LOVE & HATE: What it is about your aquarium? LET IT OUT!

On a scale of 1-10 how much do you love or hate your tank right now? Be honest!

  • 10 - SUPER LOVE

    Votes: 125 12.2%
  • 9

    Votes: 89 8.7%
  • 8

    Votes: 250 24.4%
  • 7

    Votes: 176 17.2%
  • 6

    Votes: 93 9.1%
  • 5 - I have mixed emotions...

    Votes: 218 21.3%
  • 4

    Votes: 23 2.2%
  • 3

    Votes: 17 1.7%
  • 2

    Votes: 8 0.8%
  • 1 - Hate It

    Votes: 25 2.4%

  • Total voters
    1,024

revhtree

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Have you forgotten why you love reef tanks?

What's NOT to love about having a beautiful living reef with colorful fish swimming in and around the rock and corals right in the middle of your living room? Well....fish poop. And stinky equipment. And dead frags. Hard work and money. And the list goes on and on! I would argue though that there is way more to LOVE than to HATE in this hobby or we all wouldn't be here today reading this thread. Some of you may have forgotten what you do LOVE and why you're keeping a reef tank anyway. So I believe it helps to just LET IT OUT and that's what today's QOTD is about!

So answer me these two questions.

1. What are TWO (2) things you LOVE about owning an aquarium?

2. What is ONE (1) thing you HATE about owning an aquarium?


image via @JUNICHI YAMASAKI
0h6BP5eNtvaW1tTEM4jI8WOiMRbwIUL3NlBzR-VxgaY0MYIH5tBTZ6UxcUawUfJDJpJW90Cjw3NT4EAShrNlFabU0RVj8e...jpg
 

EmilyXLC

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I'm at a hard 8-- I'm so close to 'love'.

1.) I love the relaxation and the shopping the hobby brings me-- my tanks bring me so much joy.
2.) I never seem to have enough money or corals. First world problems, really.
 

Mical

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I'm also at an 8 - will never be 100% happy

Plus side - My tanks have taught me patience as they're on their own time frame - not mine & they're mesmerizing to watch

Negs - not many anymore. The occasional hiccup with equipment can get stressful & fish or corals I'ld like but with current inhabitants not compatible.
 

Reefs and Geeks

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Love seeing new growth on frags, and buying/selling/trading frags. Every time I see noticeable growth, or buy a new coral it amps me up and I get all excited about my tank for a while.

Algae is a constant downer in my tank. Have some dinos, GHA, and cyano now. Constant struggle trying to keep it clean, and have no CUC to help out. I have a puffer and have been hesitant to try adding much CUC for fear of it just being eaten. Considering trying vibrant
 

Lostreefin

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I voted 6.
I love seeing fish swimming and coral growing. I hate battle after battle against algae and bacteria. My fish are swimming and coral are growing, but dino's are not any fun at all. My happiness would have been below a 5 for the first year with my tank because coral didn't do well, and the algae/bacteria was relentless.
 

Brew12

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I'm sitting at around a 9. I need to make some minor rock changes for stability reasons. It's also a bit more maintenance than I would like right now but most of that is because of the high growth rates I'm enjoying. Hopefully switching to a calcium reactor will help.
 

Billldg

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I voted a 6. The longer I am in the hobby the more I realize that I hate my aquascape. At first I was into LPS, the I switched to SPS and wish I had more space for SPS and more tunnels for the fish. My next tank will be different as it will have SPS in mind.

OH, and I will be more patient next time.
 

Fishy Art

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Three months after the initial cycle I am enjoying my aquarium. Not much in it now, no corals yet, but a couple of shrimp, several hermits of various varieties and a few small fish. All is going well with no issues. I don't always enjoy the time taken for the weekly water changes, but I sit for long periods of time loving to watch the activity in the tank. It is teaching me to remain patient.
 

Bruce Burnett

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I am currently without and hate that. I love the involvement and the relaxation, love when it is successful and learn when there are failures. My greatest dislike is the cost of everything, especially rock and livestock. On a fixed income but I have always managed to have one.
 

lakin58

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I am an 8. Feel over the years solved a lot of issues. Learned to invest in quality equipment, manage parameters and vendors to buy livestock from. Only issue is a likely growing aquascape challenge as my Montopora Capricornis is outgrowing my SPS frags and might need to move stuff around and potentially upset the stability ..argh.
 

