what keeps you going?
 

just wondering what keeps you going with your tanks? ive been so unmotivated lately to the point of shuttng down both and getting out. fish dying, corals dying, tanks look crappy. i know i should test to see whats going on but i am not motivated to do so. ive procrastinated posting this as i ws hoping once i got back from our trip, things would change. ii still have to do a water change tonight, but got home late from work and just taking a minute to unwind. does anyone else ever go through this? ive onnly been doing this for 2 years, but sometimes i fell like i just dont get it....maybe a break is all thats needed....

Dont quit. I did, I regret it. I had lots of bad things happening in tank and in life but in the end I really miss sitting back and just watching the tank. Even if it wasnt perfect there was lots of really neat things always going on.

With my first tank I got bored, which lead to poor maintenance, which led to deaths and no growth, which lead to more deaths and the tank falling apart which lead to me rethinking this hobby. Now that I really get involved with photos and automation and really watching things grow and then fragging them and redesigning, I am staying way more interested. And I have done a weekly water change for a year now which I think has helped a lot, along with the big three on the tests and dosing. (Ca, Alk, Mg)

The biggest thing for me also is staying active on the forum and talking with people. They keep me interested.

This hobby seems to have a lot more highs and lows than most. We all feel it at one point or another.. Hopefully you find your groove. Maybe you just need to change things around a bit.

I struggled with corals dying and not growing for a long time. i loved all the pics of zoas id find on forums but every frag i added melted away for a long time. I started experimenting and found out that biopellets pulled the nutrients too low in my tank. long story short, i wanted to push the reset button sooooooo many times. or take a break. but im so glad i didnt. what keeps me going, seeing something hilarious like a clownfish go after a laser pointer just like my dog =P sitting back watching the tank and having a beer. even after all the things ive gone through and am going through (massive outbreak of ich in my DT) i couldnt imagine not having a tank going.

dont give up. youll figure it out

I think everyone gets to this point sometimes. I find setting up a new tank and getting everything to thrive is the most exciting part of the hobby, so I end up shutting down and restarting tanks every year or 2. Mind you most of my tanks are overly large either. I just recently shut down a medium sized tank to go back to a 29g. I had a 29g for 2 years set up before and it has always been my favorite so I went back to this size. I sold just about everything and bought completly different equipment to try out. So far so good. Of course my wife hates this because I have about a dozen hobbies that I jump back and forth to and she thinks I have a problem but I just crave change. It's not my fault!

You know what keeps me going. Seeing other people's tanks. New setups, great setups, or even failing setups.
Seeing other reefers tanks keeps me going.
I love helping reefers out.

Thanks for the encouragement! I don't want to give up, I love my fish, they make me smile. I love this forum and the people here are awesome. I just need to find my groove again! I know any time I've thought about selling stuff off, I can't actually post it. Deep breath and go.....

What keeps me going? Good question. I do enjoy looking at my tank and even more the peoples reaction and questions about it when they see it. Its not TOTM material but to the inexperienced eyes of freinds and family it impresses. Fish drive me crazy and crabs are disposed of ASAP and shrimp are not allowed lol. Some snails I tolerate".... Corals fascinate me, no SPS just LPS. Coral warfare moving about etc. still in awe when I see a fully inflated plate wanting to move or a torch stinger tentacle waaaaay out there ....Go back to the basics and see where that takes you.

You can't quit...maybe you need to help newbies like me find the path.

Coralgurl,
I totally understand where you are coming from. After reading your post, I just remember I haven't cleaned out my skimmer for about 3 months now. Boy, it's full of c**p in there. I have been busy with kids, work and life that my tank has been neglected as well. But like others have said, when I sit down and watch the tank for a few minutes, it's a wonderful feeling that's hard to explain. It is something that keeps me going so I hope you would be able to continue on with this hobby. I think most of us go through this one time or another. You are not alone. There are reefers in Calgary that would be able to help you out with your tank to set it in the right path again. Good luck.
David

What keeps me going in this exciting hobby? Well I was so close to shut down when I did the stupidest thing in this hobby so far (hopefully last one ever). I took my 90 gals sump offline because I did build a refugium in there, not to make the history long, I ended up killing every single fish I had because of lack of oxygen in the tank. Because i had to wait for the silicone to cure over night, i completely forgot that one of the pumps that was stirring the surface got shutdown at night back then and there it was, no sump to bring oxygen to the DT through the skimmer and return pump.

