What was a setback you had, and how did you bounce back from it?

[Gumbies R Us]

With most hobbies, there are always high points where nothing can go wrong and the next thing you know, something bad happens. However, with a setback comes a new start or something good. My question is what is something that caused a set back for you in the hobby and how did you recover or improve because of it?

 

[milto29]

With most hobbies, there are always high points where nothing can go wrong and the next thing you know, something bad happens. However, with a setback comes a new start or something good. My question is what is something that caused a set back for you in the hobby and how did you recover or improve because of it?

Wife and I separated for about 4-6 months. So she wouldn’t let me in the house and I ended up losing everything in my tank. I had a beautiful 125g SPS dominant tank fully stocked with sticks, acros and some amazing fish as well. That was my pride and joy. After several sessions with our counselor we regrouped as a family and I’m currently working on getting my tank ready for sticks again. This is a beautiful hobby and i don’t ever see myself walking away from it. When I say that I lost everything I mean everything. Pump, skimmer, reactor pumps, MP40’s and obviously the livestock.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Wife and I separated for about 4-6 months. So she wouldn’t let me in the house and I ended up losing everything in my tank. I had a beautiful 125g SPS dominant tank fully stocked with sticks, acros and some amazing fish as well. That was my pride and joy. After several sessions with our counselor we regrouped as a family and I’m currently working on getting my tank ready for sticks again. This is a beautiful hobby and i don’t ever see myself walking away from it. When I say that I lost everything I mean everything. Pump, skimmer, reactor pumps, MP40’s and obviously the livestock.

Dang, I'm sorry to hear that. hopefully, your new tank is better than before and it all goes well for you!!

 

[Rmckoy]

Upgraded from a leaking tank which needed to be replaced . from a 90 gal fully stocked mixed reef to a 230 gal
transferred everything into the new tank but 1) didn’t have enough water made to fill the new tank
2) added the rocks , fish and a few handfuls of old sand
While waiting for water to be finished the water went extremely cloudy
The next morning everything was dead …

it took me a while to decide to start over but I still haven’t got back into corals like I was .

 

[Rp8]

Upgraded from a leaking tank which needed to be replaced . from a 90 gal fully stocked mixed reef to a 230 gal
transferred everything into the new tank but 1) didn’t have enough water made to fill the new tank
2) added the rocks , fish and a few handfuls of old sand
While waiting for water to be finished the water went extremely cloudy
The next morning everything was dead …

it took me a while to decide to start over but I still haven’t got back into corals like I was .

Ever figure out the culprit?

 

[Rp8]

After last move, put my initial batch of fish in with success. After everything settled out from that, and qt for the next batch, added the second batch of the more aggressive fish. Some disease got thru. Never figured out what. Ich brook or what. Killed 75%. Time and good husbandry was the bounce back

 

[Rmckoy]

Ever figure out the culprit?

Sometimes when rushing against the clock we are our own worse enemies .
I believe the old saying of using a handful of sand will help with biological bacteria is bs.
Not having enough water to run any filtration or provide flow .

but I couldn’t keep up with the water loss from the old system .

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Sometimes when rushing against the clock we are our own worse enemies .
I believe the old saying of using a handful of sand will help with biological bacteria is bs.
Not having enough water to run any filtration or provide flow .

but I couldn’t keep up with the water loss from the old system .

I feel like it's common for humans to want to rush into something or get to the finish line faster than we should. I know for me I have to stop my self from rushing and just be patient with everything cause I know if I am patient it will turn out better

 

[Big Smelly fish]

Set backs, over the last 6 years or so I’ve had some major set backs. The first being in August of 2016 our town flooded because of a major rain that overflowed two rivers. Our house took on 3 1/2 feet of water. Destroyed our vehicles and home. Spent a year living in a camper in front yard. Lost everything including my 120 Sps tank and all equipment.
then once back in house I retired and opened up a antique shop and set up a new aquarium in it , then diagnose with throat cancer and had to have surgery, chemo and radiation. Once treatment was over Covid came along and closed all business down along with my shop. Financially I couldn’t survive it and lost my business and had to take the tank down. I told myself I was fine keeping marine tanks after having saltwater since 1972.
But because of some great friends who own a shop in Wichita KS I’m back. I worked in their store about 15 years ago . My wife and I took vacation to see them and they gave me a custom acrylic tank from their shop. The tank was 28 years old in perfect shape and was one of their shops display tanks. That was about a year and a half ago. Now I have four and started back to breeding seahorses again.
after 50 years in the hobby it’s hard yo stay away. But if my friends didn’t give me the tank to begin with I probably wouldn’t have started back.

