# I thought this would be cheaper than reefkeeping!!



## Guest (Nov 11, 2004)

Ok,

my wife had breathed a sigh of relief when I told her I wanted to put together a vivarium with dart frogs. We both thought it would be fairly inexpensive compared to reefkeeping. (my 90 gallon reef total cost is right around $6,000).

Anyway thank God I have a tank to use for my Viv. I bought my wood, coco husk from black jungle today, it totalled about $90 I then went this afternoon to Home Depot bought my egg crate, some fiberglass screen, some great stuff, black silicone caulk, and pvc and that bill came to $53.

So it is quickly adding up. WOW. I guess I will keep these couple of purchases secret from my wife!!  YIKES.

Oh well, it's only money right?

Dan


----------



## Guest (Nov 11, 2004)

Trust me it is cheaper. I had a reef too, but with the frogs there's no need for a $300 wet dry, or a $299 protein skimmer. Don't forget powerheads and wavemakers. Or how about the $600+ set of metal halides? Constant water changes at .30/gal + salt? $15 bottles of trace elements, kalkwasser additions?

I don't miss it, IMO. $150 for some of the more uncommon frogs and I can get more enjoyment watching them bounce around from plant to plant. Reefs are beautiful, but I think the frogs are more enjoyable, especially when they are breeding.

Now, I have to admit that watching my pair of true perculas raise clutch after clutch was pretty cool. At least until the larval stage, when the other fish had a feeding frenzy :shock:


----------



## Guest (Nov 11, 2004)

Jared,

yeah, not to mention the extra $65 a month on my electric bill for running JUST my reef tank. And when we'd go on vacation I'd have to have a babysitter just for the tank. Plus I had a backup generator on it for WHENI(not if) the power went out.

Yeah, I have a breeder pair of true percs. They are awesome. I also like my mated pair of Banghaii cardinals...Watching the male keep the live brood in his mouth is awesome.

Well, I am well on my way to a new Viv.

THanks
Dan


----------



## dmartin72 (Oct 27, 2004)

*Could I have picked anymore expensive hobbies?*

I feel everyone's pain. I have a 25 gallon tank that I have spent thousands on! 25 gallon tank, stand, 110 watt of CF, 50 # of live rock, live sand, 4 powerheads, skimmer run by another powerhead, heater, Eheim Pro 2 external filter, torch coral, pulsing zenia, zooanthids star polyps, feather duster, red kelp, green lettuce, red bubble macro and countless other macros, skunk cleaner shrimp, emeral crab, 20 - 30 snails, 20 - 30 hermit crabs, 2 clowns, 1 flame angel, 1 orchid dottyback, 1 neon goby, countless amounts of supplements and of course salt. I absolutely love it though! I'm glad that I don't have a larger tank because of the increased cost and husbandry involved.

What else? I also have a freshwater planted 12 gallon nano cube and another freshwater planted 10 gallon tank. 12 gallon nano cube DELUXE with 48 watts of CF light, heater, CO2 tank, ferts, onyx sand, two large pieces of driftwood with java moss covering it, java ferns, contortion vals, glossostigma, dwarf hairgrass, dwarf lobelia, 2 mated pair of Golden dwar rams, 10 pygmy corys, 7 ottos, 6 tequila sunrise guppies and 7 cherry shrimp.

The ten gallon is very similar except for 110 watts of CF lighting.

Now I am getting into this frog thing! I have 6 leucs, 4 powder blue tincs, 4 G & B auratus & 4 azureus! What the hell is wrong with me. My place is turning into a friggin ZOO. Please send a straight jacket and admit me to a metal ward. Maybe that's why I'm not married anymore...just kidding.


----------



## Guest (Nov 11, 2004)

Just wait until the dart sickness sets in and you set up more and more tanks, and then finally set up a rack, ect ect. and now in the summer I have to turn the AC on early so my house doesn't get to hot, and the heater on early to keep them from getting cold.

It adds up, not a cheap hobby if you dive in


----------



## khoff (Feb 18, 2004)

Thats why we moved our entire set-up into our basement. It was just crazy trying to keep a second floor room cool in the summer. Much more stable temps.


----------



## froglady (Feb 21, 2004)

LOL -- We just moved ours from the basement to the family room. The basement just gets too cold in the winter and we have to run space heaters. The electric bill goes through the roof!! Thankfully the family room is still below grade so in the summer it should stay fairly cool. Our AC or heater is always on. We actually bought a thermostat that will automatically switch from AC to the furnance depending on if the house needs heated or cooled. So in the spring / fall the heater usually runs at night and the AC is on in the afternoon......


----------



## benmz (Feb 18, 2004)

Oh Boy does it get crazy....

I got back into the hobby with some cobalts. Then added leucs. Then vents....yaddah yaddah. I've spent over 1000 bucks on frogs this year, that doesn't include supplies, like a rack, aquaria, plants, (coconut chips, fiber, huts). No burglar is coming here since there are lights on in almost all the rooms during the day into evening hours.

Now I'm starting to get tadpoles, lots of tadpoles. I've already taken up lots of space in my apt. The rack I got a few months ago is full of terraria and cups of tadpoles and the frogs produce even more eggs. I'm quickly going to have to come to a decision on what to do with it all. No basement or extra room. Maybe we'll have to rent another apt just for the frogs.

The crazy thing is I keep thinking I'll get more frogs. I really have to restrain myself when I see frogs for sale that I've been interested in. Definately not easy. I just hope to raise some froglets so that others can enjoy this hobby and maybe recoup some of the money that went into my dendromania this year.


