Are We Overthinking This?

[AlohaTropics]

Yes but "need" and "want" are 2 different things. I could live on a beach in a hut or a tent in the woods but I don't want to. And money is relative, people with different amounts of it live and spend differently. You could have chosen a KIA over your PT Cruiser. My point is, spending $20K on a reef is not for everyone. But there are many many people out there who do because we are adults and adult hobbys tend to cost money. Some people collect cars, so people collect art. I have friends that spend more on video games and their computers and the latest 3D LED flat panel than I do on my Reef. Its a very personal decision. But there is a reef tank for every price range. I think we strayed from the original thought of the thread.

I think it was about getting the same results with less money, thought, work. Yes and no. You can always achieve a nice diverse reef tank with minimal work and money. But as I posted earlier, the more diverse and complex you want your tank to get, the care and cost gets equally more complex.

Just a note, lots of things such as LEDs, Probiotics, these things were invented not to complicate the hobby but rather to make it more efficient and hopefully, over the long run, less costly. Hobbyists are always looking for ways to make this hobby less expensive and also less time consuming. Through R&D, things like automatic dosers, probiotics, led lighting, have all contributed into either making our lives easier or making it less costly.

Every hobby is the same, you can just tread on the top layer of enthusiasm and never need to get too involved, or you can dive head first and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Most go pretty deep.

 

[Paul B]

You could have chosen a KIA over your PT Cruiser.

Or buy both, but then I could not afford my boat.

I think the thread started out with the question, Are we making this more complicated than it has to be?
I think many of us are.
Just my opinion.:scratchch

 

[Imbarrie]

I like that there are people making it more complicated and people that are not. The best part is they both seem content with what they have.

 

[daisy]

Every hobby is the same, you can just tread on the top layer of enthusiasm and never need to get too involved, or you can dive head first and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Most go pretty deep. -Aloha Tropics

I think this is part of the phenomenon that should be voiced - when one gets into a hobby, one spends some amount of time learning about it, and then starts it. If one is really really into the hobby, she wants to spend more time figuring out all the intricacies and aspects of it. When she finds out there are tons of cool stuff out there to support, augment, simplify or even complicate things, she will spend time thinking and talking about them with other hobbyists simply because she is into the hobby. Depending on how much money she has, she may (wisely or un) spend her money on some of those things.

Part of being in a hobby is immersing oneself in it. It's pure joy just learning and talking about it for some folks.

Personally, I can say that I've had simple tanks that needed (and got) very little maintenance (softies only), and I now have a mixed reef that runs a skimmer, carbon, phosban, a 5-bulb T-5 and two powerheads into which I dose 2-part that I make myself for pennies a month, and magnesium (which I do not make myself). I do test the water, and I try to do a water change at least once a month, but I really should do more. No chiller, just fans and AC in the living room - and for the most part, it works for me.

I think that up to a certain point, what you get out of it is commensurate with what you put into it. I think, too, that it is possible that at some point, you may have put so much into it that adding more is not going to make much of a difference, but since I am far from reaching that point, I can't say that for sure

 

[bigbris1]

Or buy both, but then I could not afford my boat.

I think the thread started out with the question, Are we making this more complicated than it has to be?
I think many of us are.
Just my opinion.:scratchch

Thank you, Paul. What you have achieved over all these years is amazing!

 

[bigbris1]

Part of being in a hobby is immersing oneself in it. It's pure joy just learning and talking about it for some folks.

I think 'immesrsing' oneself turns any hobby into an obsession.

 

[Paul B]

I think 'immesrsing' oneself turns any hobby into an obsession.
__________________

It's not really a hobby for me but a way of life. I have never lived a day of my life without a tank of some type except when I was a two year old and when I was in Nam. It is not my only hobby by far, but I have always been into it.
When I started fresh water even that hobby was very young. Before WW2 people didn't really keep fish as pets and when I started, they sold pets in department stores in the toy department.
I got into salt almost the week they became available in NY.
I guess I was born just at the right time.
I remember when Sanders sold the first skimmer and I had to have one, then I had to have an ozonizer, then bioballs. But I never went overboard as I know you can spend a fortune on this and I found out that you don't have to.
Boating is much more expensive than this and that is where most of my money goes. You can't have too many of these expensive hobbies, at least I can't

 

[mic_1011]

i'm obsessed, i think we all are, otherwise why would we do what we do. this hobby is an obsession, a sort of lust for fish (and coral)...an infatuation if you will. like any hobby it can be time consuming, expensive, and complicated. i have went the cheap route when i started and didn't listen to "you might as well get the good stuff now otherwise you'll be paying double later. well my tank crashed and i lost everything. i almost quit! so i went and got a bigger tank, better equipment, more researching, and i'm happy to say it's working out! so i guess it really is to each his own. if you can make it work cheap. good for you! i couldn't, but either way it's whatever makes us and our fish happy!

 

[bigbris1]

It's not really a hobby for me but a way of life. I have never lived a day of my life without a tank of some type except when I was a two year old and when I was in Nam. It is not my only hobby by far, but I have always been into it.
When I started fresh water even that hobby was very young. Before WW2 people didn't really keep fish as pets and when I started, they sold pets in department stores in the toy department.
I got into salt almost the week they became available in NY.
I guess I was born just at the right time.
I remember when Sanders sold the first skimmer and I had to have one, then I had to have an ozonizer, then bioballs. But I never went overboard as I know you can spend a fortune on this and I found out that you don't have to.
Boating is much more expensive than this and that is where most of my money goes. You can't have too many of these expensive hobbies, at least I can't

I remember that, you could go into a Woolworth's and get a tank and fish

 

[Paul B]

Thats right, thats where I used to get them, in the toy dept.