# How much time, money and effort do you spend to your tank?



## CoolCichlid (Feb 12, 2010)

How much time, money and effort do you spend to your tank?


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

I have four permanent tanks and other tanks that are brought up (and taken down) for various reasons, as well as being a water change junky and filter cleaning freak, so my numbers are bit askew....

Time... About 5 hours per week (usually jammed in on Sat.), sometimes a bit more, especially if I have something I am building or testing.

Money.... Just in tanks and equipment, probably about $6,000. I probably have between $800 and $1,000 worth of spare parts, chemicals, medications, and filter media on hand. My monthly cost I have never sat down and figured out, it fluctuates, depending on what I am playing with at the moment. My most recent online order (last week) was $239, $70 of which was equipment. The rest was just stuff (media, foods, conditioners, medications, etc...). It can be done much cheaper.

Effort... Depends. Sometimes its major effort, sometimes it's not. It can be done without significant effort, just hook up a python and drain, then refill. I generally take the more effort laden route. Weekly large water changes (I mean large, I reset nitrates to zero on each tank, each week). Nine canister filters, cleaned monthly. Five HOB filters, deep cleaned monthly with filter media cleaned/replaced weekly. I still drain via buckets (cannot justify the wasted water going down the drain via the python pump... even though I go through a lot of water in water changes). I do refills via the python. Two of the tanks, after gravel vacs, I drain out a window (onto flower beds). During the summer months, it's a ton of effort as I am running around the yard with 5 gallon buckets full of old tank water, dumping the water on plants and trying to get back into the house before the next drain bucket overflows. If exhaustion is any indicator, by the time I finish tank maintenance on Saturday, I'm done. But it's a workout with benefits.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

On cleaning and water changes? About 2 hours each week. That include the pond because it's low maintenance. Money? not much once it's up and running. Don't want to think about the cost it take to start a new large tank.


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## Electrophyste (Aug 5, 2009)

i go hungry some days


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## CoolCichlid (Feb 12, 2010)

kmuda said:


> I have four permanent tanks and other tanks that are brought up (and taken down) for various reasons, as well as being a water change junky and filter cleaning freak, so my numbers are bit askew....
> 
> Time... About 5 hours per week (usually jammed in on Sat.), sometimes a bit more, especially if I have something I am building or testing.
> 
> ...


I bet you have a beautiful tank...


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## Chiquita (May 4, 2010)

I spend a lot of time and effort into my tanks. Every week I take out all the decorations and clean the tanks. Im always feeding the fish special food and vitamins. I put it on their food. I have three tanks and it takes me about 2 Ã‚Â½ hours each week to clean the tank.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

I'm starting to recover from 6 months of fish burnout. I used to spend gobs of time money and energy. Then in October or November I just lost it. Not sure what triggered it. One of our favorite fish died. Starting to catch the bug again, though. 

Once you set up and get a workflow going, it's pretty easy. Takes a few hours for a big drain and fill in all of our tanks. Can get lots of other non-fish stuff done while pumps and siphons move water around.

Monthly costs, I've reduced most of the maintenance costs to nothing. I bought buckets of Eheim mechanical media for all of our non-Eheim filters. Works great, never clogs, and never needs replaced. Only significant cost right now is food: Our fish cost more to feed per month than our dogs and cats do.... mostly because I try to keep a varied diet, and like to support our local store.

-Ryan


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## CaseyV (Jan 2, 2010)

Way too much :lol:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

LSBoost said:


> On cleaning and water changes? About 2 hours each week.


This is about right for me. I've never checked the electricity costs but I probably spend $100-$200 annually on food, fine filter pads, meds, the occasional algae scrubber.


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## bottomdweller (May 26, 2010)

I have just started with the whole fish tank scene.

So far I've spent approximately $1,600 Australian Dollars.
It's amazing how the LFS can charge $95 for a rock and the same amount for driftwood.

Now that I know better i'll be going to the local park or beach for simple things like that.

However I have killed of at least 18 fish so far so that is some unplanned extra costs!


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## walleye (Aug 20, 2007)

I spend 2 hours a week on basic maintenance. Stripping females, moving fish, and major changes not included. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve been selling fry at local swaps. They pay for their own food. I buy food in bulk about twice a year from kensfish.com


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

My costs are relatively small for the 10 tanks I have going right now. Part of the hobby for me is finding ways to do things cheaply. I buy leakers, and repair them, built some tanks with free glass use mostly sponge filters, use free rocks, and cheap sand/gravel. Shop lights and T8 tubes. Since I belong to an aquarium society, I get cheap food, used dry goods, and livestock from our monthly auctions. Plants also. Selling plants and some livestock helps offset some costs. Do you get that I'm cheap?
As far as time goes, I have worked at making things easier. Larger diameter drain hoses make for faster draining. My fill hose has a gooseneck ending in a tee, which allows for faster fills. I use homemade dechlor ($4 for 20,000 gals). All my tanks are around the floor drain in the basement which makes for easy draining, which is a good thing because I am very sloppy.


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