Easiest or Most Difficult Pet To Keep, Is Reef Keeping the choice for you?

[Karen00]

I honestly have no idea, but it's insane. If you blow your nose and leave the tissue within reach (aka: garbage), out it goes. With ours there's something feral about ripping it to shreds...

The worst has to be bread. Those butter buns from Costco in particular. My wife left a package out in the entranceway for 15min and when she came back our dog had devoured half the bag!

Oh ya, I learned my lesson with groceries. If I leave a bag on the floor with cookies or bread in it for 5 minutes my three are into it. Even turning my back on the bag to put stuff away can be precarious. I never buy cookies with chocolate in it just in case. Haha.

 

[blaxsun]

Oh ya, I learned my lesson with groceries. If I leave a bag on the floor with cookies or bread in it for 5 minutes my three are into it. Even turning my back on the bag to put stuff away can be precarious. I never buy cookies with chocolate in it just in case. Haha.

Ours chewed into a bag of chocolate bars and ate an entire Kit Kat (I guess she felt she deserved a break today).

 

[damsels are not mean]

I think reefing is as difficult and complicated as you make it... I really think part of the problem is people adding things to their tank because someone experienced said it helps, without understanding why it helps. I have through experience learned how reefs work and what tools there are to do things and why we would want these things. But newbies don't know why they are buying bio balls or chemi pure. They do it because that's what you're "supposed to" do.

And because they don't understand the system or approach the hobby from the perspective of trying to learn and experiment on their own they cannot possibly troubleshoot their highly specific problems (as every system is unique) even with the help of experts. So they get frustrated and quit because their tanks don't look like what they're supposed to.

 

[Sean Clark]

I think reefing is as difficult and complicated as you make it... I really think part of the problem is people adding things to their tank because someone experienced said it helps, without understanding why it helps. I have through experience learned how reefs work and what tools there are to do things and why we would want these things. But newbies don't know why they are buying bio balls or chemi pure. They do it because that's what you're "supposed to" do.

And because they don't understand the system or approach the hobby from the perspective of trying to learn and experiment on their own they cannot possibly troubleshoot their highly specific problems (as every system is unique) even with the help of experts. So they get frustrated and quit because their tanks don't look like what they're supposed to.

This is very true.

 

[flyfisher2]

I also forgot to add in the cost of hardware, electricity, salt, additives, water, etc. Holy cow, my 5g has cost me more in 8 months than my three dogs have in four years. Haha.

Seeeeee!!!!

I think reefing is as difficult and complicated as you make it... I really think part of the problem is people adding things to their tank because someone experienced said it helps, without understanding why it helps. I have through experience learned how reefs work and what tools there are to do things and why we would want these things. But newbies don't know why they are buying bio balls or chemi pure. They do it because that's what you're "supposed to" do.

And because they don't understand the system or approach the hobby from the perspective of trying to learn and experiment on their own they cannot possibly troubleshoot their highly specific problems (as every system is unique) even with the help of experts. So they get frustrated and quit because their tanks don't look like what they're supposed to.

agreed but that’s a hobby
I see kids take a Honda Civic add a tractor muffler to it because it “sounds cool”
Runs like crap ,but it sounds cool.
I still say, the biggest problem after adding a controller to the system IS the controller
BUT they too, look cool
And it’s just so awesome to go into your phone, find the app, open the app, look up the feed mode and tap the button and just watch everything shut down.
How awesome vs. Just hitting a toggle switch on a power supply.

 

[flyfisher2]

Reef tanks are realativly easy if you have a plan and stick to it.
Many make it harder than it needs to be, imo.
I have 3 systems, 120 with 30g remote fuge, 45 frag system, and 18" nano cube.
Nano cube is by far the easiest to keep.
We have 4 indoor cats, 2 males 2 females.
We also have 6 snakes.

COOL!!!
What kinda snakes?

 

[flyfisher2]

I think reefing is as difficult and complicated as you make it... I really think part of the problem is people adding things to their tank because someone experienced said it helps, without understanding why it helps. I have through experience learned how reefs work and what tools there are to do things and why we would want these things. But newbies don't know why they are buying bio balls or chemi pure. They do it because that's what you're "supposed to" do.

And because they don't understand the system or approach the hobby from the perspective of trying to learn and experiment on their own they cannot possibly troubleshoot their highly specific problems (as every system is unique) even with the help of experts. So they get frustrated and quit because their tanks don't look like what they're supposed to.

I know people like this, but this ties in with instant gratification.
People want tank, fish, thriving corals, and it all better be up and running by the weekend.

