Losing Motivation in the Hobby :(

fish farmer · Mar 5, 2024

RaymondL said:
Have you ever felt a loss in motivation in the hobby? I'm not sure, but lately I've been less and less inclined to invest the time and effort in my reef tank. I believe that this is because I've recently started to see 2 of my Hammer Corals start to become unhealthy, which I feel so terrible and sad about, and on top of this my rock scape is infested with Vertamid Snails - it's a bit overwhelming.

Anyhow, I'm hoping this is just a phase, and I'll be back on top again.

Yes.

My first tank over 20 years ago was a thriving success. I moved/upgraded to see it get cooked in a heat wave two months later.

Fiddled with the ashes, got involved with the local reef club, met awesome reefers at the time, killed every easy sps people gave me. Shuffled to a house and a bigger tank....I'll do better this time.

Finally downsized, broke that 25 gallon on Halloween. Luckily sump was set up with a halide. Rebuilt, then got busy with my future wife, LPS died. Local reef club disbanded.

I bought one LPS just to see if it would take. It did.

Now it is practically a weed and home to my 17 year old clowns.

If I bore of the tank. I just upgrade stuff. I rebuilt my sump a few years ago. I build a mixing station in the basement. Redid my RO/DI.

There is always something I want to improve. I had to redo intake plumbing recently and want to improve in tank flow creatively.

kdx7214 · Mar 5, 2024

vlangel said:
Neither can I but I discovered I can keep macroalgae and softies and to my delight I love the ease of my current tank. Turns out that this is the nicest tank I have ever had in my almost 25 years of reefing.

My tank also seems to grow most macro algae really well, except for chaeto. I've got some GSP on the back wall and a single gorgonian that are doing well too. I've thought about maybe trying some LPS, but the sweepers and all the chemical warframe are worrisome. Oh, I do have a tiny colony of zoanthids, but they aren't that colorful. I think that's the problem I've had with most soft corals, they're usually brown and the ones that aren't are generally way out of my price range (zoanthids being a prime example these days).

I have a 30g tank and stand that I was given that already has a hole and bulkhead on one side. I'm thinking about setting it up as either a refugium, or maybe as just a macro tank connected to the 75g display tank. Then I could use it to grow all the macros I want and have a safe place for copepods and the like to live.

I'd still love to be able to get some stony corals to thrive though. That's been my major goal for the past 25 years. Just haven't been able to do it yet.

vlangel · Mar 6, 2024

kdx7214 said:
My tank also seems to grow most macro algae really well, except for chaeto. I've got some GSP on the back wall and a single gorgonian that are doing well too. I've thought about maybe trying some LPS, but the sweepers and all the chemical warframe are worrisome. Oh, I do have a tiny colony of zoanthids, but they aren't that colorful. I think that's the problem I've had with most soft corals, they're usually brown and the ones that aren't are generally way out of my price range (zoanthids being a prime example these days).

I have a 30g tank and stand that I was given that already has a hole and bulkhead on one side. I'm thinking about setting it up as either a refugium, or maybe as just a macro tank connected to the 75g display tank. Then I could use it to grow all the macros I want and have a safe place for copepods and the like to live.

I'd still love to be able to get some stony corals to thrive though. That's been my major goal for the past 25 years. Just haven't been able to do it yet.

I had trouble with a lot of my soft coral browning out over the years. However, in the past year or two that I have had the macroalgae in the display, that has not been an issue. My theory is that the macroalgae are taking up a lot of the high phosphates (from heavy feedings) so that my coral can manifest their true colors. I can't prove that theory so don't put too much stock into it.