Funk SNAPPED! That’s all it takes!

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Sure. What does it take to get you excited about your tank?

Healthy good looking thriving fish and of course corals.

 

[Rilo]

I haven't, reef keeping is a constant problem solving experience for me. I like fixing problems so getting into this hobby just quenched that thirst. I'm fighting GHA right now and figuring out how to tackle it. Reef Flux... crossing my fingers.

Honestly the closest I've got to funk is frustration. I research and find a solution to a problem but when I don't have the supplies...

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

What is the reefing funk? It’s the point in the hobby where you don’t enjoy your aquarium anymore. It’s more of a hassle than a hobby.

Sometimes we get into a reefing “funk” if you will. My “eye rolling” thread are sometimes some of the causes of it. But just as soon as you find yourself in a reefing funk you can find yourself snapped out of it!

What are some things you do to snap yourself out of a funk or what types of stuff happens within your tank that gets you rocking and rolling again?

After over 1 1/2yrs trying to aquaculture NPS softies (progress, but slow), when one day I see over 20 yellow sun polyp babies. That made it all worth wild.

 

[Alemoki]

Oddly enough, sometimes all it takes for me is a good clean of the glass. But a good clean on the weekend and sitting back with a beer watching the tank sparkle really gets me back into it again.

If I get into a real rut then I build something to add. Even if it's something trivial, it's nice to just add something.

 

[Tamberav]

A funk for me just means I got busy with life and behind on maintenance so I do a deep cleaning and don't stress over it. It won't be the last time I get behind maintenance and corals are resilient and dirty water doesn't bother them. Just makes the sand ugly...no biggy! Keep calm and reef on.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey, I just upgraded to an acrylic tank. How do you clean yours? Dry side and wet side. I’m always so worried about scratching it

I have a great white magnet with the white pads (acrylic safe) and does the job. Just assure both sides mainly outside one is free of debris or you’ll get a scratch or more. I also have the hand version for nooks and crannies and around the plumbing grommets

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

The other is just now starting to break.....an almost year long battle with dinos in not one but both of my tanks. Thankfully one (my nano) seems to be completely recovered and the 6' tank seems to be getting back to normal. I missed watching my corals grow and color up.

I think when I can confidently add some new SPS in to the big tank the funk will be snapped

Ugh! I can relate. Dinos are the worst! Glad things are looking up for you!!

The worst part is reefing funk usually comes with less effort being put into the tank and thus makes it a long process to dig out to feel better again... So it can take weeks to gain the motivation back. But most of us in this hobby enjoy it because it is a hard road that takes time and are a bit more flexible in this area... but it is still rough to put in the effort to weeks later find your groove again!!

Yes! The funk kind of perpetuates itself.

I just try to simplify the reef and the overall work that goes into it as much as possible and take a step back to remember why I got into the hobby in the first place.

Good word. What is it that got you into the hobby?

The only time I was ever really down on reef keeping was after a series of crashes. I lost a ton of expensive corals, then a ton of expensive wrasses - all of this stuff costs way more now but 10 years or so ago it was a lot of money. What I did was focus on other marine creatures. I started keeping cuttlefish, then after a few rounds of them I had octopus, eventually I got garden eels. During all of this I still kept up with reefing but if my reef wasn't looking great or having some issues I had other tanks with cool stuff going on in them. While it certainly was a pain (and expensive) to import live mysid shrimp every other week, and hatch baby brine shimp to feed the food it was mostly just costly and labor intensive vs having mystery problems killing sps for instance or brown jelly which was the big one for me. You can go crazy trying to figure out what the cause of some things are.

I also started a pico tank which I maintained for 7 years. I loved having it and in a lot of ways it became my most successful tank. Since I had lots a ton of coral in my main reef but still had lots of nice things, I quickly filled up my little 8x6x8 2 gallon with existing corals and got them to fill up the tank real quick. There was no danger of losing everything since it was just a satellite tank so I experimented with various things like trying led lights when they were still scary and some of the pico corals grew so well they ended up back in bigger tanks. Still have some of them today.

I have of course had other bad stuff happen since, but I've never really lost any interest like I did then. I guess now I'm just in too deep it's reef keeping for life.

