**Warning** This post may turn into more of a disjointed ramble than a well thought out statement. I've been wanting to write this for a few days now, but haven't been able to just sit down and work through my thoughts. In short...this is the overview of my journey through reef keeping. Maybe it will give you some insight to your future....or it may relate to you now. At any rate...here we go...
I stumbled through the door of the saltwater aquarium hobby around 2013. I honestly don't even remember why I took the leap...but I feel like it was the fault of an LFS that was located a bit too close to my office. I don't recall that I ever had any ambitions to have a saltwater aquarium before then. I had only ever had a few goldfish tanks throughout my childhood and my parents were not into fish. I did always have a bit of a fascination with saltwater fish as I would see them snorkeling on family vacations. After a few trips to that LFS, I believe I stumbled upon R2R and spent more time than I care to admit strolling through pages of posts here. That LFS was a really cool place to go as the owner was a real enthusiast...and seemed to be using the store as more of a way to access all of the things he wanted for himself than running it solely as a business. There was always really cool stuff to see in there...and I found myself going there just to hang out almost weekly. The fish were cool, but I found the coral to be what I really loved to see. It was a world I had never knew existed. At some point I decided that I had to get in on the action. One thing I read over and over was that a bigger system is easier to keep things stable than a smaller. My first tank was an 80g Deep Blue tank...48x24x16. As I started that tank, I ended up joining a couple of the local clubs. Through the clubs, I was able to meet other people in the hobby and create some friendships. We even had a relationship with the Newport Aquarium to do volunteer work there. It was a great experience...and I went all-in during that time. I participated in several live sale events on R2R and felt like I was way too familiar with going to get air packages from the UPS or FEDEX terminals. I also attended several frag swaps around my area. At some point I plumbed in a separate frag tank for grow out. At another point, I bought a complete 55g setup from a local person looking to exit. It started to seem a bit crazy as I had tanks everywhere it seemed. I bought nearly everything to set up a 180g setup. To me, that was such a perfect size...the 6' length and 2' width was a great floorplan for an awesome tank. It was going to allow me to do some combining of my tanks and also allow me to have some swimming space for tangs. I don't remember the exact reason...but just as I was getting ready to set up the 180, I ended up selling off everything. I know several of the reasons leading to it...but I'm not sure what one was the final reason. One of the issues I had was that I was the only one in my family interested in the hobby. My wife enjoyed looking at fish and coral...but didn't want anything to do with it more than that. She had went to a couple of club meetings with me...and though she thought the people's tanks were cool, she didn't see it as something that would be a prominent fixture in our house. Because of that, the tanks needed to be in the basement. At the same time, my son was 3 years old and we were still getting the hang of being parents. My son did like looking at the tanks, but that was for very short durations...and the area where my tanks were was in an unfinished part of the basement, so not really conducive to comfortable enjoyment. While I had a passion for reef keeping, I found myself torn between maintaining the tanks and spending time upstairs with my family. That is probably what ultimately led to the decision...I realized I was spending more and more time upstairs and less and less in the basement. Once it reached the point where I was only down there to do maintenance, the enjoyment fizzled. Shortly after selling off everything and packing what I didn't sell in the garage, we finished that area into a speakeasy/bar area....so maybe that was something we talked about previously. That was around late 2015...maybe into early 2016. I made it nearly 3 years...not sure if I sure say that, or put it as "I only made it nearly 3 years". I always kind of thought I may have a tank down the road again...but it definitely wasn't something I was bothered too much by being away from it. I will say that I stopped participating in the club activities, stopped visiting the local stores, stopped coming to R2R and seeking out relating info on the web...and didn't stay in touch with any of the friends I had made in the hobby. Sometime around 2021-2022, my son showed an interest in having a saltwater tank. Something small he could keep in his room. We made some trips to the local stores and he ended up getting a small 4g AIO tank. We tried to keep it simple and I did my best to guide him through keeping it. He had a starfish and some inverts in it...nothing too exciting, but he did enjoy it. It went through a tough phase of algae and that deterred him a bit. It took some time, but we got it back to looking decent again. He then wanted to move up to something a little bigger so he could have a fish. He ended up going with a EVO 13.5. I took the 4g and moved it to my home office. The 13.5 is a good tank, but it went through a few fish and some troubles with algae...and it beat him down to the point where he just quit maintaining it. In late 2024ish, I ended up moving that tank to my office as well. He like the hobby, but at 14...he's got too many things going on to focus on it. The tank gave way to 3D printers and a gaming computer. I wasn't too upset...as I was able to sort of get back into the hobby myself. And here we are a year later...and I have been looking into getting a bigger tank for my office. I haven't really settled on what it will be...but it has slowly reignited my passion for corals. I've found myself coming to R2R more again...and I feel like I'm in a much better position than I was previously to stick with it. Since the whole 2020 debacle, I have a dedicated office at home that I work out of several days a week. With a tank in here, I am much more able to enjoy it on a daily basis. My son also still has interest...so I believe I will have some added interest from him. We'll see where that leads...