Next day I almost drop to the floor when i went to check the tank and saw all my beloved fish dead. I went into a mild depression right after that and I thought I'm done with this hobby. My wife when into a shock when she found out what I'd done but I'm still in this hobby because of my very beloved wife that encouraged me to keep going and to be more careful from there on.

After that disaster, I've been going even stronger that before, almost weekly water changes, checking parms, dosing alk, mag and calc, because of that my tank is looking better than ever. Maybe that had to happen so I had to be more serious and discipline when taking care of our reef. Don't be discourage keep going you won't regret it.

There's been so many of you that have had crashes and losses that just have me shaking my head at how you do it but it's great that you do and can share your stories. I did a large wc last night on the 55 (20 gls), hopefully that will help in addition to the 20 gls I did on the weekend. All I can do now is make more water and have it ready in case of emergency while we are gone.

I guess things have just been so busy I just haven't been able to spend the time fixing, testing etc. we've had a tank going for the last 6 years so it would be weird not to have anything. The family is great and help out when I threaten their lives. :lol: jk

Hopefully things will turn around soon. Thank you all again!

My tank is built into the wall of our living room so I know that no matter what it's a part of my house so I have to keep up the maintenance on it. It's 3.5 years old and I don't do too much to it. For the past couple of years it's just water changes every couple of weeks. I make sure to magnet the glass every few days so that the glass algae never "builds" up. It's worth it and doesn't have to take a lot of time. I have 2 young kids and other hobbies too, so life is always busy and the tank doesn't impede.

Downsizing to only one tank and making maintenance a breeze. Also taking a vacation away from Canreef helps.

Stupidity!

Money.

trust me i have been there multiple times in the last 2 years, weither its the dreaded marine velvet ( happened twice) and a total tank crash from not maintaining it (busy with work and never home), constant bickering from my mom that the tank looks bad and i'm wasting my money.....etc. I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel and wait until i moved out of my parents place to restart.

Well once construction season came to a hault and I wasn't in the field or doing 12 hrs a day, I had realized how relaxing this hobby could be just by staring at my tank with the fish swimming around and the couple of mushrooms and toadstool swaying back and forth from the wave. My stress would just melt away. After this realization I was hooked again, and viewed this as a new build with upgrading my existing equipment, and finally getting rid of my aiptasia problem and recycling my tank again. (i should of taken all the sand out at that time as i suffered a little crash from syphoning the sand later and having my po4 spike thats another story :mad2:). Now I can change the rock scape to what i want it to look like from other inspiring tanks, and i'm working on getting my tank to be as little maintenance as possible and having things automated so i can enjoy the relaxing and soothing aspect of the hobby.

very good reason to. to much invested in all the equipment and fish to let it go to a waste lol, and people on this forum are great to talk to and give you guidance so hopefully you don't experience another crash again.

that's one way of looking at it.. i was reading the question a little differently, like, how are you able to keep going in this hobby??? Well, without money you're hooped.. LOL.

:lol: very true

I think what has kept me going is one step at a time. I have made some mistakes in the past, and needed to understand and fix those. But so far, have not had any major disasters or crashes. I am trying to prepare for that possibility, but of course hope it never happens.

I feel that I am progressing now, and just recently started adding SPS to my main DT. Still looks pretty bare, but am resisting the temptation to load up.

My biggest fear is going away on trips for any length of time. I have automated quite a bit, which is good and bad. Good that it takes cares of a lot of things, but bad in that not sure if anyone else could figure it out in my absence.

But I still love the challenge, and am happy with the wins so far, and will keep pushing forward slowly. My thanks to the many beautiful FTS pics I've seen here. They are my inspiration to where I want to go with my tanks.

