Is reef keeping just madness?

[davidcalgary29]

I find that I only get frustrated when I try to battle against what a particular build wants to be at a particular time. Yes, it'd be nice to have a lovely SPS reef tank with a large fish bioload in my RSM250, without aiptasia and majanos. But my broken lighting will only support softies and LPS (and pest nems), and I have two dwarf angels, so it's kind of messy and squishy instead. It's not going grace any magazine covers, but everyone seems to be happy in it, so I'm content with that.

 

[brandon429]

Thats a great point David. just last month we had this large tank post where the title and description indicated all kinds of shot parameters, wrecked tank and corals

and then his pics are perfect reef and only one type of stony coral won't grow but he can keep $400 bounce mushrooms lol/ fail. by the time someone sets up a reef tank and pays money to own the supplies they've nearly always read enough info to make a start that will work


where things diverge is how to age reef tanks correctly, when to intervene and when to allow running. what if yard gardening could work like we demand our reef tanks work: i want to never have dandelions or stickers, and anything I try once I expect to work for the rest of the years or i'm rolling up my sod and dumping it.

 

[The Opinionated Reefer]

Thats a great point David. just last month we had this large tank post where the title and description indicated all kinds of shot parameters, wrecked tank and corals

and then his pics are perfect reef and only one type of stony coral won't grow but he can keep $400 bounce mushrooms lol/ fail. by the time someone sets up a reef tank and pays money to own the supplies they've nearly always read enough info to make a start that will work


where things diverge is how to age reef tanks correctly, when to intervene and when to allow running. what if yard gardening could work like we demand our reef tanks work: i want to never have dandelions or stickers, and anything I try once I expect to work for the rest of the years or i'm rolling up my sod and dumping it.

But $400 bounce mushrooms are just $400 weeds to me. I could grow those till the cows come home. I play the game on hard mode.

 

[brandon429]

Well then try it in a fishbowl



that isn’t mine it’s maritza from YouTube

 

[burningmime]

No wonder reef tanks are so popular in Sparta.

 

[jassermd]

Madness is an understatement!
We test and monitor our tanks more than ICU docs test and monitor patients... and that's not a lie! And, I think we pay more for pieces of coral than we do for medications... now that's madness!

Reef keeping is much more involved than folks appreciate, and as others have stated, if you are passionate about it, it's never a chore. Keeping up with my reef is much more rewarding than any other hobby I've had and also much more frustrating. But, what fun would it be if it were as easy as putting water in a tank, sticking coral and fish in there and everything is honky dory. Everything has its challenges, and reef keeping is no different.
I believe there are a lot of unmet expectations, and we are our own worst enemies!

 

[Dolphins18]

its impractical for large tankers, but at least half the reefing world now has a practical control option. If you own a nano reef and want to be uninvaded, you can be by 5 pm today. An owner of an invaded large tank will nearly always toil with it until late October at minimum and if it’s dinos, they’re on the hook till March of 22.

This is simply not true about large tanks...

 

[X-37B]

Madness? It is if you let it be. Its why so many fail, imo.
In all reality its not that hard but many make it way harder than it needs to be.
Most who fail do not have a plan from day one. Its not a hobby that you can just wing it and it works.

We are after all keeping a tropical satwater eco system in our living rooms.
Like many things in life, without a plan, most will struggle, which can lead to madness.

 

[MaxTremors]

I think the two main issues that lead to this line of thinking (reefer madness) is most people vastly, wildly overcomplicate things, and the other is that people have unrealistic expectations and a misunderstanding of what the hobby truly is.

Not much else is needed besides a tank, some flow, some lighting, and some rock to keep a tank going (I should also say water and salt mix). Everything else is optional. I kept successful reefs for years with compact fluorescent lights, tap water, and zero testing. They weren’t mind blowing, but the fish and coral were happy and healthy. The point is that this hobby isn’t really that complicated, we choose to complicate it.

This hobby isn’t necessarily the endeavor to have an impeccable, supernatural looking reef, it is at its core animal husbandry. The aesthetics of it are secondary. Personally I don’t find algae outbreaks, or pests, or disease demoralizing, at least not in the long term, these are part of the hobby, they are puzzles and issues to be solved. This is also not a hobby for those looking for instant gratification, and that works both ways, for the both successes and failures, the good comes slowly, and righting the wrongs comes slowly. But that is also why it is so rewarding. A successful reef tank is the culmination of so many moving parts and so many little decisions (and some big), of time and patience and dedication, and of learning (I’m 20 years in and I learn new stuff about my tank/inhabitants/reefing in general pretty much daily). So my advice is don’t go into this hobby with the expectation that you’re going to have some world class SPS reef (it’s fine to have goals), go into with the expectation that it’s a never ending learning process, that things will never be perfect, and that setbacks and failures are part of the hobby, they are just part of the learning process.

