As a long time member of reefing forums (though relatively new to R2R), I see a ton of "Emergency!", "Help!", "All of my fish/coral is dying!", etc. threads and it's got me wondering what do you think is the percentage of reefers who have experienced disasters? When I say "disaster," I don't mean a single fish dying, or a coral that didn't make it, but rather major issues with their system - anything from huge equipment failures, to tank crashes, to diseases wiping out populations.
I miraculously dodged bullets in my first SW (FOWLR) tank - I was 17, no clue what I was doing, and I overstocked my cheap 20g with HOB filter with incompatible fish (and a snowflake eel) and kept them all alive for 2 years before giving them away and shutting the tank down because college was taking up too much time. I didn't lose a fish - not even the blue damsel I used to cycle the tank. I was 25 when I started my first reef and while I took precautions and had better equipment, I did have a velvet issue that killed all of my fish. I also lost several LPS colonies. It cost me a lot of money, a ton of stress, and had me second guessing myself at every turn. In hindsight, better QT protocols and better element management (testing/dosing, etc.) would have likely minimized the risks, but in my experience, there's certainly also an element of pure, dumb luck.
So, while full blown disasters are generally avoidable, do most people experience them anyway?
I miraculously dodged bullets in my first SW (FOWLR) tank - I was 17, no clue what I was doing, and I overstocked my cheap 20g with HOB filter with incompatible fish (and a snowflake eel) and kept them all alive for 2 years before giving them away and shutting the tank down because college was taking up too much time. I didn't lose a fish - not even the blue damsel I used to cycle the tank. I was 25 when I started my first reef and while I took precautions and had better equipment, I did have a velvet issue that killed all of my fish. I also lost several LPS colonies. It cost me a lot of money, a ton of stress, and had me second guessing myself at every turn. In hindsight, better QT protocols and better element management (testing/dosing, etc.) would have likely minimized the risks, but in my experience, there's certainly also an element of pure, dumb luck.
So, while full blown disasters are generally avoidable, do most people experience them anyway?