Have you thought of quitting this hobby?

[jhj0112]

This is the first time since I got into reefing (5 yrs) that I'm considering it...

I just had tank crash ( over dosing NO3PO4X and skimmer off for 2 weeks) and I pretty much lost everything that I loved including fishes.. only one clown is left..

It is really difficult to look at my tank as I have to pull out either dead fish or coral daily..

Have you guys gone through this? How did you guys bounce back? I'm so ****ed and feel like an idiot..

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[Animal-Chin]

Yup marine velvet killed all my fish once, I was really upset but kept going...

[AquaAddict]

Have been thinking about it for some time. Hubby and I are moving off the grid next Spring. I will have to shut down 150 gal display tank, 75 gal refugium and 40 gal sump.

I know its not quite the same thing but still....

AquaAddict

[kien]

Thinking about it is one thing, actually doing it? Well there are tonnes of people that just up and pull the plug (so to speak) on their tank all the time. There are a lot of reasons and factors that can contribute to this decision. Finances, life changes, priorities, kids. A lot of things that can go against having a tank. So ya, you're not alone. I've thought about it a few times myself, but every time I think about quitting, I rationalize how I would probably just end up missing the tank in a years or twos time. Then, I'd just end up wanting to get back into the hobby again, meaning upstart costs. The fear of upstart costs alone keeps me going, even when I don't want to sometimes. That said, if I lost everything in my tank I'd definitely have a harder time justifying staying in the hobby.

Sorry to hear of your loss. :cry:

[kamloops_reefer]

we had a crash 6 months ago - and same thing went through our mind. but we realized how much we really enjoy the hobby.

to move past this and stay in the hobby, look at this as a positive opportunity to finally do those things you wanted to do to the tank. If you are like us, that included setting up the rock how we wanted, getting the combination of fish we wanted and setting up certain hardware.

The lessons learned from these experienced hopefully aid in future enjoyment. I know they have for us

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

When I lost literally thousands of dollars worth of fish (mostly large tangs) due to first a tank breaking and then a marine velvet outbreak, I was ready to throw in the towel. My wife convinced me to stay in it and my buddy Chin gave me his tank to get started again.

Anthony

[Frogger]

If you have been in this hobby long enough you likely have experienced this. I have lost all my fish multiple times, from diseases to a over night power failure. Just 4 month ago I lost 75% of my corals because of a phosphate crash (my own doing). What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, Sometimes we gain great knowledge the hard way.

[Skimmer Juice]

going on 13 years in the hobby and funny enough the thought has not crossed my mind even once . I could see your dilemma as the feeling of losing anything you have cared for really sucks, it would be a shame to go out on such a low , try and learn from this and level up as a reef keeper from it . Plus you have 1 fish left so not all is lost . Anyways keep your head up I think every reef keeper goes through something like this

[iceman86]

I've been at this hobby for 6 years now and I've thought about it a couple times. It's usually when things start dying and you can't figure out why. I'm just recovering from a tank crash that cost me 95% of my corals. Everything from sps that have grown really large over the years to zoas. Other than the money I've put in already and for my passion for the ocean, i think what drives me the most is my stubbornness to be proved that I can maintain a difficult sps system especially since I've done it for years already before. Its still a very unexplored hobby with limited members trying to push the limits at the cost of their livestock, so we are left learning from our mistakes. Couple that with all the different test kits giving you different readings and constantly changing equipment, our livestock are left as the ginea pigs for testing it all out on. Gotta keep pushing forward because it's an awesome feeling to see that you can have an amazingly sophisticated ecosystem at home.

[Dearth]

Thinking about it is one thing, actually doing it? Well there are tonnes of people that just up and pull the plug (so to speak) on their tank all the time. There are a lot of reasons and factors that can contribute to this decision. Finances, life changes, priorities, kids. A lot of things that can go against having a tank. So ya, you're not alone. I've thought about it a few times myself, but every time I think about quitting, I rationalize how I would probably just end up missing the tank in a years or twos time. Then, I'd just end up wanting to get back into the hobby again, meaning upstart costs. The fear of upstart costs alone keeps me going, even when I don't want to sometimes. That said, if I lost everything in my tank I'd definitely have a harder time justifying staying in the hobby.