 

[bnord]

horses
full stop

 

[X-37B]

COOL!!!
What kinda snakes?

Lavender Retic
Hypo Red tail boa
Rainbow boa
Albino ball
Regular ball
Mexican black kingsnake.

 

[flyfisher2]

Lavender Retic
Hypo Red tail boa
Rainbow boa
Albino ball
Regular ball
Mexican black kingsnake.

I’m so tempted to get back into it but my wife is terrified of snakes. She says she’ll leave me if I get any so does anyone have a Big Reticulated Python for sale?

 

[Karen00]

Seeeeee!!!!

agreed but that’s a hobby
I see kids take a Honda Civic add a tractor muffler to it because it “sounds cool”
Runs like crap ,but it sounds cool.
I still say, the biggest problem after adding a controller to the system IS the controller
BUT they too, look cool
And it’s just so awesome to go into your phone, find the app, open the app, look up the feed mode and tap the button and just watch everything shut down.
How awesome vs. Just hitting a toggle switch on a power supply.

I love having apps to control things. It means I don't have to crawl on the floor to unplug things or flip switches. I love being an armchair reefer. LOL

 

[flyfisher2]

I love having apps to control things. It means I don't have to crawl on the floor to unplug things or flip switches. I love being an armchair reefer. LOL

Agreed!
Gadgets are fun.
I just wish they were more reliable.
It kinda sucks when the gadget that is supposed to be the failsafe turns out being the weakest link in the chain.

 

[ZoWhat]

I've had years of difficulties keeping Dolphins in my backyard saltwater pool

 

[flyfisher2]

I've had years of difficulties keeping Dolphins in my backyard saltwater pool

That’s my uncle Ralph, bad burns in unmentionables.

 

[A Young Reefer]

I tried many pets in the past, I have had issues with actually enjoying taking care of them and making the care taking part be more than just a routine. To me reef keeping is the most enjoyable, anything you do and enjoy doing should be easy. The challenges are what makes me keep going, moreover defeating the challenges is the most Rewarding part.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I know people like this, but this ties in with instant gratification.
People want tank, fish, thriving corals, and it all better be up and running by the weekend.

But they mix this desire in with the advice given to all beginners to take things slowly and don't understand why those philosophies won't mix

instant tank is possible, maybe easier now than ever due to knowledge we have acquired. Go to any trade show or convention and you'll see lots of instant tanks

But beginners fill their tank with dry rock and get a pair of clowns because corals are "too sensitive" and that's what they're supposed to do when in fact adding corals early is probably better than adding fish early.

Then they have a tank that has become algae eutrophic and try to put a holy grail torch frag in there...

 

[MaxTremors]

It's a medium-sized cattle dog. She likes to pull the blankets off me but reserves the honor of scaling the bed to rest upon the human for my wife.

And lately she's (the cattle dog) been throwing up about once a week, because she's developed this stupid tissue fetish.

I have a Kelpie/Australian Shepherd mix and she loves to sit on my cats. The cats, for the most part, just deal with it, and I always stop her, but from what I’ve read it’s partially a dominance thing but also just part of herding dog behavior.

As for cats or dogs ruining furniture/carpets, yeah that can happen, but if you’re in the hobby long enough you’ll ruin some flooring, walls, and furniture too, even with fail safes it’s really just a matter of time before you flood your house. Hopefully it’ll be just a few gallons and not hundreds, but it’ll happen, whether forgetting to shut an RODI unit, tank breaking, bucket getting knocked over/handle breaking, siphon tube falling out the bucket, etc., it’s just a matter off time.

But, I view reefkeeping as more of a hobby than owning a pet. Yes, my fish and corals are kind of pets, a lot of them have names (more my GF’s doing than mine), but as a whole it’s a hobby. My dog and cats are not a hobby, they are part of the family.

 

[blaxsun]

Sitting on the cats - that's hilarious,

 

[MaxTremors]

Sitting on the cats - that's hilarious,

It’s especially hilarious when I tell her to sit and she goes and sits on a cat, and then just looks at me like ‘what? this is what you asked for’.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I think it can be as expensive as you want it to be.
It can be as much work as you want to put into it. Work pays off. Or so they say.
Lol.
I've had 300g blow seam well I was at work.
I've traveled 100s of miles south and east to buy livestock.
I've made friends and even met ppl I wasn't fond of and turned out I was right.
... I think I can tolerate my fish tank currently more so than I can my mastiff. She's kinda being a pain. Lol.
Or my 8yr old. Or my house... lol. The list goes on.
D