Cujo#31
09-08-2018, 03:08 AM
I started in reefing about 6 years ago. I have learned so much, and there is still so much more I have yet to learn. Most of us have walked a similar path. It is a steep, and slippery slope. We started with a couple clowns and a 33 from an add on Craig’s List because saltwater tanks are co and we always wanted to try, maybe we saw a friend’s reef tank, maybe we went as far as we could with freshwater and got bored, maybe we tripped onto a YouTube video, maybe we liked the vast and crazy variety of saltwater fish. Maybe we watched “Finding Nemo”, or we were fascinated by Jacques Cousteau. Whatever the reason we all sooner or later find ourselves in what many so foolishly call a “hobby”.
A hobby is something we pick up and put down as our schedule allows. We start our ventures assuming we are starting a new hobby. OH HOW FOOLISH WE ARE. I love reefing. However I can’t call this a hobby. I look at it as the true definition of “Disposable Income”. I cannot begin to count the dollars that I have flushed down the drain. In all honesty I don’t want to know the true number because it would surely make me ask myself what kind of a fool I am.
We spend THOUSANDS on hardware, we spend hundreds of hours planning and building the next tank, because let’s be honest, who doesn’t look at their current tank and say “my next one will be (have)......”
We spend hours scouring forums for the next potential prize to place in our little slice of the ocean. We google search every single aspect of the reef Tank. Husbandry, compatibly, lighting, flow, nutrients, tank perams, addatives, new hardware, troubleshooting, Berlin, Zeo system, dosing, Aquaforrest, sumps refugiums, carbon dosing, filtration media, calcium reactors, GFO, LED vs Halide vs T5, UV sterilizes, The list goes on.
We are always cleaning the glass, cleaning filter socks, changing media, mixing and filling our dosing chambers, mixing salt, topping up ATO reservoirs, changing RO/DI media, emptying skimmer cups. We will spend HOURS re-arranging our plumbing to accommodate the latest piece of hardware. We test our Alk, Calcium, Mag, Phosphates, Nitrates, we are constantly monitoring PH, or just spending hours looking over each and every fish and coral in our tank.
We battle diatoms, cyano, hair algae, aiptasia, majano, ich, velvet, brook, flatworms, AEFW, nutrient spikes and shortfalls, and the inevitable tank crash along with a whole host of unknowns capable of wiping out our tanks in mere hours.
And after we have learned everything we think we need to learn to see even the slightest margin of success, BOOM! All hell breaks loose. We learn early that we are in a constant battle, the search for true stability, the best controllers, addatives, monitors, chillers, heaters. We even battle for enough space in our homes for our systems.
This is NOT a hobby. We cannot just pick up our tanks and put them down at our convenience. Reefing is a lifestyle that requires hard work and dedication. The lazy and the complacent will inevitably fail. Even the most diligent reefer suffers far more failures than successes. The successful reefer learns from their failures, and does not rest on success.
A few of the things I have learned about reefing.
1) Good things take FOREVER to happen
2) Bad things happen FAST
3) Wrasses (and almost every other fish) jump
4) A new plumbing setup will leak
5) If you set up your tank on a nice floor, accept the fact that that floor will no longer be nice
6) Dosing pumps fail while you are on vacation
7)If you start by adding the manufacturer’s recommended dosage, you will have added twice as much as you should. ALWAYS start at half recommend
8) There is no such thing as a low maintenance reef tank
9) Any system with “fail safes” will fail
10) Any fish that is reef safe “with caution” will munch on your prized coral first.
11) The most beautiful fish are either not reef safe, or are very difficult to keep.
12) When something goes wrong with your tank, the most expensive Corals die first.
13) If there is nothing wrong with your tank, DO NOTHING. If you try to “tweak” you are bound to do something wrong.
14) Make any changes SLOWLY. And by slowly, start at half of what you think you should, and cut that in half before you start.
15) Our tank’s start as pure, pristine environments. Anything bad that gets into your tank, we put in.
16) QUARANTINE, QUARANTINE, QUARANTINE. Do not blame another reefer or vendor for what is in your tank, because you allowed it to enter, or assumed the risk.
17) Do not EVER say your tank is doing great. Never assume you are in control of your tank. The coral gods are evil, viscous beings and they are more than happy to crap all over your “happy parade” to remind us who is really in control.
18) Your prized frag will be face down in a chalice the morning after you put it in your display
19) Sweepers are as long proportionately to the value of the frag it is nearest to.
20) Nobody EVER tells their spouse what that new frag really cost
21) Network, Network, Network. Your most valuable asset is fellow reefers, and they are happy to help. Do not be afraid to ask. Guaranteed they can help because they have experienced it. They feel your pain.
22) Some of the finest people I have met are reefers.
23) We cannot call what we do, a hobby. At best it is a bad investment and a source of seemingly endless pain and suffering, broken by brief moments of euphoria.
