Is lossing your tank Coral or fish an inevitability

[Jason McK]

Do you feel you will suffer major to total loss at some point?

[Matt]

Well, I already have... twice. Not total losses, but nasty losses. Once from my stupidity and impatience, and once from a cracked bottom pane. I think most people's systems are quite a lot closer to the "edge" than they'd like to believe. Inevitible? Probably, given a long enough period of time to flush out variance and luck.

[bv_reefer]

honestly, no not really my whole tank. but as for fish & corals, nothing surprises me anymore!

[untamed]

I'm losing track of how many years I've run SW tanks...but it is like 15 years and I have not had what I would describe as a tank crash/disaster. Most all that time was with a small tank...one that I would expect to be a lot more susceptible to sudden problems.

I don't do glass tanks. I live with the trade offs of acrylic, but silicone and glass scare me.

I think that the real danger with this hobby is that it is a hobby. By my definition, a hobby is something that one tinkers with. It is very difficult to just do the same thing all the time, even if it is working. Eventually, you want to tinker with it, even though things are working fine.

Why did I add a Kalk reactor? Because I wanted to see if I could smooth out my pH cycles...Did I need a Kalk reactor...no.

Things going too well?...let's try Zeovit to see if we can get better coral colour...

It's tough to weigh my urge to tinker against sticking to a routine.

[justinl]

I'm losing track of how many years I've run SW tanks...but it is like 15 years and I have not had what I would describe as a tank crash/disaster. Most all that time was with a small tank...one that I would expect to be a lot more susceptible to sudden problems.

I don't do glass tanks. I live with the trade offs of acrylic, but silicone and glass scare me.

I think that the real danger with this hobby is that it is a hobby. By my definition, a hobby is something that one tinkers with. It is very difficult to just do the same thing all the time, even if it is working. Eventually, you want to tinker with it, even though things are working fine.

Why did I add a Kalk reactor? Because I wanted to see if I could smooth out my pH cycles...Did I need a Kalk reactor...no.

Things going too well?...let's try Zeovit to see if we can get better coral colour...

It's tough to weigh my urge to tinker against sticking to a routine.

i agree completely. there's also the fact that our hobby deals directly with a "system" (that word used very loosely indeed) filled with living creatures, micro and macroscopic. And life is, by nature, unpredictable.

[Mik_101]

honestly, no not really my whole tank. but as for fish & corals, nothing surprises me anymore!

Totally agree with you there.

[bv_reefer]

after my anemone made dinner of a perfectly good tang i kinda don't let livestock surprise me anymore

[Sebae again]

I hope not. We are walking a thin line. We are all short several billion gallons of sea water in our biotopes. Disasters happen in nature never mind our tanks.IMO through my own observations ,I believe that propagated acros become more hardy through the generations of ''fraging'' and being introduced into other peoples tanks eg. different water parameters. At times I feel guilty for being in this hobby but I believe with the changes in the enviroment that one day it may be through us ,in an ironic twist of fate ,that we may be called upon to repropagate the oceans.

[justinl]

i think the whole fantasy that some hold about us hobbyists repopulating the oceans with coral is just short of ridiculous... no offence to you guys. I just think that there are limitations to our hobby and repropagation of the ocean is something that is just wayyyyy too far beyond us. plus theres a very good chance that any attempt to that may end up in a catastrophe anyways. it's not a bad goal/ideal, just not a realistic one imo. We're still trying to get this hobby reliant on local propagation, let alone the ocean. and speaking of local propagation, i think that's what we should be focusing on right now (thankfully i know some of us are)... we are too reliant on wild stock which is dwindling at an alarming rate and will eventually and inevitably be shut off from us by authorities or simply by extinction... hopefully not the latter. when the fecal matter hits the fan, i hope groups of trading aquarists like canreef and reefcentral will be in a state well stocked enough with healthy coral to carry the hobby on. it's scary to think that far ahead... at that point even a simple propagation of red bugs might not just mean a single tank crash (which is bad enough); it could mean wiping out the hobby in an entire region. ugh... but i rant, so to keep it simple, propagate, propagate, propagate. it'll save you money and could save our hobby one day.

[marie]

Do you feel you will suffer major to total loss at some point?

If I felt that way I wouldn't be in this hobby :biggrin: .
We are dealing with animals that have very particular needs though and I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a few losses

[Tom R]

I hope not and with the additions of safety equipment (generators, water top off etc) we are able to cover off for some of the possible catastrophes. I do believe that even with our day to day diligence we will still suffer loses even some seeming to be unexplained. One of our most major problems is to be able to maintain our daily (tweaking) routines that ensure the attention to detail necessary to maintain the level of our salt water environments. When we become busy with family or work or go on holidays our tanks become vulnerable. We usually ask one of our family members to watch over our tanks. We even set them up with backup help from our most trusted friends with the reffing community, however this is still not the same as the constant attention that we put into our tanks on a daily basis.

Tom R

[StirCrazy]

I said yes, only because we are using equipment that can fail. the only major loss I have suffered is from a heater that failed on.

Steve

[Sebae again]

Repopulation of acros is already happening in the state of Florida and captive bred clams are being placed in the oceans around Australia and south east Asia. These are not for the aquarium trade. Once introduced into their natural enviroment, they have the ability to reproduce,therefore repopulating themselves.

[michika]

I'm saying no because, even though I've experienced two tank disasters, I don't think everyone's tank is bound to suffer major disaster at somepoint or another. I'm sure there are far more hobbists out there who have not experienced a crash, rather then those who have.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Agreed, Catherine. That's why I voted no.

[michika]

However, I do believe in spreading around frags of all your favorite pieces, kind of like an insurance policy.

[christyf5]

I've suffered through a couple of tank crashes myself and wouldn't put it past me to have another one. I don't have the greatest luck and even though I *think* I have my bases covered theres always that one thing that I don't think of.

[mildcustom2]

I my self in my 10 years experience with keeping saltwater fish and corals have never experienced a major crash. I have had some losses like everyone else but I don't like to tempt the all mighty or taunt him. I would preffer to be humble and try to cover all my bases. I don't think its possible to cover it all but I try. I have a spare pump for my latest 210, spare heaters for all my tanks and spare filter parts for all my tanks. Given the area that I live in and even the weather conditions outside right now (high winds) I have a generator and soon a 20,000$ (managed to get it for free) upc backup system with inverters that will provide enough juice for 12 hours to run my tanks. I had three power outages last year one 3 hour, one 16 hour and one that was 36 hours. Anyone remember the problem the city of Vancouver had with the water turbidity last year due to run off. I would like to see how your water purification systems would like that. They would probably plug up pretty quick.

Long story short I think that no matter how hard we try to cover all our bases its that one thing you don't think of that will bite you in the end maybe not tommorow or next year but it is going to happen sometime in the span of your life.

Thanx

Sean