Do you feel like you have enough time for your tank?

[Gumbies R Us]

If there is one thing a lot of us wish we had, is more time in the day. I am wondering, do you wish you have more time for your tank, or do you feel like you have just enough time with your tank? Also, bonus question, if you had more time for your tank, what would you do with it? Curious to see what everyone says!

 

[ForTheLoveOfCoral21]

Love this question. I carve out team each weekend for tank "stuff"

The day i don't have enough time i will get out of the hobby, as i don't want my living reef to suffer

 

[Gtinnel]

No I do not. I haven’t had time in the last 8 months to do anything with my tanks. Between working overtime at work and my kids keeping me busy with sports all I’ve really had time to do is fill dosing containers back up. Seriously I haven’t cleaned my front glass in so long that it’s hard to even see inside the tank.
On a positive note with the extra money from work I’ve bought some equipment for the tank that I haven’t had time to install yet.

 

[SaltyCabbage]

Recently no. I’m moving houses and don’t get back home till past 7:00pm every day, and lights turn off at 9:00pm. Im only home to view the tank for about an hour or so with lights on so I do everything on the weekends when I’m off.

Hopefully once I’m settled I can get some time back and work on the tanks. Would love to have an extra hour to just enjoy the tank and clean glass/salt if it needs to be.

 

[AustinBabler]

I work 6 days a week but usually the only times I don’t have time for it are spring and fall. But those times are relatively short. About a month each of those seasons. Even when I’m super busy it’s not like the tank lacks anything. I still clean the glass feed in the fish in the morning. My girlfriend does a small feeding at night when I’m in the field. Other than that I do all my testing and maintenance on Sunday mornings. I kind of want to get into some more automation. Mainly water testing. Auto water changes scare me.
As far as having more free time and what I’d do with it. I’m not too sure what I’d do with extra time besides stare at the tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love this question. I carve out team each weekend for tank "stuff"

The day i don't have enough time i will get out of the hobby, as i don't want my living reef to suffer

I agree with the last statement as well!

 

[Slocke]

I either have way too much time or no time depending on my job any given week.

 

[Marquarium]

I have the time my issues is more in the money department

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I have the time my issues is more in the money department

That is about the truth with me haha

 

[Reefer Matt]

I don't do anything else besides work my day job for 8 hours and take care of the tanks the rest of the day.

 

[Blopple]

I either have way too much time or no time depending on my job any given week.

This is the one for me too. I sometimes seriously consider starting another tank just so I get to play reef tank more often. Other times I don't do a water change for a month and can barely see through the glass.

Hilariously I think it sort of works out. I get to fiddle for a bit, then the tank gets to rest and my hands stay out while I'm busy.

 

[fish farmer]

I wish I had more consistent time. Late Fall and Winter is easy to focus on weekly routine maintenance, but by spring and summer, outside tasks/hobbies/travel, as well as a busier/exhausting work schedule makes tasks less routine.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I have 2 daughters, 8 years old and 2 years old with full time job, my wife works full time. I clean my aquriam fortnightly which takes approximately 4 hours.
I have time for my aquriam but no time to sit and enjoy

 

[Someshmuk]

I dont think I've ever looked at my tank and said "Yes, i finally have nothing to fix".

Don't look at it too long... You might be tempted to do coral musical chairs... Maybe pull out that skimmer and do a deep clean. Since you're already there... Pull out the return pumps and heater and give them a deep clean too. Oh but your sump is getting kinda grimy too so you should broom/vac it out. Was that media bag changed this year? Probably get around to that.

 

[flashsmith]

I've got plenty of time but no desire anymore. I had a widowmaker heart attack 7 weeks ago and somehow I survived. I've decided to take down both of my systems over the coming months and rehome everything. We live in a Hurricane prone area and have decided to go ahead and build a new forever home in an even more Hurricane prone area. I'm not willing to deal with power outages and the stress that brings anymore. This was a retirement plan for down the road but decided due to the recent events life is too short to wait for tomorrow. So if anyone in Central Florida is looking for some healthy possibly free livestock. Haven't decided the best way to go about it yet.

 

[Fishes]

There could always be more time.. but once I had a kid I made the change to calcium reactor and alkatronic which reduces the boring testing time.. I also spend much more time on my tank in the winter. So I always feel like summer is just waterchanges and maintenance, and then winter months is the fun fragging and rearranging for more coral etc.. if I had more time I think I'd add a dedicated frag tank plummed in to my tank

 

[Dbichler]

No I do not. I haven’t had time in the last 8 months to do anything with my tanks. Between working overtime at work and my kids keeping me busy with sports all I’ve really had time to do is fill dosing containers back up. Seriously I haven’t cleaned my front glass in so long that it’s hard to even see inside the tank.
On a positive note with the extra money from work I’ve bought some equipment for the tank that I haven’t had time to install yet.

Same here three kids all in high level select sports including high school sports on top of it and it’s bow hunting season all I do now is feed daily and fill my ato.

 

[mattdg]

I could use some more time for the reef, especially observing. Sticking to a weekly schedule keeps me checking in, even when very busy. If I miss a days scheduled maintenance, I'll bump it to the next and double up. Only issue is when traveling. Of course, that's when the mixed reef seems to always do the best. Can't complain about that.

 

[JoJosReef]

Nope! And the bubble algae knows it...

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Yes. I have been careful to design my system so that it can run without intervention if need be. It was fine by itself for 2 weeks while I was on vacation. I had the lfs stop by every 4th day just to check on it, but they didn't have to do anything. I have an ato, lights on timers, inkbird temp, controller, and a Webcam. I also have autofeeders I can install if I'm going to be away. My work schedule is unpredictable, so I sometimes have to work long hours unexpectedly. Or like during the holidays j have little time for anything (that mail carrier life yo). But tinkering with my tanks is how I relax after work. I think that reefing is more than just a hobby for my wife and I. She got into it after buying me a tank for my birthday last year and has her own biocube now. Reefing is an obsession for us. We take road trips to visit lfs or conventions, we're going to the southern aquatic experience this weekend. So we make time for the tanks. It also helps that my wife can do basic tasks if need be too.

If you're traveling, seriously, pay a pro. My lfs charged me $50 bucks to stop by 3 times and just put eyes on the tank and feed the fish. Totally worth the piece of mind to know what I can't monitor is working and that there's someone I can call if something is wrong.