Sorry to hear of your loss. :cry:

Well said Kien

Everyone in this hobby has experienced heartbreak and despair and it will pull at your heartstrings but if you can view this as a learning experience and an opportunity to make changes

I personally have had 2 partial tank crashes and 2 red Cyanobacteria outbreaks that killed over 60% of my coral yet I bull through it and I make changes to rockscape and I get a better tank out of the deal each time.

Stick with it you might surprise yourself

[mseepman]

I lost almost all my coral of the last year, then my APEX blew up while I was on vacation and what had survived died. My fish are still going and I'm slowly building tank back. I still don't have any automation due to APEX failure and doing things manually is taxing me a lot, but I will survive and so will my tank. I love it too much as do my wife and kids. It's just a part of us all now.

[jhj0112]

update: I thought the other clownfish was dead as she was laying on sand.

It turns out she is still alive.

After 2 water changes, she is now swimming but not taking any food yet..

she, her partner and YWG are the only reason I care about the tank.

At this point, I just don't care about corals..

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[spedly]

I think about it from time to time. I think the amount of money I have put into this hobby is what keeps me in it.

About 6-7 years ago I had a planted tank running and I accidentally killed everything while travelling due to accidental CO2 overdose. That made me give up planted tanks and try a marine tank instead.

[joe pooh]

i feel i lose interest sometimes, especially when things are not going well in the tank or at home. i just dumb it down to the bare necessities, water changes and cleaning the equipment. i snap out of it after a while and am happy i still have my tank up. i had stopped for years and regretted it due to the cost of starting up again. the only reason i started up again was i was given a tank ready to go. Even that brought it's own problems, but i toughed it out. now my tank looks good and even my Blue Hippo Tang stopped giving me grief.

**keep your rocks alive until you are sure you want to shut down. once they die, it is time consuming and frustrating work to clean the death off them so you can reuse them.**

[WarDog]

I'll be quitting any day now.

[Dearth]

I'll be quitting any day now.

And how many years have you been telling yourself that particular story eh!!

[phillybean]

I did quit, upgraded a 75 that was running great for a 125 that was a nightmare. Battled everything and finally threw in the towel. It was just too much work and I realized I would come home and dread having to work on the tank or spending the weekends picking out hair algae, more than I enjoyed it.

I think that was 2009. I know have a month old 90 gallon inwall. So far so good, I think taking my time planning it and getting good equipment has helped a lot. Also putting it in the wall means it'll be a ton of work taking it down so when I do get frustrated I will realize it'll be more work getting rid of it than it will be fixing it.

[DKoKoMan]

I get angry. I want to see growth and colour out of my corals, this doesn’t always happen. That being said I don’t want to quit, but I definitely want to see improvements. My struggle is with phosphate management. As for now the fish are all healthy and nothing has died recently. This keeps me moving forward in this hobby.

[Cujo#31]

In my very limited experience (6 years give or take) I have finally come to therms with a couple facts. The first being that we all fool ourselves by saying this is a hobby. In reality it is no more than a bad investment.....and a burning passion. The second thing I have learned is loss seems to sadly be a rite of passage.
We start out, and things are going well. Then we get complacent,cocky or we "over tinker" trying to tease that extra shot of color, or there are dosing pump failures, power failures, disease, bugs.Whatever the caause, things suddenly go to hell. The Coral Gods have stepped in to remind you who is really in control.
I have failed far more often than I have succeeded. But instead of throwing in the towel the first time I contemplated such a thing as I stared at my now shredded, fishless display, and coral strewn about it as though I had let my kids swim in the tank from removing fish for Ich treatment, man I was crushed.
Then I realized that I did enjoy the "hobby", that I enjoyed the challenge, and as so many have said, the time and money invested to that point hardly justified walking away. I then started re-assessing everything and started looking at my issues as an opportunity to do things to the tank I wasn't able to do before. Change mobile inhabitants, rearrange the rock the way I wanted, change my sump design, and.....hell.....why not just go to a bigger tank??? LMMFAO
Failure is only a negative if we have not learned from it. The single greatest resource, is other reefers, and their painful accounts of "life gone wrong". Take their experiences and learn from them. Learn from your mistakes. Find the common threads to failure, crashes etc and avoid them. For me, it is the complete abandonment of dosing pumps, as they seem to be the single largest contributors to crashes. Quarantine, Quarantine, and then Quarantine some more.
Most important is to always remember that none of us is immune to disaster, none of us are infallible, and we all walk that razor's edge while we try to "play master creator" in our own little oceans.That is what keeps me going, the delicate balance, the sheer fleeting pleasure of a good result, the pain of failure....it all goes hand in hand. That is reefing. We are all "that special kind of crazy". That is why we reef. Chin up. Good Luck

