Why do people “Get out of the Hobby”

[Summitwynds2]

Life. And unexpected life challenges. Got out several years ago. Turned my Miracles 200 gallon into a freshwater tank due to my husbands brain cancer, taking care of him and not having the time to maintain the tank. Aiptasia filled the tank and it looked awful. Started an IM 15, upgraded to an IM 25. Still want to go bigger. Carefully considering it.

 

[Kathy Floyd]

There are so many reasons, most have been said. If I could do it all over again, I might not and my CC would still be at zero.

 

[reefermadnes5]

I imagine after a serious crash it could hard to restart. Im spending more time reading proples builds here...man some tanks are 10-20 years! A disaster from life or tank or anything ending that sort of run is something i cant really imagine.

 

[Readywriter]

The reason I got out of the hobby originally is because after putting $5k into my tank as a teenager (making minimum wage) there was a family vacation and my neighbor left the lights running and the ato dry for 2 weeks. Came home to an irrecoverable tank crash, tank was half evaporated and what was left was rotten sludge.

After that I stuck to fowlr

 

[Lps_lover12]

I almost got out of the hobby just a month or so ago. After moving in November for my first time it was all good with the tank. Around January I started losing corals, slowly but surely, they were all dying. From ones that I’ve had from when I started over 2 years ago to rare ones I’ve collected along the way I lost every single one of them. Let me tell you that really pushes your limits, even just feeding my fish I had no motivation to (I still did everyday lol) on top of that one of my favourite fish my Mccoskers wrasse lost an eye and has been missing for many weeks I’m guessing he died somehow. I was so close to selling my tank and was ready to quit but thought to myself to just hold on, I’ve spent too much time and money to get rid of it all. Fast forward to today I’m very slowly getting back into it looking at new corals and finally enjoying it again.

 

[Jimbo327]

1. The hobby is very expensive. (on top of inflation of everything else)
2. Work/Life. Kids, career, family, school, move, etc.
3. Tank issues. Pests, dinos, fish diseases, crash, corals dying, etc.

If you wipe your tank today, it's hard to recover emotionally and financially. If most of your free money is taken up by necessities like inflated rent/food/bills, there is less money for your hobbies. No more remote work. And like others said, with many people starting with dry rock/sand, dinos are very common and it takes 1+ year to get tank to mature. And more cases of velvet and brook that can wipe a whole tank of fish and go fallow for 3 months.

 

[Grog]

I've got in and got out multiple times. Last time it was because I was travelling overseas 1 week a month for work. Yeah, like one week in Asia a month kind of travel. Kind of hard to maintain the tanks when that is happening. No work travel now. Back on board.

 

[AydenLincoln]

1. Cost
2. Time/Lifestyle change
3. A move
4. Tank crash
5. Struggle with algae, chemistry, disease, etc.
6. They get tired of the hobby and want to take a break because they’ve been in it for so long.

 

[Inertiatic]

I joined the hobby in 2011 and technically never left. But I've been through the ebbs and flows between a having a reef tank or a FOWLR tank. For me, not having enough time has always been one of the major factors pushing me towards leaving the hobby. When really busy, all of my normal maintenance and regular testing would have a steep drop off, which just led to my reefs eventually dying. I would still keep my tank and downgrade to the lower time commitment of a FOWLR due to having fish that have been with me for years.

I've only ever thought about completely leaving the hobby twice, and both times were due to my tank blowing a seam. The most recent one resulting in flooding damage. Luckily my wife convinced me to stay in the hobby.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Was having a Custom House Built, working my 40 plus hours and installing the HVAC System, Comm System and Alarm System in the house, didn’t have the time or energy. Had someone who was interested in my entire setup.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

What do we think are the biggest contributing factors to people getting out of the “hobby”. I see a lot of people selling off tanks and equipment stating they don’t have time for it anymore but I’ve never thought it to be a super time consuming thing. Do people lose interest overtime? I don’t really view it as a hobby personally, just try to create a beautiful glimpse of the ocean/reefs contained in the comfort of our homes. I think it adds a relaxing calming element to the home for all who live there as well as any guests that come over.

I would say many varying reasons. Money can be a big factor. As well, if you go “all in”, you can get burnt out. Finding a balance in whatever we do in life is a big key to success. At least that’s how I feel. Last time I got out it, 17 years ago, I was moving, and remodeling the house I was moving into, so I knew my attention to my tank would suffer greatly. And for some, the stress of the multitude of things that go wrong can just wear them down.

