ARE WE CRAZY, DO WE WORRY TOO MUCH, WATCH OUR TANKS LIKE OBSESSIVE PARENTS, AND THREW THIS HAVE A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON OUR TANk

Bepis

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Ok peeps now I know how much we all obsess over tanks and its stability, but I recently had a revelation as I watched a piece of a softie in my tank in the flow going to take over another island. The revelation came from my thoughts that it almost seems that bad things happen specifically when we are watching, per say a fish that is spotless scratching, a coral falling over, or a fish getting bullied. It almost appears that our tanks want to punish us ourselves. Then after much thought and research, I realized on reefs things happen. While were worried about a 2 degree fluctuation, reefs change by 20 from night to the afternoon and vise-versa. A coral looking down for a day. A scratch from a fish while it could just be a well... an itch, we humans have itches is it that hard to believe a fish can get one. We don't realize but things are constantly happening in our tanks, some good some bad, in even the most successful tanks; and they still stay beautiful. We're obsessed with this ideology that the system needs our hands in it every other hour, but truth be told, most of the time, the oils, impurities, and bacteria that exist on our hands is like dumping a truckload of trash into a small reef. Maybe it's time to lay back, stop playing god, and become an observer. Maintain it like a janitor, not a OCD Covid 19 Sanitation Company, help it along, point a finger in the right direction, and stop pushing it towards its never ending destination.

Now this is not me encouraging to neglect our tanks, let our levels fly like leaves in the wind, or let aiptasia kill our tank.

But let's take one single step back.

Last but not least I just wanted to say thank you to Reef2Reef, Its staff member, The friendly community, and @revhtree, for creating a incredible place for discussion.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking." -Steve Jobs
"If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor." -
Eleanor Roosevelt
 

BeltedCoyote

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This is basically my entire mindset with my first and current build. We create and maintain tiny ecosystems. Everything is intimately interdependent. In other words there is not a single event in any of our systems that doesn’t have a ripple effect, effecting other components of the system. Not to say such ripples are necessarily bad. Just the facts.

(Forgive me for going all zen and soapboxy. I halfway identify as zen due to how my mind works, and I find a lot of that in reef keeping)
 

Xanthurum

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I think you are spot on. I recently quit messing with my tank so much and it has never been better. I try to avoid putting my hand in the tank other than to feed the fish. I also just started a new job which has me out of town more than I'm home which was a little scary if I'm honest. My wife takes care of the tank while I'm gone but all she really does is fill the ATO and feed the fish. I also find myself just looking and enjoying the tank more now when I am home.
 

SaltISlife

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I dont mess with my tank. I rarely test the water. I dose 1 15ml capfull of alk a day. And water change every 3 weeks to replenish what i dont dose. And clean the glass every other day

When i was working on my Jeep i was working on it for 6-7 hours a day not counting normal work work.. So id be too tired to mess with my tank. Then i pinched two nerves in my neck and couldnt move at all. I was in screaming pain for over a month until it finally went away.

3 weeks in all i did was my water change and dosing once a day with alk and thats it. I lost no corals. Glass was so dirty i couldnt see in the tank lol. And i have 85+ differrnt corals including sps and acros.

I also use tap water and hobs. No sumps or skimmer. My tank is as maintenance free as possible. If i wanted i could go on vacation for 2 weeks and not care as long as i had a dosing machine of course for alk and some kind of auto top off for the water level and a automatic feeder
 
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Bepis

Bepis

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Bump
 

Saltyreef

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Yep. And you see stuff like this and wonder.....how the heck.

When i was a kid. My mom bought this sealed glass ball with some aquatic plants and life called the biosphere.
Sometimes it sat in the sun sometimes not. But life was very very active inside that sealed glass ball....for a long time until it mysteriously some child pushed it off the stand.

Screenshot_20200927-134423_Chrome.jpg
 

terraincognita

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This is basically my entire mindset with my first and current build. We create and maintain tiny ecosystems. Everything is intimately interdependent. In other words there is not a single event in any of our systems that doesn’t have a ripple effect, effecting other components of the system. Not to say such ripples are necessarily bad. Just the facts.

(Forgive me for going all zen and soapboxy. I halfway identify as zen due to how my mind works, and I find a lot of that in reef keeping)

I find this mindset to be such a helpful one myself.

with this and bonsai I feel adapting a similar mindset to this is a super key factor.

It also turns reef keeping into a type of therapy for me.

being able to watch and examine. I touch my tanks as little as possible.

my adjustments I try to keep are always and only feeding and dosing in recent tanks and I have (mostly) awesome growth and stability a lot quicker than I’ve ever had.

but part of it by really seeing the tank evolve you get a deeper understanding and connection somehow with the micro life involved in this beautiful world and ecosystem you’re creating.

I feel that the stronger that connection the happier the reef. Even if you don’t fully understand it, you can acknowledge it’s presence.

hows that for over sappy zen talk lol

I still obsess over my tank, but instead of leaving my footprint im leaving nose prints. :p

looking for growing pod colonies or just examine the mm difference of growth is fun for me lol
 
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vetteguy53081

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Of course we do. We adopted the children (fish and corals) to assure we keep them happy and healthy and would not be accomplished Unless we fuss and worry over them providing them the best food and water we can accomplish.
In return we get color and growth and joy just as our actual children provide !!
 

