You have become addicted!
Indeed.
I too had that addiction.
As a teenager my Dad supported me with first one 10 gal, then a 20. I bred guppies at first. My budding addiction landed me a "part time" after school at one of the two petshop stores in Burlington, Vt. That was about when I was 16 and first got to drive. By the time I got to college I had taken over about 1/5 th of the basement with walls lined with fish tanks. A significant discount and salvaging leaking tanks fueled my addiction.
LOL ... that could do it ... :thumbsup:
That was when all tanks were metal frame, slate bottom, glass sides and putty.
Yup ... my first tank was a 15G MetaFrame. Got that when we were still in town, so I couldn't have been more than 10 or so at most.
And since most of them were kept a 78* or higher I probably heated the house during the winter.
Yeah, that could do it ...
I'm running the ones I have set up around 76F - 78F ... hopefully, the electric bill will drop a little once I get them moved downstairs.
But college came along and I kicked that addiction about the time I started breeding and raising Discus AND gave up the job due to college. But I still have a 50, 29 and four 10's to set up in retirement.
You probably mentioned it before, but what fish are you keeping currently ?
Be careful, tropical fish can be more expensive than tractors if you have to pay retail.
Yup.
So far - other than the 55G I got from my nephew (and the one I already had) - I've been picking up tanks at the Petco dollar a gallon sales ... so the tanks have been pretty cheap.
It's all the other stuff (heaters, hoods/covers, lights, etc) that can really add up. But if you watch CL, there's a lot of stuff that can be had pretty cheap. Speaking of which, I just got back from meeting a local guy here ... scored three, essentially new, Aqueon 36" T8 fluorescent fixtures (with bulbs) at roughly 1/5 of retail (he converted to LED)
The smaller tanks I'm getting ready to set up will probably all be bare ... at least for the grow out tanks ... and will use air-driven foam filters. Tanks higher up on the racks may not even need heaters.