24) If you have not killed enough coral and fish to fill a 5 gallon pail, you are either new to the game or you are not trying hard enough.
25) I love reefing
We are a special lot. We are crazy. But we are a special kind of crazy and you really need to be that special kind of crazy to endure this venture we call reefing. We will never stop trying to build a bigger and better system, we will not rest in the search for the next great prize addition, and we are not happy with “status quo”
A hobby is something we pick up and put down as our schedule allows. We start our ventures assuming we are starting a new hobby. OH HOW FOOLISH WE ARE. I love reefing. However I can’t call this a hobby. I look at it as the true definition of “Disposable Income”. I cannot begin to count the dollars that I have flushed down the drain. In all honesty I don’t want to know the true number because it would surely make me ask myself what kind of a fool I am.
We spend THOUSANDS on hardware, we spend hundreds of hours planning and building the next tank, because let’s be honest, who doesn’t look at their current tank and say “my next one will be (have)......”
We spend hours scouring forums for the next potential prize to place in our little slice of the ocean. We google search every single aspect of the reef Tank. Husbandry, compatibly, lighting, flow, nutrients, tank perams, addatives, new hardware, troubleshooting, Berlin, Zeo system, dosing, Aquaforrest, sumps refugiums, carbon dosing, filtration media, calcium reactors, GFO, LED vs Halide vs T5, UV sterilizes, The list goes on.
We are always cleaning the glass, cleaning filter socks, changing media, mixing and filling our dosing chambers, mixing salt, topping up ATO reservoirs, changing RO/DI media, emptying skimmer cups. We will spend HOURS re-arranging our plumbing to accommodate the latest piece of hardware. We test our Alk, Calcium, Mag, Phosphates, Nitrates, we are constantly monitoring PH, or just spending hours looking over each and every fish and coral in our tank.
We battle diatoms, cyano, hair algae, aiptasia, majano, ich, velvet, brook, flatworms, AEFW, nutrient spikes and shortfalls, and the inevitable tank crash along with a whole host of unknowns capable of wiping out our tanks in mere hours.
And after we have learned everything we think we need to learn to see even the slightest margin of success, BOOM! All hell breaks loose. We learn early that we are in a constant battle, the search for true stability, the best controllers, addatives, monitors, chillers, heaters. We even battle for enough space in our homes for our systems.
This is NOT a hobby. We cannot just pick up our tanks and put them down at our convenience. Reefing is a lifestyle that requires hard work and dedication. The lazy and the complacent will inevitably fail. Even the most diligent reefer suffers far more failures than successes. The successful reefer learns from their failures, and does not rest on success.
A few of the things I have learned about reefing.
1) Good things take FOREVER to happen
2) Bad things happen FAST
3) Wrasses (and almost every other fish) jump
4) A new plumbing setup will leak
5) If you set up your tank on a nice floor, accept the fact that that floor will no longer be nice
6) Dosing pumps fail while you are on vacation
7)If you start by adding the manufacturer’s recommended dosage, you will have added twice as much as you should. ALWAYS start at half recommend
8) There is no such thing as a low maintenance reef tank
9) Any system with “fail safes” will fail
10) Any fish that is reef safe “with caution” will munch on your prized coral first.
11) The most beautiful fish are either not reef safe, or are very difficult to keep.
12) When something goes wrong with your tank, the most expensive Corals die first.
13) If there is nothing wrong with your tank, DO NOTHING. If you try to “tweak” you are bound to do something wrong.
14) Make any changes SLOWLY. And by slowly, start at half of what you think you should, and cut that in half before you start.
15) Our tank’s start as pure, pristine environments. Anything bad that gets into your tank, we put in.
16) QUARANTINE, QUARANTINE, QUARANTINE. Do not blame another reefer or vendor for what is in your tank, because you allowed it to enter, or assumed the risk.
17) Do not EVER say your tank is doing great. Never assume you are in control of your tank. The coral gods are evil, viscous beings and they are more than happy to crap all over your “happy parade” to remind us who is really in control.
18) Your prized frag will be face down in a chalice the morning after you put it in your display
19) Sweepers are as long proportionately to the value of the frag it is nearest to.
20) Nobody EVER tells their spouse what that new frag really cost
21) Network, Network, Network. Your most valuable asset is fellow reefers, and they are happy to help. Do not be afraid to ask. Guaranteed they can help because they have experienced it. They feel your pain.
22) Some of the finest people I have met are reefers.
23) We cannot call what we do, a hobby. At best it is a bad investment and a source of seemingly endless pain and suffering, broken by brief moments of euphoria.
24) If you have not killed enough coral and fish to fill a 5 gallon pail, you are either new to the game or you are not trying hard enough.
25) I love reefing
We are a special lot. We are crazy. But we are a special kind of crazy and you really need to be that special kind of crazy to endure this venture we call reefing. We will never stop trying to build a bigger and better system, we will not rest in the search for the next great prize addition, and we are not happy with “status quo”