Losing interest in your reef aquarium and what to do?

[GoVols]

Always preform my regular maintenance, but during the Holidays and work load it can be a struggle.

 

[GoVols]

@revhtree I have had up's and down's since 74 but for the most part, I stay interested. Sometimes I might get a bit busy and vary from the routine which makes me feel as though I'm losing interest but usually snap back after busy life events.

I think you've been so busy with the Parrish and working so hard with the children that you're just exhausted and need a little break which is certainly understandable.

Same here Capt.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I never lose interest per say. Just sometimes other priorities. It may suffer. My latest issues have me bored a bit because I am sitting fishless in my 210, 40g and 20g. Also my main tank runs itself and I do not much to it. I am just in replanning mode for my 210g and my fishies in qt are all ready to move into the larger tank too.

Corals and anemones are doing great. Especially my bubble algae. Without my grazer, it has gone a bit hog wild. Cannot wait to get my foxface in there again. My rabbitfish perished with my fish outbreak, but ordering a new foxface. He was my favorite along with my Kole tang. Hoping to get one of those again too. So, after "crossed fingers" 30days of treatment in qt, they will hit the 210g too.

So never bored per say, just stalled....

My outreach programs keep me pretty up and never bore me.

 

[littlebigreef]

There's too much money tied up for me to lose interest in the aquarium. At least to the point of neglecting it. That said, if I hit a rough patch and loose a few zoa strains or have an sps issue it definitely kills me a little inside. I'm at the point now where its very stable and relatively done so I'm feeding and doing regular maintenance.

 

[Aquavaj]

Honestly I'm the type that enjoys the starting of a new tank more than the day to day tank keeping. I enjoy researching and buying the equipment, setting it all up and then adding fish and corals. Now that I'm at my max for fish and at a point where I need to let my tank mature more for other corals species, my tank has been on cruise control. I don't enjoy testing and water changes so I often have to force myself to do them. I did get some new gear that has yet been installed so that should spark some motivation back. Will look into rehoming a few "boring" fish to make room for more active ones too.

 

[TMB]

About 2 - 3 years ago (don't remember exactly) I went through a "slow and painful crash" of all corals in my 350g SPS sytstem. The slow and painful crash thing I remember reading sometime ago, if that was your thread I feel your pain.
I still don't know what happened, or why I lost everything. All I knew was that no matter what I tried everything was dying over the course of 6-9 months. This made even looking at the tank miserable, almost unbearable.

For the next year I did nothing but feed the fish (none of which died BTW), and add top off water.

That limbo existed for a long time until January of 2017 when my Dad passed away. He was the one that got me into this hobby some 30 years ago as a teenager. After his passing I decided that I wanted to renew my reef, better than ever, as it something I could do to keep his memory alive. I will never forget the great times we spent at LFS's, peering into his awesome tanks, and the hours we spent nerding out on reefing.

As of now, my reef is better than it has ever been, and my focus/interest has never been higher. I ask myself several times a month "what can I do to make it the best reef possible". So far so good, Wish he could see it now!

TMB

 

[paraletho]

I have been reefing for fifteen years and caring for SW fish since the mid 70’s. I am in my late sixties approaching seventy so yea everything I do is slowing down and I just don’t get too excited about it anymore but I still enjoy it.

 

[mmw64]

I really enjoy my tank. I don't do sticks just fish, soft corals. The only reason I ever think about getting out of the hobby is how tied to it I feel. Especially in the summer when I feel stressed if we take much time away. I know there are tanks that with automation can be left for longer periods of time but don't have the resources to go that route. I also haven't found anyone in the hobby in my area. Been hiring the grandkids to feed and check on things but if we all go away together I'm out of luck.

 

[paraletho]

As of now, my reef is better than it has ever been, and my focus/interest has never been higher. I ask myself several times a month "what can I do to make it the best reef possible". So far so good, Wish he could see it now!