SRQreefer

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When I started my first reef, in a 55, I didn't worry much at all. I rarely tested parameters, and dosed very sporadically - just regular 10-15% water changes with good salt. I had incredible success. This prompted me to upgrade to a 90 and, later, to a 120 - where I was, for years, much less successful using this hands off approach. I really struggled to get anything to grow (or, once growing, last), until, almost ready to give up on the hobby entirely, I started micromanaging about a year ago. I've been able to adopt a more hands off approach recently (mostly because I now have a Neptune monitoring everything for me), but, in my personal experience, for medium to larger systems, obsession is kind of key.
 

scdigby

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(Forgive me for going all zen and soapboxy. I halfway identify as zen due to how my mind works, and I find a lot of that in reef keeping)
No need to ask for forgiveness or apologize or anything like that! The best advice i have ever received regarding a reef is leave it the... well, leave it alone! Keep your hands out of the tank unless something wasn't secured properly and it has fallen over, and don't mess with anything else unless something is wrong. If you plant a tree in your yard you're not going to go and dig it up every day to see if it is doing ok. That will most likely kill it. Why treat your reef any different? Let it be!!! Sure, test the water and all that, but don't disturb everything with your hands. That's just stirring up trouble and trying to pick a fight with your reef! lol
 

scdigby

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(Forgive me for going all zen and soapboxy. I halfway identify as zen due to how my mind works, and I find a lot of that in reef keeping)
And yes, the whole zen mind set works! You know how people on this forum often say that nothing good happens quickly in this hobby? It's an exercise in patience. Monitor, but let it grow on it's own!
 

ScottR

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Always watch your tank. But don’t put your hands in. Touching and moving and changing things too much probably does more negative than good. But good husbandry also is important. Usually when something bad goes wrong, learn from it and try not to repeat the same mistake. Easier said than done.
 

richarddeweerd

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I agree, in the beginning I was constantly chasing numbers. And almost every day I added some of additive x or y. Nowadays, I measure Salinity, Alk and CA once a week to check my 2 part dosing. Further I feed the fish and corals daily, and I check the skimmer and ato levels. Since when I did this my tank is way more stable.
 

Conchman

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Yeah, at a certain age I learned balance, and don’t try to fix what ain’t broke. I test every couple or three weeks, have a light feed schedule. Doser, and when or now if I do go on a 10 day vacation, I have someone just feed, very lightly, and already measured out. Clean glass every few days...
 

ScottR

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This mantra is gold and I try to subscribe to it. However it's sometimes difficult to resist the urge to stick hand in and tinker ;).
We must get our hands in of course. But I think we sometimes do too much. In my old tanks, I tinkered way too much. Learned the hard way.
 

Sleeping Giant

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Ok peeps now I know how much we all obsess over tanks and its stability, but I recently had a revelation as I watched a piece of a softie in my tank in the flow going to take over another island. The revelation came from my thoughts that it almost seems that bad things happen specifically when we are watching, per say a fish that is spotless scratching, a coral falling over, or a fish getting bullied. It almost appears that our tanks want to punish us ourselves. Then after much thought and research, I realized on reefs things happen. While were worried about a 2 degree fluctuation, reefs change by 20 from night to the afternoon and vise-versa. A coral looking down for a day. A scratch from a fish while it could just be a well... an itch, we humans have itches is it that hard to believe a fish can get one. We don't realize but things are constantly happening in our tanks, some good some bad, in even the most successful tanks; and they still stay beautiful. We're obsessed with this ideology that the system needs our hands in it every other hour, but truth be told, most of the time, the oils, impurities, and bacteria that exist on our hands is like dumping a truckload of trash into a small reef. Maybe it's time to lay back, stop playing god, and become an observer. Maintain it like a janitor, not a OCD Covid 19 Sanitation Company, help it along, point a finger in the right direction, and stop pushing it towards its never ending destination.

Now this is not me encouraging to neglect our tanks, let our levels fly like leaves in the wind, or let aiptasia kill our tank.

But let's take one single step back.

Last but not least I just wanted to say thank you to Reef2Reef, Its staff member, The friendly community, and @revhtree, for creating a incredible place for discussion.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking." -Steve Jobs
"If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor." -
Eleanor Roosevelt
giphy.gif
 

Sleeping Giant

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Most of us fuss over our cats and dogs, so fish and corals would and in my mind should always be treated as family pets.
I don't understand how this is considered a hobby. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats, and don't consider them a hobby, but part of the family.
 

terraincognita

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Always watch your tank. But don’t put your hands in. Touching and moving and changing things too much probably does more negative than good. But good husbandry also is important. Usually when something bad goes wrong, learn from it and try not to repeat the same mistake. Easier said than done.

Husbandry is a good word really :p the derivative makes sense.

Just because you always watching and checking on your S.O. don't mean you touching them and poking them hahaha.
 

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