I think its because its something we are passionate about, and other things are just passing fancies. This hobby has me obsessed like nothing else I do.

I just spend for the fish.... and not actually for myself. Regards Ken

My car needs new headlight covers because my old ones are so discolored and yellowed I can hardly see when I drive at night. It would cost $400+ because I have to buy the whole damn units. Needless to say I wont spend the money.

On an unrelated note I just spent $900 last month for my new bluewave ballast and lumenmax pendants... :wink:

I try to look at the cost as an investment over time, I think if you break it down far enough over the 18 years I've been doing this it's only $0.16 an hour. Thats pretty cheap for a hobby these days right?

I suddenly feel really cheap....

I am starting to have a hard time spending a lot on my tank. I never spend on my tank though until all the bills are paid, and I've put my savings away. Although now its harder to spend the extra money I have. Its like the longer I've been in the hobby the cheaper I get. Last year I picked up the RKE without a thought, and this year, I would definitely think it over for a week or two.

Spend it... spend it all! You only live once.

That's seems to be my philisophy as of late. I used to be pretty tight with my smaller tanks, but I swore to myself I wasn't cheaping out on the big tank. The only problem is I have more then one expensive hobbie!

Actually I'm sort of with Michika on this. There was a time I wouldn't have batted an eye at some of things you can buy, now I measure every decision carefully. I still make mistake purchases too (the last $200 of SPS for example ... nicely converted into a collection of calcium reactor media now). And some of the costs of things nowadays compared to 5 years ago. Holy crap. There was a time that $800 gave you a high end skimmer to end all skimmer purchases. Not so anymore. With a family now my household net income is the same as what it's been for the last 8 years but now it's stretched out over 2 adults, 2 kids and the cost of everything during this time has not similarly stayed the same. I find the situation just brutal. Maybe if I didn't have kids I'd feel differently but personally I'm finding myself more and more shut out of the hobby as time goes on.

I'm a cheap bastard 90% of the time. Then I'll go and spend $2K in one week on camera equipment. Oops!

I can also spend some good money on this hobby, though I ALWAYS think long and hard before I do. What I cannot ever conceive buying is a fish over $200 (Black Tang, Gem Tang, Crosshatch Trigger, etc.), and spending $2K on a Clarion Angelfish is mind-bogglingly insane.

But you take some damned fine pictures :mrgreen:

Its one thing to spend money in this hobby and know how to use it and its another to have a tank of hair algae :razz:

Yeah, although I still spend a lot on this addiction, I don't buy unless its a good deal & I try to recycle the funds by selling/trading equipment, tanks, frags, etc. With a new baby this year and Irene without Mat. leave since she's considered "self-employed", mortgage & such, paying more bills than ever.