He can my friend. I know mine is watching when I am hunting, fishing, or laying down a course line offshore.

 

[dragon99]

I completely lost interest for 9 years due to a tank being over-run by caulerpa alage, moving, and having our first kid. Tore down the tank during the move, and decided quickly after that I had no desire to set it back up.

Nowdays, I "lose interest" when I don't have anything to do for/with the tank. Letting SPS just grow is kinda boring. Adding fish and corals is an easy way for me to stay interested and excited.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I am surprised that algae issues/tank issues is in first place currently. I mean nothing motivates me more than having an issue to solve. And while I hate having them my current issue I have been fighting with for the past 3 months now. Being bored or not having the money is my Buggaboo

 

[Coralfuture]

I have never lost interest in the system but sadly my life does pull me away between kids/wife/making the money to fund the hobby.....HOWEVER!!!! My silver lining to me is that someday I will be able to retire and maybe even retire to be a coral vendor selling off my extra growth for some extra cash on the side to keep my addiction going strong.

 

[don_chuwish]

Just generally a natural ebb and flow of life. When the tank is doing well on cruise control I may get less fervent about it. New livestock or a new idea may change that state. Lately I’ve been a little sidetracked with other home projects.

 

[mstockmaster]

Summer. I lose focus during the summer due toy other hobby, cars and racing. But by mid October every year I'm cleaning up the tank and bringing everyone back in line.

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Way to go!!! Take no prisoners.

 

[Gatling]

My biggest concern is the cost. As a full time student, I don't have a constant source of income (or time!). I only have a Fluval 13.5 but every month I need to save up for some new item. I probably will get the AI Prime light as well as a power head which will dent my balance. But I do this because..
I cannot live if I kill my critters! If a fish dies on me, it will be the end of the world. Oh how stressful it is when I leave the house for school. I will do what ever it takes to make a fish happy or even a crab happy. They are like my children.

I personally enjoy this hobby because I LOVE the tropics. Living in Canada, I never see anything along the lines of coral or tropical fish. I miss my vacations to the tropics and having a reef tank reminds of of the warm weather

 

[squampton]

For me its 2 things, my shifts at work are long and have to cram all the maintenance into one day each week and rent where I live is getting to idiotic levels, so less money all around. I just put the bare minimum in to keep it going but will likely sell in the next 6 months.

 

[Seajellyy]

Well I'm very new to this and while I havent yet lost interest at all I'm pretty grossed out by the number of bristle worms that popped up in my tank seemingly overnight and dont enjoy watching my tank as much as I did because there are just so many of them.. and I have a weird worm phobia I'm trying to get past. I also cant get the sand to settle but I'm determined to keep trying and I dont think I'll ever lose interest.

 

[alton]

Seajellyy try micro brittle starfish and zebra hermits to clean up the waste and in time they will starve out the bristles. For me having at least one aquarium since I was 11 has been the norm. Today at 58 I have 2 x 180's and a 65. Two of the three are reef tanks with corals, the third is 180 where I have two blueface angels and one wrasse. Many times my tanks have moved to the back burner with fish getting fed, and large water changes are about the only thing I do. But a month or two passes and I am back to cleaning the glass regularly and I get on top of maintenance once again. I am hoping many will read this thread and not fall into the past of some that have built up the perfect reef only to get bored and quit?

 

[Pntbll687]

What makes my interest wane in and out is that I rushed setting my system up, and now I can not properly manage some of the maintenance.

I got the tank for free from my mother in law, and we took it down moved it, and set it back up within a day. My wife wanted a deep sand bed so I 200lbs of sand went in (i wanted a bare bottom). The sump is too long to fit out any of the doors on the stand, but was constructed poorly and only holds about 20g of water, with no room for an auto top off, so I have to top off manually everyday. There are scratches in the tank from my mother in law rearranging rock work every few days.

So many mistakes made. The next tank will fix all these issues