----------



## bgexotics (Feb 24, 2004)

Yeah the whole fishkeeping thing gets very expensive. The frog tanks can be done cheaply once you get the hang of it and get a little inventive. At least once your plants get growing really well, you can split them up and use them to plant a new vivarium. Filtration and live rock and coral add up quickly.


----------



## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

I agree with you on this one. I drop about $1000 into a 10G AGA aquarium ..... lol! Here is a good pic:










I'll tell you though, I miss looking at it.


----------



## Anthony Jackson (Jul 16, 2004)

Looks like a nice hammer coral or torch!


----------



## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

LOL Joe, do you really have 6982 male pumillios? Damn, you must be busy :lol:


----------



## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

I've run Saltwater tanks for alittle over 10 years. Untill about 3 years ago i was only running FO tanks. I finally decided to make the leap into reefing and i really loved it. I sold off all my big tanks converted down to one 30 gal reef. I proably spent more money on that one tank than i spent in the 7 years before that. 

i ran over 300+ watts of PC 10K bulbs over the tank. Mag24 return pump from a homemade 60gal sump & 30 gal refugium. Running a MyReefCreations MR-2 protien skimmer and a MyReefCreations CR-1 calcium reactor, I also ran an ozoner, UV Sterilizer, Teclima CA200 Heater/Chiller & auto topoff hooked up to a 50gal/day RODI system. All of which was Monitored & controlled by a Neptune Systems AquaController II Deluxe. 

As for the tank... live sand base, somewhere around 75+ pounds of LR, pretty much your standard clean up crew. TONS of SPS colonies, frags etc. Hammer coral, frogspawn coral, blueish green brain coral, two rose BTA, and a breeding pair of black Ocellaris Clownfish, Lemon peel Angel, breeding pair of manderin gobys, and a flame hawkfish. 

I spent way to much of my life sitting in front of that thing, buying something for it, or doing maintiance on it. I ran that tank for quite a while and this last April finally tore it all down. Absolutly loved my Black ocellaris clowns hated to sell them. 

Either way...now that im into Darts, i havent begun to touch what i spent on that tank. But im much happier maintaining the few tank i have now of darts and its alot less work to maintian/feed etc. Certianly alot more enjoyable.


----------



## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

Wow, that is a TON of stuff for a 30 gallon tank. 75lbs of liverock in a 30 gallon? You must have had some pretty dense rock, either that or very little water.

I think I had about 150 pounds of liverock in my 90 gallon, but it was very lighweight premium marshall island rock. Very nice stuff. but very lighweight and porous.

Yeah, I am really starting to like frogs!


----------



## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

not all of the rock was in the tank itself....some was in the sump and refugium. and if i remember correctly it was marshal island and a mix of fiji. And your right i went alittle hog wild on that 30gal tank...but it sure was fun!!


----------



## Guest (Nov 13, 2004)

Anthony Jackson said:


> Looks like a nice hammer coral or torch!


Thanks! Here are some cool shots:


















The damn percula never stood still for photos


----------



## Guest (Nov 15, 2004)

LOL, great tank. Were's the proiteen skimmer??? Anyways i usto have a 50 gallon reef tank and turned it into a 50 gallon Cobalt tincs tank. And what r those green things in the front of the tank??? Great tank


Paul


----------



## Guest (Nov 15, 2004)

*What's that?*

Hey Hicksonj,

Is that Windex I see in your first pic there?


----------



## Guest (Nov 15, 2004)

Yep  LMAO!


----------



## Guest (Nov 16, 2004)

*Ha!*

I just couldn't resist!


----------



## booga (Sep 19, 2004)

Well I have been a freshwater fanatic for almost 20 years. Although I thought about it I never got a saltwater tank. Now I am lucky, I have frogs to keep me consistently broke! I'll never have to worry about getting into the saltwater side again :wink: 

booga


----------



## Guest (Dec 1, 2004)

I've also got a 38g currently, and yes the amount that can be spent on them can get up there (around $2000 right now). I can see myself down the road setting up a tank with frogs however.


----------



## bjdwa (Nov 26, 2004)

*reef vs. frogs*

Frogs are definitely cheaper than salt water stuff(also frog calls are a lot prettier than triggers munching on coral or pistol shrimp). The part I like best about frogs is that most either are currently, or could someday be captive bred. Some of the saltwater stuff will reproduce, like your clowns,cardinalfish, seahorses, (to those who can get them to reproduce goodluck with the larval stage)etc. and a few more on farms but mostly they seem to come directly from the ocean. I like having a hobby that is self sustaining outside nature. And just to preempt any backlash I'll just go ahead and include that I am supportive of RESPONSIBLE wild caught introductions into the hobby. Sometimes captive husbandry gets a bad name (sometimes it deserves it) but many species' continued existence, plant and animal, has depended on captive reproduction.


----------



## bluetip (May 18, 2004)

I've been a fish fanatic for over 10years now. Been keeping cichlids. 

A few years back I had a custom built 280 gallon tank. Planned to keep just salt water fish...I had not anticipated the costs that sky rocketed together with the size. I had to quit.

I had refilled the tank this year though with a colony of frontosas...Guess I'll be sticking with them...

I'm really getting into vivs now and it's a totally different experience! Don't know about costs yet as I still am waiting for frogs but comparatively, vivs definitely costs less...the tank construction alone is cheaper.

This is really getting to be really addictive!

bluetip


----------



## Guest (Dec 16, 2004)

I certainly hope it turns out to be cheaper than reefkeeping... I have a 220 gallon mixed reef tank, a twelve gallon nano cube plus a fifty gallon planted freshwater tank!


----------



## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

Damn...now that is tank!


----------

