All good advice Scott. You have a lot more experience in the marine tank world than I do so I was definitely looking forward to your take on Scott's situation.
I just replaced the filters and DI in my system. My tank currently has more bubble algae than I am happy with and my halide bulbs need to be replaced (the algae outbreak may be a mixture of bad topoff and the bad bulbs).
The wife and I have discussed shutting the tank down. I want to build a LED setup to grow SPS in the 150g system.......unfortunately that's not a cheap project. Cheaper than buying off the shelf, but still an investment. Plus with 4 kids under the age of 5 any free time......what free time
The biggest factor is simply putting more money into it to get it where I want it to be. I have halide ballasts that are bad and need to be replaced/repaired. Weekly maintenance really isn't that big of a deal, like you stated above. Refill topoff container, clean glass, monthly water changes.
I am still flip flopping over the decision to shut it down. Hopefully I can find a way to keep it.