Is a Reef Tank relaxing?

Ozzi-reef

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Get into Reefing, they said. A beautiful aquarium is so relaxing, they said!
Let me preference this by saying I love this hobby - the fusion of Biology, Technology and Art ticks all my boxes.
But after a year what I'm finding, that while my family certainly find it relaxing to look at, for me it's a bottomless stress-pit.
Every time Fusion bings on my phone, my heart leaps into my throat - especially when I'm interstate travelling and have no ability to deal with a problem.
Then when I get home the first thing I do is rigorously scan the entire tank, for everything from hints of RTN on the Acro's to disease or strange behaviour in the fish.
Then there is the endless maintenance and testing - any of which can open the door to more stress (and posting here).
Maybe after all that I can finally slump on the sofa and say "ahhhhhhh what a beautiful tank" lol.

I'm just wondering if any of you have gotten to that magical point where everything just works perfectly, all critters are healthy and your maintenance routines are minimal - and (most importantly) how you managed to get there.
 

Fishingandreefing

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This is how I feel at the moment. Let say if I get rid of the tank, I will feel empty and want to start one. Yes, its stressful fighting high P04, lost a nice colony, a few corals and lots of work, just today I spent nearly 3 hours just for routine maintenance.

overall, I like this hobby. It’s rewarding sometimes and there’s something I am looking forward to see besides family and other stuffs.

if you travel a lot, that’s another story.
 

vetteguy53081

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Like any hobby, there will be trials and errors and ups and downs but at the end of the day- it should be about enjoyment and rewards of your own creation and enjoyment from family and friends alike.
 

NowGlazeIT

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I'm just wondering if any of you have gotten to that magical point where everything just works perfectly, all critters are healthy and your maintenance routines are minimal - and (most importantly) how you managed to get there.
Yes but it took me two years to get to that point. I had no idea what to dose, my lighting was inadequate. My nitrate removal was ineffective. Lots of learning curves in the beginning.
 

StatelineReefer

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When caring for your reef aquarium, you have to look at the maintenance as part of a sort of "Japanese Tea Ceremony". The act of performing the steps correctly profoundly affects the end result, and the steps themselves are a relaxing and repetitive catharsis.

Break 'monotonous repetitive task' mindsets with 'elegant ritual' viewpoints.
Find grace in even cleaning your front glass.
Zen and the art of reef aquarium maintenance.
 

don_chuwish

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There is certainly always something requiring attention - nothing ever just runs smoothly. Some corals happy, others not so much, some new pest infestation or odd algae growth. But it's still well within 'more satisfying than stressful' for me.
 

Jeeperz

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I'm not sure. I like my reef, or rather my fish and crabs. I can't stand the algae I've been battling for 6 months, makes me want to quit. But I can't do that to an animal I chose to take responsibility for. Would I have been happier taking the thousands I've spent and hundreds of hours and building my muscle car instead of it sitting, probably.
 

legrunt

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When caring for your reef aquarium, you have to look at the maintenance as part of a sort of "Japanese Tea Ceremony". The act of performing the steps correctly profoundly affects the end result, and the steps themselves are a relaxing and repetitive catharsis.

Break 'monotonous repetitive task' mindsets with 'elegant ritual' viewpoints.
Find grace in even cleaning your front glass.
Zen and the art of reef aquarium maintenance.
I like this... Thank you...
Right now I only have time to mess around with the tank on Sat and Sun mornings when I wake before the wife and baby. Then in the quiet of the morning, I do testing, water changes, glass scrubbing, filter cleaning etc...

When the baby awakes is when the stress starts. ;Hilarious
 

Hemmdog

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Fusion alerts would make me crazy too. One of the many reasons I don’t run an apex. I trust in my system to not fluctuate while I’m away. If it does it does and I’ll fix it when I get home, I don’t want a abnormally low pH ruining my vacation and being on my mind constantly. If a pump or skimmer breaks the Wyze camera or cat/fish sitter can easily alert me and I can call a local friend to fix it quickly.
I find reef keeping extremely relaxing in a way, more exciting actually. Wanting to tinker or thinking about dosing/feeding/fragging/water change isn’t a anxiety feeling, it’s excitement, excitement for the potential of what that action is going to do for your tank and your coral growth and overall replication of these amazing animals natural habitat; That’s how I look at it at least.
 

chayes991

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I’ve experienced this when I had a sps dominant tank.
In the end I decided to get rid of the large tank and got a nano (Red Sea max nano) and decided to keep mainly bright zoas and a couple of easier lps and I have to say I’m enjoying it much more these day and I think it’s the best tank I’ve had
 

Braves Fan

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When caring for your reef aquarium, you have to look at the maintenance as part of a sort of "Japanese Tea Ceremony". The act of performing the steps correctly profoundly affects the end result, and the steps themselves are a relaxing and repetitive catharsis.