On thing I wanted to note along with my story. Over the past couple of years that we've had saltwater tanks in the house, I didn't participate much in the community...no clubs, minimal LFS visits, no web interaction. It's been fine...but since I've hit my renewed interest, I've noticed one thing that stands out. Very few of the people I regularly communicated with back in 2013-2016 seem to still be around. The club I was part of no longer exists...but I was able to find a few of the people are still my friends on Facebook. They all seem to have stopped keeping tanks. I've went through several on R2R that I regularly messaged back then...and they all show their "Last Seen" date as some point in the far past. So maybe my story is not so uncommon....or at least the story of the hobby being a short-term interest, as opposed to long-term. I guess that depends on your opinion of what short and long term is. So many of the tank build threads on here sort of take the same cycle...where the story just ends all of the sudden with no real explanation. It does make me really appreciate the people that are still around. And I really appreciate that R2R has continued to be such a great space for people...
So that's the quick overview of my time in this space...not very exciting, but maybe it will resonate with someone. Along with that...he's my list of tips for anyone reading this that has just begun their time in the hobby...
- Enjoy it as much as you can while you have it...it is most likely going to be a short-term passion unless you outperform the averages.
- Find enjoyment in this however suits you best. You can participate in clubs, groups, websites...but it is not necessary. Find what works for you and go with that...
- Try not to get too attached to anything in your tank. Things die...even if you do everything right. I've killed a lot of fish and coral...the only thing not hard to kill in this hobby is algae. Expensive fish and coral die just as easily as cheap...it will happen, so prepare yourself for losses. Don't spend money on something you can't afford to lose...
- Patience truly is the key...nothing rewarding here happens fast. I went through learning this back in 2013 and then was able to try to bestow what I had learned with my son when he started. While he was experiencing it for the first time, I was watching it through a different lens. Everything takes time to play out and "quick fixes" are almost never completely sufficient. If the thought of spending weeks waiting for your tank to cycle is painful...wait until you battle an algae issue for 6 months. That will be the ultimate test of how much you love the hobby...
- Try to come up with a way to make maintenance easy (overly easy)...the easier you can make it, the easier it will be to do when you least feel like it. Water changes are the easiest thing to skip...and when you skip, it's typically going to be a negative. It seems like general push has been for smaller AIO tanks...so every skipped water change is a bigger detriment.
- People that have amazing tanks out there...whether just sharing pictures or maybe even winning TOTM. I have so much more respect for them now than I did in the beginning. I thought what they had was easily attainable with money and equipment. Those tanks are much more than that...those are huge accomplishments by people that have seriously devoted themselves to making them what they are. I honestly don't look at them as something to aspire to anymore...I'm realistic enough to know that's not attainable for me. I look at them now the same way I would look at a piece of art from an expert...
- Try not to spend beyond your means. This can be an expensive endeavor, but does not have to be. Find the balance of what you can enjoy and easily afford. If you over extend yourself chasing a dream or trying to keep up with someone else, your time in the hobby most likely be cut short...
