Was it worth it in the end - Page 3

burgerchow · #21 01-12-2010, 06:35 AM

Keep your tank unless it means the difference between putting food on the table or losing your house. Your fish only tank costs you next to nothing to run. You could just use your t5's for lighting. The only costs you've got is electricity and food. Maybe $50-70 bucks a month? Don't sell your tank cause you'll only get pennies on the dollar. Large tanks especially are hard to recover $$s spent. There's a guy in Richmond trying to sell a 270 8 ft acryclic with custom oak stand, lights and filters for only $1,100 and he's having a hard time selling it. Don't sell it. You'll only regret it later down the road.

banditpowdercoat · #22 01-12-2010, 01:46 PM

Ya I'd keep it. I'm downsizing my other tanks, but keeping the 150g running bare min like you. It doesnt cost much at all to keep it running, like you said. Little food and salt. It's my Upgrading tendency's that cost the most LOL

If you get rid of it all, it will just cost that much more to get it all again when you come back. Keep the halides off, but don;t sell them. They will not wear out if they are off. Will save on power, and they will be ready when you get back into it. Like oyu said, it's bought and paid for now. Unless your downsizing homes, with no room, or are really financially in trouble that you need the few hundred dollars for food or whatnot, then it makes no sense to me to sell.

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #23 01-12-2010, 01:55 PM

Yup, I agree with most of these comments about not selling at this point unless feeding/housing yourself becomes an issue.

You can sell off some of your extra equipment that you no longer need & use that towards upkeep costs.

In the past, it is usually when I no longer am able or have the interest in keeping my pets that I end up selling things off & sending my pets to a better home. This, however, does not sound like the case for you. You still get enjoyment out of your fishies, so hunker down, cut spending to a minimum, but maintain the tank. It may help keep your sanity.

Just my $.02.

Anthony

my2rotties · #24 01-12-2010, 02:49 PM

I am not going to lie, my situation is quite dire at the moment. I am still hanging in there. I never turned the halides on yesterday and left the T5s on. However my T5s are over a year old now and need to be replaced. The tank is not costing anything at the moment if you know what I mean, but it does need new T5s. I went through the entire system the other day and everything else is running properly. All my corals died over the summer (neglect and lack of funds, as well as flat worms). My fish all thrive and grow... and that is what matters the most to me in this hobby.

I guess if I started having issues with dying fish, I would pull the plug on this entire thing. That would be the last nail in the coffin so to speak.

I know I would NEVER recover a dime if I sold everything. I know my fish would be quite a score for someone, but I had already told Tony that I would GIVE him my Achilles of he wanted him. The fish are pets and I am not worried about recovering funds of any kind for them. I would sooner hand pick homes for the hard to keep fish and know they are happy and thriving some where else.

Thankfully it has not come to this just yet. My tank will be impossible to remove from the house on many levels... I don't want a disaster and tank shut down seem terrifying. I am very proud of my tank and the livestock, and am trying to hang in there. I just wanted to know if you all kicked yourself in the butt for ever selling out. I see it happen and then you guys start all over again.

I can honestly say I could never afford to do this again. This was my one and only shot. It started with a run down 44g and went to the 260g. I still wish I could have gone bigger sometimes...

Thanks everybody!!!

fishoholic · #25 01-12-2010, 03:25 PM

I can't imagine my house without my tanks I love my fish and the space the tanks sit in would be depressing to look at without them there. Even when I had the marine velvet outbreak I still wanted to keep my tanks, because I couldn't imagine life without them. Besides the little $$ we'd recoup from selling everything compaired to what we paid for it would so not be worth it.

If it means putting food on the table or buying a bucket of salt for the tank then yes (although horrible to think of) you should shut it down. However if there is anyway you can afford the salt and costs of power per month (which is about $70-100) then you should keep it. You love your fish and I think you would feel sad anytime you went into your office area and looked over and didn't see your beautiful tank sitting there.

my2rotties · #26 01-12-2010, 03:38 PM

Yes you are right... plus I like the sound of the tank, and when we have had blackout the house was way too silent without the sound of water running.

I guess I will have to buy cheap salt at Big Als for now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I can't imagine my house without my tanks I love my fish and the space the tanks sit in would be depressing to look at without them there. Even when I had the marine velvet outbreak I still wanted to keep my tanks, because I couldn't imagine life without them. Besides the little $$ we'd recoup from selling everything compaired to what we paid for it would so not be worth it.

