How many times have you "thrown in the towel"?

[Squidward]

1. Bought a blonde naso that brought in velvet and killed all of my fish. Hundreds down the drain. I downgraded from a 150g to a 35g with just a pair of clowns and was depressed.

2. Saw someone on fb post his tank filled with beautiful tangs. Tangs I never thought possible without constant battling ich. I asked him how he did it? He said he did TTM qurantine and that was the main motivation I needed. I was determined to keep an Achilles and all the coolest tangs in an ich free tank. And 2019 til now, my tank is filled with all the tangs I wanted. The 3 biggest ich magnets: Achilles, Powder Blue, Hippo and no ich to worry about. An ich free tank was what I wanted.

 

[Goaway]

I love terrestrial worms and have no trouble picking them up but there is something about aquatic worms that strikes terror in my soul. I dipped my first ever coral this past Sunday and a bristleworm came out. I nearly passed out. Haha. The frag was super tiny so I have no idea where it was hiding. I think that freaks me out the most. Their ability to hide. LOL

Bristle worms are like cacti, those little bristles pierce skin and are very uncomfortable. Fireworms are poisonous, when their bristles enter your skin, it leave a burning sensation. Yup, they are to be treated with caution.

I love t his hobby

 

[thewedge]

I love terrestrial worms and have no trouble picking them up but there is something about aquatic worms that strikes terror in my soul. I dipped my first ever coral this past Sunday and a bristleworm came out. I nearly passed out. Haha. The frag was super tiny so I have no idea where it was hiding. I think that freaks me out the most. Their ability to hide. LOL

Bristle worms are another thing that took over my 65 gallon. For the first few years in the hobby I would replenish my detrivores by purchasing a pack of pods, brittle stars and bristle worms from an online reseller. Well I must have been feeding too much over the last 2 years or so because the population exploded and I have numerous bristle worms all at least 3" long. Most are longer.

 

[Karen00]

Bristle worms are another thing that took over my 65 gallon. For the first few years in the hobby I would replenish my detrivores by purchasing a pack of pods, brittle stars and bristle worms from an online reseller. Well I must have been feeding too much over the last 2 years or so because the population exploded and I have numerous bristle worms all at least 3" long. Most are longer.

I think I would be somewhat OK with them in a large setup but my tank is a 5g and it would not be pretty to see worms that are almost as tall as my tank is high! Haha. I could bring people over and say "take a look at my glorious worm tank." LOL. That might cause me to get out of the hobby. Stuff of nightmares! Haha

 

[Karen00]

1. Bought a blonde naso that brought in velvet and killed all of my fish. Hundreds down the drain. I downgraded from a 150g to a 35g with just a pair of clowns and was depressed.

2. Saw someone on fb post his tank filled with beautiful tangs. Tangs I never thought possible without constant battling ich. I asked him how he did it? He said he did TTM qurantine and that was the main motivation I needed. I was determined to keep an Achilles and all the coolest tangs in an ich free tank. And 2019 til now, my tank is filled with all the tangs I wanted. The 3 biggest ich magnets: Achilles, Powder Blue, Hippo and no ich to worry about. An ich free tank was what I wanted.

Wow, amazing!! Stupid question... what's TTM? I want to know this magical process.

 

[_sludgefactory]

Nothing ever made me want to quit. I only did because I moved into an apartment where I couldn't have a large tank and didn't want to have to move it. The day I closed on my house I picked up my tank from The Reef Gallery in Zelienople PA. I literally drove from the realtor's office, got my moms SUV, and picked up my Reefer 170.

 

[Squidward]

Wow, amazing!! Stupid question... what's TTM? I want to know this magical process.

Tank Transfer Method. Of course I also qurantine my inverts and corals a minumum of 30 days as well except for urchins where you can just rinse and drop in.

 

[Karen00]

Tank Transfer Method. Of course I also qurantine my inverts and corals a minumum of 30 days as well except for urchins where you can just rinse and drop in.

Thanks!! I will look this up. I've heard of it but will definitely look into it more now.

 

[ZoWhat]

 

[DeniseAndy]

I have never left the hpbby once started. I had some huge setbacks and many times I hated it, but in the end, I have had a tank since beginning. I have been lucky to not have major issues that interfere.

 

[Garia666]

Bristle worms are another thing that took over my 65 gallon. For the first few years in the hobby I would replenish my detrivores by purchasing a pack of pods, brittle stars and bristle worms from an online reseller. Well I must have been feeding too much over the last 2 years or so because the population exploded and I have numerous bristle worms all at least 3" long. Most are longer.

If there to much just add an bristleworm trap do a mussel in the middle and voila.

 

[spfahnestock]

Issues with hitchhikers and stress from unforeseen circumstanced led me to the decision to restart my tank from ground zero. It was mostly an emotional decision that I regretted fairly quickly. I debated for months after if I was going to downsize, keep my current set up or get rid of it all together. 8 months later, I was at a LFS and realized how much I missed my DT. It was then that I decided to hunker down and put my set up back together to give it another shot. I'm about to start slowly adding my current livestock to my DT (rock has been cycling in a Brute trash can for over 6 months). Hopefully going at a snail's pace with more consistent QT practices and better diligence overall will help.

My questions are:

1. What was the "final straw" that was the deciding factor to break down your tank?

2. What led you back to the hobby again?

I know there is a love-hate relationship with reefing for all of us.

1. What was the "final straw" that was the deciding factor to break down your tank?

When my now wife moved in with me her young child, now our child, placed his drink cup in my sump. I didnt notice until many days later when my entire tank was dead. I made the decision that having a tank at that time was not the right decision for our house and tore it down and sold it. I regretted this decision often over the years.

2. What led you back to the hobby again?

My children had grown older and we were financially stable enough to begin the journey over.

 

[brahm]

I’ve taken two breaks one was due to an ever escalating system growing to about 1000g after around a decade or so and deciding the upkeep (costs and time) was getting out of control and more so the tank had evolved in the wrong direction. I wanted an sps dominated system and wasn’t having long term success at the time. so I shifted focus but felt the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. In retrospect this was pre-id of AEFW, would not be surprised if that was a part of my struggles.

second was when I had to tear down my now successful sps tank after years of growth due to the landlord wanting to replace the floors, told myself I wouldn’t setup another tank until I owned my own place. I also started to travel a lot more and for extended periods of time, it was nice not to stress when away.

what led me back? Bought a house don’t have to worry about the above and with today’s automation and monitoring my instructions for anyone looking after the tank when I leave town is vastly simplified compared to the past, which makes travel less stressful.