Break 'monotonous repetitive task' mindsets with 'elegant ritual' viewpoints.
Find grace in even cleaning your front glass.
Zen and the art of reef aquarium maintenance.


I was going to post something ,, then figured I couldn't say it any better than that :)

If this has become a problem for you ,,, maybe even a health problem ,, that maybe a stretch ,, but stress is a funny thing ,, if it does get to that point though ,, maybe think of a Fish Only tank ,, a tank full of Angel and Butterfly fish is a beautiful thing ,, lots easier to maintain ,,,
 

NS Mike D

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It makes me schizophrenic between zen and mania. I'm simplifying my tank to better accommodate my tank inhabitants and my schedule. I have a mandarin in a 29 gal nano which was a disaster for my sps and certain lps with the disruptions to rid of algae/bacteria that was overtaking the tank du to the heavy over-feeding for the mandarin.

The tank is more enjoyable since I decided to migrate to zoas, softies and euphylia - color and movement is very relaxing
 

Wolters_88

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Get into Reefing, they said. A beautiful aquarium is so relaxing, they said!
Let me preference this by saying I love this hobby - the fusion of Biology, Technology and Art ticks all my boxes.
But after a year what I'm finding, that while my family certainly find it relaxing to look at, for me it's a bottomless stress-pit.
Every time Fusion bings on my phone, my heart leaps into my throat - especially when I'm interstate travelling and have no ability to deal with a problem.
Then when I get home the first thing I do is rigorously scan the entire tank, for everything from hints of RTN on the Acro's to disease or strange behaviour in the fish.
Then there is the endless maintenance and testing - any of which can open the door to more stress (and posting here).
Maybe after all that I can finally slump on the sofa and say "ahhhhhhh what a beautiful tank" lol.

I'm just wondering if any of you have gotten to that magical point where everything just works perfectly, all critters are healthy and your maintenance routines are minimal - and (most importantly) how you managed to get there.
This thing has stressed me out more then anything in my life. It’s a constant battle of should I get out of the hobby or not. The unknown is what gets me. It’s like it’s always something. Some
thing is always going wrong with this tank.
 

Viking_Reefing

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Well, I find the tinkering somewhat relaxing and it get my mind of everything else that’s going on. With that said this whole hobby is centered around managing problems in one way or another.
 

Braves Fan

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I like this... Thank you...
Right now I only have time to mess around with the tank on Sat and Sun mornings when I wake before the wife and baby. Then in the quiet of the morning, I do testing, water changes, glass scrubbing, filter cleaning etc...

When the baby awakes is when the stress starts. ;Hilarious

This sounds like me ,, sort of ,, when I was working ,, before retirement and before other things in my life had changed ,, my day started about 1 1/2 hours before I had to get out of bed to prepare for work ,,, this was my Zen time to mess with the tank ,,
 

Hermie

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I stare at my reef tank for so long that my neck and stomach hurts (I have to lean over a table to get a close look). It's very relaxing when you know everything is going well and all you have to do is clean off the glass and check the equipment once in a while (oh yeah and feed the fish/corals). I get most stressed out when I have to do a water change though... Don't know why, I guess I have hesitance because I have to be sure the mixed up water is the right salinity etc.

And since I quarantined the majority of corals/livestock I don't have many hitchhikers to deal with. So that relieved a lot of stress.

Actually right now I am stressed about transferring some snails from QT to DT. And moving an urchin that keeps scraping off a bit of the corals (not too bad, but it's annoying). I hate the idea of transferring hitchhikers into the display tank.
 

fishguy242

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love it could not be without
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 38.2%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 64 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.1%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.7%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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