If it means putting food on the table or buying a bucket of salt for the tank then yes (although horrible to think of) you should shut it down. However if there is anyway you can afford the salt and costs of power per month (which is about $70-100) then you should keep it. You love your fish and I think you would feel sad anytime you went into your office area and looked over and didn't see your beautiful tank sitting there.

banditpowdercoat · #27 01-12-2010, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by my2rotties

Yes you are right... plus I like the sound of the tank, and when we have had blackout the house was way too silent without the sound of water running.

I guess I will have to buy cheap salt at Big Als for now...

What's wrong with IO?? LOL

my2rotties · #28 01-12-2010, 07:30 PM

I use IO all the time, but pay more else where since I don't like to shop at Big Als for numerous reasons... now I have to save the money regardless...

Quote:

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

What's wrong with IO?? LOL

lastlight · #29 01-12-2010, 09:56 PM

I should add that if I thought I could afford to run a big tank in the future I would have kept my high-end skimmer and light as they are simple enough to move. I know that no time in the near future if any can I see that happening so i fire-saled it all. The tank and stand had to go as my stresses at this time are huge,wanted to list and show my house asap and my new place has no space for something that large not can I move it myself.

I won't mind startup (again) with my small cube. I can take it wherever I go and won't have to give it all away.

If you can manage fish only I'd do it. But keep in mind a tank that size when you're under financial stress is not just a stress on the pocketbook. It has this... presence... in your life that could contribute other stresses. I know my relief was huge as I drained mine. You may possibly be more attached to yours since it has life in it...tho I had a long TIME into mine and still had no issues tearing it down. I think when priorities change you will thank yourself for lowering the priority or removing it...if all along maybe it was a little too high on your list and you always knew it.

This is just me tho =) I hope you get you situation under control.

my2rotties · #30 01-12-2010, 10:08 PM

For me, getting this tank out of the house would be impossible. We had to cut it apart at the seller's house and assemble it in our house. We tiles the bottom and back walls with travertine and then hubby cut a couple of hundred pounds of live rock on his tile saw and siliconed it to the back walls. Then we had our stone mason friend put real stone on the outside bottom of the tank... I don't think it all could come out of the house to be honest. Then it is plumbed to three additional tanks in the basement... there is miles of plumbing and whatever else you can think of. I have over 500 pounds of live rock in the entire system, so it keeps up with the bioload at this time, and I don't even ever have to touch anything... just clean the skimmer and change the carbon. When we first set it up I was doing tons of water changes since I stocked the tank quickly. Now the last fish was my Achilles and he was added in May of last year.

The tank is behind my desk and I like the sound it makes and I relax and watch my fish watch me. I have watched them grow and get accustomed to tank life in the past 14 months, and am pretty attached to it. If worse came to worse and I had to sell this house, the tank would have to go. I would have no choice. This house can fit this 7 foot wide tank no issues. I can;t see that working out in a smaller home.

Lets just hope things turn around before we have no choice but to put the house on the market... so far the ship is sinking, but the strainer I am bailing it out with, is keeping up. Lets hope I can keep up until thing come around. We do tile and now the houses are being built again. We just have to wait for them to be in the finishing stages so we can go in and do our work. We are the best at what we do, and this is the only reason why we have managed to stay afloat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

I should add that if I thought I could afford to run a big tank in the future I would have kept my high-end skimmer and light as they are simple enough to move. I know that no time in the near future if any can I see that happening so i fire-saled it all. The tank and stand had to go as my stresses at this time are huge,wanted to list and show my house asap and my new place has no space for something that large not can I move it myself.

I won't mind startup (again) with my small cube. I can take it wherever I go and won't have to give it all away.

If you can manage fish only I'd do it. But keep in mind a tank that size when you're under financial stress is not just a stress on the pocketbook. It has this... presence... in your life that could contribute other stresses. I know my relief was huge as I drained mine. You may possibly be more attached to yours since it has life in it...tho I had a long TIME into mine and still had no issues tearing it down. I think when priorities change you will thank yourself for lowering the priority or removing it...if all along maybe it was a little too high on your list and you always knew it.

This is just me tho =) I hope you get you situation under control.