What Makes Reefing “Difficult”?

Macbalacano

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I feel to summarize what other folks have said, it comes down to complexity.

Everyone is chasing success (as they should), but there are a lot of variables to that success.

There are also a lot of different paths to success, and a lot of opinions on those paths.

Last, it can be an expensive hobby, which increases people's frustration and tends to lessen our patience.
 

Joekovar

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Curveballs after a steady diet of fastballs.

We start out all go-go-go! and things progress pretty quickly as were putting things together. Then bam, we get that proverbial off speed curve ball that is being forced to progress at the ecosystems pace.
 

ChrisPPolys

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As the late great Jake Adam’s has stated in interviews, the over abundance of information/misinformation. When asked what he would tell a new reefer it was “stay off the internet.” He then went on to state he could write down on the side of one index card what is necessary to start a new saltwater tank.
In today’s day and age when anybody can write anything they want online. Where anybody can make a YouTube video who do you trust?

I’ve always kept my systems as simple as could be. Use tap water for top offs and water changes. No auto top off, no calcium reactor, no doser, sump, RODI system etc.

All that unnecessary equipment over complicates the hobby and makes it difficult. Keep it simple silly :p
 

ReeferLou

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You need to understand a lot about chemistry , biology and physics to really understand what’s happening in the tank. Once you understand it things get a little easier but there’s alway more to learn. And it requires a certain amount of time each day or things can get out of control fast.
 
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Reefer Matt

Reefer Matt

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As the late great Jake Adam’s has stated in interviews, the over abundance of information/misinformation. When asked what he would tell a new reefer it was “stay off the internet.” He then went on to state he could write down on the side of one index card what is necessary to start a new saltwater tank.
In today’s day and age when anybody can write anything they want online. Where anybody can make a YouTube video who do you trust?

I’ve always kept my systems as simple as could be. Use tap water for top offs and water changes. No auto top off, no calcium reactor, no doser, sump, RODI system etc.

All that unnecessary equipment over complicates the hobby and makes it difficult. Keep it simple silly :p
Water changes do a lot for my tanks. So much YouTube strife on here. :grinning-squinting-face:
 

Kfactor

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seeing a person with a 6 month old tank and it looks like it been running for years lol . my tank has been setup for just over a year and still looks like poop. i test and test and still dont help
 

ChrisPPolys

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seeing a person with a 6 month old tank and it looks like it been running for years lol . my tank has been setup for just over a year and still looks like poop. i test and test and still dont help
Watch the first few minutes of that reef therapy episode I linked. It covers exactly that!
If you have the time, the whole video is great.
 

crazyfishmom

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The fact that no two successful tanks go about it the same way. Sure, there are trends in reefing but what works in tank A will not in tank B. Reefing became a lot easier when I stopped asking for advice and started reading as much as I could and stopped reacting to little changes.
 

X-37B

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If you have a plan from day one reefing becomes simple, imo.
Just like life, if you dont have a plan for the future, you will have no idea where you will end up when its time to retire. Just my 2 cents after 40 years of work and 30 years of reefing.
 

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