Some many more things more important than a glass box full of water. If there is no measurable benefit to you shut it down.

Although it does take time to keep it maintained...every time I get frustrated I think about how I want it to look and how my kids enjoy looking at it every morning when they wake up. Keeps me motivated!

Vent away. Whatever you decide will be right for you:)

Sounds like you could use some beer and wings. Who's with me ?

I'm in. your pub or mine?

Vodka and wings and I'm in! You organizing Kien?? Brad, you should come out this way!

In the glacial-paced build of my tank I've had a fair few misadventures, and they can be soul destroying. There are times like many others I've really wanted to throw in the towel - at one point I couldn't get GSP to grow..
After I had an attack of random in-tank deaths (particularly new additions), I stopped adding things and I'm now back to the old guard of livestock that seem pretty much invincible. I'm finding that if I don't push the envelope the maintenance isn't too bad - water changes and adding some baking soda is about it apart from feeding the fish and rounding up the frags the urchin 'relocates'.
Most of the stuff in my tank is pretty mundane, but I'm finding that watching mundane grow is very satisfying..I have simplified not by automating things, but by reducing the number of things I have to do..
I guess what I'm saying is I've learned there are some awesome tanks you see on here and they can be truly inspiring, but I have to temper that with an acceptance that I don't have the time, and something simpler that I don't spend all the time worrying about is actually relaxing, instead of being a millstone around my neck.

Try to relax a bit (easy to say I know) - the less you worry about the maintenance the less of a chore it seems...

And if you start to feel bad, just take a look at my build thread and see how damned long it's taken me to get to the pitiful stage I'm at! :lol:

I'll be at the airport May 8 for about an hour, we could do some quick shots?? :)

My tank is the same as yours, I don't really add new livestock, at least what I have is doing well enough. There's a couple bits I need to pick up that will make maintenance easy, but procrastinating as I'm not sure it's fair to what I have to continue....

My it's just spring fever, lack of a winter holiday, not for lack of opportunities to go, just no time to squeeze it in.

Maybe drinks with other reefers will help....where did Kien go??

Brad, we would either need to go through security, or you'd need to duck out....

Yes, I will organize something. Give me some dates that work for you. We will work around your schedule :-)

You're the best Kien. Anytime between now and may long, except this Saturday...after may long, mid September works.

I do have some experience with bypassing security :)

Looking at my calendar, how does next weekend sound ? Afternoon sat or sun. It's Easter long weekend btw.

Is christy going to be with you? Would love to chat with her again! What time wil you guys be through ?

No, solo trip this time. Heading to Cabo for the week.

Well, I suppose you will have to do then. Depending on what time you're in and if you think you actually have time to duck out.. Let me know :)

lol. I'll check my flight times, not sure how long I have.

I all but ignored my tank for just over a month recently went through some family issues with my nieces moving away to Cowtown all I did was feed and I think I did one water change and scraped the glass 3 or 4 times I really let the tank go for awhile got off the depression wagon last week and found out instead of my tank going down the tubes it had become quite the brothel had so many new additions to the tank.

This afternoon I had my neighbours kids and their friends over looking at my tank I was fascinated by how much those kids were excited with my tank and the wide eyed wonder they had when I let them feel some of my coral and let them pick some empty shells from my tank that just literally made their day.

For me my tank is my personal joy, stress reliever, constant frustration and worry and never ending wonderment. Why do I stay in the hobby? I stay because it keeps me busy and I enjoy the pleasure it brings despite the difficulties and if I perchance I crash my tank I look at it as a new chance to redo some things I want to do now I know more.

I was getting to feel like I was too tied down and so I decided to shut down my frag tank and only look after and enjoy my 90 Gallon reef tank. After trying fragging I decided I was not very good at it and didn't like messing up the corals in the 90 G scape.
I often sit in front the tank and just watch all the different things that go on, which I enjoy a lot. So sit back and take the time to admire what you have and keep your tank going. :bounce:

When I hear you talking about your mixed emotions about shutting down your tank, I couldn't help but think about pre-breakup thoughts, especially in a long term relationship. Feelings of being stuck, resenting and procrastinating some basic interactions, guilt and sorrow at even contemplating leaving, etc.. Ideally you should love what you do with your time. People rarely get to have that with work, but our personal relationships and our hobbies can and should be uplifting and supportive not a source of angst and a drain on our emotions and our energy.

If we were talking about a relationship, you would have been dating a guy for 3 years but considering breaking up for more than a year. It can be hard to break up, especially if the other party is not a jerk. They've done nothing wrong, nothing much has changed, but you just aren't feeling it like you used to. Well all the new outfits, weekend getaways, special dinners, and whatever else you can think of to rekindle the flame aren't likely to fix it. Sometimes the best for both parties is a clean break, even if it is very painful in the short run.

The good news is we aren't talking about another human, we are talking about a hobby. You can chose to shut down your tank and put it in storage and see if you get the urge to restart. If that hasn't happened in a year or 2, then you can sell off everything and move on. But don't keep throwing time and money at something that is adding stress to your life. Much as it can feel like it at times, keeping saltwater aquaria is not a religion, a way of life, a marriage - it is a hobby. Don't make it more (or less) than it is. As one human to another, I want for you to be happy. If keeping your tank can make you happy, great! If not, stop it and find something that does. :)

- Ian

Sounds like me in the summer time. I always take a break from this site and my tank when the weather turns nice. I got real bad last year, so bad I hadn't scraped the glass in a couple of months. When I did, my fish were so scared cause they hadn't seen my in a long ass time. The amazing thing was I run almost a strictly sps tank. When the glass was clean, I couldn't believe the growth of some of them. They were massive. I don't know if I just got lucky or if they needed to go through that.

