How do you cope being burnt out, if ever ?

[MushroomReefing]

After being some what lost and burnt out from reefing, I took a year off and stripped everything down and thought that I would never give it another go again. Yet, here I am, coming back after a long hiatus, restarting everything from scratch again.

I guess this hobby has a way of tempting you back in. Previously, I was pretty hellbent on " chasing numbers" or perfection, rather. Every single measurement not going my way, I would be pretty annoyed and were very stern on "correcting" the parameters and overreact on every little minor changes and taking drastic actions which then resulted in always worsening the scenario and eventually, leading into unhappy corals/fishes in my Nano Tank. I burnt out and set myself up for failure from the get go after years.


Started all over again this year! Tank is currently up and running already with a clownfish / some mushrooms / GSP(i know) and a duncan, keeping it mainly super easy and low maintenance as much as possible and only doing 10% water changes weekly to replenish what is lost/consumed. This approach hopefully, will allow me to slowly ease back into this hobby again without worrying too much about the "perfect parameters", this and that but just be consistent with the basics and avoid burning out.

My question is, what do you do when you are feeling burnt out ? How do you cope and what is keeping you going ?

 

[mbmax]

I actually did the same thing you did. I am now reconsidering starting a new system but the memories scare me .

 

[Blitheran]

Burnout for me came in two phases.

The first was life changes when I was younger, the tank couldn’t be a priority anymore. I made the decision to sell it and purchase a house.

The second, and bigger reason, was the daily grind. The tank required constant attention every day it was do this… adjust that… fix this again. That constant maintenance is what really fueled the burnout.

This time around, I knew exactly what I wanted: a fully automated system. I’ve set the tank up so my only regular tasks are a weekly water change, cleaning the skimmer, scrubbing the glass, and refilling the ATO totally doable.

This approach has allowed me to balance my business, family, and reefing passion. Now, I actually look forward to working on the tank each week because I haven’t been chained to it every day. It’s exciting again.

 

[DJF]

this hobby is intricate enough for me where if I’m burnt out of say the science part, I’ll focus on the photography side. Or if I’m burnt out on the photography side, I’ll focus on equipment, or testing, husbandry or digging into the life inside the system. I’ll make a game of maintenance i.e- tracking how many days I go without putting my hand inside it. I have yet to learn everything about my system so there is always something new to offer.

 

[exnisstech]

I've not burned out yet but it's only been 10 years. I love simple. I have 5 tanks running. All have an ATO and inkbirds for heat. No controllers and no auto testers. One doser for AFR on my acro tank other tanks are dosed manually each morning. I sit down every Sunday for less than an hour and test NO3, PO4 and alk. I test calcium once every month or two. Nothing else it tested. I don't ICP test because I have no need and I'm not looking to create problems that don't exists. I don't monitor or test pH except on my acro tank and the extent of chasing that is an outside air line to the skimmer. I'm not a gear head and I'm not a huge fan of tech. I see every piece of equipment as something that is going to fail so the less i have the less problems I have.
I never try to influence N and P levels when starting a tank. I prefer to let the tank run for 6 months to a year and see where things settle. I like to think of it as a state of normalcy and that state is different for each tank. High N and P? meh I don't really care. I have a tank that runs NO3 25-40 and PO4 0.35 - 0.9+ . Occasionally I'll toss a little GFO in and bring that down closer to 0.5 since 0.9 is the max my Hanna reads so it's not and accurate result. I have other tanks that run that at or near zero N and P. I don't like zero so I'll dose some ammonium for N or diy phosphate as needed but as time goes on the need for that becomes less. Early on I tried to control a lot more than I do now and it just led to tail chasing and frustration which isn't fun for me. I like to relax and watch my fish and coral not fret over them. If it isn't fun its isn't a hobby since those are supposed to bring pleasure not frustration. I only run 2 skimmers and even have a tank with no filtration other than live rock.
Keep it simple for the win IME.

 

[JumboShrimp]

By keeping mostly FOWLR tanks.

(I have no more than one small 20-gallon 'easy' coral tank, to scratch that itch. But FOWLRs don't have to be babysat every moment of every day. I can easily go a week or two at a time and only feed, if I want to.)

 

[TX_REEF]

After being some what lost and burnt out from reefing, I took a year off and stripped everything down and thought that I would never give it another go again. Yet, here I am, coming back after a long hiatus, restarting everything from scratch again.

I guess this hobby has a way of tempting you back in. Previously, I was pretty hellbent on " chasing numbers" or perfection, rather. Every single measurement not going my way, I would be pretty annoyed and were very stern on "correcting" the parameters and overreact on every little minor changes and taking drastic actions which then resulted in always worsening the scenario and eventually, leading into unhappy corals/fishes in my Nano Tank. I burnt out and set myself up for failure from the get go after years.


Started all over again this year! Tank is currently up and running already with a clownfish / some mushrooms / GSP(i know) and a duncan, keeping it mainly super easy and low maintenance as much as possible and only doing 10% water changes weekly to replenish what is lost/consumed. This approach hopefully, will allow me to slowly ease back into this hobby again without worrying too much about the "perfect parameters", this and that but just be consistent with the basics and avoid burning out.

My question is, what do you do when you are feeling burnt out ? How do you cope and what is keeping you going ?

When I am feeling burnt out (which happens often because I tend to work on projects in dramatic bursts of energy), I simply change my level of effort to bare minimum to maintain course on reefing (or whatever hobby has me burned out) and divert my attention to a different hobby or task that I'm NOT burnt out on currently. Basically, cycle through different hobbies to ensure I'm energized by the task at hand.

 

[BryanM]

I got pretty down when I had dinos, for months.

This place keeps me fairly sane. The absolute best advice from here has been patience, and don't chase numbers.

