Why are reef tanks not more popular?

[Poseidon03]

The average person would regard a reef tank as a bunch of decorations in a glass box rather than living organisms that we have to constantly protect from Murphy's Law. It takes a combination of a ton of effort, time and money. When things go bad, it is typically quick and catastrophic.

 

[stanleo]

I think it's not more popular because only the really expensive and complicated setups get all the hype and attention outside of hobbyists. My 120 has cost me thousands of dollars and equipment and stress and nightmares. But my 20 gallon that I keep in the fishroom? That only has a HOB filter, heater, cheap light I found online for 20 bucks and a small cheap powerhead. It has 0 issues, soft corals grow like crazy and I never do water changes or tests. It has no fish just some hermits and a ton of microfauna. Oh and I never even feed it anything. But guess which tank I always get questions about.

 

[Bob Weigant]

Money Money Money. Throw in algea battles and super expensive fish that die most people pull the plug. Id be lying if I said at times I have left the hobby

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I think this is due to time commitment and, like many others have said, cost. While you can do reef tanks on a budget, they can quickly become a money pit depending on what you are wanting to do with them.

 

[MrPike]

Also lot of people start the hobby and are kinda swarmed to buy expensive equipment that underperforms or just breaks, then they get frustrated and leave. Take Red Sea for example, I wonder how many people have left the hobby due to their terrible tanks breaking and causing an insurance claim, hard to argue with your spouse about how it’s worthwhile to continue.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Also lot of people start the hobby and are kinda swarmed to buy expensive equipment that underperforms or just breaks, then they get frustrated and leave. Take Red Sea for example, I wonder how many people have left the hobby due to their terrible tanks breaking and causing an insurance claim, hard to argue with your spouse about how it’s worthwhile to continue.

Very good point . One can argue that the 4 glass walls keeping your home and sanity intact are the most important part of long term retention. When you can't trust that - you will never stay in the hobby.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

Reefing requires commitment and effort. Mixing saltwater, or buying jug of saltwater, constant care involved, and of course the cost is nothing to sneeze at. If I want to go on vacation, just like with other pets - I need to plan for someone to keep an eye on this and feed. This is also such a high tolerance for patient type of hobby it can lead to people feeling burned out before they see the long term results of years of hard work. A lot of people see a tank and thing, "I can do that" and then try to move too fast and boom, system crash and they are so heart broken they don't want to go through that again. It is a great hobby if you have the patience, money, and according to my wife are just nuts enough to stick with it :)

 

[painter1982]

Algae. People give up during the ugly stage. Or hear horror stories about it. Most the time they skip the Ro/di to save money when they’ would be better off skipping filtration and just use correct water and some live rock.

 

[Danjoethepirate]

IMO, being in the hobby for over 30 years now, alot has improved quite a bit but the industry in general does not promote itself well enough. The tv shows attempted to but had put some misinformation out there. The hobby is not a "set it and forget it" hobby so the current generation of people who want instant gratification won't stick with it.

One way to promote the hobby more is education in schools and for hobbyists in general. The online videos have helped quite a bit but LFS and Local hobbyists need to form better support communities to mentor each other. There's alot of information online today but there maybe too much and needs to be filtered for Newbies.

I mentor local LFS and Local hobbyists and try to document much of what I've learned that worked for me through the years and share to those who would welcome it. I open my house up when I meet people who are interested to walk them through my system as an extreme example. It all comes down to expectations and setting the correct goals during the 6P process I took from business "Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance." it applies to every aspect of life in general so why not this hobby?

There are seven p's sir!

 

[LongWayHome]

I did just spend 250$ on a rock piece... price may be a factor!

I hit the one year mark in reef keeping a month ago and one thing that stopped me from doing it for the longest time was my husband not wanting it. It was something we both needed to be 100% in for the long haul. The 13.5 fluval evo tank is what finally allowed me to dip my toe into it.

A lot of the reef fish require, tangs/eels/angel/etc, a 100+g(ish) tank. Which is pretty intimidating when you're aware of the potential damage water can inflict in your house.

I think the push and marketing of expensive equipment could be a deterring. It's what you see everywhere when you begin your deep dive research. When you see a light cost 300$ that everyone recommends and 200$ skimmers... it makes you think you don't have the funds to really startup a system.

AIO systems becoming more popular will get folks into the hobby imo. They seem way more entry friendly than sump systems.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Patients, most people want instant gratification. A reef tank can take a year or more to really get going. A lot of this time is just learning what it takes