Weren't you just in Cabo last year? What a life!

what keeps you going?
 

For our family, we are kinda stuck with the tank. It's built right into the wall. It's not hidden in the basement so I can't neglect it. I like having it in my living room because it forces me to clean the glass every 3 days. I catch my kids pausing what they are doing while playing or reading to take time to stare at the tank. Last night my wife was out and I just sat on the couch with a drink and stared at the tank. I don't think I could ever have a tank in the basement where I don't spend much time (even though our basement is finished). I enjoy having the tank viewable from where we have dinner, from where we work on the computer, from the kitchen, the backyard, the front yard and the front door. I think having it that central in the house keeps me "trying" to make it look spic and span all the time.

I think it depends, too, if you view your tank as a just another decoration, or as a living, changing, surprising instrument of wonderment...

Haha,... just thought of what I should call my next tank journal...

this hobby is like any other one, some times you get in to it and the novelty wears off, sometimes it becomes a life long passion. and like other hobbies, people stay in for varying lengths of time. 1 to 3 years is what I call the hobby honeymoon, everything is great, then one day you start wondering if this is what you really want. some hobbies are transient some are life long and about this time, this is what your struggling to figure out. for some people it is the amount of work, some go to big to fast, some just lose interest. my self, I am currently on a break after running at tank for 9 years. when I get this new one going it will be 1/3 the side to reduce the amount of time spend cleaning the tank in order to give me more time just to enjoy the tank.


Steve

Tony Robbins, yeah. I didn't think this dude was still around! Nothing like a little Tony to get your mojo/motivation into high gear. After his seminar, you'll have the Tank of the Month in no time. You may even want to open as an LFS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWU6xQ5RY2g

Seriously though, I've lost a few fish & have had plenty of challenges over the years with my tank. I still feel it's very much worth the effort. If you honestly can't muster sufficient desire to keep yours going, you're the best person to make whatever decision as to how to proceed.

This forum has such amazing members!

I had a chat with my fiancé last night about where things are at and what is going on and he feels right now is such a short term issue, we just need to get through the next few months and things "should" go back to normal.

The tank doesn't wear on me, its just finding the time to deal with it. It only stresses me out because I feel like its not getting enough attention, therefore I am creating a poor habitat for the livestock. Operationally, its fine, not great, not bad.

I like the relationship analogy....yes, some are in for the long haul, for some its a novelty and get bored and move on to something else. While my passion will never turn me into a LFS employee or owner, I like the challenge and sense of accomplishment it brings. I will try to get through the next few months and wait until the fall to decide what to do, when the pressure is off and life goes back to normal....

So, how does next weekend sound? :-)

Sure, let's do it! Might be hard to get others out tho given its a holiday weekend.... but whatever.....a few hours should be ok. Might also be worth looking at weeknight...

My challenge has always been I'm impatient and set goals too lofty for "realty" and I bore easily, aside from that I am guilty of adding piecs that maybe the tank want mature enugh for, trying to do too much in too short a time, juggling family and work......the list goes on. Iawas seriously going to shut er down not too long ago. Then I slapped myself, and "re-tooled" my tank with stuff that allowed me to treat it more like a hobby than a job. Now I love it again! I found my groove.
In a few years when the immediate demands of my kids diminishes I will be able to take the hobby to where most of us want to go......full blown kick-ass SPS.
Best of luck, and I agree 100%, this site is full of awesome people.

I had mine set up pretty well in that for the most part it took care of it. I only ran into real issues when I had some equipment failures that weren't immediately noticed. I had a ballast go bad and shut down a GFCI that also had a heater on that leg, so I lost a bunch of crap when the tank temps dropped, rodi failure etc. Without equipment failures it might still be up.

I guess the point is, automation might be the key to some people success and enjoyment.

I agree, AUTOMATION + PATIENCE = key for enjoyment this hobby

KIEN!!

Yes you read it right. KIEN keeps me going. The day he shuts down his tank is the day I am finished. :)

:lol: funny :-)

also, come to the reefmeat brah!

Cleaning skimmer, doing water changes, feeding etc...... it's all starting to become a PIA for me now. I'm not having any issues at all but i've lost alot of interest in this hobby as well. I thought a new tank build would spark my interest but nahh, did'nt help.

No doubt about it, reefing can be a major chore..

I know I've posted it before about why I stay in the hobby but.....

My neighbours and their kids came over today to look at my tank it wasn't very pretty to look at scummy glass and water stains on the outside. They came over for a quick look they ended up leaving close to an hour later as everybody was fascinated by my coral and the fish and the various inverts. The highlight of their time was everybody got to feel a real live coral those kids eyes just lit up something fierce and they were ecstatic that they got to have their very own snail shell. It makes all the difference in the world to see people fascinated by a miniature ecosystem

Yep the kids do love the aquarium. They don't know what you want it to look like, they like it at face value.

That's so true. We spend so much time fussing over this and stressing over that.. meanwhile, when our guests come by they appreciate the tank for what it is more so than we tend to. Most of the time we are concerned about what it isn't.. :neutral:

Well Kien saved the day! Amazing how a reef meet to share ideas can turn things around.

I bought a mag 24 pump a while ago to pump water from the basement to the tank on the main floor but hadn't set it up. Wasn't sure how to control turning it on and off. Would I need to run an extra electrical switch at the tank, keep an eye on it, then run downstairs to turn it off.....nope. Kien suggested a light timer remote control.

Got it all set up today and I am officially done with buckets for both top off and water changes. Total plumbing bits, new membranes and controller cost $60.

So it's official, Kien is the man!!