 

[VintageReefer]

Many of the reasons in the thread are what motivated me to build an enjoyable reef that requires less than 10 minutes of my time each week

I started running low on time, and I lost my sps and many corals. I lost motivation to fix the mess my reef was becoming. The less time I had, the more time my reef needed to be fixed. It was a trap. I never wanted to give up, but I wasn’t in a position to do the bail out I needed. I decided that I’ll feed the one fish I have, and whatever coral survives will survive and one day, one day I will fix this
It looked like this for over a year

When I freed up time I decided to take action and figure out what’s going on and how to fix it. Realized my scrubber air pump died and ordered a replacement. About 20 days later my tank became this

I had survivors, and some decent ones. So I decided it was time to rebuild with one goal - minimum to no weekly work, so if I ever fall in similar situations the tank can thrive without my help. 2 years later this has my reef, and It’s practically self sustaining now, and I have not had to spend more than 10 min a week on it. I feed, I clean glass, I add top off, and I empty my scrubber.

I hope that it inspires people on the brink of quitting to show that this hobby does not need tons of time, it just needs some planning, selecting the right corals and equipment, and adjusting your perspective and goals.

 

[Brandont21]

My wife and I may be relocating about 10 hours away. So we are trying to get out of the hobby. Otherwise the tank has been overall very successful and we really enjoy it. But the thought of moving it all that far does not seem enjoyable

 

[bdongoron]

I am only in month 8 of the hobby right now. I almost quit in the first few months because the high cost got me stressed out. Then I went through a 3 month seemingly non-stop battle of the uglies which was both labor intensive and costly to battle. By month 6 my tank started to stabilize and now there is not much to do on a day-to-day basis other than stare at the beautiful scenery and plan on what to add. There is some labor to do basic weekly tank maintenance but no hobby is worthwhile unless it requires some effort.

I think the current trend to go with all dry rock + bottled bacteria sets up a rough first year for new reefers. If I had to start from scratch again I would get at least some live rock or live sand (from the ocean not the bagged stuff inoculated with bottled bacteria) to make the ugly stage less challenging.

Good to know. I'm currently cycling my first saltwater tank and definitely nervous/excited all at the same time. The nice thing is because its a financial investment as well as a time commitment, I find myself taking the whole process much slower than I ever went with freshwater. I'm hoping slow and steady wins the race...

 

[bdongoron]

Many of the reasons in the thread are what motivated me to build an enjoyable reef that requires less than 10 minutes of my time each week

I started running low on time, and I lost my sps and many corals. I lost motivation to fix the mess my reef was becoming. The less time I had, the more time my reef needed to be fixed. It was a trap. I never wanted to give up, but I wasn’t in a position to do the bail out I needed. I decided that I’ll feed the one fish I have, and whatever coral survives will survive and one day, one day I will fix this
It looked like this for over a year

When I freed up time I decided to take action and figure out what’s going on and how to fix it. Realized my scrubber air pump died and ordered a replacement. About 20 days later my tank became this

I had survivors, and some decent ones. So I decided it was time to rebuild with one goal - minimum to no weekly work, so if I ever fall in similar situations the tank can thrive without my help. 2 years later this has my reef, and It’s practically self sustaining now, and I have not had to spend more than 10 min a week on it. I feed, I clean glass, I add top off, and I empty my scrubber.

I hope that it inspires people on the brink of quitting to show that this hobby does not need tons of time, it just needs some planning, selecting the right corals and equipment, and adjusting your perspective and goals.

Actually super inspiring man. I appreciate you sharing all of this. I'm cycling my first salwater tank right now. Nervous about it and also excited. I'm taking everything extremely slow and shooting for an extremely low bioload ultimately. Again appreciate you sharing all of this.

 

[bdongoron]

I almost got out of the hobby just a month or so ago. After moving in November for my first time it was all good with the tank. Around January I started losing corals, slowly but surely, they were all dying. From ones that I’ve had from when I started over 2 years ago to rare ones I’ve collected along the way I lost every single one of them. Let me tell you that really pushes your limits, even just feeding my fish I had no motivation to (I still did everyday lol) on top of that one of my favourite fish my Mccoskers wrasse lost an eye and has been missing for many weeks I’m guessing he died somehow. I was so close to selling my tank and was ready to quit but thought to myself to just hold on, I’ve spent too much time and money to get rid of it all. Fast forward to today I’m very slowly getting back into it looking at new corals and finally enjoying it again.

love that.

 

[kenchilada]

Well, "getting out of the hobby" just usually means "I have junky used reef stuff to sell and don't want to disclose the real reason I'm selling it".

 

[KevinC]

Cus they stopped spending LOL.

Tank stabilized, stuff growing, no room for new stuff, no money for new stuff.

It gets boring real easily after that.

 

[Ziggy17]

Moving.

Sometimes you break a tank down, sell stuff, move and take a break.

I do think for most people it’s just a lack of success and not having patience.

Before this last move, I had 8 moves in 15 years, so I took a decade long break until a year ago. Moving tanks is worse than painting.

 

[Doctorgori]

I wonder if you will get a fair sample as the folks that left are not here to answer…not that it isn’t worthwhile to speculate