Question of the Day Name your Favorite "Splurge" & "Save"

[DexterB]

Post a "Splurge" & a "Save"!
What's your favorite hobby related "Splurge" that was worth the price?
What's your favorite hobby "Save" that you appreciate?

Items can be equipment, livestock, DIY, tank itself... any hobby related item!
Multiple responses are fine.
Be sure to post both a splurge & a save!

 

[Lachri]

Fishotel fish fit both categories for me. The fish cost more than the lfs (sometimes, sometimes they're the same) but it's soooooooo much easier than QTing myself. Plus after I qtd 4 fish myself with httm, ended up uronema so they needed an extended stay in QT costing me a total of around $1500, it turns out that splurge of letting someone else qt is a huge savings!

 

[Jon from TerraReef]

Sometime before 2012 people thought I was nuts for buying a $100 "yellow" torch from Australia. Who on earth would spend that kind of money on a Torch coral? I like different odd ball things and I had never seen a yellow before(almost no one in the states had and the marketing hadn't caught up to call them, "Gold". I am so glad I splurged and bought it and it is still one of my favorites.

 

[Jposch]

Return pumps. Jebao almost always. Wavemakers, jebao, or tunze if I'm feeling fancy.
Most coral, I'll sprluge buying tank grown vs. The risk of importing. Vast price difference, but also a big difference in quality and survival. You also know what you are getting. It won't drastically change color during to high nutrients and spectrum compared to the sea.
Sps and euphyllia in particular fare far better getting them aquacultured. Maricultured is no better than wild collected. Pests, poor survival, etc.

 

[Spazizz]

Jawbreaker mushroom is the only splurge, it's hardy and has grown well for me. Ive bought other expensive soft corals but they just didnt hit the same, (koji wada leather, real Japanese green toadstool)

The best cheap coral Ive gotten is the green nepthea, it looks amazing.

 

[Jposch]

@bishoptf ^^nepthea

 

[bishoptf]

@bishoptf ^^nepthea

Wish I could get a better picture of the one that I have, I trimmed it yesterday btw. Mine has longer arms and not as bunchy but man they look similar.

 

[don_chuwish]

Splurge - everything I've put into Apex based monitoring and automation
Save - my new 23G ATO container that is just a recycling bin

 

[saf1]

Splurge? Probably Biota Pink Square Anthias. Because buying one isn't enough I bought four I've been putting aside my latte money for another fish they may have one day.

Save: DIY LED multi channel arrays.

Edit: forgot save...

 

[mattzang]

hmm splurge i guess would be stuff i didn't need, but am quite happy with

my quanta bars i suppose would fit the bill. i didn't 'need' them, but i love having them. i love how bright the entire tank looks with them on

my china wrasse and multicolor angel probably fit the bill on fish. both were from qt places and both arrived eating like champs and i didn't have to worry about medicating them

coral wise i really haven't splurged much and when i have i generally regret it as i don't have them anymore

savings wise i bought a simplicity return pump when i set the tank up and that thing is still chugging along. i keep thinking i might 'upgrade' to a better pump, but why when this thing is running fine

i did stock up on some supplements during black fridays or the marine depot shutdown so i'm good on RODI stuff and rox carbon and things like that for a hot minute, good savings there

my two tunze 6095s were $150 shipped for both and have been perfect and worked great

 

[Jon from TerraReef]

Sometime before 2012 people thought I was nuts for buying a $100 "yellow" torch from Australia. Who on earth would spend that kind of money on a Torch coral? I like different odd ball things and I had never seen a yellow before(almost no one in the states had and the marketing hadn't caught up to call them, "Gold". I am so glad I splurged and bought it and it is still one of my favorites.

