Hobby costs are soaring?

[areefer01]

I would now categorize saltwater reefing as a luxury hobby.

No more a luxury than say sewing or HPDE or scuba diving. Hobbies are discretionary income. The cost is what we make of it. Can setup a 20 to 60 gallon relatively unexpensive.

And the demise of the in-person local reef clubs/meetings has really increased the cost of the hobby. My local reef club is now just some zoom meetings with instagram of their tanks, it's a shame that they collect dues from members as they don't even provide proper website or information on their meetings or activities.

Social media and the side hustle are part to blame. Followers, likes, members, members only content or perks, subscribers, patreon, swag, and more all changed the landscape. I mean do you want to share or bank a frag only to find out Biff is selling it on the side as part of their side hustle? Known vs unknown of course comes into play but we are not living in the 80's anymore and values have changed.

Doesn't mean all hobbyist are bad or clubs. Just means we have to do a bit more vetting before we engage or participate and what our thresholds are.

 

[Dburr1014]

I just paid $20 for a chicken sandwich meal at McDonald's. 1st time there in years and I won't be going back anytime soon.

 

[twentyleagues]

I just paid $20 for a chicken sandwich meal at McDonald's. 1st time there in years and I won't be going back anytime soon.

I only go to mcDonalds for the frappes. I actually like them more then the blended from star bucks or biggby, and thats only once in a blue moon.

 

[spartanman22]

I first got into reefing around 2007 when I was in high school. I remember going to Preuss Pets in Lansing, Michigan - used to be amazing! Haven't been in years, but everytime I'd visit family there I'd go visit and was less and less impressed in the saltwater section each time. I recall going there and spending like $300 (which was like my summer mowing job savings!) and coming home with like 20 SPS "frags". Also worth noting that a frag back then was what would be consider a mini-colony today. I've always been an SPS guy and as much as I love all the fancy shamcy acro's that pop up every day the whole naming and luxury frag mentality has negatively impacted the hobby imo.

 

[Doctorgori]

We also gotta realize a LOT of vids are likewise infomercial…like for instance BRS talking about salt mixing stations. I think they like to sell heaters and have hooked everyone into thinking you need all this stuff to do this task or that…

 

[fish farmer]

No more a luxury than say sewing or HPDE or scuba diving. Hobbies are discretionary income. The cost is what we make of it. Can setup a 20 to 60 gallon relatively unexpensive.



Social media and the side hustle are part to blame. Followers, likes, members, members only content or perks, subscribers, patreon, swag, and more all changed the landscape. I mean do you want to share or bank a frag only to find out Biff is selling it on the side as part of their side hustle? Known vs unknown of course comes into play but we are not living in the 80's anymore and values have changed.

Doesn't mean all hobbyist are bad or clubs. Just means we have to do a bit more vetting before we engage or participate and what our thresholds are.

That is the way I feel a lot about this hobby. You spend what you are able. I did a comparison of what a 40 gallon would have cost me in 2021 compared to what I did back in 2000. I don't remember all the cost from 25 years ago but is was likely over $1000, maybe $1500 before corals. The 2021 price was close to $2000 before corals, basic system, the only fancy controllers you get are hardware store light timers.

I can spend $100 on a fly fishing rod or $500 on a fly fishing rod. Both will catch fish, but the $500 does come with a 25 year guarantee.

 

[RSNJReef]

Everyone that is a "garage" seller in my area is bringing stuff in wholesale from the same places the LFS get their stock. The only reason they are cheaper is because they are not getting the permits and paying their fair share of the taxes. Some even tell you that if will pay cash or send the money as a gift they won't charge sales tax. Some even do raffles which I believe is illegal in TX or it used to be. I know our reef club ran into some trouble many years ago for having them at the monthly club meetings.

Definitely agreed, but the guys are still doing it, be it by whatever means. It’s still going to drive the competition wave though.

 

[Kfactor]

keep buying at high prices and it will go up higher

 

[traumamed]

I would now categorize saltwater reefing as a luxury hobby.

In a way, all hobbies are "luxuries." Don't get me wrong - I am no happier about the price increases in reefing than anyone else. I had a 220 mixed reef for much of the mid-10s, and just got back into it after a several-year hiatus. Part of me was shocked at what has happened to prices compared to pre-COVID. The other part.... wasn't. I also participate in aviation, boating, scuba, skiing, and track events. The annual inspection on my plane was around $1,000 three years ago. This year it was $3,000 for the same exact work. Earlier this year, I sold a boat I bought in 2021 for 25% more than I paid for it. Filling up my scuba tanks used to cost $5/tank, now it costs $15-20. Etc.

Of course, I also make nearly 30% more per year than I did five years ago. Inflation still sucks though. Income never seems to quite keep up.

 

[NTLA]

To be fair costs have been going up for all sorts of things, not just this hobby. It is expensive though.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Reefing is much cheaper when we make friends with other hobbyists. Just gotta get out of the house every once in a while.

 

[keithw283]

Cheap powerhead ~$10
Good powerhead ~$15-25
Small HOB filter ~$10-15
HOB Protein skimmer ~$59-99
Cheap heater ~$10
Good heater ~$20
50/50 Coralife Fluorescent bulb ~$10-20
Live rock ~$2-4/lb
Dry rock ~$1-2/lb

Green chromis ~$4.99
Most gobies ~$8-15
Dwarf Angels ~$25-40
Large Angels ~$60-80

Soft corals were usually like $5 for a frag and $20-30 for a softball sized specimen.

