What keeps YOU going?

[MichaelReefer]

A regular question I get from friends, coworkers and acquaintances tends to be "isnt reefing hard, expensive and a lot of work, how do you do it?" So, how do you do it? What keeps you pushing?

For me, It's the accomplishment of literally creating an entire ecosystem and ocean in my living room. It's funny because growing up I never was really good at anything except for competition shooting, then I randomly got a 29 gallon freshwater tank. And now, I'm at a 525XL reef tank.

How about you? Thought this would be an interesting discussion.

 

[Starkrost]

It's the little things like the other night when I happened to peek in my tank a couple hours after dark and saw a crown of tentacles on my candy cane which I've never seen during the day. Or spotting the tiny bud of a new polyp. Or using the magnifier to watch the itty-bitty teeth of the urchin at work on the glass. These just aren't things you can experience anywhere else. They're like little miracles of life at work.

 

[Sosuke]

Watching coral and fish grow! My mandarin has doubled in size since I got him and having coral split branch out and make new polyps is so exciting for me!

 

[WVNed]

I started keeping fish in 1983. It is just second nature now. When I was little I loved to swim in lakes, streams and the sea and look at the things living there. I brought home things from the local streams and kept them in tanks. Frogs, newts, minnows turned into guppies and mollies. Then I got married in 1982 and my father-in-law kept fish. He had a spawning pair of bristle nosed plecostomus. After about 5 years I had 20 tanks in the basement of our first house and was raising fish.
I started saltwater in 2007 and then my last freshwater tank failed. The front bottom seam came out of a 55 gallon tank that had moved out of state and back again. I never put up another one.

I upgrade my tanks based on what I want to keep in them, time and money.
Now I have infinite time, some money and I wanted to keep all the things I loved looking at but couldn't have at the LFS, like large angels, eels and lions.
So I did it.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I guess it depends on your system, mine is small and simple so it’s not a case of what keeps me going. It’s pretty stress free in every aspect. I just sit back and watch things grow for the most part. I have had people say to me that it must be really hard but when I explain how easy my setup is they still aren’t convinced and say they could never do it.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

A regular question I get from friends, coworkers and acquaintances tends to be "isnt reefing hard, expensive and a lot of work, how do you do it?" So, how do you do it? What keeps you pushing?

For me, It's the accomplishment of literally creating an entire ecosystem and ocean in my living room. It's funny because growing up I never was really good at anything except for competition shooting, then I randomly got a 29 gallon freshwater tank. And now, I'm at a 525XL reef tank.

How about you? Thought this would be an interesting discussion.

With the coral bans, we've had, the reefs not looking too good, that pushs me to the edge and now there's no turning back, took me almost 3 years to get where I'm at now. From 0 to 10 we are at a 9.5. even if we weren't at this level, we would keep trying hoping one day we would . We never thought we'd get to this point within three years. Right now in Australia 1 species of coral ( dendronephthya Australius) is going extinct, and one scientist came to us for our info on trying to make these corals thrive. All my Corals in the tank I see them as my children of the sea

 

[radiata]

Masochism?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Good question. For me it's the challenge and the beauty of a reef.

 

[Marc2952]

Tbh for me its mainly the amount of money i have put on the tank lol i have gone through so much this past year from dinos, to velvet killing all my fish etc. But i must persevere!

 

[lavoisier]

I love sitting at my desk and taking a few moments every now and again to gaze at my tank and feel the stress ebb away. I also enjoyed building my system, solving the innumerable problems that arise as I try to automate!

 

[Reef man 89]

Taking gods crazy creation and trying to replicate that in your house. It’s such a fascinating thing to me.

 

[AlwaysHatingNathan]

Well don’t get me wrong one reason is I love the fish it’s reason I got into hobby. And one reason I keep going even tho I struggle with them. And I love the corals which grew later down line. But other underlining reasons is I like the sense of the community with some people of lfs the shows feels like place to belong and learn. But probably most importantly I had professor back in college that became on my favorites and I found out he use keep reed tanks and he had like a angel the live almost 20 years and he loved hobby but had give it up. Well after graduation he passed away from random heart attack and part me wants carry on for him since he was so passionate about hobby and never got chance go back as thank your for years in college helping me.

 

[wolfthefallen]

For me I find it a relaxing, a bunch of simple tasks to keep my mind focused on something. Then in the end I have something beautiful to watch as all the creatures in the tank grow.

 

[G Santana]

The hopes of a slice of ocean as good as I can make it

 

[Kfactor]

I hope to see progress and growth and to one day have an amazing tank . I don’t do it for nobody but my self

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Every time I look into that tank I realize how much I care about all those little guys in there.

 

[tahoenano]

I enjoy seeing things you would not be able to see very easily in nature and my tank is one of my favorite stress relievers. I’ve had most of my creatures for over 3 years and have many to go hopefully

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

My drive to learn about the natural world, my love for the ocean and the satisfaction of having incredible animals thrive in my care. The relaxation that watching the corals flow in the current brings is also unparalleled. I also love sharing my reef with others and using it a s vessel to talk about ocean conservation and showcase the beauty of the underwater world. Last but not least is sharing my success with others in the hope that I can help them set up a tank that they are proud of and that brings them the same feelings of joy and accomplishment that I find in my own tanks.

 

[scdigby]

At first reefing was an exercise in patience, hard work and it was expensive, but once life started to grow in the tank reefing became the most relaxing thing in my life. Yes, it can be a lot of work, but if you enjoy the work, and enjoy the outcome then it's worth it, and it's beautiful!

 

[van7271]

This is all relative to the hobbyists. If you have to have the newest gadget every year and the most expensive live stock money can buy then yes it is expensive and a lot of work to keep those delicate little guys alive. Start off with good equipment and grow things out and you reduce the cost greatly. I still have most of my filtration and pumps that I stared with 12 years ago. The only equipment I have upgraded is my protein skimmer and lights. I buy frags and fish small and grow them out. Oldest fish is 12 years old. Finally consistency is key. The key to tank stability is doing the same thing on a regular schedule.