Leaving hobby

[HOLYREEFER]

Anyone else noticed how much saltwater equipment is for sale since late last year? I know this is a hard hobby but why are so many people getting out of the hobby?

 

[bubbgee]

inflation. crash. too much time and money and perhaps the work involved vs influencing isnt worth it.

 

[IceNein]

In my opinion: This hobby takes a lot more work than people realize. I probably spend about four hours once a week doing water changes, testing parameters, hooking up the RODI system to make more water in addition to feeding once or twice daily, and I only have a 15 gallon tank.

You can get away with not doing those for a while, but eventually your tank will start to deteriorate, and then it takes a long time to get back in shape.

Add this in to the fact that fish are not that exciting to most people, so they're very cool to look after for a while but then they get bored and move on, leading to people not doing the maintenance.

Honestly that's why I think starting small, like I did, can be smart. If I get bored in a year, then all I have is a 15 gallon tank with a modest amount of corals and a couple of fish. If the hobby sticks... then upgrade away.

 

[Tamberav]

I feel like there has always been tons of equiptment for sale, not just now. The hobby has always had a really high turn over but also people change builds/tanks/upgrade/downgrade/sidegrade fairly often.

I went from a nanobox hybrid to just t5's to radions to orpheks just in lights... then I replaced my frag tanks AI primes with kessils...

Them side grades...

Hard to pick a light when you can't just walk into best buy and play with them like a phone.

 

[WvAquatics]

My guesses are
1-Cost. The monthly cost outside of food.
2- Life happened not enough time to focus
3- Tank crash
4- Upgrades selling old parts

 

[PharmrJohn]

Yeah, all of the above. For some, it's just too much work. And it is a lot of work. Disillutionment is another. I know when I first got into it I was AMAZED at the workload. But I'm the kind of guy that has started and finished many projects (mostly learning new insruments, which is much, much harder). So Saltwater seems pretty easy to me. I wish you the best of luck. I would recommend that you stick around the forum, as I'm sure you've made friends along the way. And these relationships deserve to be fostered.

 

[SpSDrew]

I’ve been selling older equipment due to upgrades. So I’m sure it balances out. Used equipment is always available, people change tanks around all the time.

 

[Idech]

IMO cost is the main cause of people quitting the hobby. It is really expensive and with cost of living rising, priorities have to change.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Time & Money.

There is money you initially spend on equipment, fish, corals, chemicals, salt and there is the money you spend on maintaining the tank, foods, salt, chems, test kits, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.....

My biggest expense at the moment is tank related electricity cost which my energy monitor puts at 50% of household use or about $300/month.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

The mission is attrition

 

[OriginalUserName]

Hard to pick a light when you can't just walk into best buy and play with them like a phone.

And when you can't usually return something if it doesn't work out for you.

 

[HOLYREEFER]

Ive been in this hobby also for over 20 years...
Ive had 3 really successful tanks and chasing this dream tank of SPS has been challening but i have'nt quite or let up but i guess i do get it.

Cost i completely understand

 

[Peair]

Anyone else noticed how much saltwater equipment is for sale since late last year? I know this is a hard hobby but why are so many people getting out of the hobby?

The main thing with me is that during the last 4 years the prices on corals, fish, and equipment have quadrupled, it's a big spend money hobby now, and corals are being cut much smaller, will it ever normalize anymore.

 

[GARRIGA]

Perhaps the drive to be TOM vs just enjoying stress free burns some out after spending countless sleepless nights and dollars following some YouTuber promoting the latest and greatest because pocket change more important then just providing simple but effective advise. We don't need Sticks to be Reefers and fact is 80s tanks were predominantly rocks with life and mushrooms plus fish. More I delve into this rabbit hole the more I'm thinking back to the 80s more pragmatic. Unless I find a sponsor

 

[BZOFIQ]

We don't need Sticks to be Reefers and fact is 80s tanks were predominantly rocks with life and mushrooms plus fish.

That's what I resorted to, softies with few LPS and fish, everything was going great...and now the flat worms!

 

[OriginalUserName]

The main thing with me is that during the last 4 years the prices on corals, fish, and equipment have quadrupled, it's a big spend money hobby now, and corals are being cut much smaller, will it ever normalize anymore.

I set a fairly high budget on my new tank and I've completely blown past it. Granted a lot of that is my choice to pick the most difficult things to care for, but still.

Some if it is convenience creep too. People used to do things like gravity fed ATOs and kalk dosing, or use cheap AC pumps. Now it's all bells and whistles. A metal halide bulb and fixture was cheap back in the day, a Radion is not.

Probably a large increase in demand over covid has also increased prices.

 

[IceNein]

Perhaps the drive to be TOM vs just enjoying stress free burns some out after spending countless sleepless nights and dollars following some YouTuber promoting the latest and greatest because pocket change more important then just providing simple but effective advise. We don't need Sticks to be Reefers and fact is 80s tanks were predominantly rocks with life and mushrooms plus fish. More I delve into this rabbit hole the more I'm thinking back to the 80s more pragmatic. Unless I find a sponsor

It is all about the journey, IMO. If you are not enjoying working through the hard parts, you may not really enjoy having a TOM quality tank.

 

[bakbay]

I’ve gone full circle - started with fish -> softies -> lps- sps so now back to fish!

Agree - the cost is real but if you can (honestly) justify it, you can make it work. You don’t need a thriving SPS tank to be called a “reefer”. Alternatively, find something else to make more money to fund your hobby. This is no different from golfing, guns, stamp collection, exotic cars, etc — it’s a luxury.

People leave this hobby (or any other hobby) for various reasons (cost, lost of interest, time, etc) but in the end, there will always be new hobbyists joining. I think R2R is a great community to help new hobbyists while supporting current hobbyists from giving up. It’s like addicts helping other addicts to justify their very own addiction!

 

[BZOFIQ]

I’ve gone full circle - started with fish -> softies -> lps- sps so now back to fish!

Agree - the cost is real but if you can (honestly) justify it, you can make it work. You don’t need a thriving SPS tank to be called a “reefer”. Alternatively, find something else to make more money to fund your hobby. This is no different from golfing, guns, stamp collection, exotic cars, etc — it’s a luxury.

People leave this hobby (or any other hobby) for various reasons (cost, lost of interest, time, etc) but in the end, there will always be new hobbyists joining. I think R2R is a great community to help new hobbyists while supporting current hobbyists from giving up. It’s like addicts helping other addicts to justify their very own addiction!

I gave up cable to fund my glass box TV

 

[bakbay]

I gave up cable to fund my glass box TV

I gave up freshwater for saltwater. Does that count?