If you made it this far...thanks for reading. I think this post was more for me to write out my experience than it was for anyone reading....but hopefully it resonates with someone!
I stumbled through the door of the saltwater aquarium hobby around 2013. I honestly don't even remember why I took the leap...but I feel like it was the fault of an LFS that was located a bit too close to my office. I don't recall that I ever had any ambitions to have a saltwater aquarium before then. I had only ever had a few goldfish tanks throughout my childhood and my parents were not into fish. I did always have a bit of a fascination with saltwater fish as I would see them snorkeling on family vacations. After a few trips to that LFS, I believe I stumbled upon R2R and spent more time than I care to admit strolling through pages of posts here. That LFS was a really cool place to go as the owner was a real enthusiast...and seemed to be using the store as more of a way to access all of the things he wanted for himself than running it solely as a business. There was always really cool stuff to see in there...and I found myself going there just to hang out almost weekly. The fish were cool, but I found the coral to be what I really loved to see. It was a world I had never knew existed. At some point I decided that I had to get in on the action. One thing I read over and over was that a bigger system is easier to keep things stable than a smaller. My first tank was an 80g Deep Blue tank...48x24x16. As I started that tank, I ended up joining a couple of the local clubs. Through the clubs, I was able to meet other people in the hobby and create some friendships. We even had a relationship with the Newport Aquarium to do volunteer work there. It was a great experience...and I went all-in during that time. I participated in several live sale events on R2R and felt like I was way too familiar with going to get air packages from the UPS or FEDEX terminals. I also attended several frag swaps around my area. At some point I plumbed in a separate frag tank for grow out. At another point, I bought a complete 55g setup from a local person looking to exit. It started to seem a bit crazy as I had tanks everywhere it seemed. I bought nearly everything to set up a 180g setup. To me, that was such a perfect size...the 6' length and 2' width was a great floorplan for an awesome tank. It was going to allow me to do some combining of my tanks and also allow me to have some swimming space for tangs. I don't remember the exact reason...but just as I was getting ready to set up the 180, I ended up selling off everything. I know several of the reasons leading to it...but I'm not sure what one was the final reason. One of the issues I had was that I was the only one in my family interested in the hobby. My wife enjoyed looking at fish and coral...but didn't want anything to do with it more than that. She had went to a couple of club meetings with me...and though she thought the people's tanks were cool, she didn't see it as something that would be a prominent fixture in our house. Because of that, the tanks needed to be in the basement. At the same time, my son was 3 years old and we were still getting the hang of being parents. My son did like looking at the tanks, but that was for very short durations...and the area where my tanks were was in an unfinished part of the basement, so not really conducive to comfortable enjoyment. While I had a passion for reef keeping, I found myself torn between maintaining the tanks and spending time upstairs with my family. That is probably what ultimately led to the decision...I realized I was spending more and more time upstairs and less and less in the basement. Once it reached the point where I was only down there to do maintenance, the enjoyment fizzled. Shortly after selling off everything and packing what I didn't sell in the garage, we finished that area into a speakeasy/bar area....so maybe that was something we talked about previously. That was around late 2015...maybe into early 2016. I made it nearly 3 years...not sure if I sure say that, or put it as "I only made it nearly 3 years". I always kind of thought I may have a tank down the road again...but it definitely wasn't something I was bothered too much by being away from it. I will say that I stopped participating in the club activities, stopped visiting the local stores, stopped coming to R2R and seeking out relating info on the web...and didn't stay in touch with any of the friends I had made in the hobby. Sometime around 2021-2022, my son showed an interest in having a saltwater tank. Something small he could keep in his room. We made some trips to the local stores and he ended up getting a small 4g AIO tank. We tried to keep it simple and I did my best to guide him through keeping it. He had a starfish and some inverts in it...nothing too exciting, but he did enjoy it. It went through a tough phase of algae and that deterred him a bit. It took some time, but we got it back to looking decent again. He then wanted to move up to something a little bigger so he could have a fish. He ended up going with a EVO 13.5. I took the 4g and moved it to my home office. The 13.5 is a good tank, but it went through a few fish and some troubles with algae...and it beat him down to the point where he just quit maintaining it. In late 2024ish, I ended up moving that tank to my office as well. He like the hobby, but at 14...he's got too many things going on to focus on it. The tank gave way to 3D printers and a gaming computer. I wasn't too upset...as I was able to sort of get back into the hobby myself. And here we are a year later...and I have been looking into getting a bigger tank for my office. I haven't really settled on what it will be...but it has slowly reignited my passion for corals. I've found myself coming to R2R more again...and I feel like I'm in a much better position than I was previously to stick with it. Since the whole 2020 debacle, I have a dedicated office at home that I work out of several days a week. With a tank in here, I am much more able to enjoy it on a daily basis. My son also still has interest...so I believe I will have some added interest from him. We'll see where that leads...
