is it possible to make money off of marine stuff?

[teamkimbo]

im gonna have my sump and other stuff in my garage and was wondering what if i connect a couple other aquariums and breed anemone's or frag expensive coral since i have space in my garage, can i make money off this? or would the expenses of the tank, setup, lighting, and electricity bill be too much too overcome

[flyboydave]

im gonna have my sump and other stuff in my garage and was wondering what if i connect a couple other aquariums and breed anemone's or frag expensive coral since i have space in my garage, can i make money off this? or would the expenses of the tank, setup, lighting, and electricity bill be too much too overcome

Sure, you can make money. Will you break even on all the supplies and power? I doubt it. You could make some profit, just don't quit your day job. Its a slow process. But I'd bet you could break even at it.

Do it because you enjoy it.

[Elite]

If you are going to use 6 MH light on a 180G then the answer is no..

[chessmanmark]

Read Anthony Calfo's book on Coral Propogation. He was able to make a profit using a greenhouse to reduce lighting and heating costs. Farmers can do well, however it's a labor intensive job. It's easier dealing with wholesalers because they don't even want to talk to you. All they want are x ammount of corals each month. You'll make more selling pieces on e-bay, however that's a whole different headache. Maybe you want to think about propagating corals for trades to improve your display or just trying to reduce your electric bill. Making a profit can be tough in this hobby.

[kiknchikn]

I'm just a noob still, but I would think that you're probably better off as using the space as a either a grow out tank for your main display, or for propagating for trade. It won't make you money, but it may very well save you quite a bit of money in the long run. You can get a lot better deals from trading than you can buying it seems.

[chicletmyclowngoby]

hey, ok, if you buy wholesale, the profit is yours, if you propagate your corals, it is possible, but you have to trick your corals, did you know if you haver a metalhalide setup with VHO/Power compacts, you turn on MH for 4-5 hours to start the [hotosynthesis then turn off and keep the Pc on to provide light, and you keep at it, in a cpl turnovers youll start tpo see profits

[Mike O'Brien]

First get to the point where you're making money from you're tank itself.

Once you get there there are plenty of coral's that don't require intense lighting and fetch a big price. Zoanthid's and ricordea, most of the lps and alot of sps. T-5's would be fine and would be energy efficient.

[chicletmyclowngoby]

yes, dont engage in sps 4 money , you wont make any, leathers and zoas. mushrooms is where you will make money

[phistio]

you'd be more likely to make enough money to buy things like salt, dry goods, new bulbs, food, etc. as you trade in corals and macroalgae to the LFS.

it's not going to make your car payment.

[aquaticobserver]

One thing that alot of newbie growers fail to realize that by raising your entire stock in 1 tank you are increasing your expense and the huge risk of loosing everything. Each time you propagate and add new stock too your tank you will have some die off and some to live and grow well. each item that dies off will of course polute your tank. this being just 1 way your tank will will have continuing organic build-up. you will require a much bigger than normal protien skimmer and alot more water changes. Increased amounts of circulation aids in the healing process of fragging so this is an additional cost to maintain.
Imagine how much loss you will have if you have a disease get into your tank or a heater or equipment acts up and fries your stock......Had that happen twice over the years i shrug each time i think of it anymore.

So unless your experienced in every aspect of the field and have an unlimited amount of funding to back you up. then your goal to make a good profit will more than likely fail.
Fragging and growing out frags in your main tank or a smaller one kept close by will help to pay for the costs of the hobby thats about it.