You can still get cheap powerheads on amazon for about that price. Not sure how good they are but I bought a few for my QT tank for like $10 bucks each. 800gph

 

[smitten with ocean life]

I just paid $20 for a chicken sandwich meal at McDonald's. 1st time there in years and I won't be going back anytime soon.

same here! i just told my children that eating at mc donalds is a luxury anymore. we didnt go often, but no more now!

 

[PotatoPig]

now they sell zoanthids "per polyp"

I gotta say, I don’t understand the cheapness of sellers here.

A zoa grow out will grow exponentially. If you have two they will turn into 4 in the same time it takes 4 to turn into 8, etc. It doesn’t take long to have boatloads of them… Unless I’m missing something it shouldn’t be all that more demanding on grow operations to sell plugs covered in zoas vs supergluing a rock fragment with a single polyp to a plug.

 

[Paul B]

I just paid $20 for a chicken sandwich meal at McDonald's. 1st time there in years and I won't be going back anytime soon.

The only time I go into McDonald's is if I am on the road and my wife has to use the Ladies room. I have to buy a cup of coffee then and I dump it out when I get outside.

Here in New York I can still get a Copperband butterfly for about $30.00 and last week I bought a 5" frogspawn coral for fifty bucks so the prices are not bad here.

One of the last times I put gas in my boat before I sold it 2 years ago it was almost $500.00. I don't dive any more but I think my SCUBA tanks cost about fifteen bucks to fill. I guess even the price of air went up.

All hobbies are expensive unless you want to bird watch or work at a soup kitchen which they will let you do for free and you get a cup of soup out of it. Probably from McDonalds.

 

[fish farmer]

All hobbies are expensive unless you want to bird watch or work at a soup kitchen which they will let you do for free and you get a cup of soup out of it. Probably from McMcDonalds.

Unless you're my dad....he was frugal, but went all over the world birding, I think 13 countries.

He was planning on having me carry his luggage to Mongolia, but a mild stroke forced him to retire.

 

[4FordFamily]

The only time I go into McDonald's is if I am on the road and my wife has to use the Ladies room. I have to buy a cup of coffee then and I dump it out when I get outside.

Here in New York I can still get a Copperband butterfly for about $30.00 and last week I bought a 5" frogspawn coral for fifty bucks so the prices are not bad here.

One of the last times I put gas in my boat before I sold it 2 years ago it was almost $500.00. I don't dive any more but I think my SCUBA tanks cost about fifteen bucks to fill. I guess even the price of air went up.

All hobbies are expensive unless you want to bird watch or work at a soup kitchen which they will let you do for free and you get a cup of soup out of it. Probably from McDonalds.

Bird watching with bird feeders is pretty expensive these days! Don’t ask me how I know

Hi old friend!

 

[Paul B]

Good Morning Ford. How are you? I have a hummingbird feeder and it costs about $4.00 a year to make sugar water for them. I'm surprised they don't all die of diabetes.

 

[KrisReef]

The only time I go into McDonald's is if I am on the road and my wife has to use the Ladies room. I have to buy a cup of coffee then and I dump it out when I get outside.

Here in New York I can still get a Copperband butterfly for about $30.00 and last week I bought a 5" frogspawn coral for fifty bucks so the prices are not bad here.

One of the last times I put gas in my boat before I sold it 2 years ago it was almost $500.00. I don't dive any more but I think my SCUBA tanks cost about fifteen bucks to fill. I guess even the price of air went up.

All hobbies are expensive unless you want to bird watch or work at a soup kitchen which they will let you do for free and you get a cup of soup out of it. Probably from McDonalds.

Paul, wasting coffee is a crime against humanity. I have an alternative suggestion when stopping for shelter on the side of the McArches Highway. I always do this if they have one of the new self serve ordering stations. I order a McBurger, but the fun is to customize it. I add mayonaise, extra pickles, onions, extra ketchup, and whatever condiments you prefer. Extra lettuce is nice if you are actually going to eat it. When the order comes, look and see if they made any of the custom changes you ordered from the self serve menu board. I have rarely found that I get anything besides the regular, worn out, dry disgusting hamberger that often seems may have been left over in the freezer from our youth. Once or twice I have gotten a few upgrades, (extra lettuce, catchup, pickles, et ct.) but generally they can only change one or two items as ordered before they give up and stuff the custom burger into the paperwrapper that they slam into the bag.

The custom burgers can be an improvement, but if you are just going to hand them to a homeless person hanging aroung the place it makes for an interesting experiment to see how many changes they actually make compared to what was requested. I don't know if the reason they don't get processed is for time purposes or if the folks working in the back just don't understand English enough to comply?

It's much worse than getting advice at PetCo in my experience. They can't deliver the upgrades and modify the McBurger to represent the changes I have asked for. If you don't expect much it's a fairly reasonable way to entertain oneself while the wife is doing her thing and as mentioned before, generally someone in the dining room is open to eat it if you decide not to.

 

[Paul B]

I was 16 when the New York Worlds Fair was open and I didn't have much money so I would go there, jump over the fence because it was a fortune to get in. Run from the guards and head to a place that sold hamburgers. I would take a plate and fill it up with pickles, onions, olives and sauerkraut and a little mustard and that was my lunch.

It was free and I then had time for the other attractions there most of which were free.

I was there almost every day for the couple of years it was open.