5 Years to Upgrade?

I'm planning to upgrade to a 75 gallon tank or more. Since I have a lot of time. Do you guys think its fine to purchase things needed for the tank over time? Meaning if i find a tank up for sale on craigslist, here or at the lfs on sale for a good price; do you think its a good idea to purchase things on the way? or will the way people reef change.

The reason i want to upgrade in 5 years other then today is because I want to wait to get married and settled down in a new house rather then worry about transferring my tank. Also i'm saving for a down payment on a house.

 

Buying the larger things over time is fine. The things like lighting, which seem to be changing as fast as technology can progress, I would wait until you switch tanks to purchase. I bet 5 years from now we may have better LEDs than we do now for instance.

So if you find the tank you want, and even the skimmer(skimmer design hasn't changed much) go ahead and grab them.

 

If you are really planning to not set-up your new or upgraded tank for 5 years, I would suggest against buying things now.

Financially, it's almost certainly to your advantage to pay down any current debt now rather than trying to take advantage of a good deal on something that you won't use for half a decade.

Also, it's more than a bit of a pain to have to store a bunch of equipment for years on end while it takes up space, gets dusty, seals dry out, etc...

 

+1 on above

if you buy now, you will be tying money up in something you have no immediate need for
and worse case scenario being in 5 years time you may have lost interest completely
and end up selling stuff at a fraction of what you paid for it

IME - there are always bargains if your prepared to be patient and wait for the right deal
that situation will be as applicable in 5 years time as it is today

wait until your settled in the new home
convinced you still want to reef keep
and then start hunting for what you need to make the ambition a reality

Steve

 

In the mean time, this is a great opportunity to read, read, read, and ask more questions. Stay active on 3reef and maybe see if there's a good local reef club near you as well. Any preperation that you do now will pay big dividends once you actually set up your tank.

 

IMHO if your saving up to buy a house save that extra $ and add it to the house fund! I bought my house about 6 years ago and wasn't into the reef as I am now...hindsight is 20/20 and if I were to buy another house I'd buy one that was better suited for a reef tank(i.e it had a different floor plan I really want an in-wall tank!!)

 

haha thanks guys, dang i found a offer I almost took up for a tank.

I was gonna keep it running in my garage, but not im not soo sure.

75g Saltwater Aquarium w/Stand & ALL Accessories

 

It is a slightly different story if you find a good deal on a tank that you want and are going to keep it set up and enjoy it now. Of course this gets into another question as to how suited your garage is to keep a tank set up. My garage gets hot enough to cook scorpions in the summer and definately wouldn't work for a tank but I imagine that OR isn't quite that bad. If you have good heat and insulation for the winter months, it might be doable.