 

[EakTheFreak]

Mine was losing 70% of my corals. I was on vacation and had tank sitter. I believe tank sitter who of course was my beloved Mother may have had some chemicals on her hands and had them in water since I asked her to add algae which I learned from.

when I returned home, the majority of my LPS was in process of dying. I never confirmed it was from her as it’s possible brown jelly did hit since I did add 1 new torch 2 weeks before my trip.

I took a 6 month break from adding corals after that and got back to scheduled husbandry and ICP tests every other month until I saw the tank was ultra stable.

I then began adding things again including the Neptune Trident for additional testing with the DOS to help maintain stability as I may have had an ALK swing before as well.

Now my tank is doing the best it’s ever done!!

Check out my instagram page!!!!

@Eak_The_Freaks_Reef

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Set backs, over the last 6 years or so I’ve had some major set backs. The first being in August of 2016 our town flooded because of a major rain that overflowed two rivers. Our house took on 3 1/2 feet of water. Destroyed our vehicles and home. Spent a year living in a camper in front yard. Lost everything including my 120 Sps tank and all equipment.
then once back in house I retired and opened up a antique shop and set up a new aquarium in it , then diagnose with throat cancer and had to have surgery, chemo and radiation. Once treatment was over Covid came along and closed all business down along with my shop. Financially I couldn’t survive it and lost my business and had to take the tank down. I told myself I was fine keeping marine tanks after having saltwater since 1972.
But because of some great friends who own a shop in Wichita KS I’m back. I worked in their store about 15 years ago . My wife and I took vacation to see them and they gave me a custom acrylic tank from their shop. The tank was 28 years old in perfect shape and was one of their shops display tanks. That was about a year and a half ago. Now I have four and started back to breeding seahorses again.
after 50 years in the hobby it’s hard yo stay away. But if my friends didn’t give me the tank to begin with I probably wouldn’t have started back.

Sorry about all that has happened but it's nice that someone gave you a custom tank like that!!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Mine was losing 70% of my corals. I was on vacation and had tank sitter. I believe tank sitter who of course was my beloved Mother may have had some chemicals on her hands and had them in water since I asked her to add algae which I learned from.

when I returned home, the majority of my LPS was in process of dying. I never confirmed it was from her as it’s possible brown jelly did hit since I did add 1 new torch 2 weeks before my trip.

I took a 6 month break from adding corals after that and got back to scheduled husbandry and ICP tests every other month until I saw the tank was ultra stable.

I then began adding things again including the Neptune Trident for additional testing with the DOS to help maintain stability as I may have had an ALK swing before as well.

Now my tank is doing the best it’s ever done!!

Check out my instagram page!!!!

@Eak_The_Freaks_Reef

That's always been mt fear with going on vacations or long trips is for something to happen to a tank, but glad you got your tank back and it's doing better!!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Losing most of my vision. At first it was just little setbacks, but as it progressed it sucked the life out of me so to speak. I had a long period of time where I was just too depressed to do anything. My tank suffered and was over run with Aiptasia and some bryopsis. I lost a few corals. Luckily I was a techno weenie and the whole thing was pretty much automated so it has survived. I have been getting back into the swing of things even though I can’t enjoy the visual aspect of the hobby. It’s muscle memory and I’m just making adjustments to how I do things. I have accepted that it’s never going to be perfect, but I am just starting to enjoy going through the motions of tank management. An adjustable pipette set to ten ml was a lifesaver for Hanna checkers. The Hanna checker readout can be read to me by an app on my phone. Premeasured one gallon two part packs from brs were great. I just setup a calcium reactor to try and make things even simpler, although that process has not been easy. Making a game out of using the flipper so I know I’m getting all the glass….well I’m sure not all but close. Alexa, Siri, google home are great for timers and Alexa for logging my Hanna tests into apex fusion, although that has been breaking lately. I bit the bullet and upgraded my classic apex to a new apex as I won enough brs reward points on cyber Monday to get a trident and six month reagent kit. I can see bright and contrasting color in the tank, just can’t make anything out. They’re just fuzzy, opaque, blobs of color. I can’t see any of the fish except for the yellow tang. He’s so bright and big that I know that yellow pac-man blob floating around is him. I’ve decided not to give up and ride this train as long as I can.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Losing most of my vision. At first it was just little setbacks, but as it progressed it sucked the life out of me so to speak. I had a long period of time where I was just too depressed to do anything. My tank suffered and was over run with Aiptasia and some bryopsis. I lost a few corals. Luckily I was a techno weenie and the whole thing was pretty much automated so it has survived. I have been getting back into the swing of things even though I can’t enjoy the visual aspect of the hobby. It’s muscle memory and I’m just making adjustments to how I do things. I have accepted that it’s never going to be perfect, but I am just starting to enjoy going through the motions of tank management. An adjustable pipette set to ten ml was a lifesaver for Hanna checkers. The Hanna checker readout can be read to me by an app on my phone. Premeasured one gallon two part packs from brs were great. I just setup a calcium reactor to try and make things even simpler, although that process has not been easy. Making a game out of using the flipper so I know I’m getting all the glass….well I’m sure not all but close. Alexa, Siri, google home are great for timers and Alexa for logging my Hanna tests into apex fusion, although that has been breaking lately. I bit the bullet and upgraded my classic apex to a new apex as I won enough brs reward points on cyber Monday to get a trident and six month reagent kit. I can see bright and contrasting color in the tank, just can’t make anything out. They’re just fuzzy, opaque, blobs of color. I can’t see any of the fish except for the yellow tang. He’s so bright and big that I know that yellow pac-man blob floating around is him. I’ve decided not to give up and ride this train as long as I can.