I will agree that it’s expensive, but what hobby isn’t?

 

[MaxTremors]

If you truly love what you do, it’s not a chore. Some people get into this hobby because they just want to try it out. Me on the other hand? I have a passion for keeping fish and coral. This makes it part of my life, not a chore.



I completely agree with this. This is exactly why I started with a 29g tank, so I still have some room to work with, but it’s not too big.

I totally agree. I cleaned out the back chambers of my tank (and protein skimmer) today, and I would be lying if I said that it was a chore. I found it kind of fascinating, I’ve been carbon dosing for around three months and hadn’t really seen any of the white bacteria/snot that usually comes with carbon dosing (at least when you start), and the back middle chambers are where I dose it, and it was almost like the back three chambers of my tank were entirely filled with snot, I seriously don’t know how water made it through them. Cleaning it all out was gross, but fascinating (especially the pods living in/on the surface of the snot!).

I love working in my tank(s), I have to be careful not to tinker too much. To me, the maintenance is part of what I enjoy about the hobby, it’s not a hassle.

 

[pelicansreef]

Madness and Insanity are only a short step from true passion.

If you love the challenge and are gratified by the results of your efforts, then this hobby is a dream. The real problem comes from within, If you are the type person that must out perform others or you feel necessary to have the Best, Biggest, most complex, etc. then you can drive yourself to madness. Trying to obtain a higher level of what you assume is going to be nirvana rarely ever works out.

If you find the work and effort required to obtain that elusive perfect tank difficult you will likely give this hobby up after a short time. If, on the other hand, you enjoy making things and solving complex problems and you are amazed by Mother Nature's abilities. It really is a great hobby to drive yourself crazy with. Sometimes If I get frustrated I just step back and look at the tank and think "I really have created something that warms my soul". Then I get back to cleaning the sump. (LOL)

 

[jtf74]

It may be a harder hobby to grasp, but IMO my reef tank is much easier to care for than my dogs, cat, or chickens.

 

[RipVanWinkle]

I think reefers have a bad habit of coming off as pretentious

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

To me this is just a science experiment that has some aesthetic value. Pests and problems don't bother me. I welcome the challenge. I just lost a coral last week and although I wasn't too happy about it, I also didn't cry about it. (I also don't buy $$$ frags) My wife loves the tank and we take care of it together so it really is fun and relaxing. This is my third reef tank and watching the evolution is just fascinating.

 

[jhuntstl]

To me this is just a science experiment that has some aesthetic value. Pests and problems don't bother me. I welcome the challenge. I just lost a coral last week and although I wasn't too happy about it, I also didn't cry about it. (I also don't buy $$$ frags) My wife loves the tank and we take care of it together so it really is fun and relaxing. This is my third reef tank and watching the evolution is just fascinating.

When talking about my tank with friends or family, I usually refer to it as my science experiment. The experiment is sometimes a success and other times not so much. I often have some little sub-experiments going on. And I come here to see everyone else's experiment!

 

[rusty hannon]

So to b honest w myself and you I've only read the question and unfortunately skipped everything else. No. Not a little will do here. Here is full on out of you're mind Crazy. Here we spend months worth of salary to purchase a fragile creature that more than likely noons around you has ever had and your goal is to keep it alive. That of course is after years of buying parts and equipment you know nothing about and put it all together to hopefully bring life into a place where no life has been.( Frankenstein or God complex, not sure which) and these single minded goals r something you have been planning to do for a long time before you spend you and your wife's retirement and borrow against son/daughters college fund. Now I return the Q. What sane person would go all out on and do. More than likely you r half a step from a straight jacket!!! WE call ourselves reefers but we r a community of crazy so all r friends (or fiends, not sure on that either) But we definitely invite you to join our many crazy journeys and we will go w you on yours. Welcome we say to Crazy town!!!

 

[Topreefer92]

This is probably one of the best threads I have seen in a while. No one is having a bad day with there tank and trying to correct it on here or doing a build thread. This is just real and off the cuff, people talking about something that is truly apart of their lives. Fantastic topic.

This hobby is a funny thing, and I have only been apart of it for a little over a decade. I have had massive tanks, small tanks all, large failures and larger wins. I have times were I just want to throw in the towel because I lost an expensive acro or LPS but I look at all the money and time I have put into this and I just some how continue. The biggest thing for me and I can safely say for others is the success you experience even after all that madness occurs. That is what makes it worth it.

Threads like these are good because it shows what this hobby is and keeps it real aside from what you watch on YouTube or see in a Ad online. Happy to be apart of this community and share in the struggle and success we call reef keeping.

Cheers!

 

[Doctorgori]

edit:
its definitely a addiction

 

[MaxTremors]

edit:
its definitely a addiction

Not even close. I really dislike the way people throw that word around. An obsession, sure, but not an addiction.

 

[pelicansreef]

Here is why i do this