Ultimately I think what has helped me is/was simplifying and automating my setup. Granted, everyone has their own interpretation of what's "simple" but for me simple is not having to do anything on a daily basis. When I first started this tank I was all gung-ho and dumping in all sorts of ZeoVit stuff and manually adding additives (alk/calc). This wore me down because there are a crap load of other things that need my attention. Eventually I got a doser for my additives and I stopped using those zeovit bottles. Keep in mind that I am in no way saying that ZeoVit doesn't work! It does, I'm just too lazy for it. Got an autofeeder for my fish. For nutrient control I use bioPellets because to me they are the easiest to use. Dump a bunch of pellets into a reactor and let it tumble for months. I don't touch that pellet reactor for probably 6-8 months.

Now a days I can easily go 3-4 days without even touching my tank for any reason whatsoever.

Mind you, all that automation costs money, so I'm back to my original answer I guess. :lol: :cry:

The only thing keeping me going at this point is I don't have the time to take it down...

+1, simplicity, automation and patience (introduce fish or coral not too fast) is the key for this hobby. I only look at my tank when i feel stressful these days and cleaning the tank only one weekend for 1 or 2 hour to helps me forget about my daily problem with works , kids...

If you have to pay attention to your tank every day, then that amount of works will take away the fun of having the tank. It now becomes works not hobby.

I suggest you stepped back and have FOWLR tank to reduce the works that you have to put into your tank. You can go without water change for like couple weeks easily or throw in some hardy softies coral like GSP, muhsroom, leather coral.

Good luck with whatever you decide :-)

ALSO- I found it weird that people never mentioned about controller when setting up tank, only talk about awesome skimmer or lightning. True that you need good skimmer and lightning but controller is as important in this hobby IMO, it reduces lots of works and peace of mind when you are away from your tank which makes this hobby more enjoyable and last longer. There is no fun in it if it is not enjoyable right???? hmmm talking my self into hurry up finish my new tank so i can enjoy it. LOL

Well I've been back for a week now and finally in the mood to tackle my tanks. My 55 is having a meltdown, literally, so I'm going to another large water change today, get the skimmer I bought months ago up and running, scrape it and remove all that's died. It's very green at the moment and likely going to need a few wc over the next bit. I'm also testing all my parameters as I haven't done this in ages.

The ato on my 180 crapped out again right before we got back, thankfully Mattjolly took a call from my daughter at 1:30 in the morning and helped get it sorted out.

I'm going to stick with very simple for the next while, easy corals, easy fish. I have a controller and all that's hooked up to it are my heaters. I want to get this figured out so it makes it worth the money having one.

I feel much better after our vacation, I was so overwhelmed with work and the holidays and just life in general, I can't believe the difference it's made!

I don't want to give up either tank, both are unique to me, the 180 is a year old in a couple of weeks, the 55 will be 3 in march.

Again, I appreciate the encouragement and advice, hopefully it was just a small slump.

Now to the tanks!

Coralgural : What keeps me going? I have been in aquariums since 1970, I seen many hobbyist give up on it for many reasons as discussed here. For me, I don't regard it as a hobby, it is a lifestyle that I chosed that interested me when I was younger, it was part of my life, just like a family, you don't choose to abandon your family when things get tough, you find a way to make things work, people complain that things get too much work or hard to deal with, then downsize, go to one smaller tank, you don't need a huge tank to be sucessfull, you need to find a comfortable size that you can intergrate with everything that goes with your life. Keep away from difficult corals if you can't meet their demands, you will be more rewarded with keeping it simple, I hear people alot that can't seem to get their tank functioning and that lead to a lot of frustration, to the point of shutting it down, I encourage them to stick with it, whatever I can help, I will help them, a lot of Canreef hobbyist here in your area should be more than happy to lend a hand, I personally have 12 functioning saltwater aquarium operating in my fishroom, they are not a burden to me, they are part of my life, but does that mean I don't have any other life, not really, I enjoy the maintainence just as much as spending time in the fish room with a cup of tea with friends, family or just myself enjoying the aquariums. I,m sadden to hear you speak of your frustration, cheer up, don't give up. keep it simple, downsize, let it become part of your life and not so much as a hobby. I love this, and will never give it up. I hope this will encourage you, and I also know that many Canreef fans will support you as well. Regards Ken

I don't know how else to describe it...

I try to care a little less when crap happens.