On thing I wanted to note along with my story. Over the past couple of years that we've had saltwater tanks in the house, I didn't participate much in the community...no clubs, minimal LFS visits, no web interaction. It's been fine...but since I've hit my renewed interest, I've noticed one thing that stands out. Very few of the people I regularly communicated with back in 2013-2016 seem to still be around. The club I was part of no longer exists...but I was able to find a few of the people are still my friends on Facebook. They all seem to have stopped keeping tanks. I've went through several on R2R that I regularly messaged back then...and they all show their "Last Seen" date as some point in the far past. So maybe my story is not so uncommon....or at least the story of the hobby being a short-term interest, as opposed to long-term. I guess that depends on your opinion of what short and long term is. So many of the tank build threads on here sort of take the same cycle...where the story just ends all of the sudden with no real explanation. It does make me really appreciate the people that are still around. And I really appreciate that R2R has continued to be such a great space for people...
So that's the quick overview of my time in this space...not very exciting, but maybe it will resonate with someone. Along with that...he's my list of tips for anyone reading this that has just begun their time in the hobby...
- Enjoy it as much as you can while you have it...it is most likely going to be a short-term passion unless you outperform the averages.
- Find enjoyment in this however suits you best. You can participate in clubs, groups, websites...but it is not necessary. Find what works for you and go with that...
- Try not to get too attached to anything in your tank. Things die...even if you do everything right. I've killed a lot of fish and coral...the only thing not hard to kill in this hobby is algae. Expensive fish and coral die just as easily as cheap...it will happen, so prepare yourself for losses. Don't spend money on something you can't afford to lose...
- Patience truly is the key...nothing rewarding here happens fast. I went through learning this back in 2013 and then was able to try to bestow what I had learned with my son when he started. While he was experiencing it for the first time, I was watching it through a different lens. Everything takes time to play out and "quick fixes" are almost never completely sufficient. If the thought of spending weeks waiting for your tank to cycle is painful...wait until you battle an algae issue for 6 months. That will be the ultimate test of how much you love the hobby...
- Try to come up with a way to make maintenance easy (overly easy)...the easier you can make it, the easier it will be to do when you least feel like it. Water changes are the easiest thing to skip...and when you skip, it's typically going to be a negative. It seems like general push has been for smaller AIO tanks...so every skipped water change is a bigger detriment.
- People that have amazing tanks out there...whether just sharing pictures or maybe even winning TOTM. I have so much more respect for them now than I did in the beginning. I thought what they had was easily attainable with money and equipment. Those tanks are much more than that...those are huge accomplishments by people that have seriously devoted themselves to making them what they are. I honestly don't look at them as something to aspire to anymore...I'm realistic enough to know that's not attainable for me. I look at them now the same way I would look at a piece of art from an expert...
- Try not to spend beyond your means. This can be an expensive endeavor, but does not have to be. Find the balance of what you can enjoy and easily afford. If you over extend yourself chasing a dream or trying to keep up with someone else, your time in the hobby most likely be cut short...
If you made it this far...thanks for reading. I think this post was more for me to write out my experience than it was for anyone reading....but hopefully it resonates with someone!
!
