Ugh, do things ever go good?

[rstar]

Do things ever go well for any length of time when it come to reefing? This past year and a half has been battle after constant battle. Quite frankly i'm starting to get into quite a downer with the hobby. After the broken sagging 90g, i lost most of my fish after the move. Then i was greeted by a bryopsis outbreak that lasted about a year, got that all cleared up, just to set up for the next challenge; Dinoflaggelates. Do things ever just get better and go well? My experience has been seting up for disaster after disaster. And im running out of ideas. Ive been super dilligent with water changes and chemistry. I use premium salt. RO. I'm now trying to stop waterchanges to let nitrates build up. That doesnt seem to be working. And now its at the point where i am going to start loosing my corals and anemones. Its even bad enough that its choking out the indestructible star polyps. I guess i am just looking for a place to vent and maybe find some suggestions or positive encouragment, i am almost ready to throw in the towel... :(:yield:

[christyf5]

Ok why are you letting your nitrates build up?

I totally feel your pain, I have battled all sorts of pests and algae, it ain't fun (dinos just about did me in). For me, the answer was to remove the sandbed. Not sayin that thats your answer but it certainly fixed a lot of my issues. Then again, I just have different issues now. Moved and lost stuff, MH bulb broke and fried half my tank.

I dunno, sometimes I wonder if it weren't for the "challenges" if this hobby would be near as "interesting". Then again some challenges are too much for some. At this point I keep doing the "I've got so much invested I'm not going to let this hobby beat me" attitude. I'm going to win dammit!! :razz:

[Leah]

So sorry to hear this rstar:sad:...and yes we all have things happen like this... that just make you shake your head and want to bury it in the sand and never come out...and blurt out some not so very nice words that you would never say under normal circumstances... let alone admit you even know them....:redface:

JUST DO THE GIRLY THING... HAVE A GOOD CRY AND BOUNCE BACK... AND GET READY TO ACCEPT THE NEW CHALLENGE....who's afraid of a little...cyano, nuisance algae, bryopsis or even dreaded dino's...turn the lights out and pretend it is beautiful.:redface:

[sphelps]

Come on, you're looking at this the wrong way. Who want's a hobby that's dull and boring and nothing interesting or exciting happens? What you want is an exciting hobby which always keeps you on your toes and never know what to expect next. This is reefing.

[superduperwesman]

Problems make a nice reef all the better, because a lot of people don't have reefs b/c they're work and have problems. If it was easy to keep a beautiful tank then everyone would have one. Part of what makes a tank so impressive is that it's hard to keep. Trust me I know b/c mine is garbage! Just think about why the work / problems are worth it... ie b/c the work / problems are what make you're tank such an impressive asset that everyone wants.. except they don't b/c of the work :)

Ok that made no sense but if Lambos and Ferraris were cheap then everyone would have one and then how great would they be?

[Reefer Rob]

Yup, it's the challenges that make this hobby interesting. I thing everyone goes through these things and thinks about quiting. I know I have and probably will again.

When things do go well the rewards are... priceless.

Hmm, that was supposed that was supposed to be like the credit card commercial, but it didn't quite work.

[mseepman]

I imagine that you are upping your nitrates based upon some of the on-line articles about how to beat dino's. I've also read that you should up your PH to above 8.5 and hold it there.

Keep your chin up...diligence will pull you through it all.

[freddy]

Don't give up it is challenging but it is worth it.If you do give up,a couple months down the road you will miss it,end up having to start from scratch and cost you way more money than if you would have gone through the challenges,I know cause i've done it,just keep plugging away,it will get better.:biggrin:

[imcosmokramer]

yes, they go well, I just lost my whole setup (http://www.reeftools.com/live/imcosmokramer/blog/135/), but I'll be @#$@#$ if that keeps me down.

Just take the right steps and you'll be good.
________
Live Sex (http://livesexwebshows.com/)

[rstar]

Thanks for all the positive encouragment everyone! I guess it's time to roll up my sleeves and get to climbing over this bump in the road. Any ideas? Has anyone successfully gotten rid of dino's via letting the nitrates rise? Or should i keep doing regular water changes?

[Dolf]

Sorry about your luck. It does seem like sometimes we can not win. I don't have much time, but in an article by Randy Holmes-Farley http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php he says that raising the PH to 8.4 - 8.5 is a good idea. Even letting it wander above 8.6 if you are desperate. (In another link I will provide the author argues that the high PH only works if it is of the toxic variety- basically if your snails are dying.) Anyhow, he also says to get the phosphates way down to unreadable levels. Aggressive use of granular ferric oxide at higher than normal levels and changing it every few days may help. Reducing the photo period to 4 hours a day. He recommended siphoning out as much as you can on a regular basis. In this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1620464 the person used socks over powerheads to do that without doing water changes. They also used the higher nitrates to help with the problem and removed the sand bed (something that seems to be a common partial solution for other people trying to get rid of it.) Finally, that person used sea hares (though the toxic variety may not work with the animals.)

Best of luck in the upcoming battle.

[Aquaria]

Come on, you're looking at this the wrong way. Who want's a hobby that's dull and boring and nothing interesting or exciting happens? What you want is an exciting hobby which always keeps you on your toes and never know what to expect next. This is reefing.

Ya if we wanted dull and boring we would all have freshwater tanks