Bruce Burnett

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I am an 8. Feel over the years solved a lot of issues. Learned to invest in quality equipment, manage parameters and vendors to buy livestock from. Only issue is a likely growing aquascape challenge as my Montopora Capricornis is outgrowing my SPS frags and might need to move stuff around and potentially upset the stability ..argh.
Understand that will not ever have another monti cap they grew worse than weeds had to trim every week
 

Alex808

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Almost at a 10 but the small drawbacks make it hard.
I love the spectacle of my tank. I have it in the kitchen on the counter and it brings a lot of attention. It’s only a 5g but it’s eye catching if you catch it at the right time of day/light setting. The ease of work and maintenance is also pretty nice


I don’t like that it’s so small anymore. Everything is growing which is a good thing but with the growth, it’s imminent that I get a bigger tank. I can afford the upgrade but I’m dreading the logistics of the purchase and set up because I’m not doing another small tank. It’s going to be big and I just know In my small house... there will be some set backs to face
 

Phillips/reef

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Been dealing with dinos started gaining good ground with dino x. I was dosing 5ml less than what is said to do. Well it killed my snails and a one shrimp . The other shrimps was looking poorly. So I quit use and done water change and carbon . But with the die off it brought them on with vengeance. I knew I shouldn't have used it cause i dont believe in a cure in a bottle. But was wanting to speed things up. So lessoned learned so go with what you have learned from 15years in the hobby. Keep it natural and consistent with allot of patience.
 

MarcF

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I’m at 7. I’m cycling- no fish yet.
I love the look, the interesting undersea world that we create in our homes.
What I don’t like is its fragility. It’s delicacy. These are the qualities that make it so ethereally beautiful- but also the qualities that make an aquarium a disaster waiting to happen. So it’s hard to fully relax when you’re running a marine tank. And I’m not even getting live coral.
 

Beardo

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Let's just say I have a love hate relationship with my tank. I voted 7 as things are improving again after latest setback. When things are good I'm at a 10. But other times it feels like an old country song.
 

Scott97062

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I love my aquarium but I am never fully satisfied. The fish are awesome. I gave up on stony corals years ago. Soft corals are way easier but not as colorful. I'm always looking for a new fish but my choices are limited due to the current inhabitants and the size of the tank. Roughly 90 gal. I have a Snowflake Eel, Picasso Trigger, Dragon Wrasse, Yellow Tang, Sailfin Tang, 6-line Wrasse, Swallowtail Angel, Fox Face and a Lunar Wrasse. My greatest joy is that they all are happy and healthy and get along well.

20200124_100557.jpg 6358.jpeg lg_70678_Snowflake_Eel.jpg P1000175.JPG P1000170.JPG P1000196.JPG P1000195.JPG
 

Dr. Dendrostein

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Have you forgotten why you love reef tanks?

What's NOT to love about having a beautiful living reef with colorful fish swimming in and around the rock and corals right in the middle of your living room? Well....fish poop. And stinky equipment. And dead frags. Hard work and money. And the list goes on and on! I would argue though that there is way more to LOVE than to HATE in this hobby or we all wouldn't be here today reading this thread. Some of you may have forgotten what you do LOVE and why you're keeping a reef tank anyway. So I believe it helps to just LET IT OUT and that's what today's QOTD is about!

So answer me these two questions.

1. What are TWO (2) things you LOVE about owning an aquarium?

2. What is ONE (1) thing you HATE about owning an aquarium?


image via @JUNICHI YAMASAKI
0h6BP5eNtvaW1tTEM4jI8WOiMRbwIUL3NlBzR-VxgaY0MYIH5tBTZ6UxcUawUfJDJpJW90Cjw3NT4EAShrNlFabU0RVj8e...jpg


1. What are TWO (2) things you LOVE about owning an aquarium?

1. See first hand creatures one see in the Internet or photos
2. See life begin and thrive in closed system. Circle of life

2. What is ONE (1) thing you HATE about owning an aquarium?

Because it's an artificial environment, it's not a hate thing but a "so close and yet so far." Feeling with my children of the sea. These are corals that no one yet, been able to grow and thrive in captivity. Dendronephthya and Scleronephthya sp.

1268152-9fe72e3ba0aca56de75741bffb11ed1a.jpg
 

CoralVue_Marketing

One minute of patience, ten years of peace.
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I am at a 7. My current tank has been running for 5+ years. I take pride that I have a full-blown coral reef that was started by frags. More success than failures. Aiptaisa came back after my Peppermint Shrimp died. Got a new one who doesn't have a taste for them. Still have some algae. Still learning every day! Compared to many of the reef aquariums I see online, my humble tank is not that impressive. But I am proud of what I've built! Friends and family who aren't in the hobby are always impressed to see the tank when they come over. And my kids love it! They each have small freshwater aquariums in their rooms. Gotta get 'em started young! ;)

2 THINGS I LOVE:

1) I have a frickin' coral reef in my home!
2) Experimenting with different products and methodologies

1 THING I HATE:

1) Myself for not making enough time to do all that I want to do in terms of maintenance and general upkeep.
 

lakin58

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Understand that will not ever have another monti cap they grew worse than weeds had to trim every week
Totally agree. It was a blast to prove to myself years ago I could get easy SPS To grow. But it is too high in the tank and I seem to always be trimming it back. So i need to lower it and make it less of the centerpiece...but know that disturbing the tank for the whole deal has another set of possible challenges so make work in sections when I feel like it. My No algae, no Dino and little cyano life give me pause before I get too creative. Takes a while to go through the journey of the fish and coral options before you can settle in on what you like and what you can care for.
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.9%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 32 16.4%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 35 17.9%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 96 49.2%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
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