I try to do so.... and I think that also helps keep me from not getting burnt out.

 

[SaltyWalty]

I personally will dive into a niche of research. Learn all I can about either husbandry of a new coral or something weird like species identification of crabs or corals. I find that learning something new really helps increase my desire to spend time with or work on my tank.
Sometimes I will do a major deep clean of my system. Empty the sump shop vac it out, take apart and clean my plumbing, replace dosing tubing, just keep everything fresh and clean which always excites me to see how nice the tank can be.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I had dinos bad in my tank, and I had to shut down my tank because of it. Made me reconsider the hobby for a little bit, but I'm glad it happened. It showed me how I can improve my next tank and gave me a new passion and desire for my next tank.

 

[rtparty]

It’s a struggle that I believe most of us learn to deal with and accept. You will have times where feeding and some glass scraping is all you can do. Other times will have you doing weekly water changes, scraping glass every other day, routine visits to a LFS, etc

It is normal IME

 

[MushroomReefing]

By keeping mostly FOWLR tanks.

(I have no more than one small 20-gallon 'easy' coral tank, to scratch that itch. But FOWLRs don't have to be babysat every moment of every day. I can easily go a week or two at a time and only feed, if I want to.)

That's the thing ! I typically enjoy the coral side of things from this hobby more, it is just so fascinating to me but definitely giving a little more headache when they are not as forgiving. Hence, simple hardy corals for now!

I had dinos bad in my tank, and I had to shut down my tank because of it. Made me reconsider the hobby for a little bit, but I'm glad it happened. It showed me how I can improve my next tank and gave me a new passion and desire for my next tank.

Previously had vermetid snail infestation and it made the whole rock scape looks horrendous. I still have no idea how to clear them out till today. I hope I don't face the similar situation again!

Burnout for me came in two phases.

The first was life changes when I was younger, the tank couldn’t be a priority anymore. I made the decision to sell it and purchase a house.

The second, and bigger reason, was the daily grind. The tank required constant attention every day it was do this… adjust that… fix this again. That constant maintenance is what really fueled the burnout.

This time around, I knew exactly what I wanted: a fully automated system. I’ve set the tank up so my only regular tasks are a weekly water change, cleaning the skimmer, scrubbing the glass, and refilling the ATO totally doable.

This approach has allowed me to balance my business, family, and reefing passion. Now, I actually look forward to working on the tank each week because I haven’t been chained to it every day. It’s exciting again.

I totally understand that, gave too much attention and it was beginning to feel more like a chore or a part-time job than a hobby.

I actually did the same thing you did. I am now reconsidering starting a new system but the memories scare me .

Do it !

 

[Isaac Alves]

Knowing it’s ok to walk away if it’s too much.

I think it’s easier if you are involved in a local reefing group and get to know others local to you. You’ll feel better about walking if you’ve got local reefers to reach out to and help you break down the system.

 

[Stang67]

It's ok not to have the biggest, most automated, fanciest frags, kind of tank. Keep the tank at a level thats manageable both monetarily and mentally. Some days I wish I never got the 180g, some days I wish I had a 300g. Keep it all in perspective and lean on the support that this forum can provide. Focus on little victories and just keep swimming.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Knowing it’s ok to walk away if it’s too much.

I think it’s easier if you are involved in a local reefing group and get to know others local to you. You’ll feel better about walking if you’ve got local reefers to reach out to and help you break down the system.

This was a hard thing for me to do. I wanted to keep my tank going for as long as possible, but I knew if I shut it down and stepped away for a little bit, it would be good for me. I am very glad I did that.

 

[MushroomReefing]

Knowing it’s ok to walk away if it’s too much.

I think it’s easier if you are involved in a local reefing group and get to know others local to you. You’ll feel better about walking if you’ve got local reefers to reach out to and help you break down the system.

This hits close. I think a lot of us do not know that it is okay to just take some time off without feeling like a complete failure and ashamed.

But you're right, its okay to walk away and get a mental reset. Come back when you're ready!

 

[MushroomReefing]

It's ok not to have the biggest, most automated, fanciest frags, kind of tank. Keep the tank at a level thats manageable both monetarily and mentally. Some days I wish I never got the 180g, some days I wish I had a 300g. Keep it all in perspective and lean on the support that this forum can provide. Focus on little victories and just keep swimming.

" Focus on the little victories. ", I like that very much ! It is true that it's the little things that eventually adds up and gives you that accumulated satisfaction.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I lean into the community. Listening to other hobbyists and seeing their tanks gives me perspective of where I am in my journey. We can then give each other feedback and talk tanks. Doing it all alone gets boring once the tank matures. Nothing new goes in, but lots of things come out. Without someone to share it with, it’s just a distraction from life instead of a part of it.

 

[Luke Schnabel]

Keep it as easy as possible. Automatic Dosing, Controller system, and hands-free water changes. When its easy, you do not dread doing it.

 

[mfinn]

I started quite a few years ago and had been in the hobby for 3-4 years and thought I was doing pretty well. No major disasters.
I attended a local reef club meeting and met several new people.
After listening to them talk for a couple hours, I learned I wasn't really a "true" reefer unless I was doing it their way. Or doing their preferred corals ( not going to identify the species or type).
So I went home and started changing it up. I had to be like these other people.
After about 1-1/2- 2 years I was not happy at all. I struggled. I was at my point where it was no longer fun.
My wife saw this and we had a talk about what was wrong.
She pointed out that I was happier doing it the way I was in the first place.
She was right and I switched back and have been doing the corals I like, the fish I like and have been happy for more than 3 decades since.

My point is to do what makes you happy.
You can take advice on different things and it will probably be beneficial, but in the end do what interests you.