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

Dom

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Putting in the effort and not getting the results.
 

Marinus

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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
Fear of floods or getting Palythoas in my tank. Fish deaths are sad also.
 

timmyrules

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I have a list guys:

•expenses
•cruddy palys ruining my life (palytoxins have made me SO sick the past few days)
•scrubbing algae
•things dying for no apparent reason
•coral killing other coral even though they are like 6 inches away! I mean, how long do there feeding tentacles have to be?!
•fish not getting along
•cyano
• (I know this is gonna sound pathetic) tank maintenance
 

Marinus

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I have a list guys:

•expenses
•cruddy palys ruining my life (palytoxins have made me SO sick the past few days)
•scrubbing algae
•things dying for no apparent reason
•coral killing other coral even though they are like 6 inches away! I mean, how long do there feeding tentacles have to be?!
•fish not getting along
•cyano
• (I know this is gonna sound pathetic) tank maintenance
Is there any way to get rid of palys once they're in there?
 

Northern Flicker

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Coral deaths 100%. Nothing sucks more than a coral you paid $100 for doesn't make it past 1 month.
Isn’t it crazy that for the price of a 1” acro frag you could buy enough plants to fill a 40 breeder?

It dawned on me that the 3 pithos crabs and single harlequin shrimp I’m picking up this weekend are worth more than stocking an entire angelfish planted community tank.
 

Dragen Fiend

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Isn’t it crazy that for the price of a 1” acro frag you could buy enough plants to fill a 40 breeder?

It dawned on me that the 3 pithos crabs and single harlequin shrimp I’m picking up this weekend are worth more than stocking an entire angelfish planted community tank.
I'm so happy I don't care for acros. Those prices are insane for tiny frags. On top of that they are not easy. I'll probably stay clear from acros my whole time in the hobby lol.
 

donuts274

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For me it was the death caused by Euphyilla eating flatworms that came in on an older torch colony. That feeling of dread watching every torch colony slowly perish. Even with constant dips and scrubs, they were toast.
 

Joe.D

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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
This! Pretty much what I was thinking when I voted other - not knowing what’s wrong.

My tank is almost 3 years old - 75g display. Fish all seem to be doing well (knock on wood). I’ve especially enjoyed seeing my mandarin grow from this tiny little biota specimen, to now being over an inch long over the past few months. Doesn’t sound impressive now that I read it, but it is to me.

So, that’s all positive - what’s the negative? Despite my parameters all looking good and pretty stable, I have a few corals that are really struggling. 3 torches look great, one barely opening. 2 goni’s look great, 1 barely opening. 2 acans used to be nice and puffy, recently not so much. Same with a ricordia. All of these that are struggling were doing well at one point. Many other corals not listed are doing great. Frustrating.

Another past frustration - determining that Whitetail Bristletooth Tangs do not get along with Diamond Gobies. Unfortunately, it took 3 Diamond Gobies to figure that out.
 

Bruttall

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Those are good ideas! Are there any fish that eat them? I'm terrified of Palys
Are you allergic to Palytoxin? It is extremely rare to be allergic, they are not just Lethally Poisonous. Paly's get a bad rap because a couple of people get sick, but in reality all they are, is a slightly larger cousin to the Zoanthids. I have 3 or 4 different varieties in my tank including Toxic Green Paly, which is just a name, they are not any more toxic than any other Palythoa.
There are Nuclear Green Grandis paly, I have some of these in mine.
1737628562504.png

The worst thing for me so far, along with Coral and Fish Death has been hitch hikers, Vermatids, Aiptasia, etc. I am finally get the Aiptasia under control, in the display at least, Sump is next!
 

Thalasstronaut

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I'm so happy I don't care for acros. Those prices are insane for tiny frags. On top of that they are not easy. I'll probably stay clear from acros my whole time in the hobby lol.
The greatest gift of mercy from the gods of reefing is my indifference towards SPS corals.

You can’t help what creature or aspect of the ocean captures your heart, so when it’s not something expensive or rare or difficult (or all 3) you gotta call that a win.

I’ve only been in reefing for a little over a year, but I’ve kept freshwater tanks for a while and I’ve learned that there are no substitutes. You want what you want.
 

Eric R.

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Are you allergic to Palytoxin? It is extremely rare to be allergic, they are not just Lethally Poisonous. Paly's get a bad rap because a couple of people get sick, but in reality all they are, is a slightly larger cousin to the Zoanthids. I have 3 or 4 different varieties in my tank including Toxic Green Paly, which is just a name, they are not any more toxic than any other Palythoa.
There are Nuclear Green Grandis paly, I have some of these in mine.
1737628562504.png

The worst thing for me so far, along with Coral and Fish Death has been hitch hikers, Vermatids, Aiptasia, etc. I am finally get the Aiptasia under control, in the display at least, Sump is next!

“Toxicological studies with these compounds shows repeatedly low LD50 values in different mammals, revealing an acute toxic effect on several organs, as demonstrated by different routes of exposure. Bioassays tested for some marine invertebrates and evidences from environmental populations exposed to the toxins also give indications of the high impact that these compounds may have on natural food webs. The recognition of its wide distribution coupled with the poisoning effects that these toxins can have on animals and especially on humans have concerned the scientific community.”

 

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