When things go awry, I recognize whatever happens, I think of the two extremes- worse case scenario and the best fix, and decide in terms of cost and effort... I don't care that much but will do a little... so I'll settle for a middle outcome.

If I try to solve every problem with best available solution, scraping away every last bit of algae on the glass, killing every last aiptasia, worry about random coral deaths... I'd burn out and lose patience and not have time for everything else in my life. It's supposed to be fun, a small part of my life, but it's not my life.

In my short time of reef keeping I've run through the gamut of emotions with my tank made lots of mistakes unintentionally tried to kill a coral and had a partial tank crash which truly depressed me. I would like to upgrade but my 33 gallon is already a time sink and a bigger one might drive me batty.

On the other hand I can sit in front of my tank for hours and just watch the coral/fish/crab and snails interact and it calms me my cats will also sit there for hours on end and watch the smorgasbord of food swim around. My nieces love my tank and those that come over love it as well. The cost is minimal now that my tank is established and all those little idosyncratices keep me going take the good with the bad.

On a side note thank the maker that our only SW LFS is so crappy cause I could literally spend tons in a store. It's easier to control my urges since I have to order everything in tempers my spending a lot.

What keeps me going???

My health.

This is my therapy. My sanctuary. Sometimes the only thing that keep me going.

Instead of dreading trips to Vancouver or Edmonton, I just think of all the opportunities I will have to bring back new livestock. :mrgreen: I'd much rather read about each corals needs and how to achieve those requirement as opposed to the latest scholarly paper in gene therapy any day. Plus, I get to garden year round. Being so far north, our gardening season is so short and bittersweet. But with aquariums, particularly saltwater, I can "garden" year round.

But on the downside, there is the being gone from month to month that constantly worries me because of the failure to maintain them properly by the designate house sitters. Mind you, when I come back, getting my tanks back into shape keeps me going steady for at least two weeks, so I guess that can be construed as a blessing too? :neutral:

Corlgurl, rediscover what ignited your passion and get over the momentum hump. It sounds like you are well on your way to getting back into the groove and with a supporting group like Canreef, you can't go wrong.

Figuring something out, and solving problems successfully keeps me going.

Watching SPS frags start to plate, change colour, and then start to grow keeps me going.

Looking at photos I've taken along the way and seeing how much things have advanced and matured keeps me going.

Turning a couple of empty glass boxes in to a fully functioning ecological system keeps me going

Watching how the dead, largely sterile, blindingly white marco rocks That formed the base of my system have been slowly brought to life over months of being in the same water with a relatively small amount of high quality live rock keeps me going.

1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione 3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione keeps me going :neutral:.

dont you need a prescription for that lol

No I consider Tim Horton's & Starbucks to be subvert drug dealers.

It is sort of like trying change your mind after jumping from the plane... Quitting is not an option!

with my annual sbux bill, I could spend a couple weeks in Mexico :(

I just got a prescription for champix to quit smoking! Won't start until I finish my 2 cartons I bought duty free though:mrgreen: then I'll be able to go back to Belize with all the money I save :lol:

I quit with Champix, It was the easiest time I ever quit, had no desire to smoke but you have to break the physical act of smoking, keep your hands busy, they aren't kidding about the dreams, they are vivid and seem real, hopefully you dream of Belize. The money drawer fills up fast.
I quit 3 years ago January and don't miss it one bit, wife still smokes which makes me sick, what a disgusting habit, I'll keep working on her.

Good Luck

Good Luck, 5 years for me now. Champix does the job if your serious . And as stated above the dreams are unreal. I only used the prescription for 3 weeks as things started getting weird. Haven't had one thought of having a smoke ever again in my life.

Standing on the ledge debating shutting down. Sat in front of my tank for an hour writing a sale thread and cried the entire time. There's nothing wrong with my tank other than lack of maintenance. Cyano bloom went away when I stopped feeding pellets, corals are growing (my rbta is at least a foot wide at its base, then another 6-8 in with it's tentacles flowing).

So overwhelmed with so many things and pulled in every direction. This should be a source of stress relief, instead its just one more thing to find time to deal with. I'm whining, I know, and I know there's been good responses in this thread already. I know an option is sell off live stock and restart down the road. I just need to vent.