The BIGGEST challenges to keeping a coral reef in your house!

[7hogwarts]

I built my tank into a wall. I have the drywall getting ruined by the little droplets. I know at some point I will have to redo the drywall. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to do that with out getting dust from drywall In the tank. I would do a in wall tank again. But use different wall material such as what is used in a bathroom. And my workspace behind the tank would be bigger.
The one thing that helps with the humidity I installed a a bathroom fan with a humidistat . I

 

[littlebigreef]

It challenges my wife's patience (she's pretty cool about everything) when I'm coming to bed at 2 am.

By and by I have a good handle on everything and I'm able to make most adjustments by eye (i.e. very little testing). I invested in automation in 2018 so the system is largely hands off in that regard. What challeges me (as a zoa collector) is when an older grown-out strain randomly fails. I'm good at early diagnosis, treatment and all, but we know stuff just dies sometimes. It's definitely a test of my resolve. Most other things are easy at this point.

 

[madweazl]

Work related travel is probably my only real issue at the moment (knock on wood). Oddly enough, it also turns in to a positive thing occasionally. Every once in a while, I'll be out of town for a couple weeks and upon returning home, the corals look amazing. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case; I've had a heater fail, a magnetic float sensor bracket corrode, a controller issue, and a few power outages while out of town. My wife has saved the day each time and even though there were some corals hit pretty hard, I don't think I've lost one due to the above.

 

[BestMomEver]

Challenges are:

Ph swings
salinity changes
Unreliable Salinity probe/readings on new Apex

Amen!

 

[BestMomEver]

I’m gonna add to my list.... one issue I have is struggling how to schedule maintenance. I like to test on Wednesday... calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, iron, iodine, potassium. Then dose accordingly. But... I have my 2.5 year old granddaughter with me and she doesn’t always want me to do all that. So I get behind. Frustrating....

 

[Why-Me]

LOL. I voted for regularly and my tank is still in the garage, dry. I keep reading and doing more research on what I want/need and things continually change as well as the things I've already bought. I went from sand to now want to go BB. Bought an entire kit to start up and pretty much replaced everything but the tank at this point making my choice on tank not as important as it was on initial purchase lol. My daughter is now going to have a 20G reef in her room etc. like I said continually changing, I'm happy and learning every single day.

 

[787john]

Making poor purchasing decisions. For example, can't tell you how much money I've wasted on pumps through the years.

 

[tweeter]

My biggest challenge is finding space in my tank for new corals. I want to try new things all the time.
I really wish I had gone bigger. My spouse is pretty good about my "addiction".

My biggest frustration is the "named coral" next generation of coral supply companies. I also feel that many suppliers over frag many corals. The challenge is not succumbing to this frenzy.

Nice tank!

 

[O'l Salty]

My biggest challenge is to resist trying to fix every little thing wrong with my tank.

 

[DarthSimon]

Biggest challenges for me is keeping my system parameters stable. Running a mostly SPS system, I am always concerned about my alkalinity. I can tell you having an Aquarium Controller like an Apex, and now the advent of the Trident on our doorsteps, it will make life much easier.

 

[Radman73]

I am my own worst enemy....

And Dino's. I freaking hate Dino's.

 

[Randy Ruiz]

I a

by far it is not knowing what i dont know. Just when you think you have it covered and things are moving along something else comes up, but to be honest that is also the best part of it.
One thing i dislike the most in this hobby is the QT process as there should be some system that all living things sold are clean and free of pests or disease prior to sale, i know it might be a pipe dream but it would solve a ton of issues.

Yes, pretty much agree with the others. No tank at the moment since I'm upgrading to a 180. But its rewarding being successful at keeping a reef system running in balance. Then looking at some other tanks in awe and trying to learn to be successful at striving for a tank that comes close. In the process of putting together my dream tank. Quite a learning curve. I don't have room for a QT. So, have to admit I have rarely quarantined, try at least to dip new fish. So far have mostly dodged a bullet. Rarely had any problems.

 

[ThunderGoose]

As a keeper of reefs there are certain challenges that we all WILL face from time to time. Those things that challenge us might not be as challenging to others and some things maybe not at all. I wanted to hear your thoughts on the following question.

What are the biggest challenges, FOR YOU, in maintaining a healthy saltwater tank?

Space. I have the largest tank I could fit in my small living room and that's just a RSR250. I have everything I can squeezed into the stand and the very tight space behind. In my fantasy I have a closet I can put all the stuff in - a good sized sump, refugium, ato and an auto water change set up.

 

[ZoWhat]

FINANCIALLY

it seems like something every 60 days breaks or need replacing. Lights, heaters, pumps, etc etc .....its ALWAYS smthg. I have yet to go 6mos without having to replace smthg small or large.... but i have A LOT of gadgets

 

[Dburr1014]

Biggest challenge to reefers keeping a tank? Their spouse.

Oh man, my wife loves to spray air freshener. When I here the can go off, I peak around the corner that it's not too close to the tank. I told her several times not to close but she wants the house to smell good. I can't blame her for that, but I did put acrylic over the tank to help with air borne "stuff" floating in there.

 

[Dragon52]

I just can't seem to keep all the corals I would like to, it seems anything with a skeleton wont live for very long.

 

[Musovski]

for me, my grandma lives with us. i swear shes always cold. the heat goes up so much that the tank rises way passed 80. sometimes it hits 83. i dont have a chiller, fans cant keep up best thing i can do is use aquarium safe ice bags.