overrated stuff in the hobby

[Gumbies R Us]

As for over rated? Id say ATOs.

Not the concept, but the price. I still don't understand how a stand alone ATO costs in the 100s of dollars when you can achieve the same thing with a couple float switches, relay and a pump.

For a few hundred dollars more, you can buy a controller that incorporates an ato.

Yeah it is kind of crazy hos expensive some ATOs can get

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Lids!!! Why tf are them acrylic lids so expensive. I have a 125 so 3 separate lids will cost me about $600 is insane to me. They look amazing but i can’t do it. I got egg crate and mesh for now

I did a DIY lid for my tank, cost maybe $15-$20 to do

 

[edsbeaker]

I did a DIY lid for my tank, cost maybe $15-$20 to do

I’m so jealous of all you DIYers. Every time I’ve tried it I end up with something that looks like my 4 year old grandchild made. Even if it’s hidden in my sump and functional I just can’t stomach looking at its imperfections and ugliness!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Acros in general. Just because they are some of the hardest to keep doesn’t mean they are best, except at taking money and joy! Even most successful acro keepers just raise them for a year or two until the colony dies and they restart it from a frag they hopefully took. There are always exceptions of course, but that is the general pattern. Combined with gel filters and photoshop and they are a hot mess.

Acros vs lps seem to be a devide in the hobby.

It definitely costs a lot of money to purchase a bunch of acro frags. If I bought 150 frags and stuck them in my tank, it would look like a new setup. Acros are definitely a testament to patience, where it takes real dedication and time (and some may say, luck) to grow frags into colonies for an established reef.

I view lps as a pay to play game. You can purchase 150 frags, stick them in a tank and you have instant gratification. The tank looks established and tourist that look at them and say, wow!

Couple that with the blue light craze and now people are spending a fortune for euphyllia to get that instant established look. You can understand why stick heads scratch their head when people praise a person showing off a tank full of colorful lps.

I think acros are still the gold standard among hobbyists. There's nothing wrong with having a softy/lps tank because their are differing points of view and goals in this hobby. Some people simply can't achieve a sps dominant tank, some simply don't want to.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I’m so jealous of all you DIYers. Every time I’ve tried it I end up with something that looks like my 4 year old grandchild made. Even if it’s hidden in my sump and functional I just can’t stomach looking at its imperfections and ugliness!

Nothing fancy looking. Just simply took a hacksaw to the frame to make it smaller and used the tools that came with it.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Computer controlled wavemakers/powerheads in any tank other than a pure SPS tank (and even then, still probably overrated.).

This is my 4ft mixed reef from way back in 2005. T5 lighting obv. but the in-tank flow was the return pipe and two tiny powerheads hanging on the back wall each shooting a narrow little stream of water at the front glass. (I experimented with a third powerhead facing the rear glass but it didn't seem to do anything.)

Agreed to a point. But I will tell you, nothing looks better than properly adjusted power heads causing the coral to sway in a pattern you would see while diving. Swaying to the right, pausing then swaying to left. Meanwhile a mini slow tornado of water moves randomly through the tank.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Nothing fancy looking. Just simply took a hacksaw to the frame to make it smaller and used the tools that came with it.

And that's, hands down, all we need!

To those questioning the price of acrylic tops. Acrylic isn't cheap, and for a top it usually requires a lot of waste to cut out a single peice top. Not to mention these are made with 2-3 axis cnc's that, when considering size to make lids, aren't cheap.

No doubt those lids are pleasing to the eye, but I place them right up there with organization boards to showcase equipment and hide cords.

To my previous point, there are a lot of differing goals in this hobby, and these are enticing to a segment of them. A hacksaw, aluminum window framing from home depot and 1/4" clear mesh off of amazon and you're set.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Social media...e.g. Instagram. Some of these influencers or companies can make it seem like you shouldn't have a speck of GHA...or brown...or hitchiker of any sort...or perfectly clear water...etc. The list goes on. They can be creating very unrealistic expectations. (I've fallen in the trap before).

I agree completely. A lot of them are there to sell products or get free things. But that’s what most people want to see. They don’t want to look at tanks that look the same or worse as theirs. They wanna see the eye candy in about 30 seconds or less usually.

 

[pwfess]

I agree completely. A lot of them are there to sell products or get free things. But that’s what most people want to see. They don’t want to look at tanks that look the same or worse as theirs. They wanna see the eye candy in about 30 seconds or less usually.

Yes very true. The eye candy does look nice I’ll admit haha.

 

[carri10]

Hiya @BeanAnimal
Can you please educate me on what you mean here. Keen to learn.

This is an actual good example. PAR meters are virtually useless for what people think they are using them for. It does not matter what the price is. It is an almost universally recommended and misunderstood tool in this hobby. Its benefit is almost universally overrated by participants in this hobby.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I grew tired of repeating myself, so wrote an short article.

PAR Meters – Illuminating or Not? | BeanAnimal's Reef

 

[chip shop]

Every Sunday you could get one from New York Aquatics live sale for $220

£180 more than I would pay

 

[ReefED!]

Phyto

I'm not sure of the value. Other than exploding the populations of vermitids.

 

[Barncat]

Torch corals costing more than $100. I've thankfully managed to get a couple for under $70.

Holy grail torches don't look any different from normal green torches to me.

Also overpriced bubbletip anemones - these nems breed like rabbits! I can't even give away my rose ones most of the time lol.

 

[PharmrJohn]

It's already been said, but overly expensive corals. There are SO MANY cheaper options that are, IMO at least, just as striking. Same thing with something like a Yurple Tang. Now, if I had unlimited resources, I'd buy into some of these livestock options, but since I don't? I won't!

 

[firechild]

(1) Tanks that look like colorful coral collections than natural reefs.

