Things that reefers can do to help save themselves money

[BlueTang<3]

Originally Posted by subman

don't try every LED fixture

You still havnt tried the vertex or Orphics but I am almost as guilty as u on this. Vertex ecotech and now Mitras.

[howdy20012002]

The money you guys have spent on LED's...ouch
I recommend to people to figure out what they want at the beginning and go from there...buying junk and figuring out that it is junk or not good enough for your future plans is just flushing money down the drain.
I think most of us of all bought some piece of equipment that we soon realize is not adequate and should have taken the advice from others.
buying second hand is probably the best way to save money for sure..especially when you can get stuff from a tank shut down.

[burgerchow]

Cut back on massage girls and casino. If I cut those in half, would save at least 2 k a month. Lol

[reefermadness]

Take the thought of trying an expensive supplememt regimen like zeovit out of your mind.

[Reef_Geek]

there's a trick I used while saving up for tuition to keep myself from wanting to go out and do stuff (and spend money)... I go and get a new/used xBox game.

Admittedly, I've done this to keep myself from wanting to go back to the LFS after a few binge trips.

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by howdy20012002

The money you guys have spent on LED's...ouch

Fortunately for me I saved a crap load going with Martin, only actually but out $700 cash & was able to work off the rest with light hangers & such. Even if I paid full price of $2200 it would still have been half the cost of any manufactured fixtures & I never have to replace bulbs again.

[fishyfishster]

Eat KD

[Leah]

Sell the kids and other furry pets.

P.S. A couple of dogs, a cat and bird and a child all potty trained... will trade for fish and equipment.

[somewherebeyondthesea]

Don't buy anymore tanks! I filled my fluval edge with coral and now I bought a second one!...gonna be a seahorse tank!

[whatcaneyedo]

I'll try not to list anything already mentioned.

1. Reuse dead coral skeletons in a calcium reactor.
2. Sell frags.
3. Buy frags rather than colonies.
4. Feed fish free dead clams and mussels from a local sea food store. (they throw out the dead ones daily if I don't ask for them)
5. Hire a knowledgeable person to look after your tank when you go on vacation. Paying them a few bucks is cheeper than coming home to a dead tank caused by an inexperienced cheaper/free person.
6. Use non pharmaceutical grade magnesium chloride ice melting salt.
7. Purchase your annually consumed products during boxing day sales (bulbs, test kits etc)
8. Use crushed coral substrate rather than ARM fine reactor media in a Calcium Reactor.
9. Do weekly water changes rather than weekly trace element supplementing.
10. Lugol's Solution Potassium Iodide can be purchased from a pharmacy for less than half of what the Kent product retails for.
11. Plumb your tank with lots of unions and flexible hot tub hose. That way if you need to change something later you don't have to destroy everything with a saw. I've filled 2-3 garbage cans with old ridged plumbing configurations that I couldn't use anymore.
12. Keep spare parts, backup pumps and empty salt buckets. The extra inventory is cheaper than a dead tank caused by equipment failure.
13. Purchase an all in one controller rather than many individual controllers and monitors. Set it up to alarm and send a text message if something goes wrong. Again, dead tanks are expensive.
14. Buy small juvenile fish and clams rather than more expensive, less adaptive large adults.
15. Keep it simple... I think that is a contradiction to everything I just said. Oops.