The horse no one can ride......

[jorjef]

What a hobby! the expense, the time, the investment, the disappointment. About five years I have been at this saltwater game and it started innocent enough. I won the door prize at the local fish clubs semi annual fish auction, awesome a 160 litre bow front tank, stand lights everything I needed to get me feet wet in saltwater. Fast forward five years, I'm not going to bore you with the trials and tribulations inbetween but I will say I wish I never bought that ticket five years earlier. No one and I mean no one gets through this hobby unscathed, even the most grizzled veterans and smartest minds have tales of torment, disappointment and great losses. No one can ride this horse for long without falling off, no one can ride this horse into the sunset smiling. One thing is for sure at the end everything in your tank will be gone. Dead, sold, given away,some just vanishes into thin air. When ever I see a newbie introduce themselves to the board they get tons of welcomes and encouragement..... I want to tell them to sell everything now and cut their losses :lol:

That being said I still plod along, not with the same intensity in finding the best corals I can and have come to cross roads. Standing there, I wonder will the next big disappoint be my last...... Likely not, the thought of staring at an empty tank seems harder than moving forward trying to find the tanks sweet spot again even though I know when it's found it won't be found for long.

Chin up. Have a good evening.

[ReEf BoSs]

:biggrin:

[mrhasan]

You good sir needs to have the best cookie in market :mrgreen:

When someone says "go big" and claims bigger tanks are easier to take care of, I silently give a "poor you" air-tap on the shoulder of the one who takes that advice pill. :redface:

[Aquattro]

I think, before I think too hard, that for now I'll just get back on that damn horse and ride a little while longer....

[hillegom]

I think, before I think too hard, that for now I'll just get back on that damn horse and ride a little while longer....

:biggrin:

[gregzz4]

That's me
I just keep hangin' on, stupidly attached to my regimen of maintenance and battling the baddies, hoping that one day it will again look nice and my corals will thrive once more

Isn't it a fun hobby ?
Kinda reminds me of the Tom Hanks movie The Money Pit

[Dearth]

Yup that damn horse just will not stop ... It really annoys me on some days...ok every day but there I am riding it still...it begs the question who is more stubborn?

[freddy]

I just don't think of what it costs to feed the horse and I am ok:lol:

[Trigger Man]

So what you guys are saying is this new build is not going to be my horse that I ride into the sunset with . . .

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

This is my take on these horses.
Been riding mine for over 20 years :biggrin:
http://www.ridemagazine.com/images/horse_bite.jpg

Very wild horse , very easy, but still very hard to tame the horse.
Gets worse the more you try new innovative things even though the horse is getting easier to ride.
Like any other wild and unpredictable animal.
Keep it simple and you will gain a friend for life riding together.

http://www.horsebreedsinfo.com/images/horse-hug.jpg

[straightrazorguy]

Well, I think of it as a rodeo. He who stays in the saddle the longest wins....

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

What makes this rodeo harder and harder to ride over the years is the fact that almost everyone I started riding with over a decade ago have been thrown, have thrown in the towel or have changed ponies. Have made friends with some newer riders, but miss my old riding buddies.

Almost gave up twice, once when Marine Velvet killed most of my herd and another when the dang barn blew up all over the living room floor. Lots of poop to deal with and dang expensive too.

We riders are gluttons for punishment, eh?

[mikellini]

I think what keeps us going is the thrill of a new build. You always say it will be better this time... and it usually is, but still not good enough. So, on to the next.

Yep, I'd say it's an addiction of sorts.

[gogo]

who's got time to mess with horses.... i'm too busy scraping algae

[Kellyscoral]

Well - as the mother of 2 daughters that show-jump their horses competitively, I say bring on the coral because no amount of money I spend on my tank could even come close to the cash we throw into the horses!! I used to think there was no better way to relax than by brushing horse and feeding it some treats - but now I find it just as relaxing to stare at my tank and over feed my sun corals!

[ronau]

Well - as the mother of 2 daughters that show-jump their horses competitively, I say bring on the coral because no amount of money I spend on my tank could even come close to the cash we throw into the horses!! I used to think there was no better way to relax than by brushing horse and feeding it some treats - but now I find it just as relaxing to stare at my tank and over feed my sun corals!

No doubt about that. I used to breed designer snakes and I had a woman purchase a snake from me purely for a pet and she had no problem spending $2500 on it. She then told me she had just put out $400,000 for a horse....crazy.

[MitchM]

My wife has convinced me to come up with a solution and give it another try.:lol:
That didn't take long, or much.
I think what is appealing about this hobby is that it can be challenging, no matter your experience.
No boredom or "same old, same old" here.

[freddy]

Very good advice above, keep it simple

[Reef Pilot]

As with anything, it's about learning and knowing how to ride your horse better. If you can't do that, then look for another horse,... that maybe costs a bit less, and is easier to ride.