(2) SPS dominant / exclusive tanks.

(3) Designer Clownfish. Wouldn’t want to touch one with a ten-foot pole.

(4) “Unique” tank designs (AKA non-traditional / non-rectangular tanks).

(5) Aberrant Scopas Tangs. Black Tangs. Any man-made hybrid (looking at you, Yurple). “Rare” / “Unique” < actually attractive.

(6) Overcomplicated tech.

(7) Fake corals. Artificial decorations. Just no.

(8) Lionfish. Anglers. How many even have long-term success with them to say that’s their natural lifespan?

(9) Tang Gang (feel free to shoot me). Angel and Butterfly collections are far more interesting and prettier to me.

(10) Governments (of the world) and their impact on our hobby. Why do we need to be “ruled” over?

(11) Blue Tangs. How many people have a big-enough tank for one long term, and for some reason just never appealed to me.

(12) PJ Cardinals. Even single adult one I saw at a public aquarium was ugly, washed out, big and added absolutely nothing to a tank.

(13) CB Misbar Regals. Sure they’re not “intentionally” that way like designer Clowns, more an artifact of captive breeding and being misbarred is not exclusive to P. Diacanthus, and to be fair a Y-bar or slight misbar on a Regal can be quite attractive to me, but I still prefer the straight bars and it’s cringe for me to see the Misbars selling for more.

(14) Most of the schooling / shoaling Anthias. I can get on board with the big ones as well as the rarer deepwater types, but the ones like Squampinnis / Dispar / Bartlett’s and those ones were never my thing.

(15) Firefish. Dartfish. Not many seem to have long-term success with them, or maybe they just don’t live that long.

(16) Fairy / Flasher Wrasses / any of the more common Wrasses imported as adult males or terminal males. Just not worth the $$ for a fish already having lived out half or more than half its life and will probably last another 3-4 years (or less) in your care.

(17) Getting a fish that will have to be given away due to eventual size. Never made much sense to me. Sure it’s nice to see something like an Emperor Angel change from juvenile to adult coloration, but knowing you don’t have the tank to sustain one for decades, it would make me sad.

(18) Not having a lid or a top. Proponents will say that it’s okay to take the risk and don’t want their tanks to look “ugly”, I never felt that way and why take any risk at all, when you can minimize it?

To be fair, if you want a truly natural looking reef, in the little boxes we keep, you'd probably want to keep only 1 or 2 coral colonies.

You then directly go on to sps dominated tanks. Have you visited a coral reef in the Indo Pacific? If you want a natural looking tank, it should probably be sps dominated.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Generally I'd describe refugiums as overrated.


They have a place. My tank has an oversized one. They're helpful, but I think generally new hobbyists are oversold on refugiums as pod refuges. The reality is if you have a lot of porous rock, your pods have lots of hiding spots. For nutrient export they can be good with strong lighting, but they're definitely not necessary.

That being said I do like them, and theyre a useful tool--imo just slightly overrated

 

[hart24601]

Acros vs lps seem to be a devide in the hobby.

It definitely costs a lot of money to purchase a bunch of acro frags. If I bought 150 frags and stuck them in my tank, it would look like a new setup. Acros are definitely a testament to patience, where it takes real dedication and time (and some may say, luck) to grow frags into colonies for an established reef.

I view lps as a pay to play game. You can purchase 150 frags, stick them in a tank and you have instant gratification. The tank looks established and tourist that look at them and say, wow!

Couple that with the blue light craze and now people are spending a fortune for euphyllia to get that instant established look. You can understand why stick heads scratch their head when people praise a person showing off a tank full of colorful lps.

I think acros are still the gold standard among hobbyists. There's nothing wrong with having a softy/lps tank because their are differing points of view and goals in this hobby. Some people simply can't achieve a sps dominant tank, some simply don't want to.

It’s good to have options!

Although the true elite of the hobby are nps tanks! Still an area open for groundbreaking improvements with nps as well.

I think places like live aquara still sell large wild acros and mariculture opened back up if one did desire larger ones although still overrated. ;)

 

[Zionas]

@IntrinsicReef I get you and I don’t disagree, what I was trying to get at is how I get the sense that many in the hobby see an SPS dominant or SPS only tank as sort of the “Holy Mecca” of reef keeping, or needing to incorporate a good amount of SPS in order to be considered as having reached a certain level in the hobby. Many are successful with it for years, decades, but just as many decide it’s too much for them at some point and shift back to softies and maybe some LPS, and find the hobby much more enjoyable and stress free compared to their SPS days. Less of a need for highly stringent water parameters, less overall maintenance. The tanks I’ve seen with a lot of longevity, tend to not be SPS heavy, more on the side of having mostly soft corals or some mix of softies and LPS.

So, I believe it’s perfectly fine to not see SPS as the higher goal and “easier” corals as something to “graduate” from. But then I’m also somewhat biased as fish > any coral overall for me.

As for my point about some tanks looking more like these dazzling rainbow collections of corals rather than anything natural, I don’t like the overly artificial look of having too many colors in one limited space, to the point where it looks inauthentic and just like a badly put together collection of art rather than giving much thought into how the different parts “gel” together. Some of the “easier” corals actually provide a lot of movement and that’s more my sort of thing.

It’s also in the interests of many companies to portray the goal of “reef keeping” to have these brightly lit, tightly controlled heavy SPS systems that require an above average amount of monitoring and upkeep. They have products to sell (flow, lighting, dosing, calcium reactors) that means profit for those going for the higher-end setups.

 

[Zionas]

@hart24601 I’d love to see someone with a fully NPS setup complete with a collection of Mesophotic / Rariphotic fish. The closest thing I’ve seen is only at public aquariums like Steinhart.