a start up. Nothing worth doing, is done the easy or cheap way. Keeping a saltwater tank is much more expensive then freshwater, but it's so worth it.
LOL...I still remember the sticker shock of purchasing a fish (clown) 18.00 for just one, and you have to have two. I was used to paying $3.00 to $5.00 for a fish. (LOL... It's been a while since I purchased freshwater fish, nothing is that cheap anymore)
Why do you use a latter? How big/tall is your tank? My tank was pretty tall but I didn't use a latter. 5'5". The only help I ever needed was to get two people to lift/take off a very big bulky canopy which was custom to a bowfront and solid wood. You could lower your existing tank by getting a lower stand for the tank.
flower
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I'm 5'5...the 90g tank top without the canopy is 52", my canopy isn't heavy, but it's bulky, so far I can still manage to remove that, and the lights are on a pulley system... I use a step ladder to reach into the tank to harvest the macros, that seem to really like the rockwork in the very back.
My feet are deformed from wearing steel toed boots for 35 years on the railroad, and I have flat feet, literally no arch, and have now developed arthritis on top of everything else. There is a reason you can't be a soldier if you have flat feet. Walking has become so painful, that even the few short trips to the kitchen for RO water, to dump on the other side of the kitchen where my RO mixing tub is on it's own, a huge undertaking. My knees are shot from climbing stairs and trains, and my back is so bad I can't bend over for long (as in a few moments), then add my weight which is another big problem, stemming from not being able to do anything, until I became disabled my weight wasn't a problem.
So now I put my 90g and the 56g tall tank, up for sale on Craig's list. My heart really isn't into selling it, my first paycheck when I was 15 years old, was spent on a 10g tank... I really don't think I will be very happy without any kind of fish tank, so maybe something smaller... I may even consider a reef if it's easy enough for me to manage, but then...I would still have to put water in the mixing tub... sigh
mandy111
Active Member
I don't do water changes to keep stuff alive, my nitrate and phos is also a big fat 0 - 0.02, I do water changes because that's what is required to keep things thriving, Anyone can keep things just alive.
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
+
bang_guy said:
Well perhaps English is not my best thing.
Kinda thought I was saying that the effect of water changes is the tank winds up to a point where the build up between water changes is removed by the water change. for example a 1/10 water change results in 10 times the build up. 1/20 water change 20 times the build and so on.
If that's jiggerish then so be it.
my .02