View attachment 93026

Realizing now this may not be the best story to share with everyone. There are a lot of experienced hobbyist here which makes me feel a little better, but in general it is unwise for a new hobbyist to "grab a deal' on an animal they have never seen before. Most coral and fish in the hobby sold as, "rare" are not really rare at all. It is extremely important to understand the care requirements of any animal before purchasing. I HATE reading posts that say, "Can someone help me identify this critter? I forget the name of it, but the guy at the store said it was rare. Also what lighting and flow should I keep it in?".

Insert image of something almost no one can keep alive for a year. Follow that up with comments like, "can I get a frag". Crap this is a happy "Question of the Day" thread and not "facebook reefers suck".

 

[Jposch]

Realizing now this may not be the best story to share with everyone. There are a lot of experienced hobbyist here which makes me feel a little better, but in general it is unwise for a new hobbyist to "grab a deal' on an animal they have never seen before. Most coral and fish in the hobby sold as, "rare" are not really rare at all. It is extremely important to understand the care requirements of any animal before purchasing. I HATE reading posts that say, "Can someone help me identify this critter? I forget the name of it, but the guy at the store said it was rare. Also what lighting and flow should I keep it in?".
View attachment 93085
Insert image of something almost no one can keep alive for a year. Follow that up with comments like, "can I get a frag". Crap this is a happy "Question of the Day" thread and not "facebook reefers suck".

And, I place 99% of the blame on ty lfs owners or employees. A good lfs won't bring in things that do poorly just to make a buck and sell it to unsuspecting victi....customers.

 

[Tamberav]

Almost every fish feels like a splurge $$$ these days unless it it something really common.

My regal skimmer was $100 so that was a nice find.

 

[Alisa_MK_Reef]

And, I place 99% of the blame on ty lfs owners or employees. A good lfs won't bring in things that do poorly just to make a buck and sell it to unsuspecting victi....customers.

yep I have that LFS and when they were trying to promote some new inventory of fish FB Group I just asked if they QT their livestock ( he sold me sick and the species of fish for inappropriate tank size a year before, so it nuke our first tank, I was trying to be sarcastic)
so his minions were backing him on how wonderful his store is and blah blah blah...I should def give it a go and come check it out., the store owner replied that he sells 500 fish a week and it would be impossible to qt them. I couldn't resist I replied and told the truth about his store...so I got banned from that FB local reef group I'm only allowed here now I think every LFS store should take an Ethic class and be certified in it.

 

[Alisa_MK_Reef]

"Splurge" was worth the price: Let's see a few things. The fish blue scopa tang and blotched anthias. Coral I would have to say is trachyphyllia Equipment life is much easier with the Apex controller. I tried without for 1.5 years it was too much worrying.

"Save" that you appreciate?-I didn't know you can save in this hobby following for secrets.

 

[Alisa_MK_Reef]

Sometime before 2012 people thought I was nuts for buying a $100 "yellow" torch from Australia. Who on earth would spend that kind of money on a Torch coral? I like different odd ball things and I had never seen a yellow before(almost no one in the states had and the marketing hadn't caught up to call them, "Gold". I am so glad I splurged and bought it and it is still one of my favorites.

View attachment 93026

isn't this torch now going for like 1K or more?

 

[Jposch]

isn't this torch now going for like 1K or more?

Depends on what name you give them. Lol

 

[Alisa_MK_Reef]

Depends on what name you give them. Lol

right hahahahaha holy grail 24 Gold what silly

 

[Jposch]

At least there is a guide now. But still, Ridiculous

$OG_TITLE

$OG_DESCRIPTION

reefstable.com

 

[Jon from TerraReef]

isn't this torch now going for like 1K or more?

One of our wholesale customers sold one of ours for $999.00 and it looked like crap in the picture because their tanks are not as healthy as ours and the coral had only been out of the bag for an hour tops before the photo was taken. They also did not attach the word, "Aquacultured" to their description which would have increased the value of the coral in a lot of people's eyes. They also started the listing as an Indo Torch which any experienced seller would know you do not get massive polyp sized from Indonesia usually and advertising it being from Indo would likely decrease the value versus just leaving the country of origin off.