That's a great strategy! It also gives you experience into some less common areas of the hobby. Plus, by diversifying what you're doing, you don't have to walk right back into three exact same issues that bummed you too start with (and like you said, this way, you've got good things happening in other tanks while trying to recover). Do you still have multiple tanks going?

When I start losing interest or get down, I look at other people’s awesome tanks and it helps reinvigorate me. It gives me a goal and reminds me what is possible.

That's good too. Sometimes, when my tank isn't doing what I want, checking out other people's build threads/tank journals on here is the best thing for me too. Are there any tanks in particular that you go look at? I've got a few that I love to follow.

Going in with some unreal expectations is why people drop out.

I 100% agree with this. Many times, especially with newish reefers, the idea of having a tank that mimics some of the experts in the hobby can be the thing that discourages them. What do you think can be done to help people set realistic expectations for themselves?

When my depression kicks in I honestly have days where I would rather just empty the tanks and throw them out, but not enough energy to follow through. So I tell my self your in a bad mood again, just let it be, going to last a week or 2. Let the automation handle most of it and at least feed the fish once a day. After I feel back to normal I do a full clean.

Haha!! Been there! I've had moments where I wanted to tear it down, but didn't have the energy...or where I wanted to tear it down but knew that what I needed was time to get over my frustration.

Healthy good looking thriving fish and of course corals.

for sure. What do you do when you get frustrated if this isn't happening?

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

After over 1 1/2yrs trying to aquaculture NPS softies (progress, but slow), when one day I see over 20 yellow sun polyp babies. That made it all worth wild.

That is awesome! NPS are super tough to keep IMO. Congrats on the babies!

 

[lapin]

I 100% agree with this. Many times, especially with newish reefers, the idea of having a tank that mimics some of the experts in the hobby can be the thing that discourages them. What do you think can be done to help people set realistic expectations for themselves?

I think a new reefer should look at what sort of person they are. Are their clothes hung in the closet by colors from darker to lighter and never out of place. Does the refrigerator have all the condement bottles lined up from short to tall and if one runs out the space is left open? Or do they live out of the clothes drier and the garage is a house of cards where you have to move something to get to something else all the time. These are clues as to how you will take care of your tank and what it might look like.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I think a new reefer should look at what sort of person they are. Are their clothes hung in the closet by colors from darker to lighter and never out of place. Does the refrigerator have all the condement bottles lined up from short to tall and if one runs out the space is left open? Or do they live out of the clothes drier and the garage is a house of cards where you have to move something to get to something else all the time. These are clues as to how you will take care of your tank and what it might look like.

That's a really good point. Knowing yourself is going to be important when it comes to setting expectations for the kind of tank you'll keep. I think this should even factor into what individual livestock choices are made for the tank.

 

[andrewkw]

I think a new reefer should look at what sort of person they are. Are their clothes hung in the closet by colors from darker to lighter and never out of place. Does the refrigerator have all the condement bottles lined up from short to tall and if one runs out the space is left open? Or do they live out of the clothes drier and the garage is a house of cards where you have to move something to get to something else all the time. These are clues as to how you will take care of your tank and what it might look like.

You can be messy in real life, but organized in your tanks

That's a great strategy! It also gives you experience into some less common areas of the hobby. Plus, by diversifying what you're doing, you don't have to walk right back into three exact same issues that bummed you too start with (and like you said, this way, you've got good things happening in other tanks while trying to recover). Do you still have multiple tanks going?

Yes I don't think I could ever go back to 1 tank. It's not so much that I need all the others, well a frag tank yes but I wouldn't feel comfortable keeping all my eggs in one basket. Of course many things can effect all tanks in a household since they all get their water from the same source, run off the same powergrid ect, but they are independently run, so an overdose, a nutrient spike, a smashed heater ect cannot take everything with it. I don't really have any weird tanks going now, a nano with sexy shrimp is the weirdest one. Eventually I'd like to get something else unusual to keep. A final thought on this, if it's just some creatures and not coral, they are a lot easier and cheaper to maintain then a full blown reef, so having another tank is really not a huge expense until you try and turn that tank into another full blown reef.

 

[Cassian]

I have a great white magnet with the white pads (acrylic safe) and does the job. Just assure both sides mainly outside one is free of debris or you’ll get a scratch or more. I also have the hand version for nooks and crannies and around the plumbing grommets

thanks!