You Signed Up For This...What is the WORST part of reefing?

What is the WORST part of reefing?

  • Fish deaths.

    Votes: 52 20.9%
  • Coral deaths.

    Votes: 26 10.4%
  • Invertebrate deaths.

    Votes: 3 1.2%
  • Tank Maintenance.

    Votes: 11 4.4%
  • Nuisance algae.

    Votes: 27 10.8%
  • Invasive hitchhikers & Pests.

    Votes: 29 11.6%
  • Parameter Instability.

    Votes: 9 3.6%
  • Fish or Coral Disease outbreaks.

    Votes: 38 15.3%
  • Expenses.

    Votes: 32 12.9%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 22 8.8%

  • Total voters
    249

AlyciaMarie

Where's my anemone?
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Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad, but there are still some challenges to reefing that make us want to swim away. Some of these things we don't like may be simple inconveniences, like cleaning our tanks, while others are devastating, like the loss of our favorite reef members. No matter which way you look at it, there are definitely some parts of the salty life we wish we could bypass...But if you had to pick one:

What is the WORST part of reefing?

When your new, expensive fish starts swimming upside down:

This Sucks Season 3 GIF by The Office
 

jimk60

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Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad, but there are still some challenges to reefing that make us want to swim away. Some of these things we don't like may be simple inconveniences, like cleaning our tanks, while others are devastating, like the loss of our favorite reef members. No matter which way you look at it, there are definitely some parts of the salty life we wish we could bypass...

What is the WORST part of reefing?

When your new, expensive fish starts swimming upside down:

This Sucks Season 3 GIF by The Office
The cost!!
 

shakacuz

hang loose, cuz
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all of the above, haha. voted expenses, though. prices are still steep for certain fish/coral/equipment, not to mention goes along with fish/coral/invert deaths.
 

reef tank 2.0

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although I chose invasive hitchhikers, it's really hard to choose. you have some heavy hitters in that list of options. it's really hard to select one. All are valid options.

I'd say yes to all though.
 

SPS2020

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This sounds pathetic, but maintenance is a nightmare for me. My tank is thriving and along with that comes growth...of everything including green algae and coralline algae (the bane of my existence). Constantly trimming back Acros sounds like something everyone would desire, until you have to do it. Cleaning coralline off of the acrylic back wall is a huge pain (trying to work around Acros). Cleaning the bare bottom and side glass to keep coralline at bay. 3 gyres where algae seems to love to grow need weekly attention. Filter socks and the protein skimmer need to be cleaned every three days. Algae turf scrubber cleaned weekly. Top off Ca, Mg, Alk and Part C reservoirs weekly. The list goes on. I've been in the hobby since the 80's, so none of this is new. Maybe I'm getting another burn out that happens every so often. My tank is only 100g and I can't imagine maintaining some of the large (400g +) tanks I see. Some of the 1000g+ tanks would be insane.
 

vlangel

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For me the only downside to reef keeping is saying good bye to my pets. I get attached and although I generally have them a long time, ( decades for some) but I still hate watching them get old and begin to decline and eventually die. But it is still worth it.
 

marcus aurelius

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I mentioned "other" because the main issue is not knowing what’s wrong. I've been back in the hobby for about eight years and moved my tank 400 miles six years ago. I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on. Sometimes, everything seems fine, but I tend to over-test with my test kits and the Apex Trident. I do ICP testing every four to six months.
My phosphate levels (PO4) seem low, so I’ve started to overfeed a bit, and now they're at 0.12, whereas they used to be between 0.03 and 0.05. I do have a little bit of algae—just a few strands of hair algae and some signs of cyanobacteria. Some of my corals aren't looking great either.I replaced my ORP probe a couple of months ago, but my Apex keeps alarming that the ORP is too high. The reading has been rising steadily and is now above 520. Is that a problem?
Please Help
 

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