Does the calm scare you?

sturgesz · Jul 4, 2022

When things seem to be chugging along steadily does it start to scare you that something bad is hiding around the corner?
I had diatoms after cycling and just in the past few days the water seems to be getting more clear, less fuzz on rock work and nitrates are sitting around 5ppm (steady dosing neo nitro) and phosphate roughly .03ppm in my macro tank. I’m convinced something is going to happen and just curious if it’s just me

vetteguy53081 · Jul 4, 2022

sturgesz said:
When things seem to be chugging along steadily does it start to scare you that something bad is hiding around the corner?
I had diatoms after cycling and just in the past few days the water seems to be getting more clear, less fuzz on rock work and nitrates are sitting around 5ppm (steady dosing neo nitro) and phosphate roughly .03ppm in my macro tank. I’m convinced something is going to happen and just curious if it’s just me

manage water quailty with quality test kits and control feedings and all should should sail well.

shakacuz · Jul 4, 2022

i’m sure there is always a lingering “what if” in all of us in this hobby when there are quite a few things that if left unchecked can lead to unwanted things happening, and not just in water chemistry but in the electrical side of things!

i do have this “what if”, and because of it i tend to be over vigilant and overthink a lot, so i have to check myself and just let things run their course sometimes..

Alexraptor · Jul 4, 2022

Not just you. Been experiencing nearly existential anguish the last few days, despite my tanks doing great. Like you I feel like somethings bound to go wrong any moment, like equipment could suddenly fail, or what if I make a mistake and screw up the dosing?

And I've been in this hobby for over 17 years!!!

Karen00 · Jul 4, 2022

I think most of us live a daily routine with our tanks and more often than not we're dealing with something in some part of the tank or tweaking something in another part or doing something with the equipment. When you actually hit a period when nothing has to be done except feed the tank then sit back and enjoy it, it can be a bit unnerving not having anything to do. If my hand isn't in my tank at least once a day tinkering with something I get freaked out. Haha.

sturgesz · Jul 4, 2022

I use Hannah checkers, my tank is mostly macros so I focus on phosphates and nitrates. I do 1-2 gallon wc Thursday and again Sundays. I have a simple ph probe usually reads 7.9-8.1ph (I don’t worry about swings because they are consistent daily) no matter what I do

StewL6 · Jul 7, 2022

Yeah I am cruising right along my 18 month 22 gallon Nano is doing excellent corals are happy , fish are happy. my sps corals in the 22 are growing so well that I have almost totally filled the right side island of my 110 tank with Frags which is a little over 8 months old. I am submitting ATI ICP tests monthly my weekly testing is very stable. Then BANG my red planet bleaches and my latest ICP test shows Copper and Tin . Go through the drill and clean all pumps, clean sump, check my mix station. Think it is one of the rock frag rack magnets I added to the back of the 22 so I could add more SPS three months ago. Pulled the frag racks out of tank will verify with more ICP tests next week. Always something.

AKL1950 · Jul 7, 2022

Growing up in Texas, the expression was “if you don’t like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change”. It was pretty spot on. If you are talking something as big as the Pacific Ocean, things change slowly. Our little slices of a beautiful ocean will tend to change more rapidly. I think we should all expect it, be ready for it, but don’t over react. Vigilance is necessary because anything dealing with living entities can and will change and sometimes unexpectedly.

I think your feelings are good, because they keep you vigilant and ready to react when required. Enjoy the good times, but always be ready if/when things go south.

Jetson

ReefGeezer · Jul 7, 2022

Calm? Something is always wrong! I'd think I was missing something if I could find something that needed attention.

McPuff · Jul 7, 2022

Yes, I definitely feel this too. Typically I'll have 2 months where I think "wow, the tank is looking fantastic. I wonder what the next obstacle will be." And that is followed by several months or a year+ where I have to slowly get everything back to that steady state. I'm sure it's my own fault as [historically] I haven't monitored nutrients closely enough. Now that I have a KH director, I can use my weekly test time to monitor PO4 levels instead. :0)

RichReef · Jul 7, 2022

The only thing that worries me is equipment failure. Things are going so well I have been buying back up equipment to eliminate that.

I am about a week away from filling my next build. Starting it up is worrying me. I am hoping to get the same success out of this new build. We have all seen the posts where the next build didn't go as well as the previous.

tnw50cal · Jul 7, 2022

No the calm doesn't. When something starts to go wrong/different it's scares(bothers) me to wonder am I making the correct reaction to fix it. Am I under or over reacting or just right.