[jhj0112]

In my very limited experience (6 years give or take) I have finally come to therms with a couple facts. The first being that we all fool ourselves by saying this is a hobby. In reality it is no more than a bad investment.....and a burning passion. The second thing I have learned is loss seems to sadly be a rite of passage.
We start out, and things are going well. Then we get complacent,cocky or we "over tinker" trying to tease that extra shot of color, or there are dosing pump failures, power failures, disease, bugs.Whatever the caause, things suddenly go to hell. The Coral Gods have stepped in to remind you who is really in control.
I have failed far more often than I have succeeded. But instead of throwing in the towel the first time I contemplated such a thing as I stared at my now shredded, fishless display, and coral strewn about it as though I had let my kids swim in the tank from removing fish for Ich treatment, man I was crushed.
Then I realized that I did enjoy the "hobby", that I enjoyed the challenge, and as so many have said, the time and money invested to that point hardly justified walking away. I then started re-assessing everything and started looking at my issues as an opportunity to do things to the tank I wasn't able to do before. Change mobile inhabitants, rearrange the rock the way I wanted, change my sump design, and.....hell.....why not just go to a bigger tank??? LMMFAO
Failure is only a negative if we have not learned from it. The single greatest resource, is other reefers, and their painful accounts of "life gone wrong". Take their experiences and learn from them. Learn from your mistakes. Find the common threads to failure, crashes etc and avoid them. For me, it is the complete abandonment of dosing pumps, as they seem to be the single largest contributors to crashes. Quarantine, Quarantine, and then Quarantine some more.
Most important is to always remember that none of us is immune to disaster, none of us are infallible, and we all walk that razor's edge while we try to "play master creator" in our own little oceans.That is what keeps me going, the delicate balance, the sheer fleeting pleasure of a good result, the pain of failure....it all goes hand in hand. That is reefing. We are all "that special kind of crazy". That is why we reef. Chin up. Good LuckThanks! Yeah I have to admit I was cocky..

corals are still dying now and I feel like I have to wait till things calm down in the tank.

I have had minor set-backs before but never to this.. All SPS are gone now.. frogspawn and hammers are shrinking..

At this moment, I don't even have any desire to check the water.. I think chasing numbers causes death of fishes..

At least, all of RFAs are OK for now.

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[IronChefItaly]

I don't think there is anyone in this hobby who hasn't seriously considered shutting down their tank at one point or another. I've gone through periods of disease, neglect or other common reef issues that have made me turn my head from my system for days other than to feed. All said and done though, there are few things better than having your own kick-ass tank operating at its new best after a hard bit of effort - progress. Take your time, brainstorm some improvements, then put it all to work!

[Cujo#31]

Thanks! Yeah I have to admit I was cocky..

corals are still dying now and I feel like I have to wait till things calm down in the tank.

I think chasing numbers causes death of fishes..



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Well said. I learned the hard way myself on a few occasions chasing numbers. I have had much more success maintaining a range. And tinkering with addatives to try teasing out just a little more color.

[whatcaneyedo]

Hell yeah! Quite the hobby, sell the house, leave the wife, buy a sailboat and go hang out with the fishes in THEIR natural environment. Thats my plan B.

[takeastabatit22]

Well it was nice to meet you and to see you restarting

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[spit.fire]

Hell yeah! Quite the hobby, sell the house, leave the wife, buy a sailboat and go hang out with the fishes in THEIR natural environment. Thats my plan B.

Pretty much what I’ll do if I ever win the lottery lol, minus the leave the wife part because she already left me

[Ram3500]

Pretty much what I’ll do if I ever win the lottery lol, minus the leave the wife part because she already left me

This post need a like button or a up vote option.Just cuz I have been there.