Wow, sorry to hear about that, glad you are able to enjoy the hobby still even with a hardship like that!!

 

[Big Smelly fish]

Losing most of my vision. At first it was just little setbacks, but as it progressed it sucked the life out of me so to speak. I had a long period of time where I was just too depressed to do anything. My tank suffered and was over run with Aiptasia and some bryopsis. I lost a few corals. Luckily I was a techno weenie and the whole thing was pretty much automated so it has survived. I have been getting back into the swing of things even though I can’t enjoy the visual aspect of the hobby. It’s muscle memory and I’m just making adjustments to how I do things. I have accepted that it’s never going to be perfect, but I am just starting to enjoy going through the motions of tank management. An adjustable pipette set to ten ml was a lifesaver for Hanna checkers. The Hanna checker readout can be read to me by an app on my phone. Premeasured one gallon two part packs from brs were great. I just setup a calcium reactor to try and make things even simpler, although that process has not been easy. Making a game out of using the flipper so I know I’m getting all the glass….well I’m sure not all but close. Alexa, Siri, google home are great for timers and Alexa for logging my Hanna tests into apex fusion, although that has been breaking lately. I bit the bullet and upgraded my classic apex to a new apex as I won enough brs reward points on cyber Monday to get a trident and six month reagent kit. I can see bright and contrasting color in the tank, just can’t make anything out. They’re just fuzzy, opaque, blobs of color. I can’t see any of the fish except for the yellow tang. He’s so bright and big that I know that yellow pac-man blob floating around is him. I’ve decided not to give up and ride this train as long as I can.

Wow , that a strong commitment.

 

[RedoubtReef]

Moved my tank for Seattle area to Idaho back in 2017 and it was never the same. I went from a total system volume of over 200 gallons to just my 80 gallon display and a 40 gallon sump. I'm rebuilding now and making do with the new space new volume will be around 140 gallons total.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Set backs, over the last 6 years or so I’ve had some major set backs. The first being in August of 2016 our town flooded because of a major rain that overflowed two rivers. Our house took on 3 1/2 feet of water. Destroyed our vehicles and home. Spent a year living in a camper in front yard. Lost everything including my 120 Sps tank and all equipment.
then once back in house I retired and opened up a antique shop and set up a new aquarium in it , then diagnose with throat cancer and had to have surgery, chemo and radiation. Once treatment was over Covid came along and closed all business down along with my shop. Financially I couldn’t survive it and lost my business and had to take the tank down. I told myself I was fine keeping marine tanks after having saltwater since 1972.
But because of some great friends who own a shop in Wichita KS I’m back. I worked in their store about 15 years ago . My wife and I took vacation to see them and they gave me a custom acrylic tank from their shop. The tank was 28 years old in perfect shape and was one of their shops display tanks. That was about a year and a half ago. Now I have four and started back to breeding seahorses again.
after 50 years in the hobby it’s hard yo stay away. But if my friends didn’t give me the tank to begin with I probably wouldn’t have started back.

Awesome story! Not as in what you went through, but how you came out of it

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Wow , that a strong commitment.

This is going to sound corny or whatever but there was a line in the movie Shawshank Redemption, get busy livin or get busy dyin….or something close to that, I always misquote tings. I think upon that when I’m down in the gutter. Plus, it’s not like I can get out of the house much anymore as I’ve lost my wheels. You don’t realize just how much freedom a car allows.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Mad respect to everyone here, truly inspiring. my biggest set backs are my young age in addition to my geographic location where the hobby isn't as big as in the states making it difficult to get my hands on many corals and supplements such as pods and phyto.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Crazy seeing everyone's setback with the hobby, I could not imagine what all of you have been through but I'm glad everyone has bounced back from it and continues to